LouDiamond 1 #1 July 28, 2003 Saw this interesting little article from the Wall street journal and thought I'd share it since I HATE dealing with the machine. Searching for an Operator By Jane Spencer Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL With the new federal "Do Not Call List" curbing telemarketing calls, companies are grousing that it will be tougher for them to reach you. One irony: it is getting more difficult for you to reach them, too. Live operators increasingly are an endangered species on customer-service phone lines, as the services become a target of corporate cost cutting. In the past year, dozens of Fortune 500 companies have closed U.S. call centers. While companies have been hiding live operators behind push-button phone menus for years, the latest technology gives them more ways to automate service and reduce staffing costs. Companies including Merrill Lynch and Aetna, for instance, are steering customer calls to "virtual agents" -- machines with computerized voices that use voice-recognition technology to try to figure out your answers. Other companies are redirecting customers to Web-based self-service options, where you type in your question and wait for someone to write back with an answer. Or else the companies want you to search a list of FAQs, or "frequently asked questions." Is there any way to escape the maze and find human help? Last year, Personal Journal called customer-service lines at 25 companies, including American Airlines and Visa. Then, we put together a list of escape codes to dial to bypass the companies' automated attendants. Over the past year, many companies have found new ways to foil callers, and some of the escape codes have changed. At Chase bank, for instance, pressing star zero used to take you straight to a human. Now, you have to dial five-one-four-star-zero to reach an operator. But there is some good news: A few companies have actually made operators easier to find. At Wells Fargo you used to have to dial zero, then pound. Now you can just hit zero. Below is an updated list of escape codes at frequently called companies. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Navigating the Maze To combat one of life's major annoyances, we called 25 companies and tried to find the secret code that lets you bypass the automated menu and go straight to a human being.* NUMBER ESCAPE ROUTE Banks Bank of America 800-900-9000 Hit zero twice, after menu choices play Chase 800-CHASE24 Hit five, pause, then hit one, four, star, zero CitiBank 800-374-9700 Zero Wells Fargo 800-869-3557 Zero Travel Reservations American 800-433-7300 Press zero twice, then say "agent" Amtrak 800-872-7245 Zero or say "agent" Continental 800-523-3273 Three – but sometimes calls go straight to an agent Delta 800-221-1212 Zero Northwest 800-225-2525 Star, zero, after initial greeting Southwest 800-435-9792 Calls answered by operator; during busy times you might have to hold United 800-864-8331 Say nothing (but you have to listen through lots of menus) US Airways 800-428-4322 Hit four after initial greeting, then hit one Wireless Providers AT&T Wireless 800-888-7600 No easy escape Sprint PCS 888-788-5001 Zero twice, then say "agent" T-Mobile 800-937-8997 Enter your phone number Verizon Wireless 800-922-0204 No easy escape Credit Cards American Express 800-528-4800 Hit zero, pound, three times over (ignore prompts that it's an invalid entry) MasterCard 800-MC-ASSIST Hit zero three times (once on each menu) Visa 800- 847-2911 Hit zero three times (ignore prompts saying that it's an invalid entry) PC Tech Support Apple 800-275-2273 Zero three times; if virtual rep answers, say "operator" Dell 888-560-8324 Hit zero twice Gateway 800-846-2301 Hit zero, pound HP (Compaq Products) 800-652-6672 No easy escape HP (Hewlett-Packard) 800-474-6836 Say "agent" IBM 800-IBM-4YOU You go into a hold queue immediately"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required" Some people dream about flying, I live my dream SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest #2 July 28, 2003 "Southwest 800-435-9792 Calls answered by operator; during busy times you might have to hold" Just one more reason to fly Southwest."The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jtval 0 #3 July 28, 2003 Rob, I hate those recording too. Usually though you can cut through the shit by hitting ZERO (as you can see in your post! but there are the occasions when they hide em behind a diff combo of buttons..... I guess that why I dont play video games...I get my fill of combo punches and navigating through mazes when Im on the phoneMy photos My Videos Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Clownburner 0 #4 July 28, 2003 You can also very often 'escape' by just not pressing any buttons.. Although that works less often now than it used to... Pity the poor remaining users of pulse-dial or rotary phones!7CP#1 | BTR#2 | Payaso en fuego Rodriguez "I want hot chicks in my boobies!"- McBeth Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheAnvil 0 #5 July 29, 2003 Lou these are a Godsend if they work. I HATE those damned # thingies. They really piss me the hell off. Thanks.Vinny the Anvil Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL JACKASS POWER!!!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
