Starting to dread having to make household calls

[BobDear]

This might just be me - and actually I think what I'm really looking for is some clarity on whether this sounds rationale. For context I am not having a great time in general at home - marriage issues and teenage issues - life has been hard for some time.

I also recently went through menopause.

But is anyone else finding that their mental health or general wellbeing is adversely affected by the amount of time and lack of resolution when having to make general household calls. I'm talking banks/insurance/utilities/service providers/hmrc/council etc. Calls that have to be made.

Today I had a few on my 'to do' list. One medical, two related to my mum (who died four years ago - so it's not particularly raw) and one utility. I am a freelancer and currently working full time from home and these calls have so far taken four and a half hours and I haven't got a clean and final resolution on anything.

I was on hold for between 16 and 49 mins and am currently on hold to an insurer and have been on hold for 44 mins. Most people don't listen properly to the issue and give scripted and robotic responses that don't solve anything and I'm actually getting to the point where I really really dread it and it's making me feel sick. There are things slipping because I don't have the time to be on hold or explain the same thing to five departments and I feel a bit like Michael Douglas in 'Falling Down' (if anyone remembers that film).

It's actually a joke that it's now normal to have to commit this level of time to speaking to someone. I am owed £150 by Opodo and have been trying to get this back for 6 months but it's so long winded and difficult to resolve that I am about to give up as the thought of calling again makes me feel ill.

Is it just me? Is this everything else that's going on in my life? Or does anyone else feel this way?

Not just you. Takes hours to get through a few calls to sort household admin these days. I do everything online but when you need to speak to customer services about something expect to lose an hour of your life you’ll never get back and high blood pressure too.

Try being hard of hearing with bilateral hearing aids & thus have to use those wretched Chatbot text thingys.

Life is an absolute nightmare for deaf people like me who have to make the admin calls you mention. Customer Services speak so fast when you eventually get through. I hate small talk but some of the foreign call centres will insist on being their version of pleasant, “are you having a good day” type nonsense. No! I just want to get on with the business in hand. Keep it simple, cut the crap out please because otherwise I have to work hard to concentrate on your unimportant drivel.
I get very worked up & stressed. Grrrr.

Definitely not just you. I am so sick to death of the whole "no service" service now.

We've had an incident in the house that means an insurance claim. So far I've had a load of blah blah blah and 2 home visits but nothing is getting done. I can't face another afternoon of being stuck on the phone talking to a fucking bath sponge.

It's crap.

@Idontdoyoga I can't even imagine the additional frustration of a hearing impairment. Christ - that must be hard.

The smalltalk drives me insane. I am quite blunt now and ask them to stop. But what I mostly can't bear is the waiting time and then the lack of listening. I think most customer service agents can't cope with you asking anything that is more complex that a 'press 2 for your balance' type query. I am frequently baffled by the lack of appropriate response when I have explained my query slowly and clearly - they then answer a completely different question.

@HouseOfGuineas I actually have high blood pressure (diagnosed and endlessly spiking) and this genuinely does not help.

I've gone back to writing letters and posting them. Yes it takes longer but it's a lot easier.

Not just you. I've just switched docs because every time I called you were just on hold for over an hour and then it would just cut off. No point having phone lines if no one answers them!

something I purchased still under warranty broke so I contacted customer service to organise a replacement part. All very polite and initially seemed to be dealt with swiftly. Since then I have had:

• we haven’t heard from you so are closing this case. When I queried it:
• sorry for the delay there was an issue at the warehouse and it will now be shipped.
• Still no part
• sorry for the further delay it is now out of stock
• sorry for the delay I am waiting for the purchasing team with an update
• got a phone call yesterday which was unexpected saying they will chase but “are still waiting for purchasing”

Best bit - the item is available IN STOCK on the website and could be delivered to me tmrw. Genius. This has been ongoing 4 weeks.

customers have no rights these days or certainly not enough hours in the day to go through the required channels to fight for it.

Same here. And so many companies don't do email which is just annoying.

Absolutely agree OP it's soul destroying. The one that annoys me more than anything else is when you have to phone to cancel something, so many companies do this despite having online services for everything else and I'm sure it's just because people will give up trying to contact them & keep paying for whatever it is.

Yip, owed £50 sign up bonus by a electricity company and they have structured it I suppose intentionally that the call hold/coat to get it is just not worth it. Also have to phone our local water company and dreading it. So flipping difficult!

It’s a nightmare. You hang on for ages, and then you get through to someone who often doesn’t seem to be on the same continent as you, so do not have the language they are using as their first language, and are working at a very unsocial hour local time , so maybe are finding it more difficult to concentrate or understand.

it’s quite often the case that if your query isn’t on their drop down, they just put the phone down.

I procrastinate forever regarding these calls.
It took me 6 months to cancel a contract because I kept putting it off trying to call, then I called and couldn't get through to anyone, then I gave up, started again and it took forever to actually get connected to a real person who understood what I wanted but they were absolutely brilliant once we started the process. I should have allocated a whole day to this and done it when it was required, not delay 6 months. But I just couldn't face it.
However they need doing, so things like change car insurance which can't be done online, I end up calling just before deadline and stick at it until it gets done.
HMRC are difficult to get through as well.
To be fair, once you get through, 95% of those answering are incredibly helpful and professional.
It's just the endless waiting for them to pick up the phone that's annoying. Choosing the wrong option so you start again etc etc.
I usually end up with 2-3 calls that need doing imminently and then I use a whole day on the task whilst trying to get my own work done.

Boring as, but I never get annoyed or angry about it because it wouldn't help in any way whatsoever. Part of life! It's the same in other countries too, not just here in the UK.

I try to avoid phoning people but had to twice recently, once to book a course for ds which you can't do online, and the other to put him on our car insurance, and then take him off. What's really annoying is the website tells you to phone, and then when you phone you have a constant message telling you you can do things online (but you can't).

The one that annoys me more than anything else is when you have to phone to cancel something

Oh yes. I was trying to change a newspaper subscription because it was too expensive, and I sent them an email and they said I had to phone to discuss. I said I didn't need to discuss it, I knew what I wanted to do, and could they just action (changing from paper to digital only). No I had to phone. I cancelled the DD with them and subscribed online via Google Play...

Also the Bots that can't understand your question and send you in a loop of the same routine and options. I actually feel certain it's affecting my wellbeing. We have had a death, a house move and a few other things so life is Admin heavy and it's becoming unbearable.

I can't even face trying to understand or improve our energy bills at the moment because I am drowning in so many other things and I just can't face it.

@HouseOfGuineas we are going through something similar. Large ticket item purchased for new home (over £2k) not fit for purpose - have emailed a pdf of images showing the issue ELEVEN TIMES.

All i get is Robots telling asking me to outline my issue/give them time/trust that my concern is important to them.

ELEVEN TIMES.

it's infuriating

I finally got through to the council the other day to be told that they couldn't process the refund I needed because they are all still 'working from home' and 'someone' needs to be in the office to do this. I said well could 'someone' sort that out for me without me having to be on the phone for 3 hours to get through to 'someone' who is at home...

apparently I was asking too much

Urgh! Agree totally about the bots.

I have just gone back to a local high street to get my motor and house insurance, like I used to 20 years ago.

Honestly, its a bit more expensive but my god the process is easier and nicer.

Picked up an M&S click and collect parcel recently then needed to return it. In the meantime I kept getting texts telling me to pick it up from the shop. Went to my account, sure enough showing as not having been picked up. No option to sort it out online so I had to call. Took me 20 mins to wade through a set of menus asking me for voice prompts and then telling me I could arrange returns through my online account. Finally got through to someone who said they could sort it and was very nice. But logged on again later and it still wasn't updated so I had to do the call again. I was quite rude to the automated messages "just put me through to a person" but polite to the actual people. Gave them a hammering when I got the "how did we do" email.

I hate these circular bots that never have the options you need. Also waiting ages on hold to a call centre where the people are really not easy to understand.

It drives me mad, it’s such a huge waste of time. MY time.

Yes, I really dread . You go through many many menu options and even though you select the correct option the customer service rep has to transfer you to someone else and the call gets dropped.

Thankfully, most of the companies I know deal with have the option of live chat online and I find that much more help and less frustrating. Also having a transcript of what exactly was agreed is helpful. I actually have changed a few services to ones that have live chat as a customer service option.

This is reassuring - thank you. At least I know that I am not losing my mind and that it is, in fact, pushing people to the brink.

And then - before you have even remotely had your issue resolved, you get spammed with emails asking you to review your experience.

I do feel like the world has finally gone mad.

I hate the ones that ask you to key in your account number and then when you finally get to speak to a human the first thing they ask for is your account number.

When I’ve wasted an hour or two, I give up and google the email of the chief executive / most senior UK based person and just email them direct. They won’t answer, but they will have someone in their office for precisely this purpose, who is really good at sorting out ‘computer says no’ issues.

Oh I feel your pain OP

I am currently putting a complaint through Resolver and that is also taking forever

is it bots on Resolver too - they asked for info about me that I had provided on the initial complaint.

the worst thing is, when you get a human, they sound like a bot. I also want to shout "stop bloody chatting". I can see banks charging extra for use of high street services in future.

Not just you. I hate it too, especially ringing my GP. 39 minutes as number 1 in the queue today to be spoken to like a child by the snotty receptionist. Unfortunately she caught me in a bad mood so I told her there was no need for her attitude. Hate ringing anywhere with a passion