Spectrum service down

[TomK]

From Spectrums's website.Bear in mind this conversation had already been going for 10 minutes or so:

"We're performing planned maintenance, which is interrupting internet, TV and voice services in your area. We're doing everything we can to fix the problem as soon as possible."

The following occurred although the start of it is missing, this is online chat with Spectrum. Their comments are italized, mine are not:

I see there is an outage affecting service in your area.

Affected Services
INTERNET
TV
VOICE
Our technicians are doing everything they can to repair the problem. Our agents don't have any other information at this time. Would you like a callback when your service is restored?

No, thank you

Alright. Feel free to check back later at any time.
Is there anything else we can help you with?

I have another question
What else can we help with?
What is 3 x 7 divided by 1?

Could you say a little more about what we can help you with?

I thought you were intelligent. I was testing you.

All of our agents are currently assisting other customers. We can connect you with an agent or you can ask another question.
Estimated wait less than
30 minutes
What else can we help with?

why has my wait time gone up to fix the problem from 10 minutes to 30?

Sorry to hear you're having issues today. Could you give us a little more detail about what we can help you fix?

Time dilation I guess. What do you have to say about that?

All of our agents are currently assisting other customers. We can connect you with an agent or you can ask another question.
Estimated wait less than
30 minutes

[randomq]

It seems their support bot is not quite as smart as Eliza...

http://psych.fullerton.edu/mbirnbaum/psych101/Eliza.htm

[leilanidude]

Once you knew that they knew, that service was down, why did you keep wasting your own time?

[eightfingers2.0]

It’s OK this morning.

[ChunksterK]

Frau Chunkster started off in a bad mood this morning because her multi-episode download of her favorite soap opera, "Alles was Zählt" was interrupted by the outage. And this was on top of Siegfried the Chunkhund having barked half the night at the idiot neighbors setting off firecrackers. It's gonna be a long day.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

wasting your own time?

I don't presume to know the intent behind TomK's post, but I read it as less about wasting time and more about the process, capability, and effectiveness of corporate AI chat technology.  Although the AI couldn't accurately provide a wait time for speaking with a representative, I have met residents of East Hawaii who have the same problem when we agree on a meeting time.  In that way, Spectrum AI successfully emulates the human grasp of Hawaiian Time.

I also considered that AI over the last 4 years may have learned there's almost no downside to lying, with abandon, and most American human customers have become desensitized to the ruse from frequent, repeated exposure.  So why not?  In fact, some customers won't even notice they're being given two different somewhat contradictory possibilities, and will just be happy to pick the one most agreeable with their situation.  "10 minutes? That's fine with me!"

Thanks TomK for posting your exchange with the bot.  The next time I call or chat with a helpline I'll know what I may expect, and from that perspective readers on Punaweb could very well save valuable time.

[kalakoa]

wasting your own time?

If you have enough internet to engage the chatbot, then just use that internet instead of Spectrum?

[leilanidude]

If you have enough internet to engage the chatbot, then just use that internet instead of Spectrum?
-----------
Good point

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

If you have enough internet to engage the chatbot, then just use that internet instead of Spectrum? 
-----------
Good point


Perhaps he required the bandwidth Spectrum provides so he could work on a large scale project, and the chatbot he contacted was on a slower 3G or 4G cellular connection?

[kalakoa]

required the bandwidth Spectrum provides

Unrealistic expectations are a symptom of misplaced entitlement. Talk to your doctor about moving to the first world.