Everyone who has telephoned a customer service department will have been greeted with the automated “sorry we are experiencing unusually high call volumes” message at one point or another.
Your heart sinks, you do some huffing and puffing, and then you try to make peace with the fact that you’re probably going to have to spend anywhere between 30 seconds and two hours listening to the same ‘relaxing’ tune over and over again.
And somewhere during this waiting period, you may well even begin to question whether that calm, soothing automated voice is really telling the truth. Is this company genuinely experiencing unusually high call volumes? Or is it lying to me?
This was certainly the case for Martin Lewis, owner of the consumer help site, moneysavingexpert.com.
In a recent post on X, Lewis called upon his followers to report any examples of the “sorry we are experiencing unusually high call volume” message being used across a range of different industries.
Please report “sorry we are experiencing unusually high call volumes” messages, we are testing if firms play this for EVERY call.
If you call a bank, broadband, mobile, credit card, energy, water, sewerage firm, pls take 30s to report it via https://t.co/uE7a5jWx9C
This is our…
— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) May 23, 2025
If proven right, Lewis plans to use the data to contact the “worst offenders,” as it may mean that some companies are in breach of Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) consumer duty rules.
At the time of writing, the page on moneysavingexpert.com that tracks the reports has received over 36,000 responses.
Why Now? And Why Would They Lie?
In expounding on why he felt compelled to launch his crusade against the potentially improper use of the automated customer service message, Lewis said the following to the BBC’s Today program:
“It is my suspicion, and I can only say it is a suspicion at the moment, that this has simply become a default message. In which case, it is a lie.
Before I try and go all ‘consumer-Rambo’ on this campaign, I wanted to check the data and see whether this is a real problem or just my skewed perception (though social media responses I’ve had on it certainly mean if it is a skewed perception it is shared by many).
Another interesting point raised by Lewis in his X post was the idea that the unnecessary use of the automated message not only frustrates the customer but could also negatively impact the agent experience.
“It’s unfair on callers, and unfair on call center workers who bear the brunt of people’s frustrations,” he wrote.
Indeed, handling angry customers has been a consistent issue for customer service staff, with recent research suggesting that the issue is increasing rather than decreasing.
One study showed that, in 2023, 43 percent of US customers admitted to yelling or raising their voices to express displeasure about their most serious problems, up from 35 percent in 2015.
With this in mind, adding the proverbial fuel to the flame by incorporating an inaccurate message could well anger customers further and inadvertently make their agents more likely to receive abuse.
Arguably, the bigger question is not if companies are lying about experiencing unusual call volumes but why they might be?
It is no secret that customer service departments are trying to push more of their interactions towards digital channels.
With the explosion of AI-powered tools in recent times, many brands have naturally shifted resources away from phone support, placing greater emphasis on digital customer service channels.
The decision to use the “we are experiencing high call volumes” as the standard message could be part of a wider strategy to encourage more customers to access digital and self-service channels.
From these digital channels, many brands aim to block customers from attempting voice calls, measuring chatbot containment, instead of customer experience metrics.
On the other hand, it could well be that the companies are telling the truth, but the emphasis placed on AI and digital alternatives instead of telephony has resulted in the “supply” of human agents rarely meeting demand.
Indeed, examples of businesses limiting phone channels and cutting human agents have been abundant in recent times.
Earlier this year, Sky announced plans to cut 2,000 contact center jobs – around seven percent of its UK workforce – in order to focus more on digital communications.
Elsewhere, last year HMRC decided to close a key customer helpline for half the year.
The original plan would have suspended the self-assessment helpline from April to September, while also scaling back VAT and PAYE phone support to push users toward digital services like chatbots and online forms.
However, after widespread criticism, including concerns from the Federation of Small Businesses that the cuts would complicate simple tax queries, HMRC announced it is halting the changes in response to the feedback.
It will be interesting to see how Lewis’s campaign plays out. Away from the legal implications, public sentiment does seem to again point towards a disconnect between what companies want and what customers want.
While there is an incredible upside to AI-powered customer service tools, particularly as the public becomes more tech-savvy, it is clear that the phone is still the preferred channel for many customers.
