What are the odds ?

MikeSh

MikeSh

Well-Known Member
As a new year treat I indulged myself by calling the IKEA call centre.
Estimated wait time: 5 mins. I can live with that - at least they give you some idea, unlike most. And onto the hold music.
ABBA! Hmm?
Next track; not ABBA.
Third one; ABBA.
Fourth (yes, more than 5 mins now); not ABBA (Queen if you're interested).
Fifth; ... I don't know - they answered the call!! :mad:

So, IKEA + 50% ABBA. Chance coincidence in a random selection? I doubt it, but if anyone else happens to be calling IKEA perhaps we can pool our statistics to confirm this. :)
 
Are you making the basic mistake of assuming no causal link*? IKEA is Swedish, is it not...

* The converse basic mistake is to assume correlation indicates causation.
 
Black Hole said:
Are you making the basic mistake of assuming no causal link*? IKEA is Swedish, is it not...

* The converse basic mistake is to assume correlation indicates causation.
Click to expand...
Well, yes and no. The 'obvious' assumption is that IKEA are preferring Swedish artists, but I was trying to avoid making any assumptions given the limited data. If the alternating ABBA tracks continues to 5 and 7 then I'd think we could assume a nationalistic bias (though even then it could just be that the person selecting the tracks likes ABBA) rather than chance.
 
Black Hole said:
I see, so you want to know if it is just coincidence.
Click to expand...
Basically, yes. When it started (with ABBA) I thought "aha!". At track two I thought, "oh, just coincidence". At three I was beginning to wonder.

And people were complaining a couple of weeks ago about the lack of activity in here, so I put it out there for your interest and amusement; or not in Trev's case :p
 
MikeSh said:
As a new year treat I indulged myself by calling the IKEA call centre.
Estimated wait time: 5 mins. I can live with that - at least they give you some idea, unlike most. And onto the hold music.
ABBA! Hmm?
Next track; not ABBA.
Third one; ABBA.
Click to expand...
Were any of them "Happy New Year"?

Is it a free number? I can't bring myself to look it up.
 
prpr said:
Were any of them "Happy New Year"?

Is it a free number? I can't bring myself to look it up.
Click to expand...

I didn't detect any seasonal favouring.

I called 020 3645 0000 which is for enquiries for 'stores'. National rate which is included in my phone bundle, so free afaic.
 
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