Automated phone menus - how to skip through them, and help others do the same!

thisismatt

Quite often it is actually quicker to listen to the options and select what's most appropriate than not pressing anything at all; as to listen to the entire messaging structure will take longer than if you were to select the option that is applicable to your call reason.

boblevin

I was advised by a one company some time ago that if I repeatedly press zero my call will be diverted to a human. This seems to work in most cases.

Also, if you need to call them again, ask for a direct line number If they have one it is usually geographical.

Companies that use geographical numbers for their telephones sometimes use an 0870 number for their faxes, this is probably to deter companies bombarding them with unwanted faxes. If you call the office you are sending the fax too, they are often able to give the the geographical number for their office fax.

misterE_3

Royal mail help line is one of the worst as it is the nearest to impossible I know to get a human on the other end of the phone.

The problem with their system is so many of the options lead you down "dead ends": it'll give you recorded information, for example about how to report a complaint, then it'll hang you up, and so the cycle starts again.

Vans_101

Tam_Lin wrote: »

As a consumer/customer, my priority is for the company to serve me, not pay extra on the phonebill for their insane phone systems.

You do realise that companies use these systems to help serve you better and allow you to get to the right person that can help you with your enquiry. They dont think "I know, Lets annoy all our customers by giving them all these different options". If you take Sky for example, They have over 8 million customers so they recieve a large volume of calls. Some are calling in for a billing enquiry or to make a complain. Other people may be calling with a technical problem. But then some people may have a Sky+ while others may have HD so they have to go to operators that are trained to help them. There are so many different departments they have to have lots of options to get you to the right person. If people would listen to the options and choose the right one then they would get through a lot quicker. By bypassing the system you end up having to speak to someone, confirm DPA details, explain situation, then be told you are in the wrong department, then you are transferred to the right department, confirm details again and explain situation all over again. I fail to understand why this method is quicker?

If you need to call an 0870 number and its not urgent, then its best to call at the weekends when its 2p a min, or use you mobile if you get free minutes. I know 02 includes non geographical numbers in my monthly allowance and it has saved me a fortune. If you have spent a lot of money calling a company then ask for a refund on the calls. some will credit a gesture of goodwill to your account while others will ask you to send in a copy of your phonebill with the calls highlighted. If you dont ask you dont get.

Heinz

Vans_101 wrote: »

If you need to call an 0870 number and its not urgent, then its best to call at the weekends when its 2p a min

3p connection and then 1½p per minute on BT.

Better still, find the geographical 'point to' number on www.SayNoTo0870.com and save yourself money.

hilspars

If you ring customer services on 0800 800 150 then stay silent as it takes you through the call system, you bypass the call centre in Mumbai and get directly through to customer services in UK.
This puts you through to people who can actually do something in the system rather than read off prompt cards.

twelve_string

I rang BT today to query my bill after a call back I was told to wait whilst I was transferred......yet again I was disconnected...... not for the first time either........so annoying.......

PhilD

BT are indeed the worst; I have the dubious pleasure of having to deal with them at work, and have lost count of the number of times I've been cutoff whilst on-hold (after going through an endless menu system and queueing for ages before that.)

The cynic in me suggests this is a simple way for the agent to get rid of calls that are too hard to deal with.

Iffy_Wallet

Ringing the RBoS can annoy me. After pressing all the buttons, and specifying the credit card number and answering all the automated security questions, they'll finally let you speak to a human if you really have to:

"Hello, Nat West".

"Er, no. I rang RBoS".

"Yes, but we are also Nat West. Can I go through security with you?".

"Er, you've just had me keying all sorts of security details into the phone. Am I doing that to amuse you? Or perhaps to amuse myself while I wait to talk with you lot?"

"Yes, but that's the automated system, and not us. Now if we can just ...."

This is about the time I start frothing at the mouth and rolling round the floor...

chirpy007

Vans_101 wrote: »

You do realise that companies use these systems to help serve you better and allow you to get to the right person that can help you with your enquiry. They dont think "I know, Lets annoy all our customers by giving them all these different options". If you take Sky for example, They have over 8 million customers so they recieve a large volume of calls. Some are calling in for a billing enquiry or to make a complain. Other people may be calling with a technical problem. But then some people may have a Sky+ while others may have HD so they have to go to operators that are trained to help them. There are so many different departments they have to have lots of options to get you to the right person. If people would listen to the options and choose the right one then they would get through a lot quicker. By bypassing the system you end up having to speak to someone, confirm DPA details, explain situation, then be told you are in the wrong department, then you are transferred to the right department, confirm details again and explain situation all over again. I fail to understand why this method is quicker?

If you need to call an 0870 number and its not urgent, then its best to call at the weekends when its 2p a min, or use you mobile if you get free minutes. I know 02 includes non geographical numbers in my monthly allowance and it has saved me a fortune. If you have spent a lot of money calling a company then ask for a refund on the calls. some will credit a gesture of goodwill to your account while others will ask you to send in a copy of your phonebill with the calls highlighted. If you dont ask you dont get.

and you do realise that they are getting more and more money out of us by using the 0870 numbers and keeping us hanging on and on and going all round the houses only to be told "you are held in a queue" blah blah, please wait as we are charging you big time for the pleasure.