Ever feel like tech support systems are designed to frustrate you, perhaps in the hope that you’ll just give up and stop trying? For HP, that was literally the case. It’s been confirmed that the company had a mandatory 15-minute wait period for all support calls in the UK and other countries. The policy has since, allegedly, been removed.
The Register reports that it saw an internal policy document for HP’s support team in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, and Italy, which said that everyone who called in for tech support for PCs and printers would have a minimum wait time of 15 minutes before getting through to a human operator. The idea was to “influence customers to increase their adoption of digital self-serve,” essentially forcing people to interact with the loathed “press 1 for yada yada” system.
A recorded message told everyone who called that the next representative would be available in 15 minutes, regardless of the actual status of the tech support personnel. The message instructed callers to go to the support website in the meantime. The policy may have been in place across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Just one day after The Register broke the story, and three days after apparently alerting staff to the change, HP responded and said that it has abandoned the mandatory wait time. An accurate estimate of response time wasn’t given, though that time will vary depending on how many people are actually calling in at any given moment.
“We have found that many of our customers were not aware of the digital support options we provide,” said the HP statement, apparently with a straight face. And to that I say, entirely in an editorial capacity and not expressing the view of PCWorld or its parent company: baloney. No one who’s using a modern PC or printer is unaware that there are manuals and other forms of support online. They’re calling in because they can’t solve their problem with a quick Google search, and HP damn well knows it.
The point of the now-abandoned wait period is, I assume, to try and frustrate users into hanging up and solving their problems without the intervention of an expensive human staff member. Shrinking support staff, and in some cases eliminating it entirely, has been a growing corporate trend for decades. Automated phone systems are practically antiquated at this point, with many companies relying entirely on online support systems. You’ll be lucky if you can even get a real person in a chat window instead of an AI chat bot.
Don’t believe me? Try to get a real person at Facebook on the phone. It’s even harder than finding a real person instead of an AI bot actually using Facebook in 2025. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if a mandatory phone support wait time is in place at many companies.
The Register speculates that HP’s rapid turnaround had less to do with the public exposure following the news post and more to do with the human support staff morale taking a huge hit from having to deal with irate customers who sat through at least three different instructions to go online for help in those 15 minutes. The initial decision was made by management who do not have to interact with customers.
HP hasn’t had a great time managing its reputation lately. Between trying to force printer buyers into a subscription, blocking third-party ink for years, and terrible repair ratings, it’s no wonder some customers want to bend its ear and vent their frustrations.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.