In Consumerism Gossip V on the FTC’s case against Uber, you’ll remember the core complaint: cancellation of subscription service was a maze. For example, one needs to contact human service that almost seems not exist. Like if you’ve ever shouted “转人工!” (“human agent!”) into your phone’s AI agent like it owed you money, you get the picture.

Well, this turns out not just a Silicon Valley export. Xinhua Daily Telegraph — the official speakerphone of the China government, reported on related issue with a crisp article:

‘Transfer to Human Agent’—Make it More Straightforward!

Xinhua Daily Telegraph · May 7, 2025 | Reporter: Zhou Yuan | (translated full report)

Trying to get help from a smart customer service bot these days feels like a farce—misunderstood questions, irrelevant answers—might as well yelling at a toaster. To reach an actual human, users must click through a digital obstacle course, only to land in another queue. This sluggish communication brings terrible user experience. Smart service was supposed to solve problems. It has, increasingly, become one.

During this year’s May Day holiday, the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Bureau reported that over half of consumer complaints involved issues like poor after-sales service and failures in fulfilling orders. That includes things like platform customer support dysfunction and unreachable human hotlines. And this isn’t an isolated spike—nationwide, complaints about smart customer service rose 56.3% year-over-year in 2024, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation.

Improving how inquiries and complaints are handled is essential to improving the consumer experience. A recently issued directive from the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council emphasizes optimizing the consumer environment to boost confidence and spending [FTC? anyone?], explicitly calling for the resolution of persistent consumer pain points. That includes solving the now-infamous “hard to reach a human” issue—not just treating symptoms, but fixing the system. ==Companies are expected to genuinely serve their customers, not annoy them with superficial AI or hide behind it as a digital decoy.==

To fix the “route to human” problem, the immediate priority is to streamline access and increase the responsiveness of human agents. That means:

  • Making human contact methods clear and accessible
  • Simplifying the process to reach them
  • Providing one-click options especially for elderly users and people with disabilities
  • Allocating a sensible balance between AI and human agents
  • Clearly defining the roles of each so that the whole system actually works

At the end of the day, this is less a technical issue and more a question of willingness to sincerely serve. The core job of customer service is to solve problems—not to be a smokescreen or a holding pattern. If businesses want people to feel confident spending, they need to respond fast, handle issues properly, and deliver real outcomes—not fake “smart” ones.

When Xinhua News starts shouting complaints out loud, it’s the functional equivalent of an FTC lawsuit—only this time, the government isn’t across the table. It is the table.

China’s Market Supervision Bureau vs. the FTC: Who will make bad customer service disappear faster? This is starting to feel more exciting than the AI race.