Australians spent 90 million hours ‘on hold’ in call centre hell during Covid

Aussies trying to fix issues are spending an average of seven hours waiting to connect with someone. These are the worst performing industries. SEE THE FULL LIST

Exclusive: Australians spent 90 million hours ‘on hold’ in call centre hell during the past 18 months, with new research finding customers trying to fix issues spent an average of seven hours waiting to connect with someone.

While airlines are traditionally rated low for customer service, a pandemic that has grounded travel and transport for the past 18 months saw telecommunication companies and government departments leapfrog to the top of the list, with 28 per cent of Australians surveyed thinking they are the two worst industries.

More than half, or 53 per cent, of consumers surveyed by Lonegran for ServiceNow said the average time they’ve spent on hold has increased since the pandemic began.

Australians spent an average 2.1 hours trying to resolve an issue by phone. Email was even slower, at 2.3 hours on average.

More than a third (35 per cent) said they felt customer service teams were understaffed or overwhelmed; while 33 per cent believe representatives didn’t have the authority to resolve issues.

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A lack of ownership and responsibility between departments was also blamed by 29 per cent of customers for poor service. Employees simply not listening was the biggest issue for 28 per cent of people.

Other factors blamed for poor service include organisations making it “intentionally difficult” (24 per cent), issues with internal systems (17 per cent), and poor record keeping from previous service (13 per cent).

The best companies for customer service, according to the research, are groceries and supermarkets, with a quarter of all Australians (25 per cent) rating the industry at top ahead of healthcare (14 per cent) and the food and beverage industry (14 per cent.)

Private transport, like airlines, didn’t rate at all on the list of best industries.

Australian mother-of-two Kelly Fogarty, an event director at London’s SoHo Theatre, spent 19 hours trying to reach someone at Qantas.

Australians Kelly and Luke Fogarty and their daughters Emmy, 15 and Belle, 14, reunited in Melbourne after she flew home from London 674 days later after Covid-19 lockdowns. Picture: Supplied, Courtesy of Kelly Fogarty

She chronicled her excruciating back and forth in an epic Twitter thread that has gone viral, with celebrities including author Neil Gaiman calling on Qantas to “take this seriously”.

For almost a month, Ms Fogarty had been trying to confirm a booking for her two teenage daughters, Belle, 14 and Emmy, 15, flying as unaccompanied minors from London to Melbourne on Wednesday, December 15.

“I’ve had half/half good/bad reservations reps – 3 reduced me to tears w patronising tone & lack of kindness. It’s the cut-offs, lack of call backs, of any response or sorted after 19hrs of calls + emails, feedback forms,” she said on Twitter.

Her issue was quickly resolved soon after Qantas was contacted by News Corp for comment. A Qantas spokeswoman said the government’s continual border closures and openings, without warning, drove “huge spikes” in calls. In the past week alone, the company saw a spike of of more than 50 per cent following the Queensland border opening, news of Omicron, and changes to travel restrictions.

Police check the permissions of passengers from QF526 arriving from Sydney. Photo Steve Pohlner.

“These wait times are not acceptable, and we apologise to customers who have waited so long to get through to us,” the spokeswoman said.

“While it was great that international flying came back early, it meant our plan to have agents trained and ready to go was disrupted. We didn’t have the lead time required to train our agents as intended.”

ServiceNow vice president and managing director Eric Swift said the pandemic has increased expectations while decreasing patience, creating a perfect storm of frustration.

Originally published as Australians spent 90 million hours ‘on hold’ in call centre hell during Covid