Are chatbots making things more difficult than old-fashioned transactions?

May 25, 2026 — 2:00pm

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One comedy show. Two seats. Not a big ask. But the days of simple transactions seem as numbered as those seats I’d spent an hour to secure. The problem was the chatbot, linked to the app that absorbed my data and credit card details, yet somehow failed to render the physical QR codes to manifest the seats.

Are you following this? The chatbot struggled. While I had confirmation of the sale via email, I lacked the evidence an usher would recognise. Hence, my chat with Google Dialogflow ™ built within the Ticketmaster app, a chatbot that “utilizes natural language processing to help users search for tickets and purchase them.”

Having opted out of future emails and amazing discount deals, I hunted in vain for the tickets I’d allegedly purchased (plus order processing fees).........

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