A new bill looks to reduce hold times by requiring businesses to connect customers with a human within 5 minutes, aiming to reshape customer service.
SACRAMENTO, Calif — During the COVID-19 pandemic, Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur was helping his mom get medication, but what he thought would be a straightforward call to the pharmacy turned into hours spent on hold.
“I finally ended up just actually taking my cell phone with me. And while I was on hold still, and driving over to the pharmacy and showing them that I had been holding for 4 hours, and of course they weren’t doing anything to answer the phones,” Zbur said
Zbur knows he’s not alone, as people have shared their experiences with him of being placed on similar long holds or going through an automated process that completes without speaking with a person.
As automation becomes more ingrained in society, Zbur is seeking to ensure a human touch when helping customers resolve issues.
He introduced a bill that would cut down on hold times and endless chatbots by requiring businesses to connect customers with a human customer service representative within 5 minutes of the call being answered, upon request. The bill would also limit the time people can be placed on hold to 5 minutes.
For large companies that use an online customer service platform, they need to provide a clearly visible phone number for people to call to reach a human representative.
“It’s not going to displace technology completely, but it’s not going to allow technology to become a hindrance to actually getting help,” Zbur said.
At the same time, the bill will protect jobs by preventing large companies from using fully automated customer service options.
“Especially now that AI can be a positive thing in resolving simple requests quickly. But when you have a more complicated request where you need someone to understand a complicated issue and someone to provide thought and actually resolve something,” Zbur said.
The bill has gained support from both a communication workers’ union and a technology advocacy group for protecting jobs and addressing headaches caused by chatbots.
“Too many Californians are stuck in an endless loop with robots when what they need is real humans offering real help. AB 1609 affirms a simple principle: people deserve access to human support when it matters. By putting common-sense guardrails on automated customer service, California can ensure technology works for people — not the other way around,” said Samantha Gordon, Chief Advocacy Officer, of TechEquity.
The bill was just introduced, as Assemblymember Zbur says his office has already been in contact with retail groups and other stakeholders who would be impacted by the change in the law.
A law went into effect at the start of the year requiring a human customer service agent be available to people using app-based food delivery services.
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