Call centre wait times, how long is too long?

harry5522 said:
It was terrible, and their “your call is important to us, please continue to hold” was far to frequent (15/20 second intervals at most)
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Obviously not important enough if they keep you on hold for almost an hour.

itchy said:
I know the DWP music is suicide gear, ever watched soylent green. lol :)
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I hated the DWP hold music so bad and they would keep you on hold for an hour each time you tried to call. :D
 
I am required to ring up call centres all too often these days. I have found the best way is just to ring back at a time where it is not as busy. Lunch times and just after work are hellish because they have reduced number of staff and the highest number of callers generally.
 
1 minute is too long.

But if its important I might wait 10 or 15 minutes.

I'd send emails and complain before I wait an hour on hold, sod that.
 
Recently faced calling a call centre recently why I and my partner had to renew car insurance.

For me, I went straight through - for her, she had the option to get a call back.

Can't complain about either situation.
 
I just rang my life insurance broker and they picked up before the end of the first ring, was rather taken aback!

Our work IT helpdesk is supposed to answer within 90 seconds but I've been on hold with them for 10 mins before hanging up and emailing. I work in the IT department but have to use it when I don't have mobiles of staff, no one has direct dials!
 
Generally call centres have got a lot better for less waiting time in the last few years, whenever I have to ring the ones I deal with (banks / car insurance / energy suppliers, car finance) I usually get put through within the space of a minute or so - during the day that is. If it's evening then it may be up to 5 minutes in my case.

I'll never forget back in 2006 when I had to ring what was Orange on a weekend when my mobile SIM wouldn't work properly on / off - it took nearly two hours to get through to someone. Luckily at the time Orange to Orange calls were free and the operator had no idea how long I had been waiting until she asked me & was very apologetic, and it paid off as I got 50% off my next bill.

Though whenever I've tried the call back feature a couple of times with different companies, it usually takes half of the day for them to return my call.

Liam.
 
Depending on the necessity and price of the call I guess 1h.

Hands free on and go do something useful while waiting.
 
413x said:
I'm needing to call ebay CS. Thank goodness they have a call back service.

It's very frustrating when companies don't have a queue number.
At least then you can make a decision to stay on or not
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Tbf I had to phone eBay as I was hacked a few months ago; dreaded it but I was sorted and off the phone within a few minutes
 
Origin Broadband kept me on hold for an hour and a half because I wanted to cancel. I'd waited 3 weeks to be transferred from Sky to be told on the live chat "I honestly can't say..." when asked when I would be connected. Needless to say I definitely cancelled. Never got my £18.99 back though!

First Direct and Nationwide have both been excellent and answer immediately.

Economy Energy used to be crap but I found that their live chat people can do everything apart from change direct debits. So I don't really call them at all now.

Thing is I don't -mind- slow customer service if you're getting a hefty discount. It's when you're paying good money anyway and they bugger you about that does me in.
 
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