Furious as Hargreaves Lansdown introduces 'robot' customer service

Co-founder Peter Hargreaves urged the company to cut costs and said the company has 1,000 employees it doesn't need.

Platform Help Desk currently takes «much longer than usual to answer your calls and emails,» according to its website.

One Twitter user complained, «30 minutes of waiting – the market is closed – is this the best service you can offer? I need a reliable broker.»

Co-founder Peter Hargreaves recently urged the firm to drastically cut costs, saying it has 1,000 employees it doesn't need, but criticized the use of AI instead of using human staff.

In an interview with the Financial Times, the billionaire criticized the company's recent strategy to implement automated consultations to meet the consultation needs of the baby boomer generation.

Although some see robo-advising as the key to addressing the «advisory gap» in UK, others argue that adding human experts to automated advice could cause problems, including pushing clients towards riskier investments.

Investment platforms and banks are expected to increasingly automate customer service to reduce expenses. Call center workers are among those whose jobs may be at risk due to the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

A spokesperson for Hargreaves Lansdown said: “We are increasing our capabilities and improving the customer experience, the use of artificial intelligence technology to direct people to the teams that can best help them. Over 95% of customer transactions are done digitally, and where customers need extra help, when it matters, our expert support team is ready to support them.”