On Hold
Is there ever a time when some representatives are not busy and can take your call right away? I don't know about you, but every time I've ever tried to call any large organization (insurance company,credit card company,catalog,medical clinic) I'm always put on hold.
Even when someone does answer the phone right away they ask me to hold. Why bother to ask? I'm going to be put on hold regardless of my answer. Just say "Hold Please" and do what you are going to do anyway.
While you are hold, if you are lucky, you are treated to "hold music". I've become quite a connoisseur of hold music. I don't mind most of it. There is one place I call that has what I'm sure it considers soothing piano hold music. I don't find it soothing, because it is the same two minutes of sound repeated over and over again. I would rather have that then listening to ads for the place that is keeping me on hold. If my business is so important to you then why won't you answer my call in a more timely fashion. I also don't like to be thanked for my patience. How do they know I'm being patient anyway.
One time I called a medical clinic. While I was on hold I was treated to an ad about how they were in the top ten best clinics according to some survey. I was amused. I would think that a top ten clinic would not leave someone on hold for five minutes. I do enjoy the disclaimer that gets played anytime you call any kind of medical facility. "If you are experiencing a life threatening emergency, please hang up and dial 911." I'm sure the reason why they do this is that someone, somewhere at some time had a heart attack or stroke and instead of calling 911 they called their clinic and were put on hold.
While I was on hold once I heard the following message, "We always welcome suggestions on how to improve our service. If you have any suggestions, please tell your customer service representative." I have a suggestion. Hire more people to answer the phones.
The longest time I have been put on hold is 20 minutes. Yes, I actually stayed on hold for 20 minutes. I was trying to get an insurance claim through for a customer and was determined to take care of the matter once and for all. I did get it taken care of and it took less than five minutes.
One danger with staying on hold for long periods of time is that you might of forget why you called. I suspect that insurance companies use this ploy to discourage people. Sometimes while I've been on hold I've figured out my solution and have then hung up without ever reaching a human being. That doesn't happen very often.
Another danger of long hold times are two conditions that I refer to as pharmacist ear and phone shoulder. Pharmacist ear happens when you have had the phone on your ear for so long that it smashes the outside part of your ear and makes you wonder if you will need to have the handset surgically removed. Phone shoulder is the cramp you get in your shoulder and neck from holding the phone when your hands need to be free. Sometimes my shoulder is so knotted up at the end of the day that my hand tingles like it is asleep.
I hate it when I'm at work and on hold when the other line rings. Now I have a choice to make. Do I hang up and take the other call or do I stay on hold and hope that someone else will answer it? The problem is that if I hang up, then I have to call back and be put on hold again. Sometimes I am lucky and can get one of my techs to be on hold for me while I take the second call. If I'm working alone I have no choice. I have to take the incoming call which is why I try to make sure I make certain phone calls when I have a tech to help me.
I suppose I really shouldn't complain about being on hold. It beats calling several times only to get a busy signal. (Do phones even have a busy signal anymore?) Eventually I do get a human being and most of the time what I need to get done gets done. It still doesn't stop me from wishing there was a legal limit to hold times. How about two minutes?
Even when someone does answer the phone right away they ask me to hold. Why bother to ask? I'm going to be put on hold regardless of my answer. Just say "Hold Please" and do what you are going to do anyway.
While you are hold, if you are lucky, you are treated to "hold music". I've become quite a connoisseur of hold music. I don't mind most of it. There is one place I call that has what I'm sure it considers soothing piano hold music. I don't find it soothing, because it is the same two minutes of sound repeated over and over again. I would rather have that then listening to ads for the place that is keeping me on hold. If my business is so important to you then why won't you answer my call in a more timely fashion. I also don't like to be thanked for my patience. How do they know I'm being patient anyway.
One time I called a medical clinic. While I was on hold I was treated to an ad about how they were in the top ten best clinics according to some survey. I was amused. I would think that a top ten clinic would not leave someone on hold for five minutes. I do enjoy the disclaimer that gets played anytime you call any kind of medical facility. "If you are experiencing a life threatening emergency, please hang up and dial 911." I'm sure the reason why they do this is that someone, somewhere at some time had a heart attack or stroke and instead of calling 911 they called their clinic and were put on hold.
While I was on hold once I heard the following message, "We always welcome suggestions on how to improve our service. If you have any suggestions, please tell your customer service representative." I have a suggestion. Hire more people to answer the phones.
The longest time I have been put on hold is 20 minutes. Yes, I actually stayed on hold for 20 minutes. I was trying to get an insurance claim through for a customer and was determined to take care of the matter once and for all. I did get it taken care of and it took less than five minutes.
One danger with staying on hold for long periods of time is that you might of forget why you called. I suspect that insurance companies use this ploy to discourage people. Sometimes while I've been on hold I've figured out my solution and have then hung up without ever reaching a human being. That doesn't happen very often.
Another danger of long hold times are two conditions that I refer to as pharmacist ear and phone shoulder. Pharmacist ear happens when you have had the phone on your ear for so long that it smashes the outside part of your ear and makes you wonder if you will need to have the handset surgically removed. Phone shoulder is the cramp you get in your shoulder and neck from holding the phone when your hands need to be free. Sometimes my shoulder is so knotted up at the end of the day that my hand tingles like it is asleep.
I hate it when I'm at work and on hold when the other line rings. Now I have a choice to make. Do I hang up and take the other call or do I stay on hold and hope that someone else will answer it? The problem is that if I hang up, then I have to call back and be put on hold again. Sometimes I am lucky and can get one of my techs to be on hold for me while I take the second call. If I'm working alone I have no choice. I have to take the incoming call which is why I try to make sure I make certain phone calls when I have a tech to help me.
I suppose I really shouldn't complain about being on hold. It beats calling several times only to get a busy signal. (Do phones even have a busy signal anymore?) Eventually I do get a human being and most of the time what I need to get done gets done. It still doesn't stop me from wishing there was a legal limit to hold times. How about two minutes?
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