According to a 2016 survey, the average American will spend 43 days of their life on hold. This is based on 10-20 minutes a week. Unfortunately, in the age of COVID we can all testify to that number being blown out of the water!

We've all experienced contacting a company and having the call routed to a calling center abroad. In the age of COVID even those centers are closed as countries throughout the world have stay-at-home orders for employees. This is making an already huge problem even larger. Centers in the Philippines and India are closed for this reason. Companies in Europe were using centers in places like Bulgaria, but they too have fallen victim to the stay-at-home orders.

Many American companies are trying to have employees answer questions from home. This is having limited success as internet and phone issues are stopping this process from being as efficient as it could be. Yesterday I spent 45 minutes on hold being routed around by computer to different centers just to pay a phone bill. Everyone was extremely polite but unable to fulfill a simple request.

Companies have taken interesting measures in the current pandemic. Some companies have gone as far as removing links to their phone options leaving customers in limbo. Other companies have issued warnings on their sites of extended delays due to several different reasons all coming back to lack of customer service reps.

As we start to climb out of the pandemic it will be interesting to see what customer service looks like. Hopefully, businesses will go back to having customer service representatives who can answer questions in a timely manner. I know in my case the 10-20 minute figure quoted in the 2016 survey is now closer to 30-60 minutes a day. This is wasted time for small businesses and the clients we represent. Hopefully, we'll get back to our calls really being important again.

Marty Pay Farmers Insurance has been servicing and answering calls in Tehachapi for over 30 years (661) 822-3737!