Hold the line, caller! Which companies keep customers waiting on hold the longest?

Due to recent complaints about unsatisfactory customer service across the board, we have conducted an investigation based on the first two stages of every customer service experience – finding the number and making the call.

Part 1: Can I get your number?

We selected 21 companies based on major categories that consumers rely on in their day-to-day life:

Internet and telcos

• Vodafone
  
• Spark
• 2degrees
• Chorus
  

Subscription services

• Hello Fresh
• Woop
• My Food Bag
  
• Sky
  
• Netflix
• Disney+
  
• Norton Security
  

Banks and payments

• ANZ
• BNZ
• Kiwibank
• Westpac
• PayPal

Postal services

• NZ Post
  
• Post Haste

Travel and transport

• Air New Zealand
  
• Jetstar
• Uber
  

Starting from the Google home page, we timed and noted how many clicks it took to find the company’s phone number. Calls were made either on Monday, Wednesday or Friday between 9am and 3pm.

Clicks used and time taken to find a customer service number

Conclusions

Many companies that host essential services have their phone number readily available on the main Google search page. They are also relatively easy to find on the company’s website.

Some companies rely more on their website’s FAQ page to answer customer queries. These companies may require you to go through steps on their FAQ page or talk to an automatic chatbot before revealing their phone number to you.

Only one company – Norton Security – require you to submit a request for a callback from customer service, as opposed to you calling them.

Now that we had the numbers, it was time to jump on the phone.

Part 2: You just keep me hanging on

We called all the phone numbers found in part one and timed how long it took to get through to a human. We also made notes about the process and experience of being on hold with each company.

Time spent on hold, from shortest to longest time

Bonus notes

• Netflix and Disney+ had themed hold music.
• BNZ allowed the caller to select either ‘Kiwi music’ or ‘easy listening’ to listen to while they were on hold.
• Westpac featured a message from Sir John Kirwan about mental health support.
• Jetstar had no hold music – only an automated voice speaking about safety, Covid-19 information and references to its website.
  
• Spark was the only company to call back after it was hung up on – it called back twice and sent a text message.
  

Conclusions

• Hello Fresh had the shortest hold time – 15 seconds.
• 2degrees had the longest hold time – almost an hour.
• Many companies require account numbers or security PINs from the caller to be able to progress smoothly through to the call centre. Have these at the ready if you can – this could make your experience quicker.
• Some companies refer you to its website or have an automated message giving you advice while you hold. This includes telling you to hang up and troubleshoot your technical issues, then call back.
  
• Some companies have an automated message that gives you an estimated wait time. Of the four companies that had this feature, two were somewhat accurate, one overestimated the wait time and one dramatically underestimated it. Kiwibank underestimated, claiming 10-20 minutes but held us on the line for double the time.
• One company did not have a public customer service line. Uber only has this available for its premium ‘Diamond Riders’. We presume this is determined from the phone number you call on, as they hung up immediately after the automated message played.