I plan to tackle this problem with a new law

WHAT’S one of the worst phrases in the English language? ‘Sorry, we’re rather busy right now, but your call is important to us. Please hold the line.’

How many millions of customers hear these dreadful words when they phone service and utility companies? How many more wait 15, 20, 30, 40 minutes plus on the phone to get through? And that is after spending the first five minutes being asked to press 1, 2, 3, or 4, 5, and 6 with the phone usually being cut off in between.

The companies that do this earn billions of pounds in profits, pay their chief execs multimillion pound salaries and yet think it is OK to keep customers waiting on the phone for up to 30 minutes or more.

There is always one excuse after another:

Covid or efficiency savings. All nonsense. This has gone on for years. Companies such as EDF can spend millions on TV advertising, yet can’t provide a proper phone service for their customers.

Enough is enough. Consumers deserve a quality telephone service.

The internet is not good enough, especially for those vulnerable people who don’t have access to it.

I intend to propose in Parliament a new consumer protection law which would guarantee the following: no one would have to wait longer than ten minutes on the phone, they would get through to a real human and companies would get rid of ‘press 1, 2 or 3’ options which are all about trying to get customers off the phone rather than on it.

If businesses fail on this, they should be given huge fines with money being given back to consumers through rebates.

Only with a change in the law will these big businesses wake up and realise that their job is to serve the paying customer, rather than themselves.