Posted on 06/18/2024 9:19:36 AM PDT by bluescape
Another post about Hertz customer service being difficult to reach made me ask Freepers about this.
When I was widowed two years ago I had to get the hang of handling affairs that she had always taken care of. I'm decent at it now, but even as we text there are companies that deliberately make it hard to 1.Find a phone number for help. and 2. Speak to a human because my issue was complicated and not included anywhere on their 'menu.'
I learned plenty of methods to get by, but a couple of companies had me tapping out.
What are some of your examples of these ridiculous hidden phone support numbers and/or robot menus that are programed to never let you speak to a person. And add solutions to them..if they exist.
There was a website called something like findhuman.com that listed workarounds for various phone mazes. Perhaps they still exist.
It’s gethuman.com. just looked it up
What are some of your examples of these ridiculous hidden phone support numbers and/or robot menus that are programed to never let you speak to a person. And add solutions to them..if they exist.
I keep dialing ‘0’ (zero) over and over. That sometimes works.
Worst is “Tell me in a few words how we can help.”
No way in hell am I going to talk to a machine. So I keep dialing zeros until I break thru. Usually works.
I had to get a different VA assigned doctor because I couldn’t penetrate the recordings to get to a human, it was far beyond the several layers we normally have to penetrate.
Even when someone from the doctor’s office contacted me after the VA told them about the problem I had with their system, the office girl who contacted me could not reach a human herself.
Just keep repeating representative. That’s what I do. The no human will finally say they don’t understand, and they say we will connect you to a representative. 🤣
The absolute worst is comcast/xfinity. Even their automated voice is a snarky bitch. The whole thing is designed to never let you speak to a real human.
omg I hope it works.
I had a local Hertz number through which, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I was able to obtain a local employee.
I had a priority mail package lost somewhere in downtown Philadelphia a few years ago, according to tracking. It was supposed to go to Valley Forge. This was during Covid. I tried all the official USPS reporting methods and got nowhere.
Finally I called the number of the PO in downtown Philly that I thought was the one where it was stuck. I got the number off Google. It was answered. I stated my business. I was told “We can’t give you any info about packages.” I said “You are the post office but you can’t give me any information about packages?”
The woman said “Listen. This is the jantitorial office. I don’t know how this number got listed but we get calls all day. Let me tell you what’s going on here. We’ve got trucks lined up all around the block, day and night, the place is chaos, they are so far behind they might never catch up.”
I told her “Thanks. You’ve given me more info in two minutes, from the janitor’s office, than I’ve gotten in over an hour screwing around on line.”
Well, when you finally get to speak to a human it’s usually someone in India.
I spent several hours trying to talk to a live human being at the IRS. I don’t think there is one.
A lot of times when you get to the robo-menu (”Press 1 for...”) if you just keep pressing ‘0’ button continually, you’ll get a real-live person on the phone.
Don’t remember where I learned that trick, but it works. Except at my VA Hospital.
“Hello? I’m bleeding out here! Help!” Dial tone. *SMIRK*
+++++++++
They are usually pretty effective. Lately I have gotten Philipines, and even Dominican Republic.
They were all very good! Better than some Americans I have spoken to in customer service.
No kidding. The most that the damn robots can answer is "What time is it?" or "Is the sky blue?" There are NO bots that do anything remotely useful. Banking bots that say "I can do things like tell you your balance" are less than useless.
So, sometimes I'll say "My left-handed feezle de-grammeter with the toroidal inverter is smoking, making screeching noises and threatening to kill me and my family. What do I do?"
Often it will respond "Let me get someone who can help with that."
Alternatively, I start off screaming "Human, Agent, Representative, Person, Associate, Support" and it'll say "I didn't quite get that. Can you repeat that?" I repeat that several times and the bot will finally say "I understand you want to talk to a person. Is that right?" And I'll scream "Yes, you ignorant, useless slut!! That is right. What was your first clue??"
Then inevitably the infuriating "Your call is very important to us. Our wait times are longer than usual."
I use Quicken software to manage our finances and they do a GREAT job still making it easy to get to a person. And almost 100% of the time that person speaks good American English and is competent.
They’re all at the gun range. ;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.