Talking to a robot – the demise of customer service as we know it?

The other day I walked into Big W to buy a new gas cartridge for my SodaStream machine and was told that I needed to go to the service desk, just after I had selected out a whole lot of other things I needed. The service desk, which one would think was full to the brim with service, was deserted. The manager finally came over and bluntly told me I could buy the gas at the desk, however I needed to buy the rest of my shopping at one of the self service checkouts. The store had hardly anyone in it and I was with my grandchildren – I wasn’t exactly able to move around easily, and anyone who’s used a self-serve checkout will know how confusing they are, let alone when you have three kids swiping away wildly. I asked him to just put through my other shopping now, he had no other customers, but he insisted he couldn’t put them through and I had to scan them myself.

When I got home, I realised how often this has happened to me and other people I know. With the recent news that Commonwealth Bank is building teller-less banks, I can’t help but wonder if customer service will be a thing of the past in say, 20 years.

In the past, I worked in customer service for many years and I know how important those small interactions can be, particularly to the lonely and marginalised in our society. I enjoyed smiling and speaking to a range of people, from very young children with their parents, to the mentally disabled customers who loved to chat about the little things, to the elderly man who came in with a photo of his wife and shared a coffee with her every day. I can’t bear to think of what might happen to those people who are regulars at coffee shops and restaurants, only to one day turn up and a machine hands them their latte. Then they walk down the road and their corner store has turned into a robot-operated organisation, essentially ripping the heart out of its community. It feels like businesses think we just want fast, streamlined service, instead of the personal, attentive customer service we deserve.

We all love the relief of speaking to a real person on the phone, but what happens when even these call centre jobs are entirely led off-shore to shed costs, or even are outsourced fully to robots and computers? Where will this leave our jobs and our growing population? It’s very worrying. Whenever I’m at the supermarket, I make a point of going to the actual checkout to be served by an actual person, versus the self-serve. I want these staff to know they are still useful and needed, for more than just scanning our groceries, but also so we can interact and stay human. Our technological world is turning our youth into drones who are glued to their screens and who prefer to speak to their friends over Facebook than face-to-face, but surely it can’t take away another thing we cherish – good old-fashioned customer service?

What do you think? Are companies deliberately ridding themselves of customer service in exchange for faster service? Should we be making a bigger deal about losing this interaction or will it be a change for the better? Share your thoughts below.