Overall I have not had good experiences with online “live chat” help facilities.Today was refreshingly different.

 

From discovering that I was conversing with a bot and not a person to someone at Wiggle that was congenitally incapable of answering the question asked as they were obviously relying on a fund of pre-written responses to use in different scenarios right through to Charlotte at the Roofbox Company. We went to and fro over a bike-rack for a friends BMW Z3 convertible with just a horizontal little boot. Whilst Charlotte couldn’t give a definitive answer she ended with a very sensible request to email a picture to be certain that her idea for a rack was the right one.

 

What a pleasure to deal with a pleasant common sense human being, whatever the interface. The message here is that Charlotte was well trained enough to ask for help when she needed it yet had the autonomy to think and act for herself. You can’t really ask for much more when dealing with a firm. It’s a simple concept that seems to elude many companies that implement live chat software. They seem to view it as a way to lose customers more quickly and cheaply rather than by serving them poorly face to face or mucking up the transaction. When will firms get it? It’s not about the tool but how you use it.

 

In the words of my friend with the Beemer, “Harrumph”