At least have the guy put his windows up

Everybody hates being put on hold — it’s the bane of the modern customer support experience. Yet here I am, on the phone with my bank, on hold.

Well, at least they have some music playing in the background, and it’s my main man Yanni, no less.

What I don’t understand is why the quality of the hold music is always so poor. It always — always — sounds like it’s being played on one of those cheap, dollar-store, battery-operated, fell-and-hit-the-curb-one-too-many-times radios. Except you’re listening to it over a bad cell phone connection. And the guy on the other end is driving on the highway. With his windows down. And for brief moments here and there the sound cuts out so that it almost seems like the guy is driving through a tunnel.

It really couldn’t be any worse.

Actually it is worse, because it sounds like every customer service center in the world is sourcing their hold music from the same guy. In his car. With the windows down.

Customer service centers of the world: Please invest in a decent hold music system. God knows you’re already saving money by staffing one phone rep at a time (in India, no less). If we must be put on hold, at least hire a hold music guy who’ll put his windows up.

About these ads