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It’s an Artificial Idiot Labor Day!
(sorry, I have to share this…)
A recent Friday, I called our favorite auto dealer (no, seriously, we really like them) to schedule “routine maintenance.” An, ahem, AI answered. I tried to be nice (but why?). I told it we needed to schedule “routine maintenance” for my wife’s car.
It said (approximately), “OK, you want to schedule routine maintenance for your car. Our first openings are on September 7th, at 11:30 AM, 12:30 AM…”
I asked it, “Are you open Sept. 7th?”
It said, “Good Catch!” Then schedule me for the next day.
“We” hung-up. I immediately got an email confirming our Tuesday appointment, AND our Labor Day appointment.
The next Monday, I got a call from the dealership, saying we have two appointments scheduled for you. We are closed for the first one. I told her, no problem, I understood what was going on. She told me the “AI” had fully scheduled the Saturday before Labor Day (that they were also closed) and Labor Day. And she was looking at a long day of apologetic phone calls.
Our local AAA garage uses a corporate appointment system for its phone tree. I think it’s a human being, but when I schedule things through it, the appointments often get lost. Their web-based appointment system also seems messed up.
These days, when I call I always type “3” on my phone (“for other services”) which puts me through to a phone at the garage itself, and I schedule the appointment with the person who answers. That way has always worked.