Closed petition Callers to "Call Centres" should not be charged while in a queue

Closed on 6 July 2013

It is common to wait for long periods in a queue while trying to get in touch with a service provider. The government are just as guilty of causing this problem as any commercial organisation. In particular there are many complaints of significant sums spent waiting to talk to Customs and Revenue, and DVLA.

It should become mandatory that customers are not charged for calls when they are not talking to an operator or transacting business in an automated system. Time spent in a queue should be paid for by the telecoms carrier or the call centre managment (the customer would not care which). This would encourage organisations to properly resource these centres, and so not penalise customers. This is particularly galling with Customs and Revenue, where failure to comply can lead to penalties, yet it can be very difficult to talk to the organisation.