GP switched to an 0844 number!

LondonDiva

odowdchr wrote: »

The other thing to mention about these is the ability of big companies to stick you in a queue and charge you while you're waiting...ie. football and concert tickets. The transaction may only take seconds but if it takes you 20minutes to get through........

Yep. Many of them specifically design plans so you can't get through to a person for at least a couple of minutes, get frustrated, hang up & ring back.

A certain major holiday company & newspaper spring to mind

dangeroussports

Probably got sick of all those hypocondriacts sponging off the system and making appointments about a sore thumb they have had for 20 minutes.

Doctors surgeries are full of idiots. Recently I had to have some jabs done, whilst waiting I overheard two spongers whinging about thier sores and 'a clicking noise' from his knee when digging the garden.

Digging the garden? Sores....Get a job and stop making me pay towards your miserable prescription.

How do I know they didnt have jobs? Because they were moaning about the price of a prescriptions when one said "good job we dont have to pay, costs a fortune".

Cant abide those surgeries....the less I see of them the better. Then again Im active and young.

BritBrat

Just ring up and ask for a telephone appointment then the cost will not be much, but you will be wasting the doctors time while he phones you back for free to you.

dangeroussports

Telephone jabs?

odowdchr

LondonDiva wrote: »

Yep. Many of them specifically design plans so you can't get through to a person for at least a couple of minutes, get frustrated, hang up & ring back.

A certain major holiday company & newspaper spring to mind

It's spreading to football clubs who outsource their telesales now. My local club in the Midlands uses it's existing ticket office staff, but the calls are put through by an externally provided 0870 system.
We had some big matches at the end of the season and by ringing the general club number and being transferred internally the phone was answered immediately by staff who weren't busy....but ringing the 0870 'ticket' number put you in a queue with up to 99 people waiting in front of you....average wait was about 1hr 20minutes and god knows how many calls before you even got into the queue.
The club allegedly didn't know about this sharp practice as they were expecting all their staff to be fed phone calls continuously. So they say....

Madjock

GP surgeris don't make a profit from using 0844 nos. The fraction of income they receive pays for the telephony software and the surgery provides a better service to patients by having lots of automated options available if you don't actually need to speak to anyone. Now that my surgery has it i can leave a message to request a prescription instead of having to post a written request at the surgery.
It irritates me that people have this automatic attitude that they are being ripped off by all and sundry. GP surgeries have entered the 21st century, have you?

klondyke

Madjock wrote: »

Now that my surgery has it i can leave a message to request a prescription instead of having to post a written request at the surgery.

Even cheaper to email surgery for repeat prescription!