At least you get to wait on hold.
IRS: "Experiencing high call volume, please call back at another time. *click*"
US Airways did that back during a snowstorm that left me stuck in San Francisco and then Phoenix as I tried to get to the east side of the country. After at least a dozen attempts that got met with an automatic disconnect, I finally got to spend more than 3 hours in a hold queue before giving up and trying the next day.
A snowstorm swept from O'Hare to Philadelphia. They ended up rescheduling my flights a few times, but they kept giving me flights that connected in places where the storm was going to be as it moved east.
Two other things I don't like:
"Our menu options have changed, so please listen carefully."
Right. Either you change your menu options
constantly, or you're full of it.
"We're currently experiencing unusually high call volume."
Really? Every time I need to call any company? What a coincidence.
Best one though: Fujitsu. I made the mistake of purchasing something from TigerDirect, which ended up being defective. They said that in order to return it for a refund, I needed to contact Fujitsu (manufacturer of the thing) to get a case number before I could return it.
....ok, seems like a BS stalling tactic from a crap vendor, but I'll humor you.
I called Fujitsu, pressed the option for Tech support, and after the "We're transferring you to tech support" recording and a single ring, someone picked up.
It was someone competent and quite proficient at English. Amazing.
I'd love to buy more Fujitsu things now just for that reason, though that first thing I got
was defective. Probably a loose ribbon cable, but it was still well within the warranty period.
As a company grows, I guess each individual customer becomes increasingly worthless. If you're not a corporate user at that point who's going to generate at least $500k in annual revenue for them, you're just more trouble than you're worth.