Keeping callers (or me in this case) interested…or at least trying to

I’m going to ramble a bit here about a personal experience I had a few days ago. I was calling in to Rogers to ask about their new tiers on Internet packages. The one that looks the most similar to mine, as far as details and pricing, is significantly better so I want to know if I can get a no hassle, no cost upgrade to this new tier. I eventually get sent to the Loyalty department, where after about a minute or so, I get put on hold. After about 15 minutes, Skype apparently decided I was connected for too long and disconnected or I hit the hold timeout for that queue, which is annoying in either case. However, while being on hold a few things popped into my mind.

• The quality of the hold music was atrocious. The audio quality of the files used for the music on hold was terrible. It was muffled and full of static. The files themselves were also cringe-worthy. I get that great hold music can to tough to find, but I have to think there are some better options out there.
• Play some messages periodically. Splicing in a few spoken messages from time to time would be a favourable course of action here. Tell me about your new promos or how to sign up for NHL GameCenter Live via the website. Something, anything, to break the flow of the hold music.
• Why am I on hold for 15 minutes? I’m in the Customer Loyalty queue. When I call into a contact center ACD, I don’t mind being put on hold. But I’m a bit skeptical as to what may be occurring on their end to justify this. It’s not a great way to inspire confidence from a long time customer’s point of view.
• If I did indeed hit the Hold timeout for the queue, why is the ACD hanging up my connection instead of routing me somewhere else? Even a reroute to the Main Menu would be a better outcome than simply severing the connection. Q-Suite allows a jump to an existing IVR as an option in this case, instead of simply hanging up.