Akron, Ohio-based Virtual Hold is trying to help establish a new meme.

Yes, we all know Black Friday, the day of shopping mall hell following Thanksgiving. “Now known as Cyber Monday (News - Alert), November 29 is the start of the online holiday shopping season,” company officials saidrecently. “People shop online for a variety of reasons, but ease of use is always a top reason.”

But, they say, when a customer needs to talk to a company representative, "easy" is often the last word a customer would use to describe the process: “Between busy signals, long hold times and disconnections, sometimes it's easier for a customer to just go somewhere else.”

And they do, believe us. In droves. Where they’re subjected to yet more terrible customer service. Transitioning from the self-service environment of a website to live customer service, say Virtual Hold officials, “can leave customers confused and discouraged, resulting in poor customer experiences, reduced customer loyalty and lost sales.” That’s why company officials are touting the Virtual Hold WebConnect web application.

"At its heart, WebConnect is an online view into the contact center. Customers can see if there's any hold time if they call right now. They can then opt to hold virtually," said Robert Brazier, product manager for Virtual Hold Technology (News - Alert). "WebConnect saves the customer's place in line and calls them back when it's their turn to speak with a specialist. It saves an enormous amount of time in a season when it seems like there is none."

Introduced in 2003, WebConnect allows web visitors access to company representatives. If a visitor needs to speak to an agent, WebConnect can display the hold time and enable the visitor to enter a telephone number for a call back.