Monday, November 13, 2006
Hanging on the telephone.... addition.
Update.....
I understand that a Building Socity has just introduced a system where you phone them, log your number, and then they phone you back when you are near the head of the queue, so your waiting time is cut to minutes.
Hanging on the telephone....
It was bound to happen. If I was a betting person, I could have made money out of it. Instead, I spent most of the morning hanging on the telephone.
My wife's recent birthday has effected the disability benefit she receives. I'd done all that was asked, notified of changes, and in plenty of time, so you would have thought that everything would be taken care of, and the change over would be a simple matter. Wrong!
I like to support our local village Post Office, and so I chose to have our benefits payed through them rather than have the money paid into our bank account. When I arrived this morning and presented our payment card it registered 'No funds'. I was not surprised! I then offered my payment card and received over £30 more than I was expecting. Strange, but perhaps a telephone call would sort it all out. Wrong!
Now Monday morning is not the best time to phone any of the benefit offices but by some small miracle I managed to get through to my wife's department in about 10 minutes. Their excuse was the the change over was still in the process of happening and would be completed by the end of the week. An interim cheque would be in the post and normal payments would resume next week............ we shall see!
My department was Works and Pensions. Say no more! It took 7 phone calls over an hour to even get in a queue. And then came the music. I recon the music repeats every three minutes and after about the 12th repeat the line went dead. Joining the queue was slightly quicker the next time and after only about 20 minutes I was greeted by a human voice.
Two minutes latter it was sorted. The extra was my entitlement, due to our change of circumstances, and would continue until the end of the month when our circumstances will change again. More telephone calls I expect. I can't wait.
When it suits them, we get brown envelope after brown envelope, telling us of changes or more often, non changes. One of these envelopes would have saved me a morning of hanging on the telephone.
I understand that a Building Socity has just introduced a system where you phone them, log your number, and then they phone you back when you are near the head of the queue, so your waiting time is cut to minutes.
Hanging on the telephone....
It was bound to happen. If I was a betting person, I could have made money out of it. Instead, I spent most of the morning hanging on the telephone.
My wife's recent birthday has effected the disability benefit she receives. I'd done all that was asked, notified of changes, and in plenty of time, so you would have thought that everything would be taken care of, and the change over would be a simple matter. Wrong!
I like to support our local village Post Office, and so I chose to have our benefits payed through them rather than have the money paid into our bank account. When I arrived this morning and presented our payment card it registered 'No funds'. I was not surprised! I then offered my payment card and received over £30 more than I was expecting. Strange, but perhaps a telephone call would sort it all out. Wrong!
Now Monday morning is not the best time to phone any of the benefit offices but by some small miracle I managed to get through to my wife's department in about 10 minutes. Their excuse was the the change over was still in the process of happening and would be completed by the end of the week. An interim cheque would be in the post and normal payments would resume next week............ we shall see!
My department was Works and Pensions. Say no more! It took 7 phone calls over an hour to even get in a queue. And then came the music. I recon the music repeats every three minutes and after about the 12th repeat the line went dead. Joining the queue was slightly quicker the next time and after only about 20 minutes I was greeted by a human voice.
Two minutes latter it was sorted. The extra was my entitlement, due to our change of circumstances, and would continue until the end of the month when our circumstances will change again. More telephone calls I expect. I can't wait.
When it suits them, we get brown envelope after brown envelope, telling us of changes or more often, non changes. One of these envelopes would have saved me a morning of hanging on the telephone.
# posted by LePhare @ 11:57 PM 
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It sounds like your side of the "pond" has some similarities to this side when it comes time to dealing with the red tape....the envelopes are white here instead of brown...but the form letters telling of changes to benefits keep arriving years after one is dead! although you can bet your bottom dollar if someone was cashing in on the deceased person's benefits...things would move very quickly indeed!
Oh the bureaucratic red tape !!! I'm thankful always at how well the place here runs, though the benefits are a lot less than they should or could be for those in need.
Reminds me of a great little book about China from a while back "The Man With The Key Is Not Here"....which is used to evade responsibility and denote "jobsworth" (a peculiarly British reference I think?)
Oh and Ian - do you have to pay for every minute on hold?
Reminds me of a great little book about China from a while back "The Man With The Key Is Not Here"....which is used to evade responsibility and denote "jobsworth" (a peculiarly British reference I think?)
Oh and Ian - do you have to pay for every minute on hold?
It's the same the world over. Envelopes white or brown, same insides, either rubbish or problems. The main difficulty is that some of the call centres are half way across the world, Bombay..... or what ever they call it now. Luckily not this time though.
Yep! Bloody pest!!
Can't wait for next week. Another round of phone call no doubt.
Yep! Bloody pest!!
Can't wait for next week. Another round of phone call no doubt.
Dewdrop... Blondie! I couldn't remember who, but the tune was going around in my head forever.
Just watched a repeat of George Michael on The South Bank Show again. It beats Children in Need.
Just watched a repeat of George Michael on The South Bank Show again. It beats Children in Need.
wonder if it will work....as long as there are no glitches in the system it might be the answer to those agonizingly long frustrating hours holding on the phone.
Recently I had to deal with my isp and was on hold for well over an hour...I decided frustration was not going to rule my evening...so I grabbed the cordless, the novel I am currently reading...and settled in comfortably on my bed...once the technician came on, I had to smile several times as he kept apologizing to me...I just told him no problem I expected to wait and I am prepared...he thanked me abundantly for my patience....it wasn't patience though, I just knew that I did not want to call back so I tuned it all out and read until they came on the line. I was even able to tune out the music...I think that was the the best time I have ever had being put on hold. Well....maybe there was this one other time...but the distraction was much more fun than the phone call so I ended up hanging up and concentrating on the distraction ;)
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Recently I had to deal with my isp and was on hold for well over an hour...I decided frustration was not going to rule my evening...so I grabbed the cordless, the novel I am currently reading...and settled in comfortably on my bed...once the technician came on, I had to smile several times as he kept apologizing to me...I just told him no problem I expected to wait and I am prepared...he thanked me abundantly for my patience....it wasn't patience though, I just knew that I did not want to call back so I tuned it all out and read until they came on the line. I was even able to tune out the music...I think that was the the best time I have ever had being put on hold. Well....maybe there was this one other time...but the distraction was much more fun than the phone call so I ended up hanging up and concentrating on the distraction ;)
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