Being put on hold

[Alex]

One thing I hate is being put on hold when I have to call customer services. I do prefer to email or use a support form, but often I then check for a response. Recently I had to email a company and they kept sending messages saying my message is in a queue. It was more annoying to see those messages as I just wanted a response.


If I am on hold I can only last so long before I hang up and try again. It's a combination of impatience and also wanting to get things sorted and not having control over it. I also hate automated services with too many options. I know I can't do much about it, and sometimes I just press anything just to get through to an operator.

 

[Panic57]

I agree with you, being put on hold is annoying.  The only time I'm kind of okay with it, is when they had distinct departments for certain things.  I had to call to check something on my debit card and I know that different departments have different qualifications that allow them to only see certain customer information, a way to control and keep it sort of safe.  So I'm fine waiting as long as I have something else to do in the meantime.  If not, I get more annoyed with it.  Mostly though, I prefer to deal with it via email or in person, if it's bad enough.

 

[Choochoo]

I had to go through this once during the precious holiday seasons whenever I had an item I was to return bought online and it was close to impossible to get a hold of an operator. These days thankfully the services have gotten much better so I don't have as much problems or questions about my delivery anymore. I don't really mind being put on hold though as long as I know how long the wait approximately would be or even at least just knowing that it will actually happen since I've experienced being on hold for over ten minutes before totally giving up. 

 

[fuzyon]

Unless I need something done quickly I don't mind getting put on hold. Of course, it's an annoyance and I could live without it but worst case scenario I put my phone on speaker and do some other stuff while waiting for the time to pass. There's really no reason to just wait on the phone for minutes upon minutes until they finally call you back. It's a pain on holidays when so many people are active, makes returning stuff extremely hard. I once had to wait 3 hours to return a piece of furniture because there were so many people in the phone queue.

 

[DDNatureLover]

I also dislike being put on hold. One thing that makes it a little easier to deal with is having the speaker phone option. At least that way, i can put down the phone and do something else. One thing that really irks me is being on hold for a long time, or actually speaking to someone and getting halfway through the process of dealing with the issue, and then getting disconnected. They usually ask for a call back number in case that happens, but at least in the case with my home internet / tv provider, they never call back when we get disconnected, and it's not a rare occurrence. It seems to happen each time I call them. 

 

[DylanRowan]

I gotta follow the flow. Yes, being put on hold is really annoying. But there could be a factors that involve around it. Not everyone can give the answer that you want in an instant. I tend to simply continue with what I am doing in the day. I feel like it is something that we must also be tolerant about. Sure it might happen a lot, but always maintain a good positive attitude. 

 

[kelden]

Call customer services are usually crappy when they're from cheap companies wth low ethics background and from the government (since they pretty much don't care much for quality but to spend other people's money galore). Is always a good choice to issue a complaint about it, we pay for it so we demand quality in every way, otherwise change to another company.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

Oh, I really hate that. There are two big reasons. One, I am the one paying for the call. So every minute spent on hold is costing me money. I don't like that at all. Two, very often, things go round in circles. I get put on hold, then get through and find that I need to talk to someone else and get put on hold again. I think the better way is contacting the service staff via online chat. When I am using the company's service chat box, I can just continue with whatever I am doing while waiting for a response. I don't have to pay for the waiting.

 

[Alex]

I think if you are paying for the call being on hold for more than a few minutes is wrong. There should be a freephone number and many try to say it's charged as a local call to make you feel better. The worst is being put through to different departments. I had to change my address once for a credit card. I was on hold for half an hour, but I had to do it as you can't do it online.


I've never worked in a call center, but I imagine it can be stressful for them too. When did call centers become part of everyday life and will it change I wonder?

 

[djanx]

Well, thankfully, I have mostly cut out the bad service providers and their services from my life - mostly. As far as waiting is concerned, I always try different ways to contact the same guys. For example, this bank would keep me on hold for a long time every time I would choose the "complaints" option on their automatic voice system. So, then, I just started clicking for the "get a new credit card" option, and my call would always connect. Once their, I would just tell them to re-route my call and voila, I was in!


Also, if possible, always communicate in writing, i.e. via chat or mail. This is because you can then keep the conversation as legal proof.

 

[lexinonomous]

I can't say that I blame you. No one likes to be put on hold, but it can be especially irritating for some people. I am one of those people. I cannot stand when someone puts me on hold for long periods of time. I always feel as if I'm wasting my time and/or they are not going to come back and check on me. There have been times where I've sat on hold for hours, listening to the music on speaker phone. I hate to hang up because I fear that they will come back at any moment and  in turn, I've wasted my time. Customer service is usually fairly good about putting people on hold, so long as the company is legitimate. If a company is small, but receiving high volume calls, it's going to be a downfall while waiting for them to pick that phone back up.

 

[John Snort]

Being put on hold is one reason I hate calling customer service. There is this one time I was put on hold for about an hour. The guy at the other end said, he had to get more information from someone who was apparently also busy at that time. Good thing is there are some companies that can help with such calls. You pay them to call customer service for you. While it does seem sort of convenient there are questions you might need answered directly so they are good only for certain things like complaining about something you aren't happy with, etc.