Letters: Hanging on the telephone

I have moved house quite recently and it has given me great insight into the so-called communications advances in Britain.
A correspondent writes about their negative experience regarding utilities companiesA correspondent writes about their negative experience regarding utilities companies
A correspondent writes about their negative experience regarding utilities companies

We are told all about the ‘white hot’ heat of technology and I suppose that this includes the internet, robots etc. My story is that, although used to using the internet for my contacts with the utilities and other, more official, bodies, my internet connection was delayed in being set up when I moved to my new address, in spite of the fact that I had given my provider good notice of the date of my arrival.Thus began the saga of trying to contact all my suppliers of services via telephone. Without exception, each and everyone I phoned, whatever the time of day, was “experiencing heavy traffic” and I would have to wait, sometimes up to 50 minutes for someone to answer the phone. This included, alarmingly, the GP practice.You may think I exaggerate but I assure you I do not. In fact, altogether, my time awaiting the good services of my internet company totalled some seven hours. I know that this may seem a long boring saga but I tell it in the hope that there is someone who may be able to explain to me why, if many of us use the internet connections for our contact with companies, is the phone so busy? Could it be that organisations have cut their personnel to the bone in order to increase their profits - at the expense of the customer?Whatever the answer, I know that, however we may complain, it will fall on stony ground.AW ClarkeAddress supplied

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