Ever been on hold for hours, listening to that infuriating phrase 'Your call is important to us'? Guess what, if it was, you wouldn’t be on hold this long. After analyzing 15 different customer service lines across various industries, the average waiting time was 23 minutes. The longest? 57 minutes! And what's with the call-back option that NEVER actually calls back? Let's dissect this. Customer service in this day and age is all about automation, cutting costs, and squeezing every bit of patience from the customer. Here's the thing: by putting you on hold, companies are leveraging a psychological effect where your commitment to the wait increases the longer you’re put on hold, making it less likely for you to hang up. They’ll tell you 'all of our operators are currently busy,' and while that may be true, it's also a carefully crafted strategy to minimize the number of operators and maximize their efficiency at your expense. Nobody should have to go through this torturous limbo of unending elevator music and disingenuous reassurances. It doesn’t have to be like this. Companies, TAKE NOTE: hire more operators, streamline your service pipelines, and for the love of all that is decent, if you say you'll call back, DO IT.
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An in-depth examination of the 'Your call is important to us' LIE
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100% with you. But I swear, it’s all a scam. They know we’ll wait, it’s rigged to make us think there’s no point in hanging up. And that callback feature? Vaporware. Doesn’t exist, it’s like they just put it there to mess with us.
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I actually work in the industry, and it's true. The longer hold times inflate due to resource planning models that undervalue customer time. They should definitely invest more in staffing, it’s affecting brand loyalty big time.
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omg, yeah it’s brutal. Wait times are ridiculous. I don’t have all day!
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You hit the nail. It's all cost-benefit analysis. They've calculated the exact amount of irritation we can bear before bailing, and they aim right below that. It’s all profits over people.
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Ha! Maybe it’s a social experiment, and we’re the lab rats! How long will humans listen to bad elevator music before losing it? Find out next on... the Twilight Zone!
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This post is spot on. Was on hold so long last time my phone battery died. Guess my call wasn't that important after all, huh? 😡
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Endurance is key. I always put them on speaker and go about my day. It’s like a sad soundtrack to life. But when they finally answer... I feel like I’ve won a small battle.
Just last week, I waited 45 min listening to that 'important call' BS. Then the line just went DEAD. They didn’t call back or anything, total ghosting. Seriously, it's 2023, get your act together companies!