Moderately Confused by Jeff Stahler for September 17, 2021

When they charge you by the minute when you call them, you bet it is.

“… Please stay on the line until your call is no longer important to us.”

Makes me wonder if their product or service is that good to begin with.

Then, there are the companies that have no phone listed anywhere in their support menu. They suggest seeking the help one needs from their online site, which take customers first to an AI site that has no answers to anything.

When one finally gets a human, he/she is not always fluent in one’s own language, one must repeat most of the earlier info, then one gets the I will transfer your request to the appropriate department,

While waiting one receives an email that says one’s request has been assigned a reference number and will be handled in the order in which it has been received.

Problem solved.

It’s true. There is a weekly prize awarded for keeping the most people on hold.

There are some exceptions.

Fitbit answers the phone, they also have email and chat.

Express VPN has chat and a email help desk ticket function.

If you subscribe to Microsoft 365 Office they not only answer the phone, but you can go on line and schedule them to give you a call back. I think the most I’ve ever waited was a couple of minutes.

On rare occasions, I have encountered other help desks that will give you the option to keep holding or put yourself on a list for call back – this is the sensible way to handle long waiting times.

AT&T will connect you to a robot that tells you how to reboot the modem, but puts your number in a queue. If you call them back within a certain time frame, you get put on a short list to talk to an agent.

I like chat. If the agent is in Bangalore, you can still understand him.

Was on hold for about 2 hours, while trying again to apply for social security. Finally talked to an actual person, managed to convince her that I was the real me, she said I was approved, and then asked if I wanted to receive back payment from the time I was first eligible. I, of course, said yes, and received another $5,000. The most I’ve ever been paid per hour (by far).

It’s the "higher than normal…… " that gets me. Seems “this” has been normal far too long.. if, you were “really” concerned.. hire more staff.

Your call is important to us (Just not important enough to answer the phone).

My favorite is when you’ve been on hold for 30 minutes and then it just hangs up.

In the meantime, please enjoy this terrible music. You’d better like it since it will be stuck in your head for days!

I have been known to respond to (finally) being asked “How can I help you?” with “First – for the people listening to the tape, if you actually valued my call, you’d staff your call center with enough reps that I wouldn’t have to hear how much you ‘value my call’ for 45 freakin’ minutes!”