Why I’d Rather Talk to a Human Customer Service Agent

Robotic AI voices unsettle me

I asked my New Orleans friend, Jeb, if he had ever had an AI sales call, or called a customer service number answered by an AI bot.

Jeb said, “I only care about the I of AI. The rest can go to hell. And the answer is no.”

I had recently made a customer service call. An AI bot fielded my question. While the robot was monotonously offering several options to help with my issue, I hung up.

I was calling to get my 94-year-old Mom’s Medicare Insurance changed so she could have a provider who made house calls at her senior residence facility.

She didn’t like her previous doctor, who never followed up on appointments. But Mom had heard wonderful reviews for the traveling, local Doctor whose legendary medical expertise and kindness she preferred.

Unfortunately, Mom needed her Medicare insurance changed from an HMO to a PPP provider for her to work with the new Doc.

It was a tricky situation, given I had canceled Mom’s previous Doctor and thought I had set up her preferred Doctor without taking her out of her HMO.

I told the same story to five different agents. All of them were intent on helping until their phones dropped me. In each case, the United Health Care (UHC) agent had not asked for my number in case we got disconnected, which was what kept happening.

I kept calling different phone numbers trying to figure out who would be the most expedient agent to make the insurance change.

It was five weeks past Medicare’s open enrollment deadline. I got a new number and called t another UHC MMedicare agent in charge of accounts. As soon as I got on the call, I gave the agent my telephone number in case we were disconnected.

This agent was super helpful. He understood the issue I was calling about. He was willing to call my Mom and patch me into the line so she could give me approval to talk to the agent about her Medicare account.

It was a bit difficult to get Mom to understand that she would be getting a long-distance call from a stranger she needed to answer. The agent had numerous questions for Mom. I helped where I could.

The agent said he would definitely be able to change Mom’s UHS Medicare Advantage account from an HMO to a PPP account.

He looked up the potential new Doctor’s practice online and discovered that the mobile Doctor could accept the changed insurance.

A few pieces of information the agent wanted to make sure Mom and I understood. Mom would need to pay a higher Medicare premium each month. Mom said the increase would be no problem.

She was adamant about working with the new Doctor.

The next step was Mom needed to fill out an application for the new insurance with the help of the UHS agent. The agent had to patch me into a call he made to Mom again. I helped her with the questions she had trouble with.

The agent submitted the application and asked me to check on the status of the application in 3–5 days. I plan to call tomorrow 4 days after the initial call.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed, that the application will be accepted. If so, the new policy is scheduled to start on February 1st. Once the application clears, I can make an appointment for a house visit from her new Doctor.

I can’t imagine going through this whole insurance change process with an AI bot. It would have taken another three hours of calls if the change was even possible.

I preferred talking to a human — an empathetic person determined to help.

Maybe down the line, when AI is more evolved and perhaps even capable of empathy, I might change my mind about AI-managed customer service calls.

Somehow I doubt it.

I’ll stick with Jeb’s conclusion in the meantime.