Saturday, 21 March 2020

A Modern Cause of Insanity.

I spent four hours yesterday trying to sort out a problem with my energy supplier. I got as far as ascertaining that it’s all their fault and just the latest example of the corporate world becoming ever more dysfunctional. And a mystery remains because the facts don’t add up. However…

… why did it take four hours? Because of the massively long wait times to speak to an advisor. What really bugs me about long wait times isn’t so much the wait itself – I can always put the phone on speaker and get on with something else – it’s what you have to put up with while you’re waiting:

1. A long stream of recorded messages giving advice to the feeble minded or information to those who don’t need it, while directing you to a bunch of websites which are effectively irrelevant to your specific problem, your personal interest, or the human condition in general. Can you do anything about it? No.

2. The constant, repetitive noise they subject you to and which they would no doubt claim to be music. It isn’t music; it’s a formula-derived racket approximating to a rather poor melody which is fit to drive a musically sensitive person into an early grave. Can you do anything about it? No.

3. The recorded message which cuts in every 30 seconds (I did time it) saying: Were very sorry you’re having to wait. Please continue to hold and your call will be answered shortly. After half an hour you’ve heard it sixty times and your head is fit to burst, only you have to stay in control because, if you didn’t, you’d throw the phone through the window and have to buy another one. (And get the window repaired.) So are they really very sorry? I very much doubt it. And is there anything you can do about that? No.

I have complained about this several times, but nothing changes.

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