'Live chat' help- is this every worth trying?

[lovelygreenjumper]

Just wondered if it's just me or there is a reason that online 'live chat' customer service help seems to be so much worse than phoning customer services?

I've tried using this with several companies recently, to avoid being out on hold etc and each time wasted hours getting either no help or a bonkers answer so had to go through the pain of being put in hold with customer services anyway. The latest was attempt to get someone to send me a very small part that had been missed from a delivery of a large piece of furniture. The online suggestion was to deliver the entire thing again- I could then either return the entire item delivered initially, or open the new one take the bit I needed then send it back. Apparently this was the only possible answer- totally ignoring my comments about the inconvenience to me to the environmental impact of sending a large truck hundreds of miles when all I needed was an envelope in the post. After turning that down and calling customer services I was told the replacement would be sent by post today.

Am I just unlucky or should online 'help' be avoided at all costs?

I love the live chat, I even use it dealing with HMRC as its so much quicker than waiting on the phone if I have any questions. The only bad experience I've had was contacting a company to check payment options (I couldn't phone as I had lost my voice) and they kept saying they couldn't discuss my account on live chat and I had to phone, I repeated a few times I didn't want to discuss my account, just if they took AMEX, in the end I gave up.

I use it all the time. It's great in the main.

Amazon seem to have removed the function which is devastating!

I really like it too, always had success and quicker and clearer than ringing up generally.

I really like it. I don't use it much but there are occasions when we're watching tv and I'm not gripped by the show. I might check an account and have a question and I can live chat while remaining with the rest of the household but not disturbing them.

I've had some frustrating experiences (phone companies seem to be particularly awful) but often find it really great too and so much easier than being on hold on the phone. Royal Mail for example has a great one, you feel like you're chatting to a real person and not a robot following a script. I've had frustrating experiences on the phone as well.

I also like 'live chat' and for an increasing number of companies it can be the only way of reaching customer services.

Love live chat. Can explain things clearly and can get a transcript so they can’t deny having the conversation.

Depends who it is. Bt and Vodafone bother been completely useless recently. The chat centre and call centre are in completely different places and don’t seem to tally.

Amazon still have it

I just used it.

You can also screen shot what you’re told in case there’s any disagreement later...

@dynami- Vodafone was one of the companies I got no-where with on live chat but a phone call sorted things out easily (after the 30 minutes on hold though).

Thanks everyone for replying- sounds like I have been unlucky so might try it again with other companies. Like a few people have said, it just seems so much more convenient- no waiting on hold, can be done in silence when there's other stuff going on around etc etc. Just really frustrating when the answer from the chat isn't as useful as the call centre answer

All my live chat experiences so far have been positive.

Oh really @littlbrowndog? Maybe it wasn’t valid for my query.

A tip for live chat - some systems show the person you're chatting to what you are typing, while you are typing it (before pressing enter). Bear this in mind if you decide to redact something mid-sentence.

Not a lot of experience but did try with BT recently trying to sort out a refund on my parents account after my dad had passed away . The guy wasn't able to discuss with me, not quite sure how he expected me to get my dad online! The call centre help line was very good though, sorted it for me very quickly.

Amazon live chat is very helpful. Seem to remember it's hard to find the function though.

Never try Microsoft live chat. That way madness lies.

I love it.
The HSBC one is great and so, I discovered the other day is the passport office.

Hermes use a Bot.

Literally repeats the FAQs from the website to you .

It depends on what system they are using. If it's a human with a reasonable grasp of English, then you generally get sensible responses. If they have overestimated what year we are in and chosen to use a computer program to give automated replies, or have hired people from somewhere labour is cheap and given then a load of scripts to pick from based on you giving certain keywords in your response but they don't actually speak much English themselves, you will end up tearing your hair out.

Sometimes you can just get a totally stupid person on the other end though so it can be worth disconnecting and trying again later.

I use it a lot! The bots are useless and they really are only as good as the info they have to hand!

We use one for work and we all have logins app take turns to reply. We get some weird queries I can tell you.

But here’s a little hint... you know when you are frustrated and type ‘I’m fucking pissed off you useless tossers!!!’ Into the chat biz before defeating it and typing something more polite? We can read what you type even if you don’t sent it...

Starling bank live chat is great.