You know how anytime you call some sort of company and the automated system starts telling you that they apologize but they are experiencing very high and abnormal call volume and they apologize for my wait and appreciate my patience? Surely I’m not the only one who thinks it’s BS, right?

It’s been happening for years and years, so apparently it’s not “abnormal” and perhaps ya’ll should hire some more third-world citizens to meet the demand? They’re already outsourced, might as well hire some more people whom I’m sure could use the job.

Though I can certainly do without the “we’re so sorry for the problem you’re having with your clothes washer sir, it is very trying and stressful and a bane upon your existence blah blah blah”.

Somebody should explain how that doesn’t really play well with most situations, at least in my mind. I don’t need you to offer super empathy for my issue , really I don’t. Just make the arrangement and let’s both be on my way.

But maybe I’m just a jerk.

It’s right up there with “please listen carefully as our menu option have changed”.

And none of the automated options are going to help me.

I agree most of the time.

Think about someplace like Verizon.

Let's make up some numbers.

The normal call volume is 10K calls an hour.
Just picking a magnitude not real numbers

Some idiot on his farm in upstate NY cuts one of the major fiber cable feeding the East Coast.

Call volume is now 150K calls per hour.

It would be more but lots of people are getting all circuits are busy try later.

What level do you think they staff for?

Hear that crap all the time... stupid really.

As an aside this thread probably should have been in the "What's Your Deal" forum area.

It's absolutely every time I call now. Every time. Ridiculous. Whether it's Marriott, Hertz, Delta, etc. Primarily it's Delta I'm calling (two to three times a month at least), and they've been running that "high call volume" crap for two years straight now. So tiresome.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Hear that crap all the time... stupid really.

As an aside this thread probably should have been in the "What's Your Deal" forum area.

Doh. You are correct.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:
It’s right up there with “please listen carefully as our menu option have changed”.

And none of the automated options are going to help me.

This!

I don't make a lot of calls to automated numbers like that, but one I do make every time I get defrauded (which happens all too often) is my credit card company. For at least two years, they've told me that the menu options have changed.

If they changed at least two years ago, I think it's safe to take the message down now.

My doctor's office is the same way. At least two years of the "our options have changed" message and I know for sure the options haven't changed!

I use the chat support on the website for various places. Invariably they take forever between responses because they are juggling several customers at the same time.

I hate the mock empathy. I tell them, please dispense with the words of empathy and focus on solving the problem. Please also stay in this chat and do not try to juggle several customers. When they don't do that I say "I am not satisfied with this level of service." And so on.

I don't call or text or support until I have exhausted every option on the website.

‘Your call is important to us’

That’s my favorite.

If it really was important you would have answered. So it can’t be that important

And no, menu options have not changed and your ‘high call volume’ might be your problem in hiring incompetent people that can’t solve problems in a timely manner.

"Your call is important to us. Stay on the line and it will be answered by the next available agent"!
Nope. If my call was important, you would have answered the phone already.

If they were honest the message would be: Your call is of little importance and we hope you will go away. If it was important we would have hired some foreigners to answer it. Have a nice day! BYE

Remember the good old days when switchboard operators sat there and plugged patch cables into jacks on the switch board to connect the lines?

Two people I know left their banking jobs in 1999 and started a new bank. One of their focuses was customer service. They hired (took) from other banks the best and most personable employees. Also the policy was the phone will always be answered by a person, no answering machine. It was set up so the first two rings went to the phone receptionist, the third ring went to every phone in the bank except the president and vice resident, the forth included their phones as well. This alone brought them a lot of people who switched over from other banks.

Our company has the same call volume but less employees, with management unwilling to pay-to-retain or hire more bodies.

In the OP’s case I would wager that they’re full of shit. Volume may have increased, but businesses can’t act surprised if they don’t do anything to meet the higher call volume except allow their service to suffer, and add some dumbass recording implying the customer should expect to bear the brunt of that lapse.

The other day I tried calling my health insurance and after listening through all the options and going through several prompts I was told the call center is closed for the day.

How about saying that first!

All of that unusually heavy call volume, your call is important to us, menu options have changed are beyond annoying. But for me the worst is when you input your phone number or whatever you then hear a clacking like an actual someone is typing on an actual keyboard when its just a stall to make us think something is happening to move the ball forward. Its insulting that someone actually thinks we are so stupid to believe any of this. Or more likely does not give two shits.

Perhaps the best “customer service” call I’ve had in the last year was the the one I expected the least from.

I had to call the CA DMV Legal Compliance department to get specific info on if a particular out of state car was able to be registered in CA before I purchased.

Not only was the phone answered immediately, it was answered by a real person, based in the US, who spoken native English, and was polite. He was also super helpful and provided definitive information that was most helpful.

I was beyond shocked, especially given it was not just a CA state agency, but the actual DMV!

I had to call my HSA company the other night and went through all this nonsense, they had the longest phone tree I’ve ever seen, I literally had to press numbers 7-8 times.

Then they actually hung up on me: “we are sorry, there is no one at this time to take your call, goodbye, CLICK!”

WTAF?

 
I've come to believe that the "high call volume" and "our menu options have changed" come already programmed into outgoing voice mail scripts. I've received the "high call volume" message and at times I get answered within seconds, other times an hour. And it seems everyone's menu options have recently changed.