Why does every company have this as their automated voice recording? If they are always experiencing higher than expected wait times then shouldn't they anticipate that by now and hire more people?
'we Are Currently Experiencing Higher than Expected Wait Times'
alex123711 on 11/01/2024 - 11:10
Comments
So nothing there has changed since 1983
The CES?
.
we had issue with the childcare subsidy last year and literally spent MONTHS trying to get anywhere with centrelink.
anytime we succeeded in getting to an operator without getting auto robot call drop, the person on phone didnt have the right clearances.
then the time we DID get the right guy with the right clearances, he had to take it to I.T …but I.T was currently not available…. so we had to start from square 1 again.we did end up getting back paid, but honestly the hours wasted between us AND their own staff trying to run around and navigate their own system was a joke.
i feel bad for those who do work in the physical offices for centrelink…the abuse they must cop on the daily would be insane..
the hours wasted between us AND their own staff trying to run around and navigate their own system was a joke.
Sounds like their business model - f%ck people around until they give up.
That has always been their business model. They have a massive shortage of money, staff and resources to deal with all the problems under their remit. Always have, always will. Most Libs will freely admit they DO NOT WANT people on welfare. Their business owning mates and supporters want cheap labour, so people need to be forced to work. Giving people money for nothing is not in their DNA.
The ALP has had numerous opportunities to fix these problems once and for all, and they have just sat on their hands and done nothing but tinker round the edges.
Now, I am no economist and claim no experience or knowledge in this field. However, to my meagre mind, it seems logical and sensible to just abolish the myriad of welfare payments and the arcane rules and regulations that govern them, along with the bureaucracy trying in vain to oversee this nonsense, and just give everyone a set tax free payment. That payment can be supplemented with work etc, without penalty other than what the normal taxation system will require for the additional earnings. This has to be infinitely cheaper than maintaining the current situation costing us around $230 billion a year with nothing in return and millions of very unhappy people.
Unfortunately, this will put upwards of 35,000 people out of work (my estimate of the current Centrelink staffing, but it is in the national interest to rid the taxpayer of this unnecessary burden. Instead of staffing, I probably should say workforce, but a lot of those 35,000 wouldn't know what work was. The ones with a brain can go to the ATO to bolster the desperately needed resources there, the rest of course will be unemployable. That's my two cents worth.
@johninmelb: There are still specific payments relating to pensions, disabilities, family, pregnancy, drought relief, disaster relief/recovery and many others that fall outside of the sphere of unemployed that require administration so it would not mean gutting Centrelink totally, even then, administering a set welfare payment still requires people to run the thing, check eligibility, track and respond to payment inaccuracies/problems etc…
A broadsword approach doesn't necessarily solve the problem, but the layers of red tape need slashing and actual customer service provided.
If I have an issue with Centrelink, I go into branch first thing in the morning (opening time). Last time though first few in queue, CSR couldn't help, but gave me direct line to call on my phone, got through immediately, fixed my issue. I wouldn't even attempt their contact number.
They don't want to give free money away that easily.
They do but busy checking Ozbargain every 5 minutes.
'We are currently checking Ozbargain so you have to F**** wait'
Have found myself waiting to get into OzB lately too…
We Are Currently Experiencing Higher than Expected Wait Times
you are currently 10th in the line
we will respond to this message in 10 minutes
Why does every company have this as their automated voice recording?
It's not every company.
jeeez
jeeezJEEVES!
I prefer "higher than average"… and have that all the time. It is not how averages work.
What do you mean?
Your post is important to us…
Please treat our dumbos with respect and do not point out their faults….
…any advise provided is purely speculative.
more people cost money….
Good points OP
During Covid, business have trained the customers to wait forever as there was a huge rush for online services.
Now, the sad reality is that the prices have been hiked in the name of inflation and the spending on customer service has become the least. No wonder most of the large corporations like Woolies and Coles are making huge profits and there is stil no sign of reducing prices saying that the profit margins are the same.
So, how are they making extra profits?
- forcing customers to use self checkouts.reducing customer support hours. E.g: Officeworks used to have phone call support in weekends which is now gone.
outsourcing jobs to cheaper countries like Philippines and India. ( banks and telecom operators have more outages than ever )
charging credit card transaction fees. Banks have always charged fees. It's just that the greedy business owners have now decided to pass them over to customers citing safety and what all shit reasons.
My company set up that recording during covid and are only just removing it now with an IVR redesign. Sure it's disingenuous, but we aren't going to lose any customers so it's been a low priority. It's a static recording when you hit the queue. In the future it will only play when queue > 15mins or some shizzle.
Why does every company have this as their automated voice recording? If they are always experiencing higher than expected wait times then shouldn't they anticipate that by now and hire more people?
Yes….. 100% agree, is it really higher than expected when its like this every single day!?
Don't forget that their menu has recently changed.
"Your call is important to us"… but not important enough to employ enough staff….
Well there's no news in this … but it's utter BS (along with every other statement you hear on these damned recordings at seemingly every call centre).
The reality is that a certain amount of budget has been allocated to the call centre (and that budget is based on expected revenue, not expected call volume).
When call volume demand exceeds call centre supply (remember, these two numbers are not actually directly correlated), this message gets tacked on the other guff they feel the need to inform you of (like the latest "don't abuse our staff" routine … yeah, I was fully intending on ringing in to tip an absolute bucket on Neil or Brenda, but this message has totally made me change my attitude).
shouldn't they anticipate that by now and hire more people?
They cant… Nobody wants to work, remember?
My wife spent neatly 5 hours on hold with Centrelink on Monday - was cut off a number of times with a computerised "goodbye" - eventually went into the office, waited an hour to sit down with an officer and be told "call this number".