All the technology and automation in the world is fruitless if there isn’t someone there to back it up.  Before Christmas I went on-line and attempted to purchase a gift certificate from a well known home delivery meal service.  I wanted to spend more than what it seemed I could through their website, so when the little chat window opened with “can I help you”, I said sure and went on to explain what I wanted.  After a little back and forth conversation, all of a sudden there was no response from the other end.  Leaving the window open, I got up, walked ten feet to the kitchen to grab a water and came back to a note that read because I hadn’t responded, the chat had ended.  Well crap, that was a waste of time!  A couple days later I attempted it again.  I got the automated greeting and then this time absolutely nothing after the auto intro.  At this point, I gave up and went elsewhere. 

A couple days after that I got a survey e-mail asking me about my customer service experience on their site.  I nicely and concisely laid out my experience, submitted it and still have had no response from the company even though they obviously have my contact information.  So not only didn’t they get my sale that time, they never will in the future - on top of the fact that if their name ever comes up in conversation with my friends, I will probably suggest they try somewhere else. 

Moral of the story, the sleekest of websites, automated e-mails, answering systems, and all the other techy bells and whistles, couldn't replace a real person who could have actually take care of my needs. In this case, having nothing (no chat option) may still have cost them my sale, but having something that didn't work and wasted my time - not to mention being something the company spent $$$ to provide - could actually end up costing multiple sales.