Their hold music says it all

by Di S
(UK)

I've just received a phonecall from a well known global credit card provider, immediately asking me for personal information.

Now with identity fraud being such an issue I decided not to reveal my year of birth to the person who could not pronounce the word "birth". The call was coming from an overseas call centre.

When I received their second call, I was worried and decided to call them. I was on hold for a long time ( 40 minutes ), you know, the type of call you get when you are told "that your call is important to us"

Why can't they just tell me how long to the next available agent, or show me that the call is important to them by answering the phone.

Interspersed among these messages was the oddest hold music, which I couldn't see the funny side about - it's the song that goes

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air

Sometimes I feel like saying "Lord, I just don't care"

But what this really says to me is that this company doesn't walk in its customers shoes. It doesn't see things from their customers point of view. It only sees things from an internal perspective.

Simple things like introducing the call, explaining why they were calling, and what needs to happen next.

And the reason for their call, there wasn't one, they had made a mistake, a box hadn't been ticked somewhere in their systems, and that had triggered the calls. Could it be that I am a number rather than a customer to them?