Delta Air Lines’ on-hold music just won’t fly

Posted by PH Audio on December 21, 2009 @ 1:59 pm
Categories: News

Snow delays plane | photo by Pocketdora @ Flickr

While the UK’s press occupies itself with icy roads, epic snowmen and Eurostar’s winter engineering problems, weather over in the States has thrown up its own challenges for another large travel company this weekend.

Delta Air Lines – who’ve had to cancel a large number of flights owing to bad weather in the wake of the massive Eastcoast snow storm – have apparently misjudged their callers’ taste in on-hold music.

According to accounts from many angry Twitter users, stranded travellers and would-be passengers are calling the airline only to hear Let It Snow on a loop.

We reckon they’d have been better recording some comfort messages directing callers to helpful pages on their website…

…But we’re sure they probably know that by now.

This call will self-destruct in 8 minutes, 22 seconds

Posted by Matt on December 8, 2009 @ 5:12 pm
Categories: News, On-Hold Messaging
Tags: , ,

Frustrated baby | Photo by Mark Kelly @ Flickr

Hang on (please)

We’re a patient bunch, us Brits. Along with fax machines, umbrellas and radar, we invented queuing.

We queue at Alton Towers. Queue at the post office. Queue for pints. Queue for burgers after too many pints. We’d queue for sleeping if somebody said it was the right and proper thing to do.

Waiting politely is a nationwide sport. To the rest of the world, we’re a country of hooligans, stag-doers, beer-drinkers and queue-ers. To rest of the world, we’re either battering each other, voicing baddies in Bond films, or standing quietly in a line.

But, according to new research by TalkTalk, there’s a problem with that stereotype.

As a country, we’re fast losing patience. ...read more

Keeping clients engaged when they’re NOT on hold

Posted by Katherine on December 3, 2009 @ 12:13 pm
Categories: Music On Hold
Tags: ,
A big-buttoned phone
Photo credit: H is for Home @ Flickr

In today’s business world, many companies use music on hold productions to engage their customers while they’re waiting on hold, using professional voiceovers and music to portray a strong, professional image.

But how do you go about keeping your customers engaged when they’re not on hold?

In an ideal world we’d all have the singing voice of Leona Lewis and the humour of Peter Kay to keep customers interested and involved in the phone conversation. But sadly, this just isn’t the case — so we need to find other ways to inspire confidence in our business!

...read more

The evolution of on-hold production technology

Posted by Jason on December 1, 2009 @ 11:05 am
Categories: Audio Technology
Tags: , , ,

CD rainbow | Photo by lostash @ Flickr

Photo credit: Iostash @ Flickr

In the same way we now watch Blu-ray over Betamax, and listen to MP3s instead of cassettes, the technology for on-hold messaging has advanced greatly in the last ten years.

At PH Audio we’ve used a number of methods to deliver music on hold, and our use of audio technology is something we’re always looking to improve and develop. So, from CD players that jumped and warped, to digital playback with a lot of flexibility, in this post you’ll find our own rough audio technology timeline.

...read more