Cancelling a car repair appointment
I had made an appointment with the car repair place, but I needed to cancel it. So I called there, and an AI answered. Transcript from memory.
AI: "How can I help you?"
Me: "I need to cancel my appointment on Thursday."
AI: "Sure, what is your name and the exact date of your appointment?"
Me: "Vrandečić. That's V-R-A—"
AI: "Thank you. Your appointment has been cancelled. Can I help you otherwise?"
Me: "Yes. Could you please send me a confirmation via email?"
AI: "I cannot send you a confirmation via email, but I can send you a confirmation via WhatsApp. Would you like that?"
Me: "Yes, please, that's perfect. Thank you!"
And indeed, before the call was over I had a message that the "Your appointment has been cancelled." I would have appreciated some specifics, just to make sure it really understood me, but I was glad about the written confirmation.
I was quite happy with the whole interaction. It felt natural, I was served quickly, where I am otherwise used to call and wait for a long time on the phone. That felt great.
Alas, an hour later, I get an SMS with a link to check in early for my appointment in two days.
Frustrated I click on the check-in link. There's no option to cancel but there's a free text field in which I write that I have already cancelled via phone and to cancel the appointment.
The next day I get a reminder about the appointment the next day via email. No link or anything to cancel the appointment. I answer to the email that I have cancelled the appointment, please confirm, but never get a reply.
Today, one minute before the appointment, I get an SMS that my appointment has been cancelled. My assumption is that the technician was going through the check in data, and saw the free text field, and cancelled the appointment.
I'm quite amazed how fluent the conversation with the AI went. It was incredibly frustrating to then notice that the actual action has not been performed, even though it was confirmed. There are so many ways this could have been caught and fixed in time. To be honest, this showed me again the huge potential and upside of the whole thing, but also that we haven't yet figured out how to actually use it right. It will be an interesting decade ahead.
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