Melissa Kite Melissa Kite

How I got one over on the chat bot

My boiler needed a service and I went into battle with a website. And because God favours the brave I won

[Bruno Bustabad/iStock] 
issue 02 July 2022

‘Your service contract has been completed,’ said someone or something from British Gas, in the chat box on its website.

I had been watching the squiggly lines of the icon telling me a person or a bot was typing. When it finally spat that out as the reason I could not book an annual boiler service, I was baffled.

GIF Image

Disagree with half of it, enjoy reading all of it

TRY 3 MONTHS FOR $5
Our magazine articles are for subscribers only. Start your 3-month trial today for just $5 and subscribe to more than one view

Read next

Trending

John Foreman

Don’t forget Bomber Command

There were many tributes when John ‘Paddy’ Hemingway, the last surviving fighter pilot of the Battle of Britain, died in March. Prince William said he was saddened about the death of the ‘last of The Few’ while the prime minister saluted Hemingway’s ‘extraordinary life’. There were no such statements in February on the death of

Also in Society

Also by Melissa Kite

Latest

Comments

Join the debate for just £1 a month

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.

Already a subscriber? Log in