News HP intentionally made customers hold for 15 minutes for telephone customer service, then quickly canceled it due to backlash

[BFG-9000]

I've read some really, REALLY stupid things in the past, but THIS justification for the "force a 15 minute wait for customer service" while it may not be THE most idiotic thing I've ever heard, is definitely in the running for that title.

What idiot hears this and thinks "Oh, yeah. Now that you mention it, annoying people for 15 minutes is something that will make them more aware of the digital options."

Clearly some MBA saw an opportunity to not only reduce support costs by having former customers give up + hang up, but also as a clever way to have a captive audience listen to 15 minutes of ads for not only the digital support options but exciting new products from HP.

While H & P may have retired in 1987 and 1993, consumer products designed while at least one of them was still alive continued to be excellent until those models were replaced in the early 2000s in a downward spiral of increasingly customer-hostile features and policies, which appears to have continued to this day.