Maybe OT - Telephone Support

Yes, why is it that _every_ telephone help desk I call is _always_ "experiencing an exceptional number of calls"?

nib

It's the usual bollocks isn't it.

Probably because they went to the effort to put on a recoding for COVID times, and now can't be arsed (or work out how) to turn it off?

Because the company makes crap products with crap service.

On Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:02:21 +0000, Sam Plusnet wrote:aire

If only there were some way to electronically communicate with a company at your own convenience. A sort of modern way of writing a letter.

Whoever can come up with that would be a millionaire surely ?

They don't want that, 'phone calls are dealt with immediately and case closed, they do not want reams of correspondence!

or, all the relevant staff are "working from home" and they haven't been provided with a proper phone service.

Many/all send html formatted emails - I don't do html emails for $REASONS and many/all don't have a reply-to email that is valid.

Many also don't include a 'phone number either - if they can't make it easy I'm not jumping through hoops to find out what they want to tell me.

The use of snipped-for-privacy@domain.tld seems to have fallen by the wayside - I thought it was required (or at least considered best practice).

Avpx

or rather all relevant staff are working in a call centre in Mumbai, Delhi or wherever.

Or if the average response time drops below 15 minutes they take staff off?

nib

Er, that exists already. What doesn't exist is a method of compelling a reply, or even being sure of getting it read. *That* would be the millionaire job, and would probably involve electrodes.

Worse is the web form, with no way of keeping a record other than a screenshot.

I've often said that we should have a law, backed by large fines, that companies cannot answer customer service calls any slower than they answer their sales lines.

"I'm sorry sir, we only sell via our website. Please contact our Live Chat AI Robot who will be happy to 'help'"

Op 20/02/2025 om 21:02 schreef Sam Plusnet:

I worked for many companies who used this trick. It's nothing new and it is difficult to prove.

Which (mid to big) company doesn't make crappy products?

Or Birmingham, UK. There are plenty of s***ty companies that offer s***ty customer service in UK and unfortunately I had to work for some of them.

The ability to print such ought to be mandatory, so one can make a PDF.

Yet companies are happy enough to accept calls that may make them money, while pushing those that may cost them onto the web - and there are many people who have zero internet access (I have an elderly neighbour opposite, who has no desire for it).