- I, For One, Welcome The Google Assistant To Make My Credit Card Reconsideration Phone Calls… by Dans Deals. I just want to make it clear that I welcome our new robot overlords.
- 1-800-Flowers kills cheap miles. by Frequent Miler. Booo!
- Up To $30 Stitch Fix Credit + $5 Swagbuccks: $10 Suntrust Deal + $20 Stitch Fix Referral by Travelin Points. Not a bad deal and good advice re ordering extras to keep.
- Marriott Backs Down on Lifetime Elite Status for Starwood Members (and Clarifies Amex Platinum Status) by View From The Wing. Good to see Marriott correct this, really wasn’t fair to lifetime SPG members previously.
Deals expiring at the end of today (view the full deal calendar here):
- [Targeted] AmEx Offer: Norwegian Cruise Lines, Spend $500+ & Receive $100 Statement Credit/10,000 Membership Rewards
- Speedpass+ App: Two Free Audible Audiobooks + $10 Amazon Credit (Works For Existing & New Users) [Android Only?]
- Free $10 Amazon Gift Card + 2 Months of Free Audible for Returning Subscribers
- [Targeted] Citi Thank You 20% Discount on Gift Card Redemptions
Deals expiring at the end of tomorrow:
I sent 1800Flowers an email, saying that the CP has lost it’s value to me if I can no longer use a promo code, and I would like a refund. Within the hour I received a call, and they said that they would do the order on the phone and I could use both the CP and promo code. I explained that a 1 time exception was not going to be enough, and they said that after Mother’s Day, the situation would be corrected. But I don’t know how knowledgeable the rep was on the subject, she might have just been trying to keep me happy.
Google assistant for recon calls,
So I can imagine the banter between two google duplex assistants, “hmm I understand your concern and wanting the latest Chase offering, yes I heard you say that you were a good customer and pay Bill’s on time, but looking over account, wow we have extended you a lot of credit and you have had lots of cards for short periods of time, I think you called yourself @ “lol/24″ on such and such social blog….”
So instead of dealing with outsourced flipcard/flowchart CSR, we will then deal with a powerful AI that can tap databases with powerful algorithms. After listening to an actual google assistant “duplex” make an actual call and setup an appointment, it’s amazing and a human job killer and will plug a lot of the things that slip thru because of the human element and persuasive but polite people getting rules bent.
I can see a lot of CSR jobs getting cut, and a lot of sales telemarketing jobs and robocalls, getting the axe.
Honestly I’m surprised that CC companies haven’t tapped into AI algorithms like Plantair (scary shite) makes Cambridge analytics look like child play. It’s like the NSA for corporations JP Mogran chase was using it internally, Forbes did an article about the data mining and categorizing that has been going on for 12-14 years by private companies. Google Plantar and Forbes pr Peter Thiel and Plantair.
So I can totally see how corporations would embrace a near perfect CSR that can’t be social engineered, swayed by a slick salesman of a Churner. A lot of the Human element will be removed, the law of unintended consequences or mass-effect of Slickdeals/Fat wallet/Reddit, can you imagine a recon department suddenly getting 100x or 1000x more phone calls by these Robo assistants. Just like the automated price protections that nickle and dime the game and overwhelmed the system with all this sub $5-10 dollar price matches.