Is technology taking customer service too far?

Gayle — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:53:00 GMT

How very apt (that’s apt – a, p, t) that in the week we are nearing the nail biting climax of the current Big Brother series, I was subjected to my very own Big Brother moment. Yes unfortunately I have succumbed again to the car crash telly that fills our screens for three months of the year. Cameras everywhere watching the participants every move. No words or actions go unnoticed, not matter how innocent or otherwise. And all for the notoriety of being a Z list celebrity for a few weeks, trawling China Whites and the odd film premier before plummeting to the depths of has-been-ness.

Anyway, my Big Brother moment came in the form of being ‘stalked’ while perusing a well known direct mail list website. I had registered my details as required in order to progress past the initial screen. Without going into too much detail regarding the usability or lack of it of the site, after some time (and weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth) I managed to filter to a list that I may or may not wish to purchase. And all of a sudden, as if by magic, I received a call from said company, asking after my well being and general happiness with all things direct marketing. Coincidence? I would have liked to have given them the benefit of that doubt, had the same thing not happened on EVERY occasion I used the site.

I have visions of huge rooms filled with ‘account managers’ trawling the lists of users on the site, tracking their every move, leaping on the phone to close the sale, should they dare to abandon their shopping cart and leave before purchasing.

This sales tactic that they are employing is making me not want to buy from them. In the same way that I don’t want to buy from the sales assistant in the electrical goods shop that insists on following me around asking if they can help me. The buying process of the consumer is an easy concept to grasp. I am happy to browse your wares at my leisure, without your interference. If I need your help, you will know because I will ask for it. Simple really.

And on that note, I am off to resume my obsessive people watching on the Big Brother live streaming.

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Is technology taking customer service too far?