Once you have a phone number, here are some tips to try to
get through the computer to get to a live human:
Interrupt.
Press 0 (or 0# or #0 or 0* or *0) repeatedly, sometimes quickly.
Unfortunately the same keystroke does not always work for each
company.
Many IVRs will connect to a human after a few "invalid entries",
although some IVRs will hangup. :-(
Talk.
Say "get human" (or "agent" or "representative") or raise
your voice, or just mumble. :)
The IVR might connect you to a human after one of these key or
unknown phrases.
Just hold, pretending you have only an old rotary phone.
Connect to account collections or sales or account
cancellation; they always seem to answer quickly. First ask them
for their name and rep number (so they know you are writing it
down, and thus so they are more likely to help you.) Then ask them
to transfer you to the department you need. Sometimes they will put you
ahead of the queue, although sometimes they will send you to the end
(and thus in those cases this tip is useless).
Toll call. For credit cards, if the expected wait time is
too long, hangup and try to call back on their non-toll-free number,
as they often have shorter queues.
Selecting the option for Spanish will sometimes get you
a bilingual human more quickly than if you just waited for an
English-only operator.
(recent tip from a GETHUMAN user) "Whenever I call places that have a high call volume,
I listen for a company directory. When it asks me for a last name keyed in,
I type in one letter and it gives me a list of corresponding people. I keep
doing this until I get someone. It's worked a lot."
When you do finally find a human, ask them how to connect
directly the next time (in case your call gets disconnnected
etc), and be sure to tell us so we can then list their
number here.
:-).
If one of the above does not work, the
GetHuman database contains tips and shortcuts for many different companies.