Jack Yan: the Persuader Blog: The end of the phone tree

This is a long-made promise (September 3), so it’s time I fulﬁlled it now.
Marcin Musiolik very kindly informed me about NoPhoneTrees.com after my post last month on Telecom New Zealand’s web site (which has no telephone number information).
It’s an amazing service, although if I were to test it, I would have to make an international long-distance call. Here’s the principle:

Our mission is to help users skip phone trees and connect with a real human on the customer support phone lines at many companies throughout the U.S. Users simply choose the company they wish to call, and we'll dial the company directly, navigate their phone tree, and call them back when they are in queue for an operator or customer service representative. The service is available for free, and we've gotten some great feedback so far.

The thing this signals is that we demand great customer service, and we shouldn’t be left holding the line for a human to answer. We also shouldn’t be made to go through half a dozen menus, because ten to one the “specialist” who answers the call is the same one who would have answered it if you fed in a whole different bunch of options.
Stateside, I imagine this dehumanizing techology has got to a point where NoPhoneTrees.com is a necessity. If I were living there, I would use it.

Posted by Jack Yan, 04:05 permalink

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Comments:

I agree, its quite infuriating trying to find a simple contact number for larger companies, and then actually speak with a person.

A trick I've learnt with Telecom is to select the 'sign up for a new product or service' option at the menu, and then ask to that person to be put through to the right department.

The wait time on average is shorter, as they assume you are a 'valuable potential customer' and once you are 'in' the system - being transferred to another department takes less time.

All fun and games we simply shouldnt have to deal with to talk to a human being directly!

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Jos: 9/16/2006 05:51:00 AM

Ooh, this is a good method. Likewise, at Vodafone, they do have after-hours operators: you just have to get to them by lying about your requirements. I have found the people there after 8 p.m. are just as able to answer questions about SIM cards and the like.

# posted by