Due to increased call volume, your wait time is approximately...

    "Due to increased call volume, your wait time is approximately...90 minutes!” Yikes, 90 minutes. That was the message I recently received in an attempted telephone call to the Office of Retirement and Pensions in  New Jersey. I'll bet it didn't take that long to place the call to 'authorize' the traffic jam that occurred at the George Washington Bridge a few months ago.

   Several weeks ago, I needed to contact the New Jersey Office of Pensions and Retirement with a question about my mother's account, a seemly very simple question. The 90 minute wait time was the message at the first call. 
   Several days later I attempted to call again. This time, the message was a bit more encouraging, only an estimated wait time of approximately 30 minutes. I could do thirty minutes. 
   First, the call was a simple question  and I needed just a simple answer. Second...what was a mere 30 minutes out of my day. I could spare 30 minutes. I was only going to cut the grass. But I didn't want to tell that to the person on the other end of the line. He or she may have wanted to do the same.

   I put the phone on speaker and went about some other activities as I waited. The music was terrible, but the public service announcement every once and a while were even worse.

   I was keeping track of the time and at about 28 minutes into the call the voice of a service agent said....”How may I help you?”

   I explained who I was and the information I was hoping they could provide for me and if not, who I might be able to speak with. “Please hold a moment,” was the response, but with the push of a button the call became disconnected. 
   “You have got to be kidding me!!!” A 30 minute wait only to be disconnected. I could have gone outside to cut the grass. I decided not to call back for fear of what I might say or how long I would have to wait to say it.

   A day later I placed the call again. It was early in the day and the 'wait time' was only an estimated 15 minutes. This time the service representative spoke with somewhat of an accent ( must have been a Southern  Jersey accent) and it was difficult for me to understand, coming from northern New England and all. 
   I again explained the purpose of my call and was placed on 'hold'... and yes, the call became disconnected for a second time. By now, you may be able to imagine my frustration. Did they know I was calling from out of state, from away? Were they told to hang up on people who call  from another state?

   What to do now? I didn't think a call to the Governor was going to help. He was probably out on his "power walk" or tied up in a traffic jam on the bridge anyhow. I was 'kinda' stuck.

   I decided to call the health insurance company directly and avoid the state retirement office, knowing that I was  probably going to be referred back to the retirement office at some point. But it was worth the try. The service agent at the insurance company was somewhat helpful but told me that I really needed to speak with someone at the NJSHBP office. She gave me a special phone number to call and wished me luck. (Was that a laugh I heard as she hung up the phone?)

   I poured myself a fresh glass of ice tea, sat down in a comfortable chair and dialed the number she had given me. “Due to a temporary computer system failure we are not able to complete your call at this time. Please try again later.” Welcome to New Jersey! (To my family and friends who live in New Jersey, I don't mean to sound critical, but.... A quick reminder, I used to live Jersey too.)

   My last attempt to get the information I was seeking was a brief note, tucked inside the monthly bill payment along with the check, asking that someone 'please' call me, preferably a supervisor . To date, I have not received a call, but I did notice the check was cashed. Of course it was!

   I would like to say this has been a learning experience. Unfortunately the only thing it has done is to reinforce my belief that good customer service may be a thing of the past, automation and technology still has its faults and there are some things that just may be too big and do fail and while my experience has been with the NJSHBP, I suspect this can happen almost anywhere, in any state with any government agency and we really have no one to blame except ourselves because we allow it to continue. Perhaps our expectations of good service from our government agencies have become too high or the demands too numerous, even for the answers to  simple questions.

   But on a serious note, all was not lost. I did learn a new phrase to use when those election candidate calls start coming in from now until election day in November. “Due to an increase in the volume of calls from your opponents, your anticipated wait time to speak with me is approximately 90 minutes. Please sit back and enjoy the music."