What is Digg?127 Comments
- spoonyinc, on 10/11/2007, -2/+112After spending, collectively, several days on these prompts over the course of my life for various services, this is a great project to have. This person deserves a medal.
- capiCrimm, on 10/11/2007, -2/+84"US IRS 800-829-1040 Don't press or say anything."
Priceless - cindylauper, on 10/11/2007, -5/+71Could be the most useful thing ever posted on Digg
- petepete, on 10/11/2007, -0/+44SUNOCO: Press 00000; mumble when prompted for an account number.
- iamhrh, on 10/11/2007, -1/+38And yet, I had never seen it and am thusly willing to digg it and bury you.
- davecor, on 10/11/2007, -4/+29Sometimes the automated system is more productive than the guy in India, especially if you use one of these "hacks" and get the WRONG person and have to depend on them to transfer you to the RIGHT person.
- fightclub, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16+1 for using the word "thusly"
- kingfoot, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17"W Hotels - 888-625-5144 - Press 16."
Where the hell is the "16" button!? - nullmind, on 10/11/2007, -2/+14Yeah this link should win the award for the mos-- wait.. people are finding it useful and enjoying it!
- careyt, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11yeah, and everyone is entitled to mocking that opinion if it's stupid.
...go ahead and dig me down... - DivisibleByZero, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12A lot of the ones that have speech recognition will forward to a live person if you start using profanity.
- Kauzman01, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9...again?
- EmileVictor, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11Is there a list that's relevant to any other countries outside the US?
- aldenhg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9If you swear angrily when you're on hold sometimes you'll get a person faster. With my cable company before you even get to tell anyone that your internet service is down you have to be walked through power cycling your network by an automated system. I found out that by saying "I hate you, Robot" after the third direction gets you a person immediately.
- Ksg89, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9http://gethuman.com/uk/
uk :) - Error601, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9Go to a branch...bitch in person.
- rot13ubercrypto, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Yes. Add the iso country cctld code to http://www.gethuman.com -- i.e. http://www.gethuman.com/uk/
It only works for a few, /uk and /ca are the only ones I've found. Maybe you can drop them a nice mail and request new countries? - migitalwarfare, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9... again
- timusca, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9Finally I can reach someone from Bank of America so I can bitch them out for screwing up my bank account! Then, I'll bitch them out for making me press buttons on the phone for an hour just to leave a message and never have anyone call back! Thank you, Jesus!
- joerod, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6i just keep pressing 0 that usually gets me to an operator, good list though
- bfaulk04, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6I got FedUp with FedEx and yelled "***** YOU!" into the phone and it took me directly to a representative. I am completely serious. If you'd prefer to maintain a level head, do the "representative at every prompt" trick, but if you want to talk to someone immediately, drop the F-bomb.
- mobber, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5the last place a business should cut back on costs is customer service.
amazing the businesses that think this is acceptable. a robot or someone with poor communication skills is not what you want your customers interacting with.
if a customer calls, you can bet it is because something is wrong. you should make that situation as pleasing as possible. "spend money to make money" is something business forget about. i'm sure executive salaries are never considered. they sometimes claim that "all the competition is doing it". that is short term & myopic. a business should hope their competition is sacrificing customer support. you are going to win in the long run.
sure, robots have their place if a customer chooses that route, but most people are never given a choice. - ki85squared, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Unfortunately, this list will probably become partially obsolete in a year's time.
- Modizzle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Buried you for being a dick.
- MisterSam, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4If thats true its hilarious
- gts1983, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4wow we used to use this website alot where i work i am suprised at how much it has grown.
Impressive - the311neo, on 10/11/2007, -8/+12Not to bitch, but I posted this weeks ago...i guess its better to be here from someone else rather than not at all...
- 566f6c74726f6e, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5There is an easier way if you are calling Cingular (at&t). A person will always pick up at these numbers without you needing to press anything.
866-894-2464
866-220-8446
866-684-0579 - trongod05, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4It really depends on the company and it's product but my opinion is that if their companies are more accessible and helpful when it comes to their website, you never need to talk to anyone in the first place. If your support documentation is good enough online they why talk to automated support?
- DivisibleByZero, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3If it's VoiceXML based, you can have global phrases that trigger in any context. I do voicemail, so same technology but generally there's not a real person involved.
The gas company in Blacksburg is who I was referring to. Maybe it just defaulted after so many unrecognized words. But phrases like "let me talk to a real ***** person" always sent me straight through. If I was designing such a system, I'd make sure phrases like that worked.
Probably not a good idea to assume that company did the smart thing though. They're the same ones that wanted me to read my 16 digit account number out loud and wouldn't accept DTMF. Because god forbid I should use buttons with numbers on them to input numbers... - nullmind, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Thanks for the link, I'll use that when I call my work!
- Error601, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Work the phones for a while and you'll understand.
- astyanax, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I was surprised reading the old story about how yelling and swearing can also get you to a real person, and didn't believe it would really work. When trying to call T-mobile to ask a plan question, I was attempting to use their voice-only routing system, which I REALLY detest because no speech recognition will ever be more accurate than 'press 1 for X' tone-based routing. After at least three incorrect guesses about what I said, the voice system said 'Im sorry, I didnt catch that, can you try again', to which I screamed at the top of my lungs 'then FIX your ***** SYSTEM ALREADY'. The response was ."Ok, let me get you to someone who can help you out', and within 15 seconds I was talking to an operator.
- magstheaxe, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I've known about this site for a few years, and they just keep getting better and better.
- englishpaulm, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3see also http://www.gethuman.com/tips.html and http://www.gethuman.com/sitemap.html
- Modizzle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2oh snap, duh, I just realized it does
- fujita, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I hate BofA's phone customer service. Way too many automatic menus to get to the place I need to go to.
- Mouser58907, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3I think he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.
- RandoTheKing, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3I love how people are digging you down. Just proves how retarded the digg community is.
- exec721, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Ok think about this one long and hard: you can't HAVE your cake and EAT it too. Nobody said you couldn't eat your cake, reality will just make you pick one or the other.
- heavyd14, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Last time I called HSBC they hung up on me when I tried pressing 0, even though this list says thats what I'm supposed to do.
- KMye, on 10/11/2007, -4/+6Can't say I won't look this up if I'm home, but depending on whether it's on old system, or voice recognition, pressing 0 or */saying "Operator" or "agent" or "customer service" (then repeating, when it says "I think you want to talk to a ***** human being, but I want to better direct your call) works pretty effectively 99% of the time as shorthand.
- usajag, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2you can also use this site: http://www.nophonetrees.com/ - not as many listings, but it does all the prompt-work for you
- weizbox, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I'd rather have automated unless its the type where it attempts to understand what your saying.. those are god awful. Real people also put you on hold.... :/
- Bonekhan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Gasp. You mean there is a reason the description of this digg said: "Reach a Real Person Immediately Using this Database Charting >500< Business Support Phone Systems."?
Get out. I guess the digger must be some sort of person with an average intellectual level! - jj2me, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I think it's natural to get enraged by voice recognition 'bots. They trick some inner part of you to react as if you're talking to a real person, who is blowing you off by pretending to not understand you.
- Modizzle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Just want to get in to the top to say that this list should be turned into a website which has some sort of user editing capabilities
- Bassplayer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1i was so close to submitting this.
- flash2000, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The Time Warner Cable one didn't work for me. Pressing zero just sends you back to the root menu where ever you are in the system. So it actually sets you back more than anything.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Sorry, it said it got past the dup submission. It is a problem with the algo, but I felt this was something that needed to hit the front page - it is so damn useful!
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