That was the basic experience I've heard about. Years ago a relative
called Car Talk. The call router asked about the car type and problem
and scheduled a call back for the next week, including a time slot. They
called back the next week a bit before the time slot and he had to sit
on hold for a while.

Lucas

On Feb 25, 2005, at 8:24 AM, ROBERT DONALDS wrote:

> personally I take Dr Phil much more seriously than Click and clack My 
> brother was one of the  superintendents for the studio that was built 
> for Car Talk On Comm. ave. in Boston back a bunch of years ago
> I was called in to do some cutting on the roof because I had torches
> that
> would fit threw the small hole that was the access to the roof
> I could not believe the layers of people working for Boston University
> that
> had there hand in this job. WBUR stands for Boston University Radio
> and they resell the program to the other pubic radio stations for big
> bucks
> this is there big ticket item.
> I was told that the phone calls to the show are used only to determine
> how
> many people listened to the show. the calls are staged to the point
> that
> they
> call the people they talk to and have had a chance to investigate the
> symptoms the so called caller is describing. they pick the callers
from
> emails and letters
> so enjoy the show and don't take them to seriously
>
> Oh yes I charged them plenty and then some
>
> Bob Donalds
> Boston Engine
>