Yes, I am converting over my ISP, and this includes no longer needing Telstra as a basic phone line system. So I am calling them today to confirm my account has been cancelled.

Ring ring…

So I may be able to help you, please say what this is about…

“Service cancellations”

[wait] OK.. is it about the number your calling from?

“no”

[wait] OK, please say or enter the number

99995551234

[wait] ok is that 03 99995551234?

“yes”

[wait] Click… [wait] Please wait…

[wait] Click.. hold music… Click… [wait] While you are waiting perhaps you would like our combined two for one great service deals on your phone line and pay tv offer… Please discuss this with your service person when you get through…

Click… [wait] … Click… Music on hold… Click [wait] Click…

All of our operators are busy at this time, please hold…

[wait] Click… Music on hold…

[wait] Please wait in the queue until we can respond to your request…

[wait a good three minutes]…

Hi, can I help with your enquiry…?

At last, a person that will tell me what I need to know. And she was helpful.

But I do wonder, if you have various call centres and support staff, and at some level they have different expertise and can help in various ways, I do ask the question, how well does the auto-queuing system actually work?

I have this impression or picture in my mind that I go through the 20 questions, gets clicks and pops and music on hold and no matter what I say or do i am going through to the next person in a mass-cubical room regardless, just answer my call and help me, seriously.

I do see the point in a post-office or other service providing arena, aka, a supermarket where they make you stand in line so you can be distracted by the wonderful things they stack by the register, impulse items I think they call them, but on the phone, advertising more services to me after I said I was enquiring about my cancellation??? Oh wait, yes, re-connect my phone and also give me the full pay-tv option, just on a whim.

Yet they pretend to help me, ask me some guiding questions so they can forward my call to the most appropriate and efficiently trained support person to help me, yet along they way they also expect that person to be able to sell me the ‘next best thing’ that I ‘must have’

No, not liking big corporate masses.