Sometimes I wonder who the geniuses behind the phone trees for customer service are.   Every company I call after hours seems to allow me to spend 5 minutes or more selecting various options in their menu, before finally telling me I’ve reached them “outside of normal business hours” and to try back later.
I wonder how much money all these companies would save on their toll free customer service lines if they weren’t paying for people to have 5 minutes calls while the offices were closed.
To all you crazy IVR developers: Here is an idea, try telling the customer right up front that they’ve reached customer service outside of normal business hours and then only let them reach the options that are 1) still staffed or 2) automated.  Why waste my time and your money if you don’t have to?
Offenders I’ve run into this weekend include:Â AT&T Wireless, Verizon