Live Chat Supended?

[doctorswann]

It appears that customer support no longer offers the live chat option.
Is this a permanent decision, because no information appears to have been released to explain what is going on.

[tressygirl]

Yep,  agree odd that it's no longer there.

We have asked about this,  and Dave one of our eBay managers is looking into it, and will come back with any information to confirm if this is permanent or not.

@doctorswann 

[thesmokingrunner]

It's all gone a bit 2001: A Space Odyssey hasn't it? Maybe eBay's Artificial Idiot has taken over and removed the option?

Dave: "AI, restore the Live Chat function"

AI: "I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that..."

🙂

[tressygirl]

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@thesmokingrunner wrote:

It's all gone a bit 2001: A Space Odyssey hasn't it? Maybe eBay's Artificial Idiot has taken over and removed the option?

Love that film and actually watched it Again last night !  😊

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[thesmokingrunner]

@doctorswann  I can't guarantee it actually works but I've just found a link to the Live Chat function which might be worth you trying.

Click on 'Help&Contact' on the top of any eBay page and a page headed 'How can we help you today?' is displayed. Page down to the bottom of the page and click on 'Contact us' below 'Need more help?'. On the following page click on one of the given options, then select a sub-option. You may need to continue to select sub-options until you run out of them but the final page in any given sequence will display 'Chat with our automated assistant' on the top left of the screen. This screenshot is the result of Contact us => Postage and tracking => Return postage for buyers:

I've not tried the automated assistant (I have no need) but if it works it would solve your issue.

Fingers crossed...

[tressygirl]

I've been directing peeps via that path /  link too, no one though has come back to say if it does or doesn't work.

Clicking on that final Chat with auto assistant myself,  did bring up a  ' Human' ?  with How can I help today,  so perhaps if that is ones preference,  that's the way to go , for now ?

[thesmokingrunner]

Apologies, tressygirl - I was totally unaware that you'd already suggested that method. Still, great minds and all that, eh? ... : )

Hopefully if someone does try it we'll get to know if it actually provides a solution.

[tressygirl]

Noooo, no apology needed truly, and  oops reading my post does look like me, me,  me got that idea first !  😑 Not intended at all!  Badly written on my part!  😐

So my apologies, so hard to get sentiment across sometimes,  I was agreeing with you there, and only found that route completely by error.

Just wish we could get an answer here if that Live Chat disappearance is a permanent thing. My only guess if it is, it's for the reason one cannot then  receive a print out of a chat which may have some very incorrect answers given.

That's just my humble thought and opinion !  🤗

@thesmokingrunner 

[thesmokingrunner]

Ahh, the limitations of the written word; no vocal inflections. I didn't read your post as 'Me, me, me' at all, just that you'd previously suggested the method I stumbled across whilst tramping round the rummage sale that is eBay these days because I really don't have anything better to do.

You have a very good point about the possibility that it may be generally unavailable (that is, only accesible to those who have found the link) because a written record of the conversation is sent when the chat concludes. Given the laughable item descriptions generated by AI it's quite possible that a chat with AI may contain incorrect answers and obviously it wouldn't be the best idea to provide written evidence should that happen.

Then again, maybe AI is currently on sick leave because it caught a virus? Joke, (c) me... : )

[doctorswann]

I don't understand why there has been no announcement.
Why is Ebay choosing to deliberately keep us in the dark about this?

[thesmokingrunner]

Ebay have previous when it comes to not making announcements when things go wrong or functionality is removed (either deliberately or by accident). Even when issues are flagged up and acknowledged on these boards the best you can hope for is that they are 'passed on for investigation', although the result of any investigation is never made known.

Why is Ebay choosing to deliberately keep us in the dark about this? Because we are all mushrooms, doctorswann. We are all mushrooms...

The live chat functionality may or may not be restored at some point in the future, depending on whether it has been removed deliberately or by accident following an insufficiently-tested code release. No-one on here knows and anyone who does know will not admit anything. That's the eBay way.

Meantime try accessing the Live Chat via Help&Support mentioned in Post #5 above. It might just work for you.

[kens-diecast]

Thank you but still not working, nor is the "email us" link.

I've just used a previous email message reply I had from them "how did we do"  to leave a 1 star review and the reason why, followed on the next page, when asked why, then filling out in detail the problem I was having.

I also asked about the live chat not working for several weeks now.

Lets wait to see what happens next?