Consumer NZ: Govt Agency Call Holding Times Double Those of Private Businesses
December 3, 2022
PHOTO: Pixabay
mmigration and Work and Income are among the hardest agencies in the country to get on the phone.
Consumer New Zealand compared hold times for 16 government agencies, and found the average wait was 25 minutes and the organisation says it’s not acceptable that New Zealanders are having to “put their lives on hold” to access essential services.
Work and Income took 90 minutes to answer, while Immigration New Zealand took two-and-a-half hours across four different attempts.
At the other end of the spectrum, Inland Revenue, CERT and NZ Customs all answered the phone within two minutes.
On average, Consumer NZ said private businesses answered the phone twice as fast as government agencies.
Consumer head of content Caitlin Cherry said the investigation focused on 16 government agencies, with all calls made on a weekday between 9am and 5pm.
Not sure how they classify AirNZ, that would certainly skew any result.