Programmed Inefficiency

“I'm already getting nervous," Alejandra told her brother, Gabriel. "This is the second time 'UBI' has canceled my trip. The drivers have told me that if they cancel trips, they lose points, but with this traffic, I don't think they care," Alejandra said with a gesture of annoyance.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow and said, "The ones who don't care are the app people, haha.”

“Relax," he added, "according to the 'Rolly' app, we have time. The van to Mexico doesn't leave for 30 minutes."

"UBI is here in 12 minutes. I think we'll make it on time," Alejandra commented nervously.

"I hope we don't regret it," Gabriel said. "The other day, Gustavo told me he had booked a transportation service to Mexico with an app and the driver didn't show up at the last minute, and there was nowhere to call or communicate. He put the complaint on Twitter and they answered him two days later. In short ... a disaster!!"

"And you're telling me this now?" Alejandra questioned her brother, with a distressed face. "Well, to be honest, my main concern right now is that they'll receive us at the 'FB' offices. Since they blocked my profile, I've sold 65% less and I'm really worried that they won't unblock me. They've got me in their hands!" she said, lowering her gaze.

"Well," Gabriel said, "look on the bright side, Iris's official store on 'ML' was closed for claiming improper charges and she hasn't sold anything for months and no one answers her anywhere."

"Oh poor thing! What despair!" Alejandra commented with a great sense of empathy.

It's evident that technology has opened up the possibility of providing services and sources of employment to a huge number of people. Applications and platforms quickly became a common thread for the supply and demand of different types of services. These transaction volumes can only be handled through automated processes. But it is precisely this immense volume of services that exposes a factor that in other times of marketing was key and now has simply become a calculated loss. I am referring to the quality of service.

The frenzy of requests between operating partners and customers managed by the programs cannot be handled in a particular way with trained personnel who try to correct deviations in the service, since this would affect the profitability of the business model. It makes no sense to have an army of people to deal with what the bots could not solve, so the service providers have found a way to hide from users and providers who are left "defenseless" in the face of any problem or abuse that the platforms may commit. It leaves users and operators alone.

Anyone who has been in this position will realize that it is not an error that the means of interpersonal communication with companies in many cases are practically non-existent.

It is evident that it is part of the formula; it is a risk measured by the developers and creators of these platforms. They may lose one or many customers because the volume is so large and the use of these applications is so widespread that they are already part of our lifestyle. So until the number of incidents significantly affects the business, it becomes a marginal factor of loss.

A similar effect can also be observed in the vast majority of websites that have a phone number on the contact page that is not answered by anyone, and an email that leaves us with the feeling that we have sent a message in a bottle into the sea asking for help.

"What happened?" Gabriel asked his sister.

"Well, in the end, fortunately, and after my friend who works at FB intervened and guided me on where and how to make the reactivation request, everything was clarified and my profile is now active," Alejandra replied.

"Anyway, I'm not going to let the same thing happen again. I already have a direct customer contact app and I also opened my own online store. By the way, what happened to Iris? Did they reopen her store on ML?"

"No," Gabriel replied, shrugging, "she had to open a new marketplace now on AZ and start all over again. That's the way it is!"

This could be good news for those business models that have decided to maintain or return to personalized service as an added value for that part of the market that appreciates it, making it a differentiator from the competition. In other words, “Companies that value the human factor, where people and clients are important. Or should I say, a luxury that should be paid”.