Newsagents calling the Network Services call centre are waiting anything from twenty minutes to over an hour to speak with an operator about magazine distribution issues and or problems. Network distributes all ACP product and many other titles. The long wait on hold is making newsagents angry and encouraging some to turn their back on dealing with Network. Many calls are from newsagents chasing stock to sell and even once they get through many hear back news that replacement stock is not available.
Some newsagents talk about the problem as part of a strategy to shut the newsagent channel down. I don’t accept that. My view is that bean counters have set a budget for the call centre and this has resulted in a poorly trained casual workforce using a less than adequate computer system./ Newsagents and consumers are the loser.
Despite promises this year to fix the inordinate delays and poor quality service newsagents are yet to experience any improvement.