Trapped in Customer Service Purgatory?

I personally despise poor customer service (especially via automated phone systems).  I was recently guided through some form of mouse maze and then transferred four different times while trying to reach some form of human intelligence at DirecTV's operation.  After demanding to talk with a so called "supervisor" and waiting on hold for 45 minutes I was...you guessed it...hung up on!

I almost went postal on the poor guy that came to my house to fix the forsaken satellite dish nightmare that he probably wished he sent the guy who decided to stop taking live customer services calls.  Actually I was pretty civil as my blood slowed to simmer before he showed up.  Nowadays, just the idea of facing a telephone maze of pressing buttons and repeating personal information over and over again is so daunting, so loathsome, you actually consider just dealing with the errors than trying to get someone on the phone who can actually solve the problem.

I've since found that there's a secret passageway to bypass some of the frustration and our days of wallowing through the Inferno of customer service phone systems are over. Thanks to a computer programmer/blogger named Paul English, we can now talk to a real human being in a fraction of the time. You see, Paul and his Internet friends have taken the time to compile a list of some major companies along with shortcuts we can use to reach an operator on their systems. Here are some examples:

America Online® - Don't press or say anything

Bank of America - Press 00 at each prompt

Citibank - Press 0# 0# 0# 0# 0# 0#

eBay® - Press 0 after each of the first two prompts

e*Trade - Press # # # #

FedEx® - Say "agent" at each prompt

MasterCard® - Press 000 at each prompt

To see Paul's entire list of company phone numbers and instructions, simply log on to www.gethuman.com  and click on the "Database" link. You may even want to create a bookmark to the website on your computer both at home and at work as I have.

Mr. English is completely dedicated to the customer service cause. Along with publishing this potentially time-saving information, Paul provides the ability to rate a company's customer service and allows anyone with information about bypassing customer service phone menus to contribute what they know. Both features can be found by clicking on the "Sitemap" link on the website.

Special Note:  Companies are constantly changing their phone systems, so Paul's list is always in flux. Lucky for us, the most current information is only an Internet connection away.  I hope this encourages you and reminds you that you're not alone in your frustrations.  I hope this little trick save you some time in your week so you can go chase them big dreams!

Keep pressing and stay strong!

Comments

[Manly]

The problem with dealing with the phone tree menus has always been a great frustration for us. We have added to our website
Click-411.com/phonetreeshortcuts.htm popular phone tree menus.
You can view the phone trees before choosing which number to press.
Also you can view which extension leads to a live operator.