UK Edition
'Your call is valued' is the most annoying thing a customer service line could say
"Your call is valued” is the most irritating phrase to hear while on hold to speak to a company, a survey has found.
Almost half (47 per cent) of those polled by Which?, the consumer group, said they found the message the most annoying, followed by being told to go to the company’s website (28 per cent) and apologies for all operators being busy (11 per cent).
An engaged tone was judged the most annoying sound, named by 29 per cent of those polled, followed by rock music (22 per cent) and background music with no specific tune (21 per cent).
Around half (48 per cent) said that classical music was their preferred sound while waiting. More positively, one in three said that being told how long they would have to wait was the most useful information while on hold, followed by where they were in the queue (32 per cent) and the offer of being called back if they left a number (30 per cent).
The watchdog also found that the vast majority of people are prepared to wait no longer than five minutes for their call to be answered.
Richard Headland, editor of Which? magazine, said: “Waiting on hold is a waste of time, but some organisations make the experience needlessly annoying through objectionable messages and music.
“If these drive you round the bend, vote with your feet and take your custom elsewhere. The best companies know the value of answering your call quickly.”
Which? surveyed 2,260 members between July 14-29.
Last month The Daily Telegraph revealed customers faced a wait of up to an hour to get through to the taxman.
A July report by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee found that in October 2015 on average taxpayers were still waiting for 35 minutes for officials at HMRC to answer the phone.
An HMRC spokesperson said: "We are sorry that in the past we have not provided the standard of service which people are entitled to expect. We have made progress and we are now consistently answering more than 90% of calls first time, with average waits of five minutes over the past six months."