General Chat

Just phoned my energy supplier First Utility to pay them some money. Needed to speak to a person - which is a sin these days.

Got through eventually after pressing more buttons than a shirt maker. "Thank you for your call. We value your custom and you have joined the queue. You are (pause)....


No 29 in the queue

Is that a record? I cannot believe anyone has ever been further back in a queue.

By the time you got through, it probably will have cost you a couple of extra quid :-(

So many companies now seem to have these automatic queuing phone systems, DET.

Have no problems with it as long as they tell us how many operators are waiting to take our valued call, stop advertising all sorts of products and piping soothing music from Iron Maiden down phone. Also, please fire the call centre manager if the queue becomes any longer than "one being spoken to, one waiting" at any time of the day eg 20 operators, never more than 40 in the system being served or waiting. Just like supermarket tills.

It had gone from No 29 to ........ "No 29. thank you for waiting, we value your call and will be with you shortly" in the 10 minutes I hung on. Never thought about cost to me - if it was costing them, they would sort it quickly.

change suppliers - use Utility Warehouse - they are great

Yers, I know. Probably right, AnnC, but have been with First Utility since I left British Gas and Swalec after about 40 years, and they have a good reputation and have been v pleased with them.

Point was really about phoning suppliers who have these filtering systems for calls. If they don't want awkward old customers who want to speak to an actual person who speaks their native language, they should say so.

Sky and BT take the biscuit. And when St Peter asks me and Tony Hancock what we have done, he will reply "gave 1/3d to RNLI" and be admitted. I will say "sat on phone waiting for First Utility to speak to me" and access will be denied.