#customerservice

Verizon Replacing Its Customer Service Personnel With AI Has Turned Live Chat Queries Into Low-Quality ChatGPT-Like Replies, Enraging Customers.

Verizon Replacing Its Customer Service Personnel With AI Has Turned Live Chat Queries Into Low-Quality ChatGPT-Like Replies, Enraging Customers -- Omar Sohail
Jun 5, 2026 at 11:52am EDT.

Companies will eventually replace humans carrying out what they believe to be menial tasks with AI, and U.S. carriers are no exception, with their Live Chat department now being handled with chatbots that are providing less-than-useful replies to customers. In fact, a regular user of ChatGPT likely noticed that Verizon’s own service is providing similar low-quality responses, tarnishing the company’s reputation while also impacting the experience for millions.

Knowing the technical mistakes that AI can make, Verizon should only completely replace its Live Chat service after properly training its models.

The AI’s responses being similar to ChatGPT’s were noticed by Redditor “Hot_Saguaro,” who says that Verizon wasn’t even hiding the fact that the chatbot was providing technical answers similar to OpenAI’s service. After attempting to ask why her iPad wasn’t connecting to the internet, a Verizon representative said it’s because her service address is still her old address. She immediately countered, saying that another customer living in the same block was facing the same problem.

Verizon CEO Dan Schulman has previously stated that the company will focus more on customer service to boost the experience than shell out promotions, but it appears that the Chief Executive’s efforts have fallen short.

As expected in the Reddit thread, people were not thrilled with Verizon’s direction of replacing humans with AI, with a former employee saying that “one of our selling points was that we didn’t offshore call centers. It’s gone so downhill from when I used to work there.” It’s only appropriate that Verizon holds off on completely replacing its Live Chat with AI until it has properly trained its model to handle customer queries properly.

Simply integrating its service with ChatGPT won’t win the company any awards, especially when AI can make a boatload of technical mistakes that will be pointed out by users who are even slightly knowledgeable about carriers and their network’s functionality.

https://wccftech.com/verizon-replacing-humans-with-ai-for-live-chat-is-lowering-response-quality/

Be prepared - the customer doesn't care about you or your family.

https://youtu.be/IbiKFm5_was

Key takeaways include:
• Workforce Disruption: Schulman acknowledges that Al will inevitably displace a large percentage of traditional customer service roles, particularly those handling routine, repetitive tasks like password resets or billing inquiries (1:10 - 1:29).
• Human-Al Collaboration: Rather than full automation, he envisions a hybrid approach where Al and human agents work in tandem to resolve more complex customer issues, ultimately improving service quality (1:32 - 2:09).
• Future Technological Outlook: Schulman emphasizes that Fortune 100 companies must embrace the ongoing technological revolution. He predicts that society will reach AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) within the next two to four years, followed by breakthroughs in quantum computing and humanoid robotics shortly thereafter (2:17 - 2:57).
• Corporate Responsibility: He stresses that as these advancements unfold, corporate leaders and society as a whole must be prepared and accept the responsibility that comes with managing these powerful technoloaies (3:00 - 3:13).

Saturday morning. Want to order soccer cleats and vomero 18 for upcoming Gifts. After selecting filters or on the product picture, keep getting page not found error!! Across the board...!
What a sh-t experience! Imagine how people who are not nike employees will react. Flagship website is broken!
Hey I'll just take my business elsewhere! Is it too much to ask for 100% up time for Nikes front end to the world...? Common VA, RA, EH, things are falling apart before our eyes. Wake up and do your job.

We have had our system down since Friday. Nobody knows what they are doing to try and fix it. Customers are going to be so pi---d off when we have to stop shipping because we cant process anything. This sh-tshow is before all the layoffs as well. I have literally been sitting here doing absolutely nothing for 2 days while secretly chuckling inside because I feel like this is karma

Ford is facing a growing nightmare as massive recalls, expensive repairs, and reliability complaints continue spreading across America. Thousands of owners are discovering that some vehicles they trusted are now turning into financial disasters filled with breakdowns, warning lights, and terrifying repair costs. Dealers are quietly struggling to calm angry customers while mechanics warn that certain models may only get worse as they age. Older drivers especially are starting to question whether Ford still builds vehicles tough enough to last long term. And according to insiders, the recall chaos surrounding some of these vehicles could become even more damaging before 2026 is over.

Sales is only doing outbound calls with an automated dialer now…. Don’t know where incoming calls are going to…..Just voicemail after voicemail being left to sign up for VHI Lite internet. Are we trying to get a whole team to just quit at one time? Is that how we fix the return to office attitude? Are sales calls now going to the Philippines with horrible customer service? New PIP process will be epic by the end of them month if this is how it’s gonna be from now on. SMH.

Ford AI: Hi, how can I help you?

Me: Show me 2026 Bronco Inventory

Ford AI: Error. I'm having trouble getting that information. You can try again or come back later.

Me: why did it take so long to say "I have trouble getting that information" :). What is my closest dealership?

Ford AI: Error. I'm having trouble getting that information. You can try again or come back later.

Me: what is my closest dealership

Ford AI: Here are some links that may be relevant to your search for the closest Ford dealership:
Locate a Dealer
Find a Dealer

Me: Just tell me the name of closest dealership

Ford AI: I can provide you with links to find your closest Ford dealership, but I cannot tell you the specific name without knowing your location. You can use these links to locate a dealer near you:

Locate a Dealer
Find a Dealer

Me: Ok...here is my zip code.
Ford AI: Please use the following link to locate a dealer:

Locate a Dealer

GEMINI:

Me: what is closest ford dealership

Gemini: You have two very convenient Ford dealerships nearby depending on which direction you are heading.

The closest options are:

1. Ken Grody Ford Carlsbad
   This is your absolute closest option, located right in Carlsbad.

Address: 5555 Paseo Del Norte, Carlsbad, CA 92008

1. North County Ford
   Located just slightly inland in Vista, this is another very close alternative.

Address: 420 N Emerald Dr, Vista, CA 92083 (Located in the Vista area)

Writing was on the wall.
Was waiting for the failures to stack as I remember being on the VAR side and not even being able to communicate with anyone at Atlassian unless I provided them with what seemed like a Wikipedia full of details to just receive a call back (I'm not d-mb...they want all the info to take lead and minimize leverage for the VAR contact)
Well...in a fast moving environment like tech/software/security...there are alternatives/competitors who make it easier to partner and deal with.
I could only imagine what support is like for customers once they are trapped.
The 800 # and those 3 layers deep...horrendous (I got better outcomes calling fast food places with questions).

If you work on CA, can you share your experience. Particularly from blended associates who do inbound/outbound. What has been your experience, do you take an even number of calls for both or do you see yourself taking more inbound? How about the goals?

If you are a retail rep please comment on examples of your assistant manager/general manager how you are forced to add things to customers accounts

Maximus Global Services cut 123 employees at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The layoffs occurred on May 3, according to a WARN notice. Affected positions included customer service agents and cleaning staff. The company offers various aviation services like ramp handling and commercial cleaning. Maximus Global Services previously worked with Spirit Airlines employees.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2026/05/07/florida-fll-ft-lauderdale-airport-layoffs-spirit/89974073007/

State farm been getting over on everyone lately when hear it is we pay our bill faithfully every month but can't help customers that pay that bill every month my house was had water damage that mess up my daughter and son room they try to offer me 500 dollars what is that going to do get some materials ok they told me it was my roof I got it fix out of pocket and they didn't want to help me fix my children ceiling I wish I never ever dealt with them

AI and automation are leading to job reductions in El Paso. HGS Solutions recently laid off 92 workers at its El Paso facility. These job cuts mainly impact customer service and back office positions.

El Paso

https://hoodline.com/2026/05/ai-layoffs-gut-el-paso-paychecks-as-oscars-draw-line-on-robot-scripts/

This time it’s revenue operations and customer support. We all know this is tied to AI, and it’s ridiculous how little anyone in charge actually seems to care about customers. AI has already proven to be pretty awful when it comes to customer support across the board. You can’t scroll through Twitter or any other platform without seeing people asking how to reach a real person at one company or another. Welcome to your future, Shopify customers.

An Atento subsidiary plans significant layoffs. Nearly 100 employees will lose their jobs. These cuts affect operations in South Florida. Most impacted roles are in customer service. These positions are considered vulnerable to AI.

South Florida

https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2026/04/30/customer-service-layoffs-south-florida.html

Someone on Reddit said that they tried calling Avaya Sales, and for the last 5 hours, everything is going to VM, and no one is calling back.

Around 100 internal customer service agents were laid off last week. Folks that were with the company for decades. Customer Service is now close to 100% being outsourced if not there already.

One of the reasons that Franklin Templeton employees about to be laid off got shifted to service Heritage clients is because the staffing was so poor in the face of more incoming calls, FIS clients such as Victory Funds were unhappy with the hold times and delays in service. This is why FT took back their calls. The question is rhetorical: are there any happy clients out there?

Wholesale Customer Service in the US for remote workers has started layoffs today.

T-Mobile will lay off 200 employees in Chattanooga. These job cuts affect its customer service center. The layoffs are scheduled to take effect on June 8th. The facility currently employs over 900 workers. A regional workforce team will provide support services to those affected.

Chattanooga, Tennessee

https://fox17.com/news/local/t-mobile-layoffs-in-chattanooga-t-mobile-layoffs-chattanooga-2026-customer-care-drive-job-cuts-warn-notice-tennessee-layoffs-chattanooga-call-center-workforce-impact

They just have to appear to be fair when going through this layoff process, because that's what it is-layoffs. They're making sure that all professional positions will have a job to move into. All service, no matter how technical or how good you are, is over. They'll have thee most incompetent 2040 workforce you could ask for. And for the customer? Bull-$hit. Wait til the customer waits on hold for twenty minutes only to get someone who, one, can't speak English, two, isn't trained to do a damn thing but "escalate a ticket", and three, keep seeing their renewal go up while basic service goes down. Who is advising the company on these kinds of business decisions? Are there ANY adults around? How did we get here??

"Based on 2025–2026 reports, Fiserv has faced significant scrutiny and operational issues, leading to allegations of providing substandard service, technical instability, and utilizing "junk fees".

Cigna wrecked Express Scripts. Used to be nice and simple when my health care coverage and my prescription coverage were separate. Now it's just one big cluster F. Service is terrible and all this waiting by the mail box for forced mail order prescriptions. I travel a lot and now I'm at the mercy for waiting for it to arrive in the mail, when ever that is. I hate having to schedule my departures because I'm waiting for the mailman. I can't skip medication or go for days without it. Something has to change! I miss the good old days when I could run to my local pharmacy and pick up my prescript at MY convenience. Now I have to WAIT and WAIT and hope the mailman arrives on time or whenever that is to get my meds. You can't reorder too early because the app will tell you it's too early to reorder!! There's been many times my supply runs out while I'm gone and the "maybe" arrival time is just after I'm gone. No meds for a week or two. They sit in the mailbox for anyone to take. In the heat or the cold. SOMETHING has to change!!!

The new AI visit tool is effectively handling much of the DL's workload. As a result, we could expand the number of stores per district, and downsize the number of DLs in the FS by at least one or two per region. The payroll savings from this reduction could be reinvested into increasing hours in the FS, where actual customer-facing work occurs.

Let's talk about what actually happened.

Avaya didn't just restructure. They cut thousands of experienced people — account managers, engineers, support staff — people who had spent years building real relationships with real customers. Not contractors. Not redundant roles. The people customers actually called when something broke or a deal needed to get done.

And those customers noticed. We watched it happen in real time. The calls shifted overnight. Not "what's the roadmap for Infinity" — it was "who do I even talk to now" and "should we start looking at alternatives."

Now there's a LinkedIn post about hiring to sell Infinity. Like the last few years didn't happen.

Here's the thing about trust in enterprise tech — it's not a product feature. You can't relaunch it. It lives in the people who showed up consistently for years, who knew the customer's environment, who picked up the phone. A lot of those people are gone. And the customers they served remember exactly why they left.

BlackBerry had better hardware by the time people stopped buying it. Didn't matter. The relationship was already broken.

We're not saying Avaya can't survive. But surviving and winning back the people you walked away from are two very different things. One is possible. The other takes a lot more than a job posting.

Welcome to Truist, how many money market accounts can I sell to you today?

Another monumental sc--w up from 3M corporate functions - customers affected by multiple divisions with comms sent from some but not others so total confusion amongst our channel. No proposed adjustment on clp so nightmare for customers and trying to push all admin on to them, whilst also not providing any information that they need to make the changes. Way to go commercial excellence team - completely disconnected from reality and the businesses, are we on the business of destroying all of our relationships and everything our sales teams work for, why are you so focussed on sales prevention —YOU ARE CRASHING OUR BUSINESSES SO WAKE UP.

Lowe’s delivers appliance in Region 6 with a third party disaster known as Spirit. Nothing but a bunch of illegals that are apathetic, lazy pos, that play the language barrier card when they damage your appliances, floors, walls, doorways etc. They show up late, unprepared and untrained. Corporate Lowes doesn’t give a rats a-s about complaints, as long as they save paying in house drivers a decent wage and benefits. Everyone needs to purchase elsewhere. Fck Lowes!

UHC is really getting what they pay for these offshore reps. Called in 6 times to get the same rep repeatedly who thought it was cute to transfer me to random departments and even bcbs rather than assist me. Even giggled on the phone about it.
Since I’m a former employee and I know UHC higher ups read these posts. I hope your company sinks and every single one of your state side employees(that you have left) find a better and healthier company to work for.

Sysco is eliminating all specialty customer service roles and shifting that work to another company they used before, Cognizant in April. Customer service reps get to keep jobs but with Cognizant as employer.

On paper, it might look like a cost saving move. But anyone who actually works in specialty meat and freshpoint knows the reality: this isn’t just “customer service.” This is product knowledge built over years. It’s understanding cuts of meat, sourcing, seasonality, substitutions, and how to guide chefs and buyers when something goes wrong. That kind of expertise doesn’t come from a script or a short training cycle.

Now the same people who built that knowledge are being asked to transition into roles where they essentially transfer what they know, only to see those jobs eventually moved to lower-cost call centers or AI. Just to save Sysco a few bucks. Clueless sysco higher ups! Specialty customers aren’t looking for generic support. They rely on relationships and expertise. When that disappears, so does the value that made the service “specialty” in the first place. Our prices high and we justify by saying look at the expertise and experience we have to offer that makes up for it. Our competitors must be jumping for joy at how much business coming their way.

Got called by a scammer (tried to fake local accent but was unsuccessful). Said from Wells Fargo Fraud department. Wanted my credit card number to validate I was I and said had two flagged charges - one from Ama....on and another from overseas.
Long story short, during the conversation I gave scammer fake CC number. He stated this was not the correct one. The scammer had my mailing address, and the first 6 digits of my CC. This is concerning. So I afterward called Wells Fargo from the 800 number on my CC. Explained to the banker on the other end what had happened. He started laughing and said, ok why are you calling us? I stated because scammer had a lot of my ID info and that my CC was likely compromised. I said how is it that a scammer can - IN REAL TIME - validate my CC? Clearly they were logging into Wells Fargo somehow and validating. Banker said "we don't care about them, we don't have enough manpower to follow them, all we care about is you". So I gave up and asked my account be flagged as compromised - he generated new CC request for me and that was that.
However - since when does WF not care they are allowing scammers to attempt to take control of our accounts? It was the most amazing (not in a good way) conversation I've ever had with Wells Fargo.
And for this guy to state baldly "we don't have enough manpower" was absolutely concerning.
This is what you get when cut cut cut is the mantra. Customer service? Seems to be trending down.

Both sites are filled with complaints about denied claims, inabilty to understand customer service agents, and poor service from Centerwell pharmacy and inability to get resolutions of complaints. Not that C-suite cares but they should care about retention of members. Or has Rechtin forgot that without members Humana doesn’t exist? I would like to see our retention rates before he came on board compared to now. Rechtin needs to go. The rodent needs to go.

HP has spent years testing how much friction its customers will tolerate — DRM-ink cartridges, firmware that blocks third-party supplies, and a CEO who called non-subscription customers a "bad investment." Forced wait times fit the pattern: treat the customer as a cost to be minimized rather than a person to be helped.

https://boingboing.net/2026/03/20/hp-made-support-callers-wait-15-minutes-on-purpose-even-when-agents-were-free.html

What does the future look like for the thousands and thousands of agency staff who have made Allstate their career? With the numerous changes coming to the EA in 2027, is an agent expected to just lock the doors should a customer walk up or refuse mail that may look like a payment? Has anyone thought this through? How will this be communicated to customers?

Poorly run organization?