Have you been frustrated ….?

[Margaret Pilkington]

Have you been frustrated by calling a company and being unable to speak to a human?
I know that I have. You listen to the options, press the numbers on the keypad, but get more number crunching.
I had that experience today in trying to renew my home insurance.
This is how it went….’Thank you for calling Axa(names have been changed to protect the innocent). If your call is about car insurance press 1.
If your call is about home insurance, press 2.

You do this to be told….’if this call is about a claim press 1….if this call is to make a claim press 2.

All the while you are getting more frustrated by not being able to speak to a person.

Well my dear friends, here is a tip.
Instead of pressing a number in answer to a question, press 0#.
This should get a real live person on the other end of the line.

It worked for me this morning.

I hope this tip will help others out there.
Thank you for reading my post….all responses to this will make me very happy.

[cashman]

nothing bugs me more than speaking to a machine. perhaps its cos the swine are talking from home?

[Margaret Pilkington]

Well Cashy, maybe my tip will provide you with a solution and get a real live person on the line.
I hope so

[dotti34]

Spot on, Margaret, it is very annoying when after waiting ages to get through there is not a real person on the other end. I get very frustrated when I am asked by the robotic voice to say in a few words what my query is. The voice never recognises what I say and I have to repeat and repeat. By then I feel like chucking the phone. I will definitely try your suggestion next time.

[Ryewolf90]

There are certain companies that are almost impossible to get through to a human, TV Licensing is one, local branches of your bank, any of the media sites like Amazon, Youtube, Twitter, Paypal, Ebay, facebook.

The worst thing about automated responses are the Bots you get on some websites, you know the ones were you get a little Livechat popup in the bottom right of your screen that always start with Hi, I'm [XYZ] how may I help?

[Margaret Pilkington]

Well, Ryewolf….now at least you have something you can try.
For some organisations I am told, you may have to go through the whole range of questions and key in the 0#…and for some companies you may need to reverse the 0# to #0.
But when you do get through to a human, then it is worth it.

[taddy]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Have you been frustrated by calling a company and being unable to speak to a human?
I know that I have. You listen to the options, press the numbers on the keypad, but get more number crunching.
I had that experience today in trying to renew my home insurance.
This is how it went….’Thank you for calling Axa(names have been changed to protect the innocent). If your call is about car insurance press 1.
If your call is about home insurance, press 2.

You do this to be told….’if this call is about a claim press 1….if this call is to make a claim press 2.

All the while you are getting more frustrated by not being able to speak to a person.

Well my dear friends, here is a tip.
Instead of pressing a number in answer to a question, press 0#.
This should get a real live person on the other end of the line.

It worked for me this morning.

I hope this tip will help others out there.
Thank you for reading my post….all responses to this will make me very happy.

Thanks for that Marge, it is normally Hazel that takes all our phone calls as I am very Mutton Jeff, I will tell, sorry, (advise) her to try it.

[taddy]

P.S. I never "tell", Hazel to "do" anything, if I do the usual reply is "well I don't", (remember those words), need telling.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Yes, I am of the same frame of mind. I can be asked, but will not be ordered.
I move to the best of my own drum

[MoreJoe]

Pressing Zero semi-works here in the USA.
The problem is that when I do get to speak to a live person it is someone from Bangalore or Hyderabad with an accent so thick that I require multiple repeats.
They also claim to be called "Kevin" and refer to me as "Mister Joe".
Their command of Queen Victoria's English is better than my command of Hindi but until I need a service call from the Bengal Lancers I will stick with the robots.
Sincerely, Joe
(Who probably just got himself banned on at least three continents)

[taddy]

Originally Posted by MoreJoe

Pressing Zero semi-works here in the USA.
The problem is that when I do get to speak to a live person it is someone from Bangalore or Hyderabad with an accent so thick that I require multiple repeats.
They also claim to be called "Kevin" and refer to me as "Mister Joe".
Their command of Queen Victoria's English is better than my command of Hindi but until I need a service call from the Bengal Lancers I will stick with the robots.
Sincerely, Joe
(Who probably just got himself banned on at least three continents)

Oh I love your sense of humour Joe, I presume that you learnt it in England, please keep it up, They don't have that sort of humour in "The good old U.S. of A.

[shillelagh]

that drives me nuts .. press 1, press 2, press 3 press 4 ... and then you get cut off ... even mi docs got that now ..

[Margaret Pilkington]

Try my tip Jen…I have tried it twice recently and it worked both times.