On Friday morning I called the phone number for purchasing University of Hawaii sports tickets — and got 15 minutes of taped music and no one to talk to me about tickets. Eventually I had to go on with my life, so I hung up.

I tried again an hour later and the same thing happened. Nothing.

The reason I made these calls was that a friend had contacted me and told me he called UH and waited, listening to the music for 10 minutes before giving up. He was trying to find out about getting tickets for the season-opening football game against USC, and others.

When I called back again later, around 3:30 p.m., someone did answer right away. I asked why no one answered in the morning. I was told that there were two people working and there was heavy call volume.

So, good news … phone lines flooded to at least inquire about UH sports tickets with football and volleyball seasons coming up. But, bad news … people having to wait a quarter of an hour without even acknowledgement of their interest by a live voice, much less the opportunity to buy tickets.

As someone who has worked on a customer service phone bank (and still uses the phone often as a customer), I know that if you get heavy call volume, it is important to at least acknowledge all calls, take down names and numbers and return the calls quickly, or at the very least let the customer know how long they can expect to be on hold or when may be a better time to call back. That’s if you don’t have a modern automated system that does these things for you.

My friend and I got none of that Friday morning. It makes me wonder how many other potential ticket purchasers never got through and how much revenue UH has lost.

I was told — by a ticket office manager and, later, athletic director Ben Jay — that UH is using an antiquated phone system. Jay said the system is so outdated that the workers have no way of knowing there are callers waiting on hold.

The phone bank I worked on nearly 25 years ago had an electronic queue and signals that let us know there were other calls coming in and people on hold.

Our standing order when there was a long line of callers was to politely put customers we were servicing on hold briefly so we could at least speak with every caller quickly and let them know the situation and give them options — kind of like hosts in busy restaurants giving you the "I’ll be right with you" acknowledgement while they are in the middle of helping someone else.

When I finally did get to speak with ticket office employees, they were courteous and professional, and they agreed that my expectations were not unreasonable, my experience was unacceptable and that there is a problem.

Of course, there are other ways to buy tickets … online, or in person. But — as evidenced by this situation — many UH fans and potential purchasers still rely on the phone.

"Yes," Jay acknowledged. "And when people want information about tickets they’re considering buying the best way to ask questions and communicate is often by phone."

Jay said he has weekly meetings with ticket office staff, and this problem has been identified and is being addressed, including meeting with phone service providers.

This situation is especially alarming since, in addition to continuing to sell season tickets, UH unveils its "Go Green Save Green" sales promotion this week. It’s an online venture, but potential purchasers may have questions to ask a live human voice before deciding to buy or not.

No time is the right time for poor customer service. But UH sports can least afford such problems now with its ongoing financial and public relations challenges and two revenue-producing sports in the balance.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.