Chatbots are great if they assist me with quick actions, like viewing my order/shipping status, and when it's obvious that I'm "talking" to a bot. What gets annoying are chatbots that start with "how can I help you?" and attempt to use natural language processing on my reply to guesstimate a response. More often than not I end up frustrated, wishing there was an 'Operator' button that I can use to talk with a real person. It's way easier and more comforting to be talking to a real person behind the business when I need something.

It's distressing that more and more chatbots are spawned every day to take the human element out of customer support or when engaging with a business. Chatbots work when they're a complement to human customer support, but when they're up front and center they tend to be distracting, frustrating, and their attempts to act human often amuses me. I do like Kik's and Messenger's approach to a bot and I think they are on the right path.