I'm writing this while on hold, so I'll try not to rant. It's a serious idea honest. I don't feel myself objecting strongly to the hold music, so that's one less thing to worry about. But every minute the little man comes over the tune and tells me that I'm being held in a queue and will be 'dealt with' as soon as a Customer Service Representative becomes available. (Not even that grammatically either.)

I know there are systems that tell you the approximate length of time you'll be queueing, but I want that plus an idea of how many people there are there to answer my call (eventually). <feeling remarkably calm as I pass the 45 minute mark...>

If anyone knows of such a system please add link - I need to tell these people about it. (you've got plenty of time - I gave up after 45 minutes yesterday and shouted at another little man on a different number)

Halfbakery additions: 1. Automated monitor to guage the level of profanities being spat out at my end. 2. Callback function after you've hung up in exasperation - "We're sorry you hung up, you were only 30 seconds away from being answered!" 3. Refund on your phone bill if call went over a certain length.
-- lewisgirl, May 31 2001

i've been on hold one time only where you get an update like that. a recorded voice said "the longest hold time is one minute". after a minute passed the voice came back: "the longest hold time is two minutes". this continued for a couple of minutes longer until i realised that i was the person who was holding the longest. then i hung up.
-- mihali, May 31 2001


Focus on the Family, a U.S.-based Christian ministry spends most of its time promoting healthy relationships. To remain faithful to that mission, every single call is handled by a living person. There's not even a voice-mail system for the live receptionist to "dump" you in. Every message is either with the person you're calling or is taken down by hand (yes, there's some chance of incorrect transcription, but there's no chance of being frustrated by some machine).
-- beauxeault, May 31 2001


But if there's not enough people answering the phones, you still just get ring tone. A properly staffed office won't leave you on hold/in a queue for ages; ideally, you won't even know whether they have music-on-hold or not. The problem is not so much the queue system, but the offices who have too few staff to handle their calls.
Someone (I suspect it was Steven William Rimmer again) said that any company which tells you that your call is important to them, while leaving you on hold for more than 90 seconds is, by definition, lying.
-- angel, May 31 2001


Systems exist that not only tell you how long your expected wait is, but also offer to hold your place in line while you do something productive with your time! (Or, you could schedule a callback for later, when you no longer want to strangle the customer service rep you'll be speaking with.) check out http://www.virtualhold.com -- they have different callback solutions for phone & web.
-- atrober, Sep 17 2003



random, halfbakery