In 2021 good old customer service and speaking to someone seems a really challenging thing to do these days. We used to think it was only the Government Departments that you had to wait a minimum of an hour on hold to speak to them however not so. I do feel sorry for people at the other end of the phone too however wait times between 30 minutes and one hour are the norm for anything you want to do. As an example of recent phone calls I've had to make:-
ANZ - 1 hour on hold and the person at the other end was not in Australia, it couldn't be resolved and I was told to ring back, we are open until 11pm. It's not the opening time until 11pm, it's the one hour wait to speak to someone.
Qantas - Had to wait for a call back in the queue between 1-2 hours, then on the phone for one hour only to be transferred to another department and on hold for 1.5 hours so a 2.5 hour phone call and they were in South Africa.
Dodo - 47 minutes.
In order to make your phone calls you have to get in the headspace that you are going to waste at least an hour before you can speak to someone and have your phone on speaker while you attempt to do something else.
We constantly hear that due to Covid there are less people to answer phones however this is something that gets done from anywhere in the world, surely it can be done in Australia, with Australian employees, Australian time zones in Australian homes that are in lockdown.
There's not much we can do about it and it's extremely frustrating however it's ridiculous at the same time.
I'm so over phone calls and wait times to get to speak to someone so hopefully I won't have to make any other phone calls this week.
Here's a picture of the clover in my backyard for some calming effects.
Kathy I hear you. I have had a new Telstra modem sitting in the hallway waiting to be unpacked for a few months. I have put off setting it up in case I have to ring the call centre for help. Sigh!
ReplyDeleteLuckily my son is very techy so I get him to do those things however with my old modem the home phone and the internet came through the one line which was plugged into the modem. Unbeknown to me with the new NBN it was separate however I didn't know this so the home phone wasn't plugged in for months. I only have one friend that used to ring me on my home phone and occasionally my sister if she couldn't get me on my mobile so I didn't know this for about 6 months. I ended up ringing Dodo and they told me I had to plug another thing into it which I did. So apart from my friend the only people ringing on the home phone were scam callers and cold callers who when the answering machine clicked in they would hang up and I would have to go to the machine and erase the message. If the phone rung and I was outside I would race inside only to realize it was a cold caller so I just unplugged the home phone. I do pay for this service because it is now part of the one bill - I used to have a separate bill for internet and home phone with Dodo whereas now you pay for the service and the home phone is thrown in. I don't use it now and so I don't get 4 calls a day.
DeleteGolly, how frustrating :(. Such a stunning photo - that backlighting is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThanks Alexa - I was laying on my grass in the backyard and it's actually a weed but the light was so pretty.
DeleteThat must be so frustrating! I supposed I'd put on a headset and go about my Domestic Goddess (as I call them) chores as I waited for someone to pick up. While I've not hand to hold anywhere near that long, I would dearly love to talk to a REAL, LIVE person for a change. Calming effects are definitely needed...feet up, cup of herbal tea, deep breaths...
ReplyDeleteI agree...and sometimes the menu on the calls doesn't offer you "speak to the operator" so you go round and round in circles until you get to speak to someone. Thanks for stopping by.
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