WesBank phone calls with no one on the line – Why it happens

If you receive a phone call from WesBank, answer it, and no one is on the line – you may have been dialled by its “automatic system”.

This is what happened to a TopAuto reader recently, who shared her story with us.

The reader said several of their family’s vehicles are financed through WesBank, and they would occasionally receive phone calls from the company.

Recently, however, they were called multiple times by WesBank – but when they answered the call, no one was on the line.

This happened repeatedly over the course of several days.

Eventually, one of the calls from WesBank which was answered did have an agent on the line.

The reader asked why WesBank would call her and then not put an agent on the line, and the agent said it was because they use an “automatic” calling system which is based on an “algorithm”.

The system automatically dials WesBank client numbers, but if an agent is not ready to take the call the customer’s phone will still ring – and if answered no one will be on the line.

WesBank responds

In response to questions from TopAuto, WesBank’s Head of Marketing and Communication Lebogang Gaoaketse said their automatic calling system was introduced in 2010 – and was effectively in place in 2012.

“The dialer system works on mathematical algorithms to calculate agent availability and it makes calls according to availability. However, at WesBank we are using blended models that allow for inbound calls to be prioritised over outbound calls,” said Gaoaketse.

This can lead to a longer wait time, or in rare instances the call being abandoned as the agent might not be available to handle outbound calls.

“The predictive dialing mode also tries to keep the calls under control by dialing between 1-3 calls per agent, so the number of active calls doesn’t exceed the available agents.”

Gaoaketse said that due network challenges and congestion recently, combined with the impact of load-shedding, they have seen some call delays.

Gaoaketse added that WesBank does monitor and manage “abandon rates” and currently averages below 5%.

“Factors such as network interruption, which are outside of our control, coupled with recent load-shedding also impact on the speed of the network as more people continue to work remotely.”