The Human Factor: Consumer technology suppliers in danger of customer dissatisfaction through AI chatbot use

When I hear “sorry, I didn’t quite get that” for the third time in a service support call, they’ve probably lost me. Whatever happens next – even if the support call for my phone, or laptop, or gaming console is resolved – this is not an experience that makes me warm to the brand. So why are AI chatbots offered so widely for customer service and technical support? Who thinks they are the right fix for consumer-electronics support?

Let’s start with the voice of the customer.

New research from MindMetre, across a nationally representative sample of over 2,000 respondents, suggests a striking paradox for consumer-electronics brands.

While 77% of UK consumers feel AI chatbots are increasingly being offered for device support, 75% say chatbots alone are not a satisfactory method of support and would weaken their loyalty to the device brand. That headline captures a broader reality now emerging across UK and European studies: buyers of phones, laptops and gaming devices want speed and convenience, but not at the cost of resolution, empathy and control.

When bots become the default method of support – especially when they miss the point, waste time, misunderstand or fail to escalate to a human helper – then customer loyalty is seriously in danger.

It would appear that consumer electronics companies would be well served by paying more attention to this research finding, along with the various ramifications which spring out of it.

First, let’s look at the apparent size of the prize.

Research shows that businesses leveraging AI chatbots save up to 30% in customer support costs and can remarkably speed up their response times . In tandem, the global AI market in retail and eCommerce is projected to grow from $9.4Bn to $85.1Bn by 2032 - an estimated CAGR of over 31% during this period .

Any sensible corporation would then weigh this attractive-sounding saving against its potential impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

Once the propaganda and general blind enthusiasm for AI is set to one side, it would seem that preference for human customer support assistants is persistent and widespread and does have an impact on loyalty and churn.

Many authoritative research sources show a clear bias towards human support on non-trivial issues, with the issue of loyalty clearly in the balance. Gartner reports that 64% of customers would prefer companies didn’t use AI for customer service, and 53% would consider switching if they discovered a company was going to use AI for service . 

Gartner also finds that only 14% of customer service issues are fully resolved in self-service . In other words, human assistants are needed to reach a satisfactory conclusion. So, no problem if the interface between bot and human is well-crafted. Disaster if that is not the case, resulting in rising frustration and damage to loyalty and brand perception.

UK-specific research confirms Gartner’s finding. Qualtrics’ 2025 UK research says only 5% of UK consumers prefer to use an automated assistant such as a chatbot, while 58% worry they won’t be able to reach a human when companies use AI . With the same research finding that nearly half (44%) of bad experiences lead to cut spending, brands are losing loyalty and revenue without being able to understand why.

Does that not all add up to a major warning bell for consumer electronics companies? 30% cost savings surely need to be carefully calibrated against the cost of lost customers, along with the cost of recruiting new ones.

Why is a customer ringing up? It remains a fact that consumer electronics issues tend to be somewhat complex.

Phones, laptops and gaming consoles create “double dependency” (work + life). Asurion Europe’s Home:Work? research points out how hybrid work has increased reliance on home tech, finding two-thirds of working adults see effective tech support for all devices as ‘essential’, and that many would pay for 24-48 hour resolution . The perception we have of dependency on our electronic devices in and around the home is strong… and growing stronger. The Asurion research is a major indicator that resolution quality, as well as speed, is critical. So the key question for this sector is whether bots can handle this complexity.

Asurion Europe’s additional report - Tech Terrors – provides further context. Respondents point to regular tech failures and valuable time wasted across home electronics, with 33–55% experiencing significant breakdowns quarterly (peaking among 18–34s) and 66% wanting a single, unitary insurance + tech support package to avoid “admin nightmares” of multiple hotlines .

These findings do not amount to a huge positive vote for bot-only (or heavily bot-dependent) models. Device issues are often multi-system (hardware, OS, peripherals, accounts, cloud sync, child safety, data migration). A simple or narrowly trained AI chatbot can easily get it wrong - misclassification, looping, failure to dynamically assess multiple possible issues that human experience often quickly infers.

It may be that the general trend towards chatbots is – as a whole – undermining consumer confidence.

The UK has seen high-profile chatbot disasters, which can rapidly achieve the status of urban myth – something that people enjoy spreading the word about. One good example was DPD’s AI chatbot that, when pushed by a frustrated user, swore, mocked the firm and wrote a critical poem about it—going viral and forcing a rollback . Overpromising bot capabilities “to cut costs” invites backlash when complex cases appear .

This seems to be having an effect on consumer habits and behaviours, again undermining that apparent promise of 30% customer service cost savings from bot adoption. People appear to be actively bypassing bots to reach humans. ServiceNow’s 2024 Consumer Voice analysis found 75% of UK consumers press no buttons in IVR to force a human and 77% look up ‘hacks’ to bypass chatbots .

So, given all this attitudinal evidence, where are bots delivering value? What is the UK bot adoption vs. satisfaction picture?

Usage of AI tools is rising in the UK, but satisfaction is uneven. The UK government’s Public Attitudes to Data and AI tracker shows six in ten had used chatbots in the prior three months. Nevertheless, usage levels don’t seem to have yet translated into confidence and/or trust for more complex or nuanced tasks .

Academic studies have indicated an adverse effect on loyalty. A 2024 study on chatbot-led service failure associates frustration with aggression and ultimately reduced loyalty. At the same time, though, it indicates easily accessed human touchpoints alongside bots can be successful at avoiding escalation and keeping customers happy .

YouGov research tells us that finds Britons do consider chatbots to be capable for factual or formulaic tasks. By the same token, we consider them unsatisfactory for emotional or complex contextual ones .

All of which takes us neatly to consider why consumer-electronics is a special risk zone

Three main reasons can be highlighted:

• Complexity and variance. We’re dealing with interdependencies between devices, operating systems, software, accessories connectivity, and more. Each person’s set-up will be a little different. Human empathy may be as important to sloth resolution as technical accuracy.

• Identity, security and data privacy. Consumers are wary about data use in bot interactions; UK research flags privacy concerns and lower trust in AI’s handling of personal information .

• Value is in resolution, not just response. Asurion Europe’s reports show consumers will invest more in devices if setup, reliability and recovery are assured—often through a unified human-backed support layer .

What’s the answer? What does work? The hybrid, human-machine model

The train has left the station and it will not be stopped. AI is creeping into all our lives and – however much we may not wish it – we all do have to deal with the realities of technological progress. Even when we look beyond the undoubted bubble of AI-hype currently prevalent among not very smart management.

Therefore, the lesson isn’t ‘no AI’. The lesson is ‘no AI in isolation.’ Analyst Forrester proposes that conversational AI can be valuable if it’s deployed as assistive, not obstructive. It is being well deployed for simple triage tasks. It can usefully summarise sessions. For those with a very specific query, it can fetch device-specific knowledge. Most importantly, it can be made to hand off gracefully with full collected context to a human who then takes the call to an empathetic resolution .

For consumer electronics companies, four principles illuminate the path to success:

• Design your systems for fast, transparent escalation. Don’t bury the person option. Measure satisfaction from escalation in your Net Promoter Score model. Test the automation to make sure it doesn’t go off the guardrails.

• Support your people with more device-specific training. Help your people be super-charged at troubleshooting with data and procedural support at their fingertips.

• Sign up to a single, joined-up support layer. Echoing Asurion Europe findings, offer a unitary support and cover proposition across phones, laptops, gaming and connected home. Offer one number, one app, all with the human touch .

• Measure resolution and churn. If callers give up – they’re probably leaving. It costs far less to retain an existing customer than to recruit a new one. 

Next Steps

The MindMetre headline finding from which we started - widespread exposure to chatbots, coupled with a majority who say bots-only weakens loyalty – should not be ignored by the consumer electronics industry.

In consumer electronics, problems are often messy, multi-device and emotionally charged. Apparent savings from AI-driven chatbots may be illusory if poorly deployed. Certainly, the wider effects of any such deployment should be carefully managed to see how much they achieve their promise, and how much they affect customer satisfaction, spend and loyalty.

The brands that will gain customers aren’t the ones that remove humans, but the ones that blend automation with rapid, empowered human support, offer unitary help across devices, and prize resolution over deflection.