Government departments

Thankfully, in my case, the person concerned deigned to email and sort out the problem yesterday afternoon.

40-50 minutes is awful.

My tip - I ring the payment department of an office, if I am having trouble getting hold of somebody at all. The payment department is always the quickest to answer, nicer I think, and will at least pass on a message to another person or department.

I agree with you there Anniebach . You typically wait 40-50 minutes to speak to someone who is invariably quite nasty. Also you can never speak to the same robot twice.

When I have to contact HMRC I just say - I will telephone hell

I find the DWP and HMRC difficult to get hold of.

Quite.

I am seriously considering going and sitting outside the office until I get to speak to who I need to speak to [only one person in the office can deal with it], it is that bad.

I think its all companies not just government! trying to get through to a real person is a joke! what really bugs me is when your put on hold for ages and its you thats paying for the call.