Used car dealer gets it right

You call company x, get put on hold, condemned to listen to garbled, distorted muzak in a loop that cuts in and out, like a bad radio signal. You try not to memorize it but eventually you do, so now you’re a brainwashing victim. You try putting it on speaker but it continues to crackle and babble idiotically, interrupting itself only to assure you that “Your call is important to us.” You hang up when you catch yourself thinking maybe it would be instructive to measure the time interval between “Your call is important to us” messages.

That phone user experience is standard practice for most companies, including big Fortune 500 ones–and it’s REALLY ANNOYING, right? So why does it take a Miami used car dealer to come up with a solution? When Haims Motors (Hollywood, FL), puts you on hold, you get an initial dose of muzak, but then a voice comes on and gives you four choices: 1) “Change the music selection” [no, thanks], (2) “Leave voicemail” [useful option!], (3) “Stop the music” (YEAH!) or (4) “Transfer to an operator.” 

Seems so simple, doesn’t it? Okay, so we’re talking about phone here, but there are SO many bad user experiences with easy fixes out there on the Web–and nobody ever gets around to fixing them! (Having worked for a Fortune 500 for several years, I think I know why, but that’s a whole ‘nuther story…).