How to Get Through to a Live Person in Customer Service

Posted on | July 7, 2010 | 5 Comments

It seems like almost once a week I have to call customer service to resolve some sort of technicality or ask a question to get important information. I’ve logged many hours on the phone over the last few years disputing bills, starting and shutting down service, getting an online coupon code to work, upgrading to free new phones, finding out when an item I ordered is going to be shipped…the list could go on and on.

Calling customer service reps to take care of issues is commonplace for most people and we all experience one of the biggest frustrations with it: the lack of human interaction on the other end. If you could just talk to a live person and explain a problem that options A, B, and C from the first menu, and options 1-9 on the second menu cannot answer, then you would waste much less time and could get on with your day. In fact, most people are so frustrated with automated systems that they do not call at all, and just fork over the extra money on their bill even though they know they are being overcharged.

Businesses do not have the motivation to provide lots of live agents; if they can take care of most of the problems through an automated system, then they’ve cut down on their operating expense. And because the automated system frustrates so many of us, they further cut down on operating expenses by discouraging phone calls. Even more appalling is the fact that some companies are now charging their customers money to speak to a live person! According to Money Magazine’s July 2010 issue, If you want to order a pay-per-view movie with a live agent over the phone at DirecTV (and I purposefully have italicized the ‘direct’ part of their name), you will have to pay a $5 fee above the cost of the show. Making a credit card payment with HSBC with a live person will run you $15.

Fortunately, speaking with a live agent generally does not cost money, only a lot of time to get through all the muck. I’d like to use my expertise to help you get to a live agent as quickly as possible, based on years of trial and error and being spit back out to the main menu. While these tips will not work on every system, I have found them to work on most, which should cut down on your wasted time, energy, and money. Be aware that some of these tips are sneaky…but so are all of the ways companies have conjured up to separate you from a human being.

  1. By Voice: Say “Agent” sternly into the phone. Many systems are voice activated through each of the menus. Also try “Representative”.
  2. By Keypad: Press “O” in a menu. This is typically a default to connect you through to a service rep. If it does not work in the main menu, try it in the second menu, and the third. In most systems, you do not need to hear all of the options of each menu in order to press a number.
  3. By Placing an Order: You do not actually need to place an order, but most systems will punch you through to a live rep if they know you are going to buy something from them. From there you can ask to be directly connected to whichever department you need. ***Word to the wise, once you find that most rare of specimens (a live agent), ask for their direct line number in case you are cut-off during the transfer. 
  4. By Selecting Tech Support: Once again, I know that you do not need tech support, but select this option because you will most likely be put through to a live rep. Once there, they can directly transfer you to any department you need.

Using these techniques has helped me to crack even the most seemingly non-human systems. Good luck to you! I’d love to hear of your own tricks to get through to live service reps.

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Comments

5 Responses to “How to Get Through to a Live Person in Customer Service”

  1. ADRealty
    July 8th, 2010 @ 4:42 pm

    Sometimes I say I want to end my subscription or service and I get an operator right away because they don’t want to lose my business.

    [Reply]

  2. Amanda L. Grossman
    July 8th, 2010 @ 5:57 pm

    Hello AdRealty:

    That’s a good one–thanks for sharing!

    [Reply]

  3. Budgeting in the Fun Stuff
    July 9th, 2010 @ 2:48 pm

    Saying “Representative” usually gets it done for me. What I hate is the hold times…being on hold for 10 or minutes makes me an unhappy customer…

    [Reply]

  4. grev
    October 26th, 2010 @ 7:21 pm

    I’m in the UK and stumbled on your site. Good work! … I find either hitting # or * will bypass automated systems 9 times out of 10.

    [Reply]

    Amanda L. Grossman Reply:
    October 26th, 2010 at 8:05 pm

    Hello grev!

    Thank you for the tip, and I am glad you are enjoying my site!

    [Reply]

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