"Your call is important to us please hold..."

[sir baconface]

Translation. “Your call is so important to us that we can‘t be arsed organising a decent answering service.”

I’ll only hang on more than five minutes if pretty desperate or if I’m in a good position in the queue. Patience is not one of my virtues.

Some of the better companies give a callback option. I opt for that when it’s available.

 

[Kinkybyname]

... we are experiencing unusually high call volumes and all our operators are currently helping others, please be patient and we will be with you as soon as possible... and be nice!

fkn love that last bit

 

[threespires]

I worked on them and can assure you you've made the fundamental mistake of thinking that DWP systems were "designed".

Very true, why pay extra for meaningful design when you can leave it to their innate expertise in delivering a steaming pile of shit that isn't remotely fit for purpose.

 

[dronefromsector7G]

As I spelt it.

It was a pop at all the morons who can’t spell it

 

[Barcon]

I won't put up with any of their shite. I have 100 mins of call time per month on my phone and I'll be fucked if I spend it listening to shit music.

 

[BimboBob]

I won't put up with any of their shite. I have 100 mins of call time per month on my phone and I'll be fucked if I spend it listening to shit music that I haven't bought.

 

[Bill Walker]

I won't put up with any of their shite. I have 100 mins of call time per month on my phone and I'll be fucked if I spend it listening to Morrissey.

 

[somapop]

Has anyone had a 'good experience' with virtual agents (voice rather than chat)?

These are increasingly being implemented and at this stage little more than a spoken version of the DMTF (press 1 for...press 2 for).

Although my Alexa device works well enough (for simple operations: Play 6 music; Raise volume by 4 etc it's not hugely sophisticated and that's with these companies having a good 7/8 years of behavioural learning.

These NLU (Natural language understanding) systems are getting better but early days in terms of getting answers.

I've been pretty frustrated on a few of these when I really needed to speak to someone, given I couldn't find answers online.
For some people (those with learning difficulties, disabilities, access needs etc) this isn't a particularly good idea atm.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Funny how they always pick up instantly if it's any sort of sales line, but as soon as it's after sales, they're nowhere to be found. I actually think there should be laws about it. If I buy something from you and it doesn't work, I have the legal right to have it dealt with. That should include having a phone line that is answered in a timely manner. Trying to get your money back for flights cancelled because of covid was a piss take.

The worst one for me was when someone had nicked my debit card and was spending money on it. I was getting messages through about purchases "I'd made" while trying to go through the shite HSBC automated system.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Has anyone had a 'good experience' with virtual agents (voice rather than chat)?

These are increasingly being implemented and at this stage little more than a spoken version of the DMTF (press 1 for...press 2 for).

It absolutely does my head in. Pointless technology when the existing technology is clearly superior. In what world is voice recognition more accurate than just typing your number in? The worst ones are the open-ended ones. "Tell us what you are calling about today" and then it inevitably doesn't understand you and puts you through to a person.

And while we're on it, having to type all of your details in, getting through to a person, and then having to repeat all of the same details to that person anyway.