HP Deliberately Adds 15 Minutes Waiting Time For Telephone Support Calls

Updated HP Inc is trying to force consumer PC and print customers to use online and other digital support channels by setting a minimum 15-minute wait time for anyone that phones the call center to get answers to troublesome queries.

The wait time was added on Tuesday, February 18, according to internal communications seen by The Register, and impacts retail patrons in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy, though we anticipate more countries could be added.

"We want to inform you of a change in the NL IVR (natural language IVR) in some countries and languages for Consumer Print and Consumer PC customers in EMEA, effective today," HP says in the memo.

IVR, for the uninitiated, is Interactive Voice Response; a phone menu system, basically. The missive continues:

At the beginning of a call to telephone support, a message will be played stating: "We are experiencing longer waiting times and we apologize for the inconvenience. The next available representative will be with you in about 15 minutes.

"To quickly resolve your issue, please visit our website support.hp.com to check out other support options or find helpful articles and assistant to get a guided help by visiting virtualagent.hpcloud.hp.com."

Those who want to continue to hold are told to "please stay on the line."

On the fifth, tenth, and thirteenth minute, the recorded message will tell HP customers it is "experiencing longer waiting times and we apologize for the inconvenience," and again remind them they may switch to alternatives.

... taking decisive short-term action to generate warranty cost efficiencies

To reaffirm the changes, HP says in the staff memo: "The wait time for each customer is set to 15 minutes - notice the expected wait time is mentioned only in the beginning of the call." The message will be read out three times during the wait time, after the initial reading.

The reason for the change? Getting people to figure it out themselves using online support. As HP put it: "Encouraging more digital adoption by nudging customers to go online to self-solve," and "taking decisive short-term action to generate warranty cost efficiencies."

The staff email says customer experience metrics are being tracked weekly in terms of customer satisfaction, escalations, and others. As are the number of phone calls that subsequently give up and move to social channels or live chat.

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For some Reg readers, 15 minutes might not seem like an eternity, especially if they are used to dealing with UK tax collector HMRC, which was found to have kept callers waiting on hold, collectively, for 798 years in the year to March 2023, something it was also recently criticized for again.

An insider in HP's European ops told us: "Many within HP are pretty unhappy [about] the measures being taken and the fact those making decisions don't have to deal with the customers who their decisions impact."

The Register asked HP Inc for comment and will update this article when and if it responds. ®

Updated to add on February 21

Following our exclusive, HP Inc has reversed course on the 15-minute forced wait.