How long will you stay 'on hold' for?

[MontyVeda]

Trying to speak to my bank about insurance but I'm not getting through on the number provided. yesterday i was 'on hold' for around ten minutes before the quirky music got on my tits. This morning I waited for 20 minutes before giving up. I only managed 5 minutes this afternoon. Many years ago i was trying to talk to my broadband provider and was on hold for over 2 hours before i got to speak to someone.

How long before your patience runs out?

 

[Dave7]

I truly hate it.
I would gladly change car/house insurance or broadband provider to a (reasonably priced) company that promised a human answering within a minute.
This last 7 days I have 3 times given up trying to get a human from the Vauxhall dealer......its a recall and they are the only accepted dealer.

 

[Drago]

About 20 seconds, then theyve lost my business.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Not as long as you, but I last longer than @Drago . My banking app has a chat feature, have you got anything similar?

 

[postman]

Monday Doctors you are 29 in the queue.30 you don't even get in the queue after 30.So twenty nine was about 25 min wait.I was not going anywhere and i needed to see about the test results,so i ate my brekkie with the phone glued to my ear.

 

[PeteXXX]

Daktari, here, has a call-back service 👍

 

[presta]

As long as it takes if there's nowhere else to go, the GP surgery takes up to 45mins. Put the phone on speaker, and get on with something else while you wait.

 

[MontyVeda]

Not as long as you, but I last longer than @Drago . My banking app has a chat feature, have you got anything similar?

Not for the particular service I'm after. There is a call back service but chances are they call at a time i can't pick up.

 

[annedonnelly]

If you try to do something else while waiting or ask for a call back chances are you haven't got the info in front of you like you did when you started the call. At least hands-free makes it easier to get one with something else.

My patience soon runs out though.

 

[MontyVeda]

If you try to do something else while waiting or ask for a call back chances are you haven't got the info in front of you like you did when you started the call. At least hands-free makes it easier to get one with something else.

My patience soon runs out though.

It's the music they play. monumentally annoying and probably deliberately so. What ever happened to The Four Seasons as the standard on hold jingle? That i can cope with.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

For me it very much depends who and why.

• eg checking with companies about price/stock of widely available items not very long atall (there are others I can answer who will speak to me).
• eg calling a bank about significant issue or eg calling HMRC to unlock online account, etc. then they are the only people who can deal with the issue and it's an issue that must be dealt with so I might get frustrated but I have no choice (other than start again and do the same 1 hr later ...).

 

[PeteXXX]

What I want to know is why my call will be recorded for training porpoises!? 🐬

 

[tyred]

At least they tell you that your call is important to them, but clearly not important enough to to employ sufficient staff to answer it!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

What I want to know is why my call will be recorded for training porpoises!? 🐬

Because they use advanced AI to pick up on awkward buggers 😱

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Depends who is letting me wait, if I can solve the issue by another way or if I don't really care too much I hang up after 5 minutes.
If I have no other choice, I will put the phone on loudspeaker while going about my business.

What I want to know is why my call will be recorded for training porpoises!? 🐬

They play some calls back during 121s in order to improve staff performance.