What is the longest you've been on hold with customer service?

I can understand that when it involves any form of government office. I've been to enough of them to observe just how the majority of those workers work.

@mentalward. Do you mean to say that GOVERNMENT WORKERS ACTUALLY WORK? I heard recently that Civil Service employees now have their own rocket. I understand that IT DOESN'T WORK AND, YOU CAN'T FIRE IT.

I think I worded that wrong. I actually knew someone who used to work for Social Security but was forced to quit because she actually WORKED and was blackballed by her co-workers because they said she made them look bad. It wasn't their lack of working that made them look bad, oh, no! I love the rocket idea! Perfect for the government!

Aha, it's the OTHER guys. lol That's Blue Cross.

They SUCK! I hung up. That'll show 'em!

My card says Anthem Blue Cross Life and Health Insurance Company on the back. Sorry if I make typos, I', still on hold and typing with one hand. One hour 46 minutes now.

Inquiring minds want to know. Thanks. I see, something good did come from it. I also know now that I cannot afford a shingles vaccine. I suppose ranting on MyLot is a good, no GREAT way to dissipate the stress.

Ah, yes, the accents so thick you can't understand. I'm always saying "excuse me?" or "I'm sorry, I didn't understand you" or "could you repeat that, please?" Of course, that doesn't usually help me to understand them any better. I miss the old days when customer service reps for companies in this country were all IN this country and not on the other side of the world. Sadly, most companies today, at least the public ones, don't care about their customers, they only care about their stockholders so they'll do whatever they can to cut costs to improve their profits.

Definitely, dragon! I was thinking the exact same thing as I was holding. I went through about 15 minutes with their stupid recorded menu. "Say yes or press 1 to hear blah blah blah, say no or press 2 to not hear it". After I said "no" THREE TIMES, they finally stopped giving me that stupid message. I said no, they went through the same exact message again, I said no again, they went through the same thing AGAIN, and the third time I started cursing. THEN, the message changed to the next one which, of course, got repeated once or twice. It was when I began cursing like a drunken sailor who just caught his wife cheating on him that they FINALLY told me to please hold for the next available representative. (I have to assume that the "next available representative" had gone home for the day and would answer her phone some time today.) I was tossed between feeling totally sorry for the moron who created that stupid menu system and wanting to beat them to a pulp. You'd think a company as huge as Blue Cross would have a better system in place, wouldn't you? My husband wrote an email to the gal in his office who handles insurance issues and she had an answer to my question within a few minutes. At least the answer was favorable. They do cover the shingles vaccine. The flu vaccine has kept me from getting the flu for decades and my first pneumonia vaccine has kept me from getting pneumonia (I had that 5 times before I got the vaccine) so I'm all for this shingles vaccine since I had chicken pox REALLY BAD as a kid. My mother told me I had blisters on top of blisters. I can remember itching really badly and having blisters on the palms of my hands and the soles of my feet. I have no doubt that I'd contract shingles eventually without this vaccine. My stepfather had shingles and he was in total misery. I've never seen him in so much pain (that's the first time I saw him cry) and that's something I don't need.

I sure can understand how you felt! I hung up after 1 hour 58 minutes. They never did answer. Luckily, my husband came home from work while I was still on hold and he sent an email to the person in his company who deals with insurance issues. She was able to get back to him with the answer to my question within a few minutes. Luckily, they do cover this vaccination. I fully agree with you that they should not even answer the phone if they cannot spend the time to resolve whatever issue you are calling about. I wish there was a way we could charge them for our time that they waste by having us on hold.

I'm surely those rep got full paid training however sad but true that they never learn anything from the training. Sometime when I get really mad that I feel like no one of tier 1 rep can answer my question I always ask for tier 2 rep or supervisor I always get answers and quick too and also I hate that too many talking before you reach the rep from their automated system which is so annoying?? Other terrible experience calling company hot line or customer service staff that I never had chance to talk an only automated which definitely cannot solve my queries and had no choice but to drive down there in their office all the way from Woodbridge to Manassas just to get answer with my concern. So crazy!

I can understand that some times are busier than others but they should compensate for that by having extra people on the phones during those times. They're a big enough company to do that without it hurting them any financially, that's for sure (Blue Cross). Two hours on hold without having spoken to an actual person is total BS for a company that large. I'd rather have the silence than that awful music. I sat down for the duration and turned on the TV but had a hard time hearing it since I had to listen to the phone in case someone actually did answer so I couldn't turn off the volume of my phone and had to hear that music. It was NOT fun. At least I was finally able to hang up after two hours because my husband wrote an email to the gal in his company who handles insurance issues. She had an answer for me within a few minutes! (I wish I had that kind of clout!) At least the answer was favorable for me. They will pay for that vaccination.

Hi Opal! Thankfully, they do cover the vaccine. I didn't learn his from talking to them, though. I hung up after two minutes shy of two hours. My husband emailed the gal in his office who handles the insurance issues and she got an answer from them within minutes. I'm glad I did get an answer and it was favorable because I was all set to drop that insurance and go with Medicare, even though that would cost me a few hundred dollars MORE each month. I was that angry. Well, I probably would have calmed down enough to realize I that can't afford Medicare right now and keep this insurance for now. I'm not afraid of vaccines, for the most part. I used to get the flu every year before I started getting the flu shot. Since getting it, I haven't had the flu except for one year I forgot to get the shot. The worst I've felt from the vaccine itself is a sore arm for a couple of days. I've also had a pneumonia vaccine and felt fine after that. (I've had pneumonia 5 times in my lifetime so it was a good idea to get the vaccine.) I've been doing a lot of reading about this shingles vaccine and haven't heard anything bad about it. It does give the normal warnings about a possible allergic reaction but I've never been allergic to any vaccinations before so I'm pretty sure I'll be fine with this one, too. I had chickenpox REALLY bad when I was a kid so I am susceptible for shingles. My stepfather got shingles and he was in absolute misery so that's something I'll do everything I can to avoid getting. Oh, the shingles vaccine just came out recently, I believe. I started hearing about it being available earlier this year. I haven't heard anything bad about it at all. GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! I JUST received a text message from our phone company (Verizon) telling me that I've gone over the minutes we're allowed on our plan for this month and will probably be billed for the overage. That is totally due to this stupid phone call to the insurance company. I normally don't use the phone that much. Usually, I get a text telling me that I've only used 50% or 75% of my minutes but this month has been excessive first because my friend had a heart attack and I've been talking with him more than normal but I didn't go over my minutes until this call to the insurance company. GRRRRRRRR!!! It's a good thing they do cover this vaccine or they'd be hearing from me... via email this time.