on ren’s desk · the grind

Dear Hold Music, we meet again.

ren is a personal concierge that waits on hold so you do not: it dials, holds however long it takes, says the thing, and reports back with the answer.

you’re on the list. ren will be in touch.
private beta · no spam

Somewhere out there is an answer guarded by forty minutes of hold music. ren does the waiting: it calls, holds as long as it takes, asks your question like a person who has all day, and comes back with the answer and the names.

The task

why hold music runs your errands

The phone is still where the real answers live, and hold time is the tax. Most errands die of it.

  • Average holds run long everywhere: government lines, airlines, clinics, banks.
  • Callbacks come at the worst moment, or never.
  • The queue drops you at minute 39, and the redial starts you over.
  • The world still runs on someone picking up the phone. It is just usually you.
What ren does

how ren takes the call

ren treats a phone call as a task with a beginning, a middle, and a written-down end.

  • Dials, waits, and redials when the line drops. Hold music does not wear it down.
  • Navigates the phone tree to the right department the first time.
  • Asks your question precisely, with the account details you provided ready.
  • Takes down the answer, the name, and the reference number.
  • Calls back tomorrow if today’s answer was ‘call back tomorrow.’
  • Reports back in plain words: what happened, and what is next.

If the call turns into a decision, a fee, a change, a commitment, ren pauses and asks you first.

What it needs

what ren needs from you

Who to call, what to ask, and any account details the other end will want.

Questions

questions, answered

Is there really a service that waits on hold for you?

That is ren, among other things. It places real calls, holds as long as it takes, and handles the conversation at the end, which is the part most hold-for-you tricks skip.

What happens when the agent picks up?

ren talks to them. It says honestly that it is calling on your behalf, asks your question, and works toward the answer. If a decision comes up, it pauses and checks with you.

What if the call needs my identity verification?

Some lines will only speak to you. ren finds that out, stages everything around it, and narrows your part to the two minutes only you can do.

Which calls can I hand over?

The ones you have been putting off: the clinic, the bank, the airline, the agency, the utility. If the job is a phone call plus patience, it is ren’s kind of job.

How do I get ren?

ren is in private beta on iOS. Leave your email on this page and invitations go out in the order requests arrive.

More letters

ren is a personal concierge that does the hard things, and this letter is one of them. See also the flight change, the jury duty date, and the IRS phone line. For what ren is and what governs it, read about ren and the constitution.

Hand it over

The hold music is not your problem anymore. That is the entire idea. ren is in private beta on iOS, and invitations go out in the order requests arrive.

request an invitation