to be utterly fed up of "because of pandemic" being used as an excuse..

[5foot5]

..for piss-poor service. Particularly on call centres and the like.

Granted in the early stages I can see it would have an impact - people off sick or self-isolating. Initially also I suppose there was some set-up to get people working efficiently from home. But, come on, it has been over a year. Surely things should be sorted by now?

I have just spent 45 minutes of my lunch hour waiting for my call to be taken. And yes I do know that some of my questions might be answered on the web-site FAQ and yes I know that I can manage my account on-line for some things. But not this thing. Even though they gave me four choices of musical style to listen to while I am waiting it doesn't help. Of course I wasn't arsey with the person who eventually answered as it's not his fault (I assume) but I do wonder if some companies are now using this excuse to cut down on staff and explain the long waits away on "unprecedented" circumstances.

DH is in a similar position. He sent a query about something to one of his pension funds. February was when he made the original query. He got the "because of difficult times" excuse and was told it would be in excess of 20 working days before they they could reply. More than 6 weeks later and no response he chased it. Then he was told another 10 days. Of course no joy so queries again and now it is 5-10 days. FFS 3 months to answer what he thought was a simple query

Just how long I wonder are companies going to keep hiding behind the pandemic excuse

[quote IrmaFayLear]@Kazzyhoward - it really is the lowest excuse to say that “others can’t have the same experience”. I saw on one of the HE threads a supposed lecturer saying how distance learning was fairer to disabled students and single mothers. It made me quite because it’s patently untrue. Why would disabled students want to be stuck in their bedrooms any more than anyone else?

What the poster really meant was that it was nice and cushy for them to be rid of pesky students whilst still receiving their salary.[/quote]
Loads of international students are stuck here and haven’t been home for many months. I am sure many would love face to face teaching and human interaction.

The impact on student mental health and the suicide rate is horrific.

Hi there.. I work in a call centre so just for a bit of clarity and how things are at our end.. A lot of companies have seen huge increase in demand, communication and sales and haven't make departments any bigger, so the staff are SWAMPED and dealing with things that we cant control. The staff I promise aren't swinging round in their chairs ignoring calls. I work routinely 12 hour days to try and support the team and work 7 day weeks. Its routine for the staff to have emotional breakdowns and tears because of short tempers and abuse from customers because everyone is bored of covid being a reason things arent back to normal.. Please know that NO company wants to wind its customers up and no call centre staff is sat there making stuff up. I know with our guys are we are doing everything we can to to help customers but 99% of it is totally out of the control of the person you are speaking with... I know things are weird. Im experiencing it with a chronically ill teen and getting no help but the people at the end of the phone dont make the rules.. please show them some kind ness :)

I interrupted someone who was just about to launch into their speech today: "yes, I know, you don't need to tell me"

YANBU

People need to get back into offices. The current state of play is utter bull

@TheDogsMother

Many of these organisations were fairly crap before the pandemic though. How many times have you been left on hold because the company 'is currently experiencing a high volume of calls'. The same companies with the same message so you think they'd have learned to plan it a bit better by now (or hire a few more staff).

Because of Covid ..... my opticians tried to change my contact lens check to a telephone screening about it. Call me old school, but I think an eye check is better done in person !

This is actually my DH's job. He does contact lens check via Teams. They can get all the information they need by asking questions and if there's an issue refer you to the store to be seen in person. It's only done for people with up-to-date eye tests though.

The ‘cos Covid’ culture is an utter disgrace.

My father was booked in for an urgent call back from the doc yesterday morning. Not covid, but he does have lung problems and has been unwell over the weekend, steadily getting worse. He was told he's get a call back from the GP by midday. After receiving no phone call back, he rang the surgery back himself, to be told that it had been cancelled. It tanspired that one of the receptionists had done this accidentally. He was told he would be put back on the call back list for the afternoon, but it might be up to 8pm before the GP rang, as she was working late until then. My father then asked how to pick up a prescription tye GP might prescribe over the phone, as the surgery gates are locked to the public at 6:00pm, and he would need it urgently. The receptionist curtly replied 'you'll have to wait and see if she prescribes you anything first. As it happens, the GP rang my father back fairly quickly and did prescribe medication which I then later had to collect as they hadn't sent it to his regular pharmacy as the GP said they would do. When he spoke to the GP she apologised for the earlier mix up with the cancellation, but basically blamed Covid, and that it was a Monday, because they were so busy and things were still running differently as usual. How on earth is Covid the reason for cancelling a patient's telephone appointment, andcwhy did the receptionist not at least apologise to him?! I get it is a mistake, and we all make them, but it was nothing to do with Covid.

@user1490954378

My father was booked in for an urgent call back from the doc yesterday morning. Not covid, but he does have lung problems and has been unwell over the weekend, steadily getting worse. He was told he's get a call back from the GP by midday. After receiving no phone call back, he rang the surgery back himself, to be told that it had been cancelled. It tanspired that one of the receptionists had done this accidentally. He was told he would be put back on the call back list for the afternoon, but it might be up to 8pm before the GP rang, as she was working late until then. My father then asked how to pick up a prescription tye GP might prescribe over the phone, as the surgery gates are locked to the public at 6:00pm, and he would need it urgently. The receptionist curtly replied 'you'll have to wait and see if she prescribes you anything first. As it happens, the GP rang my father back fairly quickly and did prescribe medication which I then later had to collect as they hadn't sent it to his regular pharmacy as the GP said they would do. When he spoke to the GP she apologised for the earlier mix up with the cancellation, but basically blamed Covid, and that it was a Monday, because they were so busy and things were still running differently as usual. How on earth is Covid the reason for cancelling a patient's telephone appointment, andcwhy did the receptionist not at least apologise to him?! I get it is a mistake, and we all make them, but it was nothing to do with Covid.

I'm constantly amazed by our so-called health service. I thought you had to be a caring person to be a doctor or other health care worker? The only thing they seem to care about is reducing their workload as much as they can. It doesn't matter to them if someone dies in the process.

I agree OP...i had a scan done it will be 6 weeks when i get my results,Then I need a heart echo scan as my ticker has gone wonky that will be 5 weeks from the request, I needed some new tablets urgently according to my GP ..took him 6 days to issue them...marvellous!