Nothing is more frustrating than attempting to make a customer service call, and receiving one of those obnoxious automated systems which wants you to "speak the reason for your call in normal language".
You might keep pounding 0 to try to get to a rep, but sometimes that's counter-productive, as you will sometimes be transferred to the wrong department, or it will refuse to transfer you until you enter the info it wants.
Particularly frustrating is when you have to read it serial numbers, dates, or order numbers, and have to speak the numbers slowly, only to have it frequently misunderstand you. Even when it does understand you, it slowly reads it back and takes an eternity.
Here are some tricks in dealing with these systems:
1) You can almost always touch tone in numbers. So don't speak the serial number or order number. Dial it in your phone.
2) Dates can be touch-toned in, too. Enter then in 8 digit format. So if you're born on March 10, 1975, and it asks for your birthdate, enter 03101975.
3) The # key is equivalent to "Enter" on your computer. When you're done entering any number or date, you can press # at the end, and the system will move onto the next thing.
4) The 1 key is nearly universal for "Yes" and the 2 key is universal for "No". If you know a question is coming up where you already know the answer, you don't need to wait for the prompts. Just press 1 or 2, depending upon your answer.
5) You should only bother with the account information entry, and sometimes the very basic description of the problem. For example, if you're calling the cable company, you would want to enter your account number, PIN, and then tell them what you're calling for ("tech support", for example). Once it starts going further than that, just keep mashing 0 to get a human, and it will usually get you to the right department. Don't bother answering detailed questions for the automated system, as that ends up being useless about 95% of the time.
6) If attempting to get to a rep, pressing 0 sometimes won't work if it's asking you for an account number or a specific question. In that case, pressing 0# will do the job.
7) If you get a foreign rep, ask to be transferred to one in the US. This is important to do because foreign reps are not empowered to make decisions and solve problems for you, in most cases. US reps will almost always be able to do more for you.
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Originally Posted by RS_
