Have you ever been on HOLD forever?

[Swerd]

Have you ever made a phone call to a business or utility company, only to wait interminably on HOLD before you can talk to a customer service person?

This morning, I had to phone my mail-order pharmacy about an expensive, but routine prescription refill. They were supposed to ship my refill today so I receive it tomorrow. Around 8 am, I got (and missed) a phone call, and soon after, I got an email telling me to call them right away about my order. At bit later, after having my breakfast and some coffee, I called them back. I was on HOLD for over 30 minutes, before I could speak to anyone. It seems my co-pay cost had dropped to a lower price – and they needed my approval before they could ship it .

But that's not my reason for ranting. I know that automated phone systems exist which allow callers to enter their phone number & hang up, instead of waiting on hold. When able, a customer service rep will call you back. Everyone is happier. And it almost certainly costs less than hiring more customer service reps. Does anyone know the name of such a phone system? I want to tell this mail-order pharmacy to join the 21st century and install one of these systems. It would help if I knew a name for this product.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Sorry, I have no info on that. Just more frustration. Seems every time I call CS I get a person who speaks English as a second language. I have no problems with them as people, but they can be largely ineffective at their job due to so many communication barriers. Not to mention poor reception...ugh.
I always tell CS agents that are clear English speakers that I appreciate that, and please pass it on to ANYONE who cares. I understand why companies outsource CS but the customer should be happier at the end of a call, not angry. Ugh...
sorry if I just hijacked your thread...can delete if necessary.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I don't know of a system name but I have called businesses and used such service but I am not sure now which business. I know it is more than a couple.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I don't know of a system name but I have called and used such service but I am not sure now which business. I know it is more than a couple.

Apple does the call back. Dang it, that’s the only one o can remember off hand. It is a nice feature.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Apple does the call back. Dang it, that’s the only one o can remember off hand. It is a nice feature.

I don't remember calling Apple. Now I have to keep this in mind.
ps. asked wife, she said Amazon does this as well.

 

[Gmoney]

All The Time! Than if you hit the wrong Prompts then you got to start all over!

 

[Mr._Clark]

I think Netgear has the callback feature as well. They claim you do not lose your place in line, but I'm not sure I believe it so I normally just do the infinite hold because I'm suspicous it does effect the time required to talk to a human.

Adding my .02 to the rant, it's also annoying that almost every customer service answering system includes the message "We are currently experiencing longer than expected wait times." How can every single company on the entire planet perpetually experience longer than normal wait times? It's obviously just an excuse because they don't want to be honest: "Customer service is a low priority for our company because it doesn't contribute directly to our bottom line, so we do not hire and train enough people. Thank you for contributing to our earnings by purchasing our product. Please feel free to hurl obscentities at our automated phone service while wasting your time on infinite hold."

I've noticed some of the answering services now say that the wait time is longer than expected due to COVID-19. This might be true in a few cases, but I suspect it's BS in most cases.

 

[panteragstk]

I can say that SO many customer service folks are tied to a useless script that have to adhere to so they get good "scores" that get them continued employment and bonuses. It's not about helping customers at all.

Now, that's not ALL companies, but it's a pretty standard operating procedure. ATT, Tmobile, lots of large companies with huge CS departments operate this way.

 

[Swerd]

I think Netgear has the callback feature as well. They claim you do not lose your place in line, but I'm not sure I believe it so I normally just do the infinite hold because I'm suspicous it does effect the time required to talk to a human.

I first ran into the callback feature with my local electric power company. I tried it, and I was called back about 10 or 15 minutes later by a human being. I wonder why all customer service shops don't use it.

Adding my .02 to the rant, it's also annoying that almost every customer service answering system includes the message "We are currently experiencing longer than expected wait times." How can every single company on the entire planet perpetually experience longer than normal wait times? It's obviously just an excuse because they don't want to be honest: "Customer service is a low priority for our company because it doesn't contribute directly to our bottom line, so we do not hire and train enough people. Thank you for contributing to our earnings by purchasing our product. Please feel free to hurl obscentities at our automated phone service while wasting your time on infinite hold."

It's enough to make me wonder if customer service people are rated by how often customers hurl obscenities at them. More obscenities mean greater bonuses.

 

[Swerd]

All The Time! Than if you hit the wrong Prompt then you got to start all over!

That happened to me this morning. I was using headphones with my phone so I didn't have to hold it. I tried lowering the volume with the buttons on the headphones instead of the buttons on the phone body. That cut me off the call, and I had to start all over again.

 

[lovinthehd]

Oh I've spent a fair bit of time on hold back in my business days. know that "forever" feeling all too well. Little tolerance or need since, tho.

As to that call back feature Amazon has it too IIRC.

 

[Swerd]

I found some answers to my OP. I Googled "customer service call back feature" and found several useful hits:

CustomerDirect

How Implementing Our Customer Callback Feature Can Benefit Your Brand? - Customer Direct

Customer Direct is dedicated to helping your company understand the importance of delivering genuine customer experiences, and how to analyze the customer service data such experiences provide.

customerdirect.com

Cloudtalk

Callback - CloudTalk

Reduce your abandoned calls rate with callback, a must-have call center feature. If there are any unanswered calls, CloudTalk will automatically call customers back.

www.cloudtalk.io

VHT

5 Benefits of Customer Callback | Mindful

Customer callback isn't just a contact center feature—it's an entire solution that seamlessly ties the customer experience together. Read more.

vhtcx.com

Waterfield Technologies

How The Callback Option Can Improve Your Contact Center Performance

A callback option in your Contact Center adds to a better Customer Experience to give you that edge over your competitors. Is it right for your business?

blog.waterfieldtechnologies.com

 

[highfigh]

Sorry, I have no info on that. Just more frustration. Seems every time I call CS I get a person who speaks English as a second language. I have no problems with them as people, but they can be largely ineffective at their job due to so many communication barriers. Not to mention poor reception...ugh.
I always tell CS agents that are clear English speakers that I appreciate that, and please pass it on to ANYONE who cares. I understand why companies outsource CS but the customer should be happier at the end of a call, not angry. Ugh...
sorry if I just hijacked your thread...can delete if necessary.

"I can definitely help you with that one"..........

Then, there are the ones who think they know what you're going to say, so they start talking in the middle of the description of the problem- I sometimes press a button on the phone and that confuses them.

 

[highfigh]

I can say that SO many customer service folks are tied to a useless script that have to adhere to so they get good "scores" that get them continued employment and bonuses. It's not about helping customers at all.

Now, that's not ALL companies, but it's a pretty standard operating procedure. ATT, Tmobile, lots of large companies with huge CS departments operate this way.

I was told, by an ATT installer, that CS bounces people, cuts them off and are generally useless so the callers will eventually give up and let it die. They do this so people will stop trying to get results and in that way, stay with ATT as their provider. OF CRAP!

I did give up and switched to Spectrum. In my case, I use only internet but for my customers, Spectrum has been far from painless. Still, it's better than dealing with ATT. I changed my cell phone service provider, too- much better, cheaper and I have no complaints about them which is rare.

 

[highfigh]

All The Time! Than if you hit the wrong Prompts then you got to start all over!

OTOH, if someone presses the wrong button and it would be better to start over, two presses of the * button sens the call to the previous menu.

 

[panteragstk]

I was told, by an ATT installer, that CS bounces people, cuts them off and are generally useless so the callers will eventually give up and let it die. They do this so people will stop trying to get results and in that way, stay with ATT as their provider. OF CRAP!

I did give up and switched to Spectrum. In my case, I use only internet but for my customers, Spectrum has been far from painless. Still, it's better than dealing with ATT. I changed my cell phone service provider, too- much better, cheaper and I have no complaints about them which is rare.

I don't know, when Spectrum was still Time Warner, they had some of the worst customer service I ever dealt with. I changed my payment account and they decided to not tell me it can take up to 2 months to switch over (HOW?) and tried to cut off my service. Luckily I got to the right manager and they agreed that it was crap since they give no notification that payments may not process. I got two months free out of it, but it took way too long to get to that "right person" on their side.

ATT is worse, don't get me wrong, but for my fiber internet they've been pretty good about fixing things quickly. Their support is still stuck with the scripts though.

 

[highfigh]

I don't know, when Spectrum was still Time Warner, they had some of the worst customer service I ever dealt with. I changed my payment account and they decided to not tell me it can take up to 2 months to switch over (HOW?) and tried to cut off my service. Luckily I got to the right manager and they agreed that it was crap since they give no notification that payments may not process. I got two months free out of it, but it took way too long to get to that "right person" on their side.

ATT is worse, don't get me wrong, but for my fiber internet they've been pretty good about fixing things quickly. Their support is still stuck with the scripts though.

Spectrum has its moments and occasionally, I get to deal with someone who really knows how to get things done. Other times, I want to be retired and doing something completely different.

Then, there are the bad days....

 

[Ponzio]

The 'call-back' feature is relatively new for the automated-answer business call-centers.

Like anything new in the telecommunications field, which I worked in since 1983, it's expensive and some companies will wait before they will buy and implement it, once the cost comes down.