BY MARK PEREIRA

Here ' s a scene most of us can recall far too well. You ' re on the line with customer service, stuck on hold, all because you need to speak to a live agent.

Just the other day, I found myself in this exact predicament, trying to pay off my car warranty. I ' d already logged into my customer portal, but – surprise, surprise – the option to pay online didn ' t exist. So, I had no choice but to call.

A glance at my phone showed five minutes had ticked by as I sat listening to the familiar " elevator hold music " looping endlessly, broken up by a voice chiming in to assure me my call was important: if only they had the agents to prove it.

I ' d tried calling the day before, too, and here I was, giving it another shot, wondering how long it would take this time.

Minutes kept ticking by... six … seven … eight. Around the nine-minute mark, wild thoughts ran through my head, like a relay where one runner passes the torch to another:

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• Had the company disappeared overnight, scampering off with my money?

• Were they even legit? I double-checked with a quick Google search to reassure myself.

11 minutes in, I was about to hang up when – at last – someone picked up. After the usual " Sorry for the wait," they fumbled around, put me through a lengthy authentication process, and then I was finally able to explain why I was calling.