Being Placed on Hold

[denverpilot]

Know what? No music doesn't sound too bad.

I mandated we would never have music again when we installed the new phone system. It's annoying and some idiot always puts a conference call on hold and multiple people sit there waiting for them to return.

Which leads to requirement two. All conference calls give full access via a menu on the phone to kick anyone's ass clear off it if you're the chairperson who started the call. On certain numbers and call startup types, everyone in the call has this ability.

Since it is the era of crappy cell phone connections, total silence for many minutes isn't reasonable either, so the system announces how long your expected hold time is without fanfare about 30 seconds into your hold and then a much longer cycle. Usually at least 90 seconds. This give you a way to know the call is still alive.

it probably makes no difference but I always point this out; "I just punched it in, didn't it show up?"

Maybe that's passive aggressive but I'd sure like to see a change.



I wonder if all ths ridiculousness is a stalling tactic til they can get a human on the line.

Yes and no. Screen pops done well are a brutal thing to get right. But when done right, they're a beautiful thing to behold.

We skipped them up front, but wrote code to allow the first person who talks to you to simply hit a button on your case to associate the phone call in their ear forevermore with that case until the caller hangs up, no matter how many times they're transferred or even placed into conference calls and retrieved from them.

All the next person has to do is hit a button to "retrieve case for this call" and your case is up in front of them in one button click. Works slicker than snot on a doorknob.

I hate being on hold as much as the rest of you. I do like, however, the option to have them call you back in an estimated "x" minutes. That system is pretty good and eliminates the really awful music from my life. -Skip

I want our system to do that and I'm looking into it. Some customers they'll probably let me make those call backs, other customers they won't want the system paying for the L/D charges to call someone.

It's been a convoluted mess ever since divestiture. I've lost track off all the mergers, acquisitions and name changes since I left American Transtech (the subsidiary that handled the divestiture) circa 1990.

The Bell system was stratified horizontally in the 80s. It hasn't yet completed re-stratifying vertically yet. We will eventually be back down to three massive companies that offer the same products from lowly POTS lines on up through enterprise class dats networks.

 

[flyingron]

We always had a live receptionist answer the phones, but for a while we were getting some real pips in from the temp company. The one standard instruction they were given is that all calls to the president were just to have a message taken (these were almost always some cold calling salesman who lifted the corporate officers from some database). If I was off-site and needed to talk to him I had to convince them to bypass that procedure.

REC: Good morning, Sensor Systems, How may I direct your call?
ME: Hi, I need to talk to Steve, tell him it's Ron (usually this works).
REC: And what company are you with?
ME: I'm with this company. I'm the freaking Vice President.

Of course the other amusing one was when I had some wine shipped to the office. It arrived at the reception desk with a requirement that someone over 21 sign for it. They called back and asked if I was over 21. I pointed out that I had worked for the company for more than 20 years and unless they hired VPs out of the nursery I was over 21.

Of course we finally did get one with a clue and hired her on full time. She was a slight little thing and one day she shows up in my office carrying a case of wine (my office was intentionally as far away from the front door of the building as I could get it). I let her know she could just call me and I'd pick that up myself.

 

[flyingron]

Back probably in the late eighties a researcher at BellCore got a hold of a small phone switch that he could interface to a UNIX shell and provide all sorts of interesting touch tone services. The amusing thing when you first dialed it, the computer voice (Dectalker) answered with:

Bell Communications Resarch ...(long pause)... Yes, Operator! I'll accept the charges.

Of the various extensions available was a suicide hotline, when you selected that one it said:

Suicide Hotline...Please Hold

it then played rather suggestive music for a few minutes and then said

Suicide Hotline...Press STAR if you are still there.

 

[paflyer]

. When he finally came on he spoke with such a heavy Indian accent that I could not understand him.

That's because they couldn't find qualified people in the US to answer the phone.

 

[Maverick]

That's because they couldn't find qualified people in the US to answer the phone.

More likely they could not find qualified people in the USA willing to work for minimum wage to answer the phone.

First we export all the manufacturing we can and now we export all the service/support work that we can. One day China and India will be coming to the USA for cheap labor.