It is a matter of humanization, of respect for the consumer, and it is necessary to protect the most fragile. The term ‘customer support’ has disappeared from many websites.
It has already happened to almost all ZAP readers: for the phone for some company, some service, and they never talk to a person.
It’s a machine (trying to) deal with the matter, indicating the options, telling us to press this or that number.
And, often, in addition to never speaking to a human being, the phone call ends and the matter remains the same. Nothing was resolved.
The Socialist Party (PS) he wants end with this: changing the law that regulates consumer rights, which must necessarily include the “contact with a human interlocutor”.
Nuno Fazenda, socialist deputy, said that it is a question of “respect for the consumer”.
And it is also a way of protection of consumers more fragile, such as the elderly or people with some type of disability, who have more difficulty making these phone calls.
The PS presented a proposed law in the Assembly of the Republic and believes that the proposal will be approved, “to ensure that the consumer is better protected and also to ensure that there is a reinforcement of humanization in the treatment of consumers”.
“We believe that the kindness This initiative will appeal to common sense so that it can be made viable in Parliament”, continued PS deputy, Nuno Fazenda.
Also at , Paulo Fonseca, advisor to Deco, indicated that the association carried out a study that shows that “the companies increasingly remove the consumer from accessing the companyespecially through digital means”.
In fact, Paulo points out, the expression ‘customer support’ disappeared of the websites.
Susana Simões de Almeida, president of the Portuguese Consumer Law Association, calls for a “normative building that protect the consumer in a digital environment”.
“The project itself speaks to consumers particularly vulnerable: elderly people, people who do not have digital literacy, but all of us, currently, in a digital environment, are especially vulnerable“.
Susana highlights the “strategies that platforms create to to drive o consumer to adopt a consumption decision that he would not otherwise have made”.
Gustavo Paulo Duarte is the president of the Confederation of Commerce and Services – and understands companies’ use of artificial intelligence. It’s a question of control of costs.
“Nowadays we talk about companies’ sustainability difficulties and we have little added value. We are increasingly talking about imposing more costs – and I’m not saying that having a person there is a cost – but, if there is an alternative that the company thinks is best for it, it should be free to make this decision.”
“Now, the consumer, who is the true evaluator of the service, will say whether they want it or not”, he admits, but warns that “everything should not be passed on to law”.
