I just sat on hold with a company that has only one song for its hold music. I have a great idea! Â If you are a company that makes people sit on hold for long periods of time – and that seems like a lot of companies to me – then at least have more than one song in your hold music. Waiting on hold is bad enough, but having to listen to the same song over and over, even if you did happen to like the song (which rarely happens), is just too much to take.
And while we are talking about being on hold, could I point out that people really don’t want to listen to commercials for your company while they are on hold. I know that it makes me feel like you are keeping me on hold on purpose, so that I have to listen to your commercials longer. Another pet peeve of mine is listening to a recording thanking me for my patience and telling me how important my call is to you. I have 2 things to say about that: you don’t HAVE my patience, so stop thanking me for it; and if my call were important to you, you wouldn’t leave me on hold for so long.
Honestly, I almost feel sorry for the call center people. By the time I actually get to talk to someone, I am often a raving lunatic!
And then, when someone finally answers the phone, they are often obviously following a script. And the biggest reason I know this is because I will often state what I am calling about when I first get a live person – sometimes that will save spending a lot of time with the wrong person. But when I start out by saying something like, “I am calling about my refrigerator,” and then they ask a couple other questions, and then they say, “And are you calling about your dryer today?” it gives away that they are not even listening to what you say – they are following a script, line by line. And the companies require it. I wonder who thought THAT was a good idea?!?
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