One of life’s biggest frustrations is having to wait on a phone call for an eternity, while the voice on the other end of the line assures you that you are special to the company’s bottom line. While most things should be possible to do online, you’re still required to contact a company directly because the call centre is already overwhelmed with customers trying to get answers.
Google isn’t getting rid of the need for these call centers and their ridiculous waiting times, but it has begun testing out a new feature that should take much of that frustration away. Called Hold for Me, the new app will essentially monitor the call when you get placed on hold and then alert you (with a sound, vibration and on-screen notification) when a human eventually picks up on the other side. So you don’t have to sit there like a pinhead when there are more important things to do.
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The new feature is currently optional on Google’s latest handsets, but the company is hoping that if the feedback is positive and proves successful at being able to determine the difference between a human voice and those annoying automated adverts, then it could be rolling this feature out to other devices.
A feature like this could be a massive time-saver when needing to phone various call centres, and allowing you to continue with your life rather than putting things on hold just to listen to annoying background music and ads. Life is short and no one should spend that on hold.
Last Updated: October 2, 2020
