Martin Lewis issues warning over 'frustrating' eight-word message affecting thousands

Martin Lewis has issued a warning over an eight-world message received by thousands of people. The financial expert is looking at whether firms who constantly tell callers they are receiving "unusually high call volumes" are simply doing it to push people onto using their websites.

Now the Money Saving Expert website founder is asking people to help with research to show how true this theory is. People who receive the message are being asked to fill in a quick form to give details of their experience.

The BBC Sounds podcast and Martin Lewis Money show host took to social media to say they had thousands of reports from people who had received the message. and he urged others to get in touch so it could be shown whether firms really were busy or were telling "a lie".

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he said: "Please report "sorry we are experiencing unusually high call volumes" messages. We've had 20,000 reports in so far to test if some firms (banks, broadband, mobile, energy, water etc) have this for EVERY call." He asked anyone receiving the message to report it here. He said it takes 30 seconds adding: "We need to keep track over a few more weeks to nail down the patterns."

He continued: "The point of this is to see if they play the message consistently both through the day and over weeks. If they do then it is a LIE and may well breach consumer regulations, yet we need timed data to try and tie down who the most likely offenders are."

He explained further to those completing the message telling them: "Thank you for logging your experience. I thought you may like to know a little more why I wanted to do this. Like many, I find the 'unusually high call volumes' message extremely frustrating, especially when they play it, and then 10 seconds later you're connected.

"I believe some firms may be using it to put callers off and move people to their websites, which therefore reduces their cost base. If so, they are lying, and for some firms it therefore may well be a breach of the Financial Conduct Authority's 'Consumer Duty' rules.

"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). The data you have provided today will help us do this properly, as if we're going to campaign on it, it's crucial to see the depth and breadth of the issue.

"So, thank you for your help and do report any more calls that happen soon (how long we keep this open for depends on how many reports we get). When we have more information on this campaign, we'll update you in the free MSE weekly Money Tips email."

Customers who had found issues supported his X appeal. Eleri said: "I had issues with @O2 rang one evening at 4:45, was on hold 1 hour 30 minutes to be told at 6pm that my call would not be answered before they close and hung up! The department I wanted closed at 8pm! How does that even make any sense!"

Victoria added "I just wish they could be honest: "Sorry, we still haven't recruited enough call handlers, despite first realising that our online support levels were highly inadequate 4 years ago; a situation we have only made vastly worse by continuing to close our high-street branches."

Carolyn said: "HMRC every time. Despite using the online tax system only a call sometimes can help with a query (and you pay for the privilege of waiting) I agree with the person above who feels high call volumes are a result of reduced amounts of call handlers."

Derek added: "I always laugh when the voice says “your call is really important to us”, if that was true they’d employ extra staff to answer it." And Emi commented: "Also "Due to the ongoing Covid pandemic we're especially busy". I feel like I get this a lot, from all kinds of businesses and places! Obviously covid hasn't gone away, but I think a lot of the backlog from most places from lockdowns etc would have cleared? (Ignoring NHS etc)."