HP has implemented an additional wait time in several European countries for customers seeking telephone help.
Anyone in France, Germany, Italy, Ireland and the UK who wants to get someone from HP on the line must be patient for at least 15 minutes. The company has implemented a 15-minute minimum wait time for telephone help since early this week. That’s what The Register reports based on internal communications it was able to review.
Customers calling in hopes of receiving support from a fellow human being are first told that the call center is experiencing above-average busy times, and that a caller will only be available in about 15 minutes. That message is unrelated to any real busyness. HP then encourages callers to find their own solution online. Over the course of the quarter hour, HP repeats that message.
Mandatory self-help
The mandatory waiting period should steer more people toward “self-help. HP has a lot of documentation online, including FAQs. The company prefers that callers solve their problem themselves with those digital tools. HP makes no distinction between customers who have already searched online and those who call right away: everyone has to wait 15 minutes.
Employees at HP itself are not happy with the policy, which can be called customer unfriendly and misleading, to say the least. An anonymous source within HP stated the following: “Many within HP are not happy with the measures, and the fact that they are being taken by people who are not in touch with the customers who are being impacted.”
The Register knows that the 15-minute mandatory wait could be extended to other countries. We have contacted HP for comment and will add it if the company responds.