"Thank You for calling, Please press 1"- DON'T DO IT!!!

[P&R Fan]

We all have to, on occasion, call a business and we get immediately sent into that world of "press 1, press", etc. Sometimes, the wait can be literally hours before a real, live person comes on the phone.
I have an answer that almost always allows you to avoid that: DON'T PRESS ANYTHING! When you do that, it will usually say "I'm sorry. I didn't get your response" but eventually, they will transfer you to somebody. Oh, if it asks you to speak a command, don't do that either. In my experience, your wait will usually only be a few minutes.
There are still rotary phones out there in use. I know, because we still have one in the basement that works. If you have one, you can't "press"anything, so if you don't do anything, they put you right through.
Give this a try next time.
Then thank me later.
Jim

 

[A10]

Or, if you are calling American Express, they just say "goodbye!" and disconnect......

 

[jaykellogg]

Or, if you are calling American Express, they just say "goodbye!" and disconnect......

I have had that happen to me. I believe that is how Charter Communications works. If you don't press or say anything it says "We didn't get a response from you, goodbye...click."

What does work is to just keep dialing "O". Sometimes this will connect you to a live operator. Your results may vary.

 

[SW_shooter]

I have had that happen to me. I believe that is how Charter Communications works. If you don't press or say anything it says "We didn't get a response from you, goodbye...click."

What does work is to just keep dialing "O". Sometimes this will connect you to a live operator. Your results may vary.

Yep, I start hitting 'O' and more often than not I at least get an operator. Sometimes I get the "sorry you're having difficulties, please try your call again later".

 

[NYlakesider]

We all have to, on occasion, call a business and we get immediately sent into that world of "press 1, press", etc. Sometimes, the wait can be literally hours before a real, live person comes on the phone.
I have an answer that almost always allows you to avoid that: DON'T PRESS ANYTHING! When you do that, it will usually say "I'm sorry. I didn't get your response" but eventually, they will transfer you to somebody. Oh, if it asks you to speak a command, don't do that either. In my experience, your wait will usually only be a few minutes.
There are still rotary phones out there in use. I know, because we still have one in the basement that works. If you have one, you can't "press"anything, so if you don't do anything, they put you right through.
Give this a try next time.
Then thank me later.
Jim

Sounds like my house I have a rotary in the basement that is so old (at least 40) it still has to be hardwired. The "newer" old rotaries had the hanging gizmo with the plug in back.

I mounted it in the basement for a pick up only phone in case it rings as I’m coming through the downstairs door from outside. It does still work dialing out and possibly the best thing about it if we are under a power failure you can hear it ring. All the new cordless phones need electricity to ring and are useless. I do have a another older push button phone upstairs but the ringer is broke.(That’s why it’s nice to hear the old revolver ringing downstairs)

 

[feralmerril]

Lets see what this button does. Kaboom! You are standing there in your necktie and charred shorts and the house is gone!
I have been getting roughly 5 calls a week that start out, "If you are a senior citizen------", and thats when I hang up. But I still get the call night after night after---
Please stand by. Your call is important to us.

 

[Ruger Nut]

The ONLY phone in my dads house is a rotary phone on the wall with a 2' cord. He says the phone was the worse invention ever made!
My mother is in a nursing home and he refuses to get her a phone. She has to use the pay phone to call him or the nurses desk phone, if they are not on it.

 

[PDL]

You might also try this site to see if they've got a way to get to the business you want.
Find Best Customer Support Phone Number & Contact Info - any Company | GetHuman.com

 

[amazingflapjack]

We just repeat "agent" over and over with the ones that have the audible feature, no matter what the "voice" is saying, and get through.

 

[Ruger Nut]

We just repeat "agent" over and over with the ones that have the audible feature, no matter what the "voice" is saying, and get through.

That works for me too. And, the one where you just keep pressing (0) and get right through.
A few years back when I had Metro PCS (actually ***) as my cell phone carrier, I called CS to talk to an agent and kept getting the "robot shuffle." I was so mad I threw my phone at the wall and shattered it. I know, not a wise thing to do. But, it was a cheap phone too.
I have been with AT&T since that day.

 

[NYlakesider]

We just repeat "agent" over and over with the ones that have the audible feature, no matter what the "voice" is saying, and get through.

I deal with a couple organizations that use the word representative to bypass a lot of the nonsense!

Also why do most phone systems have to give out a long spiel before they get to push 1 for this 2 for that ETC. If you have called before you should know what to do. You have to wait till there done and then the system allows a button push.

That should be the first thing IF you know your party’s sender # push it now and then go do your stupid spiel!

 

[kozmic]

I just press 8-10 random numbers in quick succession and low and behold, a real live human comes on the line.

 

[BUFF]

A bank I used to use had a particularly annoying phone system that was dedicated to defeating your efforts to reach a human being. They also liked to try to sell stuff (loan consolidation, lines of credit, insurance, etc.) to their customers. It greatly annoyed me.

So one day, they call and wake me up from a sound sleep (I was on graveyard shift at the time). As soon as the woman started to talk, I knew where she was calling from. Summoning my most robotic voice, I said, "If you are calling from a push-button phone, please press one." She paused, then continued. I again said, "If you are calling from a push button phone, press one." Silence, then she pushed one. Then I said, "For English, press one. For German, press two. For Chinese, press three." She pressed one. Then I said, "If you are calling to sell me something, press one. If you are calling to tell me you are giving me free money, press two."

She hanged up. I never got another call from the bank.

 

[Coldshooter]

I tried that pressing 0 repeatedly and was transferred to a Mental Health service for obsessive-compulsive behavior.

 

[Doug M.]

I have used "customer service" a lot, along with pressing 0, to get around some of that. If I can, I avoid dealing withg such places. I have heard that at least in some phone systems, use of really strong language that I will not use here in respect the rules will also get around the silliness.