Media companies’ use of AI chatbots could drive you crazy

Signature with Verizon logo, San Francisco, California, November 20, 2025 (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

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During the heyday of cable bundles, one of the constant complaints from customers was that the customer service was terrible. Next to complaining about the DMV, complaining about the cable company has almost become an American pastime. And as industry experts explained at the time, there was good reason for customer dissatisfaction.

“The monopoly roots of cable companies often created a corporate culture where customer satisfaction was a low priority. Cable companies were often given exclusive rights to various geographic areas, so they had no incentive to provide good (let alone great) customer service.”

Initially, customers were much happier with the new Internet and digital TV competitors. In part, that’s because those startups were trying harder. And because there are fewer opportunities to annoy customers,

Satellite service and IPTV providers are currently in a honeymoon period with their customers, and it will be interesting to see whether their strong reputation for customer service remains as the market matures. Consumers tend to remember negative experiences more than positive ones, and because many consumers have only a limited number of interactions with newcomers, the number of possible bad experiences is also limited. ”

But the euphoria of having new options is starting to fade. This is in part because customer service budgets are being cut across the industry. But it’s also because new AI-driven customer service chat bots have a track record of reliability that can best be described as “erratic.”

As an example, I’d like to share a discussion I had regarding Verizon’s Chat Bot option. The earliest they would suggest a phone call back was after 5 days, so I used the chat option.

As a little background, I was interested in subscribing to YouTube TV through Verizon. I’ve been a subscriber to the company’s wireless broadband service for several years, and they offered a deal that gave you $20 off for six months when you subscribe to YouTube TV. The only disclaimer was that this deal was only available to new TV subscribers. And since I had never subscribed to YouTube TV, I didn’t think it would be a problem.

And I couldn’t have been more wrong.

When I signed up for YouTube TV through Verizon, the monthly fee was the standard $82.99. So I tried to get some clarification from Verizon’s customer support chatbot. And it didn’t work. Below is a screenshot of a discussion that made me even more confused and frustrated.

At this point I was just silently screaming and wondering if I wanted to repeat the experience or just go back to the days of terrestrial television.

To be clear, I’m not particularly big on Verizon’s customer service experience. Almost all digital media companies were found to have similarly poor approaches to customer service. Don’t even get me started on what the response to Hulu Live TV was like.

But unlike the days of cable TV bundles, customers of modern TV platforms have options. So their reluctance to provide effective customer service is a bit disconcerting.