Grrrr!! how do you get a real live human being?

[eliza61]

What's the trick to bypassing a million prompts and getting a real live human when you call a credit card customer service number?
I had a simple question about foreign transaction fees and can't get a human on the line and of course all of the prompt options seem to get me to the same place.

 

[phorsenuf]

What's the trick to bypassing a million prompts and getting a real live human when you call a credit card customer service number?
I had a simple question about foreign transaction fees and can't get a human on the line and of course all of the prompt options seem to get me to the same place.

Whats the company. Sometimes you can google it and there will be a solution.

 

[glitterkittyy]

What's the trick to bypassing a million prompts and getting a real live human when you call a credit card customer service number?
I had a simple question about foreign transaction fees and can't get a human on the line and of course all of the prompt options seem to get me to the same place.

Usually hitting zero or not entering any numbers will get you a live person.

 

[kimblebee]

I usually just hit 0. The machine will think you are stupid and will connect you to a real person


P.S. not saying you are stupid

 

[LindaR]

I was going to say that hitting zero several times (rapidly, in a row) and NOT answering the prompts always works for me!

 

[jekajekalynn]

I second googling the companies number... My trick with getting a human on a faceless company phoneline is to press the pound or star button an obscene amount of time till it automatically bumps you to the customer service line. Usually works for me every time.

 

[Piglets Mommy]

I haven't tried it yet, cause I just heard about it (here on the DIS of course) but apparently selecting the Spanish option can help....esp with Dell, and companies where a lot of their CS reps are overseas...this helps you to get someone LIVE, who is often actually in the US.

 

[eliza61]

Whats the company. Sometimes you can google it and there will be a solution.

Thanks guys, It's a Chase visa. I generally do every thing on line and never had to really call CS. I'm planning on travelling out of the U.S. and wanted to know what the transaction fees are every time I whip that puppy out. LOL.

Last thing I want to do is spend 100 Euros on a gift and get socked with a $30 fee. ouch.

I'll try the 000 trick.

 

[phorsenuf]

Try this;

Chase 800-CHASE24 5 pause 1 4

or this;

Chase Credit Cards phone number for customer service
phone number
800-432-3117
steps to reach a person

Press # at each prompt, ignoring messages. Or, alternatively, press #, enter last 4 digits of cc, press 6 to get an advisor

last updated Sat, 3 Oct 2009 (4 mos ago)

 

[PatsMom]

Go to their web site and log in to your account. They have a link that is customer service or something like that - or it might be contact us, its been a while and I am not sure. When I was travelling to France I used that link to e-mail them about fees and to notify them I would be travelling out of the country. I received a prompt e-mail reply that answered my question and confirmed that they had noted my trip and would not suspend my card for unusual activity.

So much more pleasant than dealing with phone prompts!

 

[bettymae1121]

Zero works a lot. If it's a voice prompt where you say words rather than hiting numbers, saying "operator" can also do the trick (if calling an airline, say "agent", that will almost always get you a live person).

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Cussing usually works, too.

 

[dakcp2001]

Normally if you do not press ANYTHING or say anything, it will assume you have a rotary phone and get you a person. But then you will need to be passed to teh proper department since the person you get is a general cust service person, and prob not the dept you need.


Can I please just give you a friendly reminder on behalf of the people that are at the end of that phone tree and button pressing mess , please do not scream,swear, yell or blame them. And please NEVER start your conversation with "do you know how long it took me to get to you?!" or "are you a real live person?"

I did that for 6 years of my life and it was the most depressing soul crushing job in the world. People just scream at you all day, which makes it difficult to be nice to the next person. You wake up in a good mood and by mid morning you want to off yourself with a pencil or other object on your desk. You have your manager in one ear telling you to hurry up & get to the next call and every single customer you talk to is furious BEFORE you even say hello. You REALLY want to be patient with people and be nice to each new customer but as the day goes on it gets worse and worse. When you scream at me, I just want you off the phone as soon as possible.

On the other hand, if you are polite, the person on the end of the phone will take their time and make sure your problem is solved. ANd you will be a nice breath of fresh air that makes the operator have a little hope for humanity.

Anywho, just a little reminder that there are people on the end of the phone and you should treat them as you would wish to be treated. They don't like the phone tree either.

 

[worm761]

There is a great website that tells you how to get a human on the phone. http://gethuman.com/ You would think with websites like this popping up, that companies would realize customers don't like answering a dozen prompts before getting a human.

 

[bettymae1121]

Normally if you do not press ANYTHING or say anything, it will assume you have a rotary phone and get you a person. But then you will need to be passed to teh proper department since the person you get is a general cust service person, and prob not the dept you need.


Can I please just give you a friendly reminder on behalf of the people that are at the end of that phone tree and button pressing mess , please do not scream,swear, yell or blame them. And please NEVER start your conversation with "do you know how long it took me to get to you?!" or "are you a real live person?"

I did that for 6 years of my life and it was the most depressing soul crushing job in the world. People just scream at you all day, which makes it difficult to be nice to the next person. You wake up in a good mood and by mid morning you want to off yourself with a pencil or other object on your desk. You have your manager in one ear telling you to hurry up & get to the next call and every single customer you talk to is furious BEFORE you even say hello. You REALLY want to be patient with people and be nice to each new customer but as the day goes on it gets worse and worse. When you scream at me, I just want you off the phone as soon as possible.

On the other hand, if you are polite, the person on the end of the phone will take their time and make sure your problem is solved. ANd you will be a nice breath of fresh air that makes the operator have a little hope for humanity.

Anywho, just a little reminder that there are people on the end of the phone and you should treat them as you would wish to be treated. They don't like the phone tree either.

And this goes for foreign call centers too. It is NOT their fault that call center jobs were outsourced, it is not their fault that English is not their native laungage nor that the may not have gotten enough training before being thrown out there like raw meat in front of a lion. Speak a little slower, try to use smaller words and to keep American expresions to a minimum. If you are still having problems or the CS person can't seem to understand you (or you can't understand them) ask for a supervisor or to be transfered to a North American call center.

There is a great website that tells you how to get a human on the phone. http://gethuman.com/ You would think with websites like this popping up, that companies would realize customers don't like answering a dozen prompts before getting a human.

Ditto. I mean, one menu or even two to help sort out why people are calling is fine, we all get that. But if it takes me 5 minutes of button pushing and I still get to the wrong department, I'm going to be . I won't take it out on the CS rep, but my opinion of the company won't be very high.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Just want to point out that when I said cussing, I meant at the automated system. It seems to recognize those words and put you through to an operator more quickly than saying "agent" or "operator". I completely agree that once you reach that live operator, frustrations with the phone system shouldn't be taken out on him/her.

Ditto. I mean, one menu or even two to help sort out why people are calling is fine, we all get that. But if it takes me 5 minutes of button pushing and I still get to the wrong department, I'm going to be . I won't take it out on the CS rep, but my opinion of the company won't be very high.

Also, how about those systems that have you punch in all your info? You say your name, type in your I.D. number, all this info as to what you're calling about, then 9 times out of 10, when you get the live person, they ask for all that info all over again!

 

[laurie31]

Just want to point out that when I said cussing, I meant at the automated system. It seems to recognize those words and put you through to an operator more quickly than saying "agent" or "operator". I completely agree that once you reach that live operator, frustrations with the phone system shouldn't be taken out on him/her.

Also, how about those systems that have you punch in all your info? You say your name, type in your I.D. number, all this info as to what you're calling about, then 9 times out of 10, when you get the live person, they ask for all that info all over again!

OH, that KILLS me!! Enter your 16 digit credit card number, the last 4 digits of your SSN, your zip code, and on and on, and finally when you get a human, they want all that stuff AGAIN. One day I must have been especially nice to the human I finally got, because I asked, very nicely, why I had to enter it if it "doesn't connect" and how I could avoid that. (I usually get the stock answer of "that system doesn't connect to my system here). He told me they just make you do that so people will get frustrated and hang up. I can avoid all that by just pressing 0 over and over when it starts asking for all that useless info.

So far, that has worked for me.

 

[dakcp2001]

Just want to point out that when I said cussing, I meant at the automated system. It seems to recognize those words and put you through to an operator more quickly than saying "agent" or "operator". I completely agree that once you reach that live operator, frustrations with the phone system shouldn't be taken out on him/her.

Also, how about those systems that have you punch in all your info? You say your name, type in your I.D. number, all this info as to what you're calling about, then 9 times out of 10, when you get the live person, they ask for all that info all over again!

That does actually work its called the CFI or customer frustration index, and it is supposed to shorten your phone tree if it hears cusswords, but then you get dropped to whichever dept has the lowestr call volume which is never the dept you need.


I used to love putting cust on hold, they hear music, andl I hear is every word you say, so like "this girl is an idiot" or the like means no credit on your bill. lol. That is right, they hear what you say when you are on hold. lol.

 

[claudia]

I just say "representative" and that usually connects me to a real person...

 

[Mrs.Toad]

I used to love putting cust on hold, they hear music, andl I hear is every word you say, so like "this girl is an idiot" or the like means no credit on your bill. lol. That is right, they hear what you say when you are on hold. lol.

ooh, thanks for that! From now on, I'm going to heap praise upon the representative while I'm on hold. Will that get me better service?