AIBU to feel distressed by constant hold music while phoning services?

[ForeverTheOptomist]

AIBU to feel utter distressed at the Hold Muzak that I'm being bombarded with?

It's everywhere. I have one contact that I sometimes call where I am give the option of music, bird call, or silence. The rest is crazy.

I am currently on hold to DVLA. I have been trying to call them, as they have requested by post, for a week. Each time I have been told that they are too busy and have been cut off. I am now on hold, which is progress, but so far am forced to listen to their hideous hold music for 38mins and 40secs. And yes, through a tinny iPhone.

I have no choice but to have my ears bombarded by this. It is stressing me out.

Why in Gods name do we have to endure this shit?

YANBU, it fries my brain.
Part of the sensory overload of modern life.

51.11 mins ...

Are they doing that interruption with a recorded message, making you have to pay attention every couple of minutes for no good reason. But rest assured, your call is important.

No it's just the 'music'. The noise is hideous. I feel quite sick! 16 bars repeated over and over. I know that I am sensitive to noise but this is hideous.

So agree buts what’s the alternative. In an ideal world they’d have a system to ring you back when you’re next in the queue I guess. But radio silence wouldn’t work as you wouldn’t know if you get disconnected. any sort of music or person saying ‘you’re on hold’ and beeping is equally horrible

That’s a really interesting question.
I wonder if any research has been done into what kind of low level noise fries your brain the least.
IME it’s the repetition that drives you crazy so something natural and random like the gentle sounds of a woodland with birdsong might work.

Distressed? Yeah you are unreasonable. Completely wound up and angry? Quite normal. 🙄

Why be so normative and unempathetic?
If this kind of noise doesn’t affect you then you are fortunate and you have no reason to be snide to people who perceive it differently from you.

I concur op. I'd die happy if I never heard Vivaldi's four seasons, ever again 😤

It's in shops too, ones that it never used to be in like M&S I don't mind if it's nice calming music on a good sound system, but it isn't - it's inane repetitive crap on a shitty sound system. Today it was in Next and sounded awful. Is it supposed to make us buy? I can't concentrate so I leave and don't buy anything.

I don't know why they can't just tune you into Classic FM or something. With digital radio nowadays it must be possible.

Or have a Spotify playlist of inoffensive popular or classical music playing.

Also motorway service stations when you are trying to grab a few minutes relaxation before continuing the drive. Maybe it makes us spend more money in the shops?

I give it ten minutes and then hang up. I usually then get a text to say you haven’t been in touch. Then I text back that they refuse to answer their phones. And on and on it goes…….

You're being dramatic. Making you stressed and sick. Get a grip. Yes its annoying that's all it is.

As I say, one of the companies that I have to call regularly give options, number one being bird call. That's repetitive too, but a better alternative.

I guess that there would be licensing issues.

But that isn't ALL it is if you happened to be highly sensitive to outside stimuli. You are clearly not. But plenty of people are and it is highly distressing and does physically affect them.

It frazzles my brain having to listen to noise like this and I end up feeling as if I have vertigo - dizzy and ill. Sitting there, as the OP has been for almost an hour is genuinely far more than 'annoying' to a lot of people.

HTH

Yes! A big part of my job is to speak to GP surgeries and the hold music is a real unwanted ear worm! 57 mins was my maximum hold time 🤯

Thanks people for your support.

Being called dramatic is absolutely fine by me.

I ended up being on hold for over an hour to DVLA today and was trying to work. Impossible.

My drs surgery do the call back service now. So you only have to spend 3.5 minutes on the phone being told what you an you cannot say to the receptionist before hitting the call back option.

Ooops! I just spotting an error in my last post. ",,, what you can and what you cannot ..."

As for now, I am enjoying the silence!

I hate it too. Fries my brain into a fury. I end up telling the phone to fuck off.

Likewise stupid "service" bots that keep sending you around in a circle. Though at least those are silent.

Yes! The unpleasant tinny hold music...why is it so awful? Makes me crazy.

Yes the music is dreadful, the worst one is my GP surgery it’s not even relaxing music and the last thing you want to listen to when you are feeling poorly. I wonder if they do it on purpose so you hang up. Same in supermarkets, I have cut short my visit before because it’s irritating, too loud and I can’t concentrate.

When I have to call services like this, I put the phone on speaker and set the volume really low and carry it around with me doing other things. It tends to help and you can hear when the call changes and run over and shout "Hi, hi, yes, I'm here, sorry, just a sec" as I turn it back to non speaker and/or adjust volume.

I also find there tends to be less wait time if you call the minute their line opens in the morning.

I find it’s not nearly so annoying, at least on a mobile phone, if I use the speakerphone option. That way the music burbles quietly in the background but I can hear as soon as the call is answered.