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Author Topic: On Hold With Technicolor Michael Putlack Expert Film Handler Posts: 187 From: Fort Collins, Colorado Registered: Sep 2011 posted 03-07-2013 08:00 PM                        What's the longest you've ever been on hold with Technicolor? I'm at 15 minutes now... :/ Sub-question: How miserable is that stupid guitar riff song that they use for their hold music!?  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-07-2013 08:41 PM                        Never more than a few seconds.... Must be the time of day? Day of week too probably.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 03-07-2013 08:47 PM                        I have waited on hold with Technicolor for well over 40 minutes a few times. The "music" they keep repeating is exactly the same track that Fed Ex uses. (I've waited on hold with them for well over an hour.)  |  IP: Logged John Roddy Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Spring, TX, United States Registered: Dec 2012 posted 03-07-2013 09:03 PM                        I think my record stands at 25 minutes before I gave up and tried again later. Generally speaking, they're pretty fast. I'm usually only on hold for a few seconds before they answer. But if you call them on a busy Thursday night or something, they never have enough people. Also, I've only heard piano sonatas and stuff in their hold music. That, and the same type of stuff I hear on the Weather Channel during the local weather updates. It's all pretty bland and tasteless though. Just once, I'd like to call and hear hardcore death metal or something. I know that will never happen, but it would be pretty funny if it ever did.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 03-07-2013 10:18 PM                     40 minutes was my record trying to find out where the other half of a print was sent to...  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 03-08-2013 06:36 AM                     I haven't called Technicolor in years. If there's a problem, I send them an email and it's usually resolved right away. Like tonight. We were missing a trailer that should have been on our Thingest. I dropped them a line, politely asking if there was an ETA on its delivery, as I was required to have this trailer in front of our pre-premieres of Oz, the first of which was in less than 90mins at that point, and it was resolved (with a phone call from them verifying I could ingest it) within half an hour.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-08-2013 09:24 AM                        I don't have the patience to hold more than 5 mins, but have tried back multiple times in an hour. It seems to have gotten worse this year, I wonder if they are cutting back on staff. And the only reason I can think of for that horrible hold music is to discourage us from holding.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 03-08-2013 10:53 AM                        The holding patterns that I dislike most are the ones that keep saying "Thank you for holding - your call will be answered shortly" every two minutes or so. If it just plays music then you can put the phone down and wait until you hear someone talking to pick it up again. But when it keeps talking like that, you have to keep listening to it.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-08-2013 11:14 AM                        quote: Martin McCaffery And the only reason I can think of for that horrible hold music is to discourage us from holding. The reason for the crappy hold music is to avoid paying a copyright fee for using "real" music. And the reason why they don't just use silence is that then people will think their connection is lost. What I don't understand is, why don't the phone manufacturers (or whoever creates those hold recordings) create a nice five or ten minute piece of music? Or maybe a dozen different little 30-second tunes? It couldn't cost THAT much. If I could have my own preference I'd like to hear the news, or something useful like that while I'm on hold.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-08-2013 12:59 PM                     Why not just pipe in some local radio station? It doesn't have to be rock and roll. It could be a classical station... Something!  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 03-08-2013 01:21 PM                        One outfit that I have to call occasionally plays pow wow music when you're on hold. Which is different, but not inappropriate considering what the company does. I can take pow wow music a lot more than rap, which just grates on my ears. I really like "native rock", like Keith Secola & The Wild Band Of Indians and Black Rain  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 03-08-2013 01:43 PM                     In the 90s, when I would be on hold with our concessions supplier out of DFW, the hold music would be The Oasis, an FM station. Around the same time, the Lubbock cable provider started up the digital music channels. They advised subscribers that these could NOT be used for "on hold" music, though store owners could pipe the music into their stores.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-08-2013 01:44 PM                        quote: Randy Stankey Why not just pipe in some local radio station? Well, with 24 hour call centers there may not be anything "local". Piping in anything would require paying fees. I'm sure whatever Muzak changed their name to has a service. I've been on hold where they've had local talk radio piped in. Now that can be excruciating (and a really bad business choice). As we have to hit so many buttons (no with Tech, but in general), they should let us choose our own hold music (Press 1 for Mowtown, for Classic..)  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-08-2013 02:03 PM                        quote: Randy Stankey Why not just pipe in some local radio station? If you're a little mom-n-pop kind of place you can probably do that, but a big company like Technicolor would probably be flirting with disaster doing that. It's the same reason you can't be playing the radio in a movie theater without the ASCAP or BMI people crawling into your wallet.  |  IP: Logged Emma Tomiak Expert Film Handler Posts: 238 From: Carrollton, TX, USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 03-09-2013 04:19 PM                        There have been many times I've sat on hold with Technicolor until the hold service boots me off and tells me to call back later. FYI, last time I was on hold with Deluxe, their hold music was the "Garden State" soundtrack.  |  IP: Logged

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