Tag Archives: hold-time-complaints

What Cupid Has to Say About Your Call Center Relationships

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What Cupid Has to Say About Your Call Center RelationshipsThe relationship between contact centers and their customers can be a volatile one. Sometimes the experience is just not up to par, other times customers are ranting and raving about how happy they are. I’m sure your contact center can relate to both sides of the spectrum. Just keep in mind, there are always things you can do to increase the amount of positive outcomes you receive. Yesterday, Cupid drew his bow to embrace the love between contact centers and customers. After you put these strategies in place, be sure to review them again and again – consistency is the name of the game.

Here are five things you can do to take your contact center to customer relationship center. Continue reading →

The Top 10 Worst Companies You Called in 2017

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The Top 10 Worst Companies You Called in 2017At the end of every year, we analyze data collected by onholdwith.com to expose the worst hold time offenders for the year, and today, we’re ready to reveal the results compiled from 2017. The list is determined by the number of tweets, with the phrase “on hold with”, directed to a brand’s account. Last year, we reported that Apple was the worst company to call, which captured the attention of consumer reporters across the nation (Read Stuck on Hold? The Worst Offenders Include Apple, Amazon, Airlines and 7 on Your Side: Apple, Verizon top ‘on hold’ complaints list). This year, Apple has been dethroned (although the company still remains on the worst offenders list).

So, who was the worst company to call in 2017? Well, according to the 800,000 tweets analyzed, the company that customers complained about the most over social media in 2017 was, *drumroll please*….Delta Airlines! See the complete list of offending companies in the slides below:

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6 Undeniable Reasons People Hate Calling Your Contact Center

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6 Undeniable Reasons People Hate Calling Your Contact CenterThe call center can be a great resource for getting questions answered, but it’s typically not the most enjoyable experience. This is especially true because of the many different channels that give customers instant gratification – thus increasing the expectations for customer service. But that doesn’t mean the phone channel isn’t still a popular medium.

The truth is, phone calls are essential to customer service. In fact, 37% would choose phone conversations with a live agent over any other channel if they want to get a problem solved quickly, if they want to communicate with a real person, or if they believe it’s the best way to receive the correct information. So with that in mind, contact centers need to ensure that the calling experience is just as pleasant as every other channel.

Here’s why people just hate calling a contact center.

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Top 10 Angry Tweets from Customers Waiting On Hold

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Top 10 Angry Tweets from Customers Waiting On HoldOnholdwith.com is a community-driven platform that aims to end hold time for customers. The website tracks companies who are experiencing the most complaints on Twitter from people waiting on hold. It’s our way of recognizing which businesses need to improve their call center hold times, and could benefit from a call-back solution like Fonolo’s. But the most interesting part of onholdwith.com are the tweets themselves.

By the time someone has taken to social media to unleash their innermost hold-time frustrations, the result can be truly eye-opening, and sometimes pretty darn hilarious. I mean, if you’re waiting on hold for 4 hours, you have to find humor in hearing, “Your call is important to us, please hold,” for the 89th time, right?

We’ve looked at the top 10 hold time offenders this month, and scoured their Twitter complaints to compile some of the most cringe-worthy responses to waiting on hold.

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Delta’s Flight Cancellations Led to a Call Center Meltdown

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Delta’s Flight Cancellations Led to a Call Center Meltdown

It’s no secret to the savvy traveller that most leading airlines will limit the amount of empty seats to help boost profits. The problem is, when flights get overbooked paid passengers have to be “accommodated” to give up their seat, or in Delta’s case, it makes it difficult to rebook passengers whose flights have been cancelled. The airline industry is certainly getting its share of bad press lately. Although, unlike the abomination of an innocent bystander being ripped from a United Airlines flight, at least Delta has good reason for its negative publicity.

Last week, Atlanta was hit with severe thunderstorms, flash floods, and hail resulting in a logistical nightmare for Delta Airlines. The storm came crashing in on Wednesday, but the cancellation of flights trickled into Friday, and by the end of the week 3,000 flights had been cancelled!
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Winter Blues: Top 10 Hold Time Offenders this Quarter [Infographic]

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Winter Blues: Top 10 Hold Time Offenders this QuarterAccording to the 2016 Microsoft State of Global Customer Service Report almost half (44%) of global customers feel that it takes more effort for them, than it does for the brand, to resolve their issues. In the U.S. alone, it rises to 65%; in the UK, 72%. At Fonolo, we have a secret weapon for figuring out what companies are creating a social media frenzy of frustrated customers: onholdwith.com. The website tracks complaints on Twitter from people waiting on hold. Last year, we announced the ‘Top 25 Worst Hold Time Offenders of 2016’ and saw just how much this problem resonates with the American people. NBC, ABC 7on Your Side, turned to their community, and to the companies mentioned, to dig deeper into the issue. But we’re not done yet. Callers are still regularly experiencing long hold times and we won’t stop reporting until we put an end to this problem for good. Continue reading →

Mo’ Mustaches, Mo’ Happiness: The Rise of the Movember Movement

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Mo’ Mustaches, Mo’ Happiness: The Rise of the Movember MovementThe history of Movember began 17 short years ago when a local news channel reported that a group of men from Adelaide, Australia had coined the term “Movember” and the idea of growing moustaches for charity throughout the month of November. Since then, the idea has exploded into a month-long international event. At Fonolo, we like getting into the spirit of Movember in our own quirky way. Last year we tracked how much hold time a number of companies had accrued over the month of November and thought, “Wow, you could probably grow a moustache in that amount of time!” *Lightbulb goes off* So, if time is money, why not support Movember by giving back to the foundation based off the amount of hold time a company accumulates over the month? This year we’re asking the same of these #onholdwith offenders. Continue reading →

Who Are You #onholdwith? Top 10 Twitter Complaints

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Who Are You #onholdwith? Top 10 Twitter ComplaintsHere at Fonolo, we spend our days helping companies eliminate hold time. To that extent, we regularly turn to social media – specifically customer complaints – to see how companies are doing. (If you’re wondering how well this correlates to measurable indicators like Net Promoter Score, have a look at this.)

According to onholdwith.com, a site that publishes tweets from Twitter users stuck on hold, here are the top 10 companies that have the most complaints on Twitter:

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Top 3 Worst Customer Experiences for 2014

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Top 3 Worst Customer Experiences for 2014With more than half of 2014 under our belt, it’s a good time for organizations to stop and take stock of just how well they’ve been treating customers this year.

Has your company been living up to customer expectations? Or are you worried that, like 62% of consumers, your customers will go elsewhere after a poor service experience?
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American Airlines Delivers on Disappointing Customer Service

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American Airlines Delivers on Disappointing Customer ServiceWhether you’re a frequent flyer or not, you know that phoning an airline can be incredibly frustrating.  The reasons can vary – cancelled flights, lost luggage, flight changes, among others – but the experience remains the same: long hold times.

It’s natural to think that customer service is the route to building a successful business, but organizations like American Airlines don’t seem to understand that concept. Disgruntled customers frequently complain about long wait times and an overall poor customer experience. According to onholdwith.com (a site that catalogs complaints from Twitter users stuck on hold), American Airlines was the top offender by 925%! Continue reading →