I received the following from a friend. Can't vouch for any of the information contained herein, but I can vouch for my friend.
Common Cheats to Bypass Interactive Voice Response
*Press 0 (or 0# or #0 or 0* or *0) repeatedly, sometimes quickly,
ignoring any "invalid entry" messages.
*Say "agent" or "representative" (or sometimes your favorite four letter
word).
*Just hold, pretending you have only a rotary phone.
*Connect to sales; they always seem to answer quickly, then have them
transfer you to the department you need. After spending 1/2 hour on hold
with Microsoft to cancel my internet service, I called back and selected
the "new service" option. I had a customer service rep within seconds!
When I told the CSR what I did, he laughed and said: "Can you blame us
*Call investor relations or the president's office. You can usually find
this info from Google.
Important. When you find a human, ask them how to connect directly the
next time, and be sure to tell me
<http://beach.paulenglish.com/ivr/add.cg
If one of the above does not work, see the Cheat Sheet
http://www.paulenglish.com/ivr/ (Throwing your phone against the wall
generally does not work.)
Some companies "get it"-- they realize that their customers do not like
to talk with computers or stay on hold for 20 minutes. These companies
realize that happy customers are loyal customers. We come back, we bring
our friends, and we buy more products.
Nordstrom (1-888-282-6060) is legendary for their customer service, in
their fine stores, on the web, and on the phone.
Southwest Airlines (1-800-435-9792) answers their phones. Do you think
their head of customer support is measured just on saving money? Or do
you think they realize that serving customers well will result in loyal
customers. Did you know that Southwest Airlines has been more profitable
than all other US airlines?
Tivoli Audio (1-877-297-9479) often answers on the first ring, and they
also have awesome products!
Linksys technical support (1-800-326-7114) first gives info about their
website and does have a menu tree, but when they connect you to the
right human (often in India) who will stay with you until your problem
is solved. They don't even require you to give them a serial number or
customer ID number or check if your Linksys equipment is still in
warranty Bravo!