20 Hour helpdesk call
Hannah King, 51, called a company helpline after a BT engineer failed to turn up to install a telephone line at her new flat in Milford Haven, south Wales, according to the paper.
For eight hours in a row, she endured the sound of piped music. She gave up and tried again the next day – and waited another eight hours before putting the phone down.
The following day, she spent a further four hours on hold before hanging up.
That took the total time wasted to almost one day, the paper said.
"I was so frustrated and angry I broke down in tears," she told The Times.
"It is a helpline for goodness' sake, surely a company as big as BT can answer their phones."
BT admitted that a new calling system had left some customers in the lurch.
"BT would like to apologise for the length of time this customer was left on the phone," the paper quoted a BT spokesperson as saying.