Being "put on hold"........

It is very frustrating to have to wait a long time on hold (or "on ignore," as I prefer to call it) while it is impossible to actually talk to a HUMAN. What I find especially annoying is the automated voice telling me "your call will be answered in 13 minutes," and 15 minutes later, my call "will be answered in 8 minutes." Sometimes it feels like customer service is deliberately designed to be difficult in a way that makes people hang up rather than get their problem solved.

I hate those dumb automated phone systems. I want to talk to a real person. I tell you what I hate even worse though is when I call and finally get to talk to someone and they say they cant help me, they will transfer me to another office. After waiting forever, I get to talk to them and they say, "I need to put you on hold a minute"...well that is it , we get disconneted adn I dont know how to get ahold of them again. If I call the original number, I get anohter person and they dont have a clue what office the other person put me through to. I have to start all over again. It can be days before you acturally get ahold of someone who can help you. LOL Life, it will weaken you if you let it..LOL

WE were the same with AOL ,it used to be a free number and you got through straight away now it is pay per minute and you are left holding in for ever , They play nice music and keep saying to go on the website and it can be fixed lol , I am shouting at the phone " If I could get on the website I would be on the stupid phone lol " I must admit when I DID Get through they were very helpful but they need more people to help OR are they making a lot of cash holding us on the telephone ?

I think this policy of keeping customers on hold is fairly widespread. What's worse is when they answer your call either by automated machine, or by receptionist, and then put you on hold for hours on end, because then you have to pay for the non-call. It's disgraceful if you ask me, and seems to be a ploy to stop them having to deal with your issue, whilst giving themselves an excuse for their negligence. I once worked as receptionist for a garage/car showroom, and based on my experience there found that I was the only person doing my job (ie picking up the phone, going back to the customer, taking messages, chasing up bone-idle members of staff). The attitude of the members of staff who could have helped these customers who wanted to know what was happening with their cars, was to sit there gossiping, twiddling their thumbs, and refusing to answer their phones or do any work at all unless the customer came in and sat down in front of them. It made me furious to see them (as I could from my desk) doing nothing, with contempt for the customers, letting the messages pile up on their desks, and ignoring my telling them to pick up the phone. I was the only one who cared about the customers, and it was ME the customers used to yell at and take out their frustrations on when they got nowhere with leaving messages. It got to the point that I had to make myself pick up the phone, because I dreaded the personal abuse I was going to get. I've come to the conclusion that some companies just put in receptionists as a kind of buffer and a verbal punch-bag to stop customers bothering them and making them do their jobs.

This is really annoying! I think I would definitely explode! I don't have the patience to wait that long but if in a situation like you, got no choice, I would complain on this kind of service and consider writing an email! hek hek! to consider revising their system!

I've experienced something like yours too. We have this customer service in our company that whenever you have trouble or a problem with this certain machine and transactions you can call the customer service hotline to help you. Well this hotline is used for almost all your transactions with the company. So with your first minute you have to deal with an automated machine who will instruct you to press nos. for this or that services. Anyway, what I hate about this was when I have followed the automated machine and press every key it tells me too but when a call agent answered and I told her my concerns she told me that I have reached the wrong department and that I should go through the whole process again. I mean. I followed every instruction the machine told me. And the agent could easily transfer my call to the right department but she did not. And there are times that nobody would answer my calls, what's the point for calling it a hotline when nobody is there to help. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr...