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pip helpline - is anybody there
i am now on 1 hour 27 minutes on hold
I have tried to call three times in the past 30 minutes and been disconnected on all three calls after selecting all of the appropriate options.
I was disconnected when ringing from landline, so used work mobile and after 1 hour and 40 mins got through - good news for my client though
Myself and my colleagues have also been having problems with being disconnected. Out of interest are you making the landline calls using Skype or similar or using an ‘old-school’ landline? We have also had better luck using mobile phones.
And as above when you don’t get disconnected the call waiting times are really bad at the moment.
old school
Disconnected three times yesterday before reaching Vivaldi. Fourth attempt got through after 15 minutes.
As the DWP claim they are about “helping people into work”, and there is clearly a need for more staff at the call centres, should be a simple fix, eh?
Have just spent an hour on hold to PIP. It’s not like we can just wait for letter to arrive in the post because of PIP’s habit of not registering MR requests sent in writing until we ring to chase them up.
Here too earlier and a colleague ringing up to give a learning disabled client’s bank details.
Just been on phone to PIP and enquired about the issues re being disconnected whilst on hold - apparently this is a problem at their end also when for example the call handlers make their own calls to speak to case managers. So it seems that they are aware of the issue.
An hour and 35 minutes - and still holding!!!
Good morning. I have tried 4 times this morning to get through on the 0800 121 4433 number but just goes to engaged. Is there a problem or it is that they are short staffed? Julia
Just tried this afternoon and the recorded message announces an exceptionally high volume of calls. Incidentally, my call to them on the 18th April was 2 hours and 10 minutes in total (20 minutes of which was the actual enquiry). Thank goodness for implicit consent!!
I got through to PIP in 10 minutes at lunchtime.
I nearly fell off my chair!
Don’t all rush now; you’ll spoil it 😉
Oh the irony! Called PIP helpline and got some new (i.e. Not Vivaldi) hold music. Beethoven - Sonata Pathétique, I thought, so went to learned friend and called again to confirm my guess, dialled number, selected options as per previous call and an operator answered straight away - without being put on home for even a second! I then had an opportunity to state I was unavailable to take the call right now and ask to be put on hold. New music must have been chosen to depress with the ‘sonata’s tragic sonorities’ in C Minor! It will however be a long time before you hear this WRO wishing for the return of Vivaldi!
[ Edited: 2 May 2019 at 11:04 am by JP 007 ]Oh I love Sonata Pathetique - one of the few things I can play on the piano - i might ring the helpline just to listen ;)