I had to use text messaging to close her NY Times subscription. I texted "I need to cancel a subscription" The bot asked me why
1. No time to read
2. Price concern
3. Service issue
And I was told I had to answer 1, 2, or 3! Really?
Then a human got involved, and he/she was good, but obviously the bot still has some control because at the end I got this:
"Thank for contacting the New York Times, I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day."
Come on.....this is terrible. The human realized this and immediately added
"And also before you go, I wanted to express my most sincere condolonces to you and your family"
There is more, but this may be enough. My question for those of you working on apps that have registered users or subscribers: how do you deal with notification that one of your clients has died? Did you even give this use case some thought?
My father was murdered last year, and his iPhone X will be kept forever in evidence.
It has made dealing w/ all of his affairs very challenging as Verizon gave away his number as soon as we informed them about the situation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deceased_Wikipedians
That just isn't very good. Of course, death is another reason, but there may also be many other reasons they did not consider; they will need to add at least two more options, one for "other reason not listed" and one for "refuse to answer".
It will unfortunately be the final answer for all of us.
For the two specific cases you experienced, it seems like the auto-miscommunication could’ve been prevented if the customer service person had an option to disable auto-follow-up messages. Which is a feature you think they’d have for a much more common situation: angry customers.
(We're technically able. We can change their contact details before the case is closed. It's a dirty little secret.)
But this is the problem. The feedback loop is usually intended to evaluate the rep. The rep should not be in charge of this. This would be an edge-case within an edge-case. If I had to suggest a solution, I'd suggest the only way to break this loop is for the rep to forward the 'case', recording and all, to their manager. But then we have to trust the manager doesn't want to fluff results either.
Many companies don't know how or haven't thought about how to deal with the death of a user or subscriber. As an estate admin, I've had trouble dealing even with established banking institutions who may or may not train all their employees on what to do or who to contact when a customer has passed away.
One thing, I discovered was Hereditas (https://withblue.ink/2019/03/18/what-happens-to-your-digital...), a project that's sort of like a "deadman's switch" which may help the survivors deal with all the digital loose-ends that one's death might leave behind. This, combined with proper estate planning might hopefully make things easier for those we leave behind.
I will try take this into account for my future projects or my teams projects.
I don't think we have a system in place at my work, and I don't remember a system for any previous jobs either.
I had been planning to cancel my own Netflix subscription for a while, when my father passed away. For some reason I felt compelled to do it on that day. I don't understand what drove me to, but I vividly remember how petty it felt along with all other practical responsibilities while I was grieving.
I recommend that you take your time and mourn before worrying about these matters. It may have been a form of keeping occupied in my case.
Some services charge you in advance for the next period, so if you fail to pay they will (or should) simply stop the service.
Cancelling is another beast. It took me 2 months to cancel. So many phone calls that never end up to the person in charge of cancellation. They make cancellation really hard. Eventually I reported to my bank, who cancelled my credit card. Really hate NY times.
DO NOT SUBSCRIBE TO NY TIMES.
With a wave of deaths coming from COVID.. this is going to be a big issue in the coming days/weeks.