The secret to breaking through on-hold hell
Filed under: Saving, Simplification, Technology
When was the last time you called a company and talked to a real live person before first wandering through a labyrinth of voice-mail hell? All the while, being told that your call is important, then being pitched 15 minutes of ad copy while waiting for someone to pick up?
The web site gethuman.com was designed to help you with this problem. It lists hundreds of companies and the code to punch in that will take you to a real, live human being. For example, when calling Blue Cross and Blue Shield, saying the word "associate" at the prompt bypasses the computer menu. At Kitchenaid, 3420 does the job, as does #### for MetLife.
The site also has suggestions to try for bypassing phone tree hell when you don't know the code. To wit:
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Interrupt by pressing 0 repeatedly
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Talk: Say "get human" or mumble
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Pretend you have a rotary phone by not responding to the prompt to press a key
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Select "Spanish" even if you don't speak it -- the queue is often shorter and the customer service rep will be bilingual
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Once connected, ask how you can access people directly next time, then add it to the gethuman database.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-25-2008 @ 4:32PM
Jack said...
Hahaha thats such a good idea. I hate on-hold hell. I'll be sure to contribute if I find any. Thanks for the great post.
Reply
2-26-2008 @ 4:49PM
Judi said...
The worse company is AT&T. After a 45 minute hold, I was told "that's not my department" and then they hung up. Dell is second, USCellular, and ANY insurance company.
Reply
2-26-2008 @ 6:41PM
Mike said...
AT&T is the worst indeed. Isn't the most frustrating, you can't get the phone company "on the phone"!
2-26-2008 @ 6:14PM
David Vincent said...
Its not the long hold that really bothers me it is that they send the call over seas to "operators" that barely speak english and are only reading off que cards and if you don't fit into their answer brackets they put you back on hold over and over again.
Or the ones that answer the phone and ask you to hold just a moment then never come back and when you hang up and call back you find they went home for the day and the hold was just a ruse to tie up the phones so they could leave I have had that happen several times with SPRINT.
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2-26-2008 @ 6:49PM
Joanna said...
For Sprint disputes, the best option is online. Sprint/Nextel customer service replied to my email complaint filed online within 24-48 hours. I got a tracking number, they refunded my money and apologized for any inconvenience. It sure beat the aggravation of talking to incompetent and unsympathetic 'supervisors'.
2-26-2008 @ 6:51PM
cara said...
DELL....IS THE WORST!!! NOT ONLY WAS I ON HOLD FOR EV ER.....BUT I PRESSED 1 FOR ENGLISH....THE 'ASSOCIATE' APPARENTLY DID NOT!!!!
KEEP JOBS IN THE USA!!!!!
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2-26-2008 @ 7:38PM
Darin said...
I hate those lines and after the wait the line goes dead or they explain the line rolled over and give you the same number you just called but I worked for a place that this was a way to save money and prevent people from cancelling but them giving up....
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2-26-2008 @ 7:45PM
jerry said...
FARRIS FOR SHERIFF
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2-26-2008 @ 7:46PM
Tammy said...
I live in Illinois....Nicor gas company is horrible with their please press 1 for this, press 2 for that! You can't get away from the automated no matter how hard you try!!! Then if you press 0 it says that is not an option!!! Crazy!!!!!
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2-26-2008 @ 8:14PM
Applepie said...
Try Circuit City - not only did they not want to give me my rebate for $300 but I went round and round on the phone for two days with people in another country who I did not understand and who did not understand me. Yeah buy their stuff and you worry about the rebates later which never come. Give us real American people to talk to.
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2-26-2008 @ 8:14PM
Me said...
I think Verizon is hell and in American we should not have to bush 2 for english either.
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2-26-2008 @ 8:16PM
earth mama said...
I hate when they have your account because of your dial in number (Time Warner Cable) and prompt you to hear your balance (which is fine) and then ask you what you want...
I called you! must have a problem... DUH!
Or when you call to pay your elder parents bill and they route you to your account...?????? That damn phone recognition thing again. I was told to sit and suffer through the BS and enter the wrong CC#.... Then you get a human, but that's after 5 minutes of listening to Computer Generated Polly...
And heaven forbid you need service... They give you a 4 hour window to be at home and maybe they will show up. That usually ends when I ask them if they will reimburse me MY hourly rate for waiting for them to show up.
What happened to Human Customer Service... after all we are in reality, paying their pay checks?
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2-26-2008 @ 8:34PM
Pati said...
I just like when they accidentally route me to a Canadian customer service person. It is SOOOOOOOO REFRESHING TO NOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT CHOOSE ANY F'IN NUMBER FOR SPANISH! Choosing ANYYYYYYYYYYYY number for French, or for ANy other language on this earth, is much better than f'in SPANISH, of which I am SICK to F'in Death!!!!!! Go BACK!!! Or learn Gaelic.. my anscestors did!
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2-26-2008 @ 10:59PM
Scott said...
The BEST telephone service I have experienced was provided by Canon.
I purchased a printer-copier-fax from the company and had a problem with it. The technician who took my call gave me his name (first and last) and his extension. He was thorough in diagnosing the problem and made me feel like I was his company's only customer. When all was said and done, he said the device would need to be serviced by Canon itself. He told me I could send it to the company and I would receive an "exchange" product that I could use until the issue was resolved.
It was, to my total satisfaction.
Canon's service greatly exceeded my expectations, and that had never happened before. That said, I do not work for Canon or any other company or person that, to my knowledge, has any affiliation with Canon. They just got it right.
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2-26-2008 @ 11:06PM
Scott said...
A client gave me a package of Post-It Notes. The message on each note said:
Customer Service Is Not a Department, It's an Attitude.
Amen.
Reply
2-26-2008 @ 11:41PM
Carol said...
The worst I've ever encountered, and most inexcusable, is Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan! Not only do they not pick up at the main number, but every voice mail box is full. And they know it.
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2-27-2008 @ 10:54AM
joel wasson said...
Sorry but you just created a new problem. You just pushed back all who where waiting and did'nt know this new trick. If we were willing to pay a little more for goods we would have more people employed instead of using electronic devices. The U.S. has sent so many co. overseas we all have to suffer. For ex., it would cost about 25 cents more per happy meal if we used US made toys but we would complain about the cost. Ther is an answer but the solution is not easy.
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3-03-2008 @ 7:49AM
Kay L said...
HAS ANYONE EVER TRIED CALLING SOCIAL SECURITY??
YOU GET PUT ON HOLD FOR 45 MINUTES THEN ARE REFERRED TO THE NATIONAL NUMBER AND AGAIN, PUT ON HOLD AND THEN GET DISCONNECTED AFTER 45 MINUTES BECAUSE ALL CIRCUITS ARE BUSY AND ARE ASKED TO TRY AGAIN ON ANOTHER DAY, MONDAY, NOT BEING ONE OF THEM, OR THE FIRST FEW DAYS OF A MONTH ANOTHER BAD OPTION. I CANNOT STRESS THE FRUSTRATION OF CALLING SOCIAL SECURITY OR TRYING TO.
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