Government dept phone lines take the pixel

I've just give up after 30 minutes on hold trying to contact Jobcentre+, that is after going through 3 lots press 1 for .. press 2 for... and all for an answer to a general question. Every few minutes the message came on..'do you know you can find answers to questions on our web-site'? grrrr
The other day I was on hold to tax credits for 35 minutes and was just about to give up when I got an answer only to be told by the guy that answered that I could ring somewhere else for an answer to my question as he didnt know
If anyone can help with some sort of benefit advice I would be pleased to hear from them!

What really winds me up is that if you are lucky enough to eventually get through to a person, they try to direct you to a do-it-yourself Q&A online thingymibob that doesn't have an answer to your question, otherwise you wouldn't be ringing!

These telephone services may seem badly organised, but in many cases, especially with government departments, it's not accidental, it's deliberate policy to deter callers. Different with BT, they are genuinely disorganised.

I recently spent at least 3 hours on the telephone (in one day) trying to help someone with a learning difficult whose benefits had been stopped because he was, according to the DWP, "not trying hard enough to find work."

Despite daily visits to the job centre (he practically lived there) no one had worked out that the lad had learning difficulties and when he informed them that he couldn't manage his 2nd computer course they wrongly assumed couldn't meant wouldn't and he was instantly in a position where he did not have a penny to survive on.

During the course of my telephone calls I asked for someone to help me assist the lad to sort the problem out. "We're not here to help!" was the reply I received. Well at least they were honest about it.

Straight answers are brilliant. I don't know. I don't care. I'm not interested. Brilliant, saves a lot of wasted energy.