It’s that time of year again. Time for baking and decorating and singing carols and… making phone calls to customer service departments. Okay, to be honest, it seems like I’m making those calls year-round, but shortly before and shortly after Christmas, they seem to reach a peak. Whether I need to change an order I made online, check on an order’s status, get more information on a catalog item or report a problem with something I’ve received, let’s just say I’ve become a pro at hunting down customer service numbers.
The problem is, you could be on hold for.ev.er. this time of year. Yes, they play pleasant Christmas music and a stranger’s voice says “Thank you for continuing to hold. One of our customer service agents will be with you as soon as possible. Your call may be monitored to assure quality.” at regular intervals. But really, who has hours (or even half-hours) to spend on hold, waiting for someone to help you? Or worse yet, what happens when you listen to all the options, but none of the numbers on the phone’s keypad seem to match up with what you need? Then what do you do?
Here are two little tricks I’ve learned that help me: 1) Find a real person to talk to, and 2) Talk to that person sooner.
1. The magic zero key. When none of the options match up with what you want, press 0. Usually, this will take you to an operator – or at least some human being who works at that company, even if it’s the janitor. There are a few annoying companies that don’t allow this little trick, but I’d say 80% of the time, it gets you to someone who can actually connect you to a useful person.
2. Talk to the sales department. Last night, I spent over 35 minutes on hold, waiting for a customer service agent. I put the phone on speaker, cleaned the kitchen, emptied the garbage, and cleaned the litter box (you know things are bad when I resort to cleaning the litter box). Still no human. I had placed an online order earlier in the day, but later realized a mistake I had made and just wanted to modify that order a teensy bit. No go. Finally, I hung up, redialed, and this time, instead of requesting “customer service,” I chose the “place an order” option. Ta-da!! Instantly, a real live person answered the phone and asked how she could help me. And she did. It took only 2 minutes, they get to keep my money, and I have everything straightened out. In my defense, let me assure you that I only take this route after I have given the customer service department an honest try, and if the very existence of my order is at stake. If my choices are talk to a person or cancel my order, I’ll use this method and figure it’s a win-win situation, since they are still making/keeping a sale.
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