I had an issue today with a McAfee product. So I got into one of their tech support chatrooms. I didn’t really feel like calling their $2 per minute helpline. Shortly after the conversation started I have realized that I’m talking to a machine. What tipped me off? Maybe it was when he said:
I will be very happy to help you with ActiveX is not enabled and/or blocked
This was right after I told him that I have ActiveX enabled, and IE is on lowest security level imaginable. This guy sounded so much like ELIZA that it was not even funny. Live technical support my ass! Why wont they just tell us that they will connect us to a bot that will go through the standard troubleshooting routine with us? This way there are no nasty surprises when the “technician” suddenly fails the Turring test :P
Grrr… I have been wasting my time on the self-same live support bot!
Driving me insane!
I imagine that at some point a you probably may get to talk to a live person. They most likely use bots to filter out people with really simple problems, and all the troublemakers that join the chat only to flood it or curse at the technician. :P
Still, I would prefer to know I’m talking to a bot.