As a customer service agent, I often wonder why people yell at us over long wait times, which aren’t our fault. But today, I got it. I called an insurance company, waited nearly an hour, only to be told the agent didn’t handle my province and couldn’t even transfer me. I had to start all over again with a different number. It was incredibly frustrating, and in that moment, I realized this is exactly how our callers must feel too. Honestly, can’t blame them sometimes.

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I feel bad about the wait times, but getting yelled at about them sucks. However, sometimes I have to contact an airline or something and… I get it. Yeah, it's not their fault. But by the time I get a hold of somebody after waiting forever, I'm not really concerned about who's fault it is or isn't. I'm just frustrated. It's a bad system all around, and companies should invest more in actual people. If you can take peoples' money, you should provide good (and enough) customer support :)

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You’re absolutely right. And you know what the worst part is? The moment call volumes drop, our company starts offering voluntary time off. Then, an hour later, when fewer people are working, the queue builds up and customers get frustrated, taking it out on those of us who actually chose to stay and work. It is just unfair.

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Tell me about it. Once you experience it for yourself, you gain a whole new perspective. I hate making clients wait, but sometimes it truly is out of your control. I just always apologize and offer waters and stay transparent. The only thing worse than waiting is not knowing WHY you're waiting or how long it may be.

You’re right. And as a phone agent, we have no way of knowing how long someone has been waiting until they tell us. Sometimes, customers say the automated system kept telling them it would just be a 2-minute wait but, they ended up holding for 30 minutes. It’s completely misleading, and I can understand why they get frustrated.

I really can't blame people for losing it sometimes, the systems we have to deal with in everyday life almost seemed designed to drive people crazy. When people have to wait a very long time to talk to a rep it's just wrong. And let's be honest, I think a lot of times management figures people will give up and go away. So there's not a lot of inclination to fix the problem.

It’s so ironic that companies set strict maximum hold times for agents and hold us accountable if we go over, yet customers are left waiting for hours just to speak to someone. It’s honestly pathetic and completely unfair on both ends.

The more people that complain about the wait times…. the longer the wait times get for everyone.

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