Have you ever been stuck going in circles for hours with an AI chatbot to try and secure a refund?

Over the years, customers have made it increasingly clear that they would far rather their complaint be dealt with by a real person.

Many shoppers find chat bots to have incredibly limited capabilities, often leading to frustration if no alternative communication is available.

The Home Show host Sinead Ryan told Lunchtime Live her top tips for getting the most out of these services.

"I do find two things have tended to work for me in the past," she said.

"The first thing, certainly when it's a text bot, is to put in a form of words that kind of frighten the life out of it - so whoever programmed it.

"That would include things like putting in the regulators terms, so if you have, for instance, the aviatian regulator or the regulator for utilities or communications, by actually putting in the terminology of that regulator can often bump it up into a human inbox."

Sinead said these bots are usually pre-programmed to escalate complaints including certain words to human workers immediately.

You can listen back to the full interview here:

Main image: Businesswoman working at a customer service helpline desk. Image: Kritchanut Onmang / Alamy Stock Photo