Will we ever return to a time when there is proper customer service?

JOHN HUMPHRYS is right to call on banks, building societies, broadband companies and government bodies such as HMRC and the DVLA to restore a proper customer service (Mail). Since the start of the pandemic, when customer care departments and civil servants left the office to work from home, we have been left talking to a computer screen behind which sits not a human, but an algorithm, or a recorded phone message that may or may not respond to our pleas for help.

Name supplied, Broadstairs, Kent. I SHARE John Humphrys’s irritation at the difficulty in reaching anyone in business or government departments by phone. The most infuriating part is the repeated mantra that you can easily accomplish your task by going to the website. However, I rarely call until after I’ve tried the

website. The fact that my problem does not fit into the narrow boxes available online means I have no option other than to phone. To be berated for having the temerity to expect help from someone who knows what they are being paid for makes me long for the good old days before we were enslaved by the digital revolution.

CATHERINE OTLEY, Dover, Kent. COVID continues to be an excuse for slow or bad customer service.

GRAHAM WATKIN, Birmingham. MY HUSBAND died a few weeks ago and I’ve had to make numerous phone calls to deal with administrative matters. The processes I’ve been put through have been torture. I have been put on hold for prolonged periods of time, responding to options simply leads to another series of numbers to press, I have been subjected to recorded inane marketing drivel, and the added insult is being repeatedly told how important my call is.

PENNY LITTLE, Great Haseley, Oxon. I HAD to laugh at John Humphrys’s revelation that there’s an Institute of Customer Service. If you ring them, is there a message saying ‘your call is important to us’, ‘there is a heavy volume of calls right now’ and ‘one of our agents will be with you soon’? Will you have to grit your teeth listening to Fur Elise, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons or Pachelbel’s Canon? MARION OFFENBACH,

Bushey Heath, Herts. IF I need to make an appointment with my GP, I have to ring at 8am on the day. There is a long recorded message about Covid before the robot asks what service I require and gives me a list of numbers to press. Then it tells me: ‘Your call is important to us — you are No 22 in the queue!’

DOUG WARREN, Chelmsford, Essex.