Being on hold with a service provider is not an experience people usually think of as pleasant or useful. It’s bad enough you have to call them up because you couldn’t understand what was in the bill they sent, but now you have to wait on hold with them? Many times, a customer can already be irritated when they are greeted by on hold music before the agent picks up the call. This situation makes it vital for organizations to make sure that they are taking advantage of the time spent on hold.

We took a poll here at TMC (News - Alert), a little survey if you will, about what kinds of experiences folks have had on hold that have been memorable, good or bad. Remarkably, people usually only remember the terrible times.

One experience from Group Managing Editor Patrick Barnard entailed a droll self-realization that he had been lured back to the company after swearing them off a year before. “One time I was trying to order a toy from a retailer, and the song that kept playing was "Baby Come Back" by Hall & Oates. I remember thinking "How ironic" because I had already had a bad on hold experience with this company a year earlier, and I said I would never "go back" to them. It was as if they were sending me a subliminal message that i should stay with them forever... I never went back again after that...”

So, job well done from the toy company? Somehow, Barnard returned even after foreswearing the likes of such an organization. Memory probably has more to do with it than we think. Chris Dimarco, web editor for TMC noted that, “The worst was when I worked in a call center, and we used to have to call UPS for package tracking during the holiday season. You could literally sit on hold for 30 minutes, and there was a generic hold tune that I can still remember to this day. It would drive me nuts.”

The survey produced some results as to the preferences of what consumers would like to hear while on hold. Web Editor Stefanie Mosca noted, “No one likes being stuck ‘on hold,’ especially when customer service calls are usually less than pleasing.  I’d rather be stuck listening to something with words that I actually know and can sing along to. I like when companies provide tunes from the top 40 list to keep me entertained and not pulling my hair out.”

In the worst of instances, terrible experiences on hold can actually lead to customers leaving or disconnecting of their own accord. Stefania Viscusi, assignment desk editor for TMC divulged that she was on hold with Sprint (News - Alert) recently to ask about upgrading her phone. The on hold experience was nothing short of frustrating. The recording “was playing a short ad with an annoying guy’s voice on repeat! I hung up because I couldn’t take it,” Viscusi said.

So is all doomed? Is it impossible to create a decent on hold customer experience? No! Do not turn your telemarketing eyes and hearts downward. The poll found a harbinger of light in and otherwise dimly lit future. Scott Bouchard, web director for TMC painted two portraits of two separate on hold experiences. The bad news first: He came close to suicide.

“I got the pink panther theme song on repeat for over 30 minutes one time with a credit card agency…  that was probably the closest I’ve been to suicide,” stated Bouchard.

But, ah! Where a door closes, another opens: He relayed how while on hold once, he was persuaded to make a purchase, “Advertising during an on hold experience with a ticket broker alerted me to a show I wanted to see, and I consequently bought tickets.”

“Callers are primed to do business, right at that very moment, and they're literally under your nose,” noted Advertel (News - Alert) officials in an interview with TMCnet recently. Businesses would do well to pay attention to that suggestion, and that is coming from this reporter who once got disconnected while on hold with the Disconnection Department at Cablevision. :)