It's easy to automate the happy path interactions. But it's impossible to enumerate and prepare for all the problems and particular situations the customers are in. (Anna Karenina Principle)
I guess their strategy is hope these problems doesn't happen that often and the consequence is not that severe.
I would imagine there is a way to open a direct chat with customer service in these cases.
Always remember that youre reading marketing fluff first. Be able to unpack the motivations behind the fluff and you find that money is the reason.
I don't foresee them getting rid of phone altogether.. _that_ seems rosey. But I certainly see a 95% chat / SMS future with voice only as strictly needed.
This might just be a case of the speaker not being precise, but even so, we can make a shrewd guess of the level of service we can expect, from other companies that have gone the minimal customer service route. Every couple of months, there's an article on HN about someone hitting a brick wall when dealing with a problem created by one of these companies.