VA adds 'and a wake up' to automated phone wait time
WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs will soon replace its automated system announcing telephone wait time, to address concerns about the length and accuracy of those times, Secretary Robert McDonald announced today.
The “revolutionary technology” would automatically add the words “and a wake up” to the estimated time given by the former system, ensuring the needs of veterans will be met statistically faster than ever before.
For instance, when the system would previously announce, “Your expected wait time is two hours,” it will now tell a caller, “Your expected wait time is two hours — and a wake up,” or, the alternating message, “Your call matters to us. An operator will be with you in two hours and a wake up.”
McDonald believes this will really improve the VA's statistics.
“We’ll blow our projected wait times out of the water,” he said. “Now when the Veteran calls in and gets that message, and we get to him after only five and a half hours, they’ll be much happier because we…
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