Apols for the limitations of the NCT bf line ( I am an NCT bf counsellor and answer Qs on the line)...we try as hard as we can to get the message, and the service, right.
I think the recorded message is very hard to get right. We have had real problems with mothers thinking they are calling a call centre, and we do need to stress the fact that the people taking the calls are volunteers in their own homes - I know it may come across as 'so please don't bother us' to a caller who is feeling vulnerable but that's not the intention...wish we could get it right for everyone. We as volunteers have to be 'protected' a bit - we have to make people's expectations realistic, so they know that calling the line will not mean someone will zoom round to your house straight away. And the reason the service does not meet the demands of eveyone who calls ie people have to either leave a message or call again if they don't get to speak to someone is that the line runs with the inevitably limited input of about 100 volunteers for the whole country - and 450,000 mothers start breastfeeding every year!
It's great there are three other helplines as well, though they are also working with limited resrouces. I am not sure what their messages say.
If someone has had poor service in the sense of poor information or lack of support from a bfc on the NCT line, then they can, and should, say so...there is a 'feedback' option you can choose. You need to say when you called and where you called from, and the complaint will, I promise you, be dealt with.
I know not every encounter is good - even though there are only 100 or so of us, we speak to thousands of women, and there are bound to be times when it doesn't go right. But we can improve if you let us know when things need improving!