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eBay hold policy - "can i put you on hold for 1-2 minutes"
 

I've had to call eBay customer service a lot lately in regards to a recent case, which is always fun (sarcasm).

I'd say the vast majority of the time I speak to somebody, I get the line "Can I please place you on hold for just a few minutes while I gather more information". The line might be a similar variation such as "Can I put you on hold for 1-2 minutes while I look at your account".

What is it with eBay's hold policy that they all feel the need to put me on hold for 1-2 minutes? I don't understand. Why don't they just speak to me as they gather the information?

I got to the point where I started to reply with "well, what information specifically do you need? maybe I could help you find the information you are looking for" in a super friendly non-confrontational way. (you should be as nice as possible ALWAYS when calling customer service). They typically don't have an answer and just insist to put me on hold.

Has anybody else noticed this while calling in to eBay customer service? I've noticed this no matter what department I am speaking with: Billing, Trust & Safety, Buying & Selling, or any other department, they all seem to have the same hold policy.

I think that putting you on hold is just part of a script that they are reading off of, but why write a script like that? Nobody likes being put on hold, I feel like it would be a much smarter policy to figure out the required information while still on the phone with the customer.

Discuss!

They are preparing to ask you questions that they have no solid idea about themselves.

The thing about eb/pp is that they don't even follow their own policies. So I take it as a chance for them to brush up on the latest lie trend and think about what they could ask you to trip you up and have a reason to keep your money longer.

I had a rep put me on hold for 4 minutes (yeah, I counted) due to a payment that was on hold for a month.

When he came back he said "Ma'am, how can I take this off of the hold when you did not ship the item out yet?"

My response: "please check the date, they RECEIVED it on xx date and the payment has been on HOLD for all this time. Even when I got the feedback, as your policy stated."

PP idiot: "Oh...can I place you on hold for 2-3 more moments, ma'am?"

He came back and quoted a policy stating that the hold would be removed once I received 100 feedback on the account....

me: I have 112 feedback on the account....

pp idiot: Oh...One moment please...

comes back.

pp idiot: It says that it was delivered in Kansas city at zip 11111, the buyers address is at zip 11111-3333.

Me: Yes, that's the zip codes sub numbers so they know what mailbox to put the package into.

PP idiot: We cannot release the payment to an unconfirmed address.

Me: That is the address that's on file. Id like speak to your supervisor.

Call get disconnected and the money is released LOL

I have called Eb customer service many times in my time of selling. On one account, I do not know the date of birth and they have called me out on it multiple times and that account is still up and selling. It is dated back to 2006 and is a buddy of mines. They always put me on hold multiple times when I call.

They always like to question me about it and then they seem to pull up some info, that I have put into an eb search like my vehicle in eb motors and ask about it. They really make their own rules up. You just have to be able to talk your way out of anything and always, ALWAYS be nice.

Can confirm this happens in the UK too. And like the OP says, even with the most basic of questions. If you're calling up with some long-winded issue about a detailed transaction that's taken many twists and turns then fine, you'd expect someone to have to ask their supervisor/etc for how to go about a unique/rare case, but it literally seems that if you were to call them up simply to say "is your site called eb" they would reply "may I please put you on hold for a few seconds while I access that information?"

Either their computer systems are rrrrrrrreally slow, or they're trying to access different things about you on different windows without you knowing (you call up asking about an apple, they're checking the bannanas on your account), or there are a ton of new employees working at eb/pp all over the world who have suddenly been hired around the same time and are incompetent at answering standard, basic questions, or it's now become eb/pp's standard procedure to simply place the caller on hold while they do their homework etc their end, which is feasible, as it could simply be a case of the big bods at eb thinking that their workers are making mistakes whilst having to talk to their customers, and answer questions from them on the phone, whilst trying to address their problem/fix it their end, all at the same time.
Multi-tasking in the workplace- who would have thought. :rolleyes:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i8Ot120Hlp...o-telefone.jpg

One MC999 to go please


:pound:

lol
cj- i have definitely had that happen to me many times. they are just call centers i don't think they really understand what they are saying. it seems as though sometimes you get connected to the USA and sometimes abroad. it's a joke both way though

Time to get an autocalling program to call and cause problems then

It's just really weird. Every single rep I talk to asks to put me on hold and it's never longer than 5 minutes, usually just 1-2 minutes at a time. Then they don't know the answer so I get transferred to another department, explain my story again, then get put on hold again for up to 5 minutes. Repeat, etc. Good to know I am not the only one who has encountered this.

Hehe, yeah. I think this is surprisingly more realistic than a lot of us think.