I chatted* Facebook support to get an issue at the day job fixed.
The Facebook support person decides to call me.
I answer the phone and don’t understand a single word.
Another call. The same experience.
Having spoken to a lot of support hotlines, I know the company wants my consent to record the call.
A robot is reading a German text with a strong American accent. I have a Swiss cell phone, live in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and I am German-speaking. A German message is good.
However, a robot trained on American English will get the pronunciation totally wrong.
It was incomprehensible. Gibberish.
I chat with the Facebook support person. They still want to call me.
I try to press the usual keys, and get in on the 4th or 5th call.
Rather than dissing the robot for not knowing how to pronounce German, I say test your client-facing interfaces and channels. Most people will give up.
*to show I am 199% comfortable using digital.
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