5-10 orders a week, but no way to reach a human when something breaks

What happened to Customer Obsession? I still have this Amazon Prime key ring. It came as part of the welcome kit for some of the early Prime members in India. I was one of them. I still use it. That little piece of plastic probably says more about my relationship with Amazon than any loyalty programme ever could. And that's why my frustration today isn't really about one bad experience. It’s about how the relationship has changed. I am actually the kind of customer who doesn't want to talk to customer care. Give me an app, chatbot or self-service option and I'll figure it out. I order probably 5–10 things from Amazon every week. I'm tech-savvy. I know my way around the platform. But when something genuinely goes wrong, getting to a human can feel almost impossible. Select the order. Select the problem. Get the automated answer. Doesn't solve it. Try another route. More automation. Eventually, you start wondering: “Am I being helped, or am I being prevented from reaching someone who can help me?” And that's when frustration turns into helplessness. If I struggle with it, imagine a senior citizen trying to navigate the same maze. They'll probably just give up. And I understand the economics. AI can handle millions of interactions at a fraction of the cost of humans. ​ The economics are undeniable. But there is a hidden cost. The company saves money(7X) The customer spends time. And it isn't just Amazon. Banks. Airlines. Telecom. Insurance. And I get what feels like 50 AI-powered solicitation calls every day — loans, property, insurance, investments... So AI is increasingly being used to sell me things I don't want, while another AI is trying to ensure I can't reach someone when I actually need help. 😂 This is where I think we need to rethink AI. ​ Amazon built its reputation around: Customer Obsession. Start with the customer and work backwards. But are we now starting with: “How do we serve this customer at the lowest possible cost?” Those are very different philosophies. I don't want humans everywhere. I want my problem solved. Let AI handle the routine stuff. Understand context. Remember what I've already told it. But when I'm stuck or dealing with an exception, AI should know when to get out of the way and bring in a human. Perhaps the next evolution of Customer Obsession isn't eliminating human interaction. It's knowing when human interaction actually matters. Because loyalty isn't created by making it difficult to leave. It's created by making the customer feel that they matter. And no amount of AI can automate that. #AI #CustomerExperience #CustomerObsession #Amazon #CustomerService #AIFatigue