It’s a riddle of the modern age: when is your bank not experiencing ‘unusually high call volumes’? You can puzzle the answer while listening to 20 minutes of looped Vivaldi interrupted sporadically by a disembodied female voice apologising for this delay.
I recently called my bank at around 10.30 at night and endured exactly the same routine. This makes me suspect these frustrating delays have more to do with banks economising on call-centre staff, rather than my continued misfortune of ringing just as 100-odd other customers decide they also want to set up a new direct debit.
To be fair this isn’t just a problem with our banks. Calling broadband providers, energy companies or other utilities can be a similarly time-consuming and soul-sapping experience.
It wasn’t always this way though. About five to 10 years ago I generally got straight through to my bank – even when I had the temerity to ring on a Monday morning or weekday lunchtime.
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