Verizon subscriber ragequits after getting in touch with AI bots one too many times

The story is courtesy of Reddit user "Old_Poet_1608", who shares their experience in a thread called Canceling because of AI.

The trouble is that Verizon's growing reliance on AI and automated support has become so frustrating that cancelling the service is the next move by the OP (original poster). In their view, Verizon may have saved money by replacing human agents, but the poor customer experience has cost them a loyal customer. Is it worth it? This will take a Verizon exec to answer.

The author says the problem began when Verizon mistakenly added about $500 to their bill and then disconnected their phone service over the unpaid balance. Yikes!

The charges were apparently for equipment they had already returned and tracking information proved that Verizon had received those items. Because they were traveling for work, they did not notice the extra charges until after the service had already been shut off.



OK, hiccups happen even with big corporations (or, some would say, especially with them). But a top priority should be sorting things out.

It's a trap

Once the phone was disconnected, they found themselves trapped in a difficult situation.

Verizon would not allow them to speak with a customer service representative over the phone because of the past-due balance. Their only official option was chat support, but since they lacked internet access, they could not even use alternatives such as Google Voice.

As a result, they had to pretend they were calling about a technical problem in order to bypass the automated system and reach a real person.

Finally got in touch

After finally speaking with a human agent, Verizon quickly confirmed the mistake, removed the incorrect charges and restored service. That experience convinced the customer that the issue was not difficult to fix, but that Verizon's support system made it unnecessarily hard to reach someone capable of solving it.

It's understandable why the customer is angry.

They also argue that common advice, such as repeatedly saying "representative" to an automated system, was useless in this case because Verizon's system would not let them reach a person under those circumstances.

The other side of AI

Many of us feel the irony. Getting help from a real person has become much harder as companies rely more on AI and automated systems. While these tools can handle simple tasks, they often leave people stuck when they have more complicated problems.

I've experienced this firsthand on several occasions – time is running out, I've got a pressing issue to solve, but I'm stuck with the AI bot, repeating "representative" until I'm blue in the face.

Not recommended. So, yeah, I guess we'll be witnessing more and more such ragequits in the near future. What will make you leave, though?