Have you noticed lately, that every time you call some big company to ask a question or get help with something you get the old “Due to the heavy call volume we are experiencing, there may be a delay in being connected to a customer service representative” routine? Or at least something close to that?

No matter what big company I call these days, that seems to be the message I am hearing as soon as I am connected. What do you suppose that is all about? Why is “call volume” always so heavy? I think I have an answer.

The translation for that message, at least according to me, goes something like this: “Since we are unwilling to hire a sufficient number of customer service employees to adequately staff our phone lines, you, the customer will have to wait until one of them is available to take your call.”

I haven’t tested this theory, but it might be interesting. I bet if you call one of these companies to place an order, or, in other words, spend your money, you’ll have a much better chance of getting connected right away.

I thought the idea behind these automated phone systems was to make call handling more efficient and improve things for the customer. Seems to me I spent a lot less time on hold back in the old days before these systems became so popular.

Wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that these automated phone systems would allow companies to save money by reducing staff and therefore be able to utilize those savings for improving customer service?

I don’t know about you, but I think customer service is at an all-time low these days. I’d like to know what these companies are doing with all the money they are saving by using automated phone systems.