How do I get through the phone menu to a real live person?
GetHuman researchers routinely call this Cook's Illustrated phone number to document the phone system.
Here is our latest tip for weaving through the phone menu to get to a real person the fastest:Don't push anything, just hold for the Representative.
Here is how our research team describes the way the Cook's Illustrated phone system greets you: To make changes, press 1. For all other inquiries, stay on the line.
Below are some clips we've found from Cook's Illustrated's phone menus and tips that help give an idea of what you will encounter when you call. We've highlighted why they are important as well:
Heard when the phone system first answers
"Thank you for calling America's Test Kitchen.
To make changes to your digital membership, press one.
To manage your magazine subscription, press two.
For all other inquiries Thank you for calling America's Test Kitchen.
You can also access your account online by visiting w w w dot americas test kitchen dot com slash support.
To get started, please tell me the name of the magazine you're calling about.
For quality assurance purposes, this call may be monitored or recorded.
If you're calling about your website membership, say website.
If you're calling to order a new subscription or gift, just say, I want to order.
If you're calling about a book or product, say book.
In order to access your account, I'll need you to tell me your account number.
You can find this number on your bill or renewal notice.
You can also find it on the mailing label of your magazine.
It's the ten digit number that appears on the second line of the mailing label.
Right after the letters c I d. If you need a minute to get your magazine or find the number, just say hang on, and I'll wait for you.
If you can't find the number, say, I can't find it."
Excerpt from a call with Cook's Illustrated
Wednesday, January 3, 2024 7:13 PM
The first phone menu
"Thank you for calling America's Test Kitchen.
For all other inquiries, please stay on the line.
To make changes to your digital membership, press one.
To manage your magazine subscription, press two."
Excerpt from a call with Cook's Illustrated
Tuesday, February 6, 2024 12:49 PM
What are the hours and when should I call?
Cook's Illustrated operates the call center for this 800-526-8442 phone number Mon-Fri 8am-6pm CT.The short answer is that you should call on a Wednesday.This observation and the following section are based on analysis of a sample set of 552 calls made in the last 90 days using our free, web-based phone (see above).
An important note: busy times vs hold times vs best time to call
When we refer to busy or less busy times, we are talking about the volume of calls. The busiest times are when the most people are calling this Cook's Illustrated phone number (least busy times have fewer people calling). This high call volume does not necessarily mean that you will have a long hold time when you call. Companies like Cook's Illustrated staff their call centers differently based on the time of day and day of the week, so you may experience a shorter wait on hold at the busiest of times. When we refer to the best time to call, we are referring to the optimal combination of lower call volume and shorter wait times.
The least busy time to call
The least busy day to call Cook's Illustrated is Wednesday.The most busy day to call is Tuesday.Again, this is based on a sample of 552 calls made with our AI-powered, web-based phone in the last 90 days.
The shortest wait on hold
We measured the shortest hold times to be on Tuesday.The longest wait in the queue on average occurs on Monday.
The best time to call
In summation, the best day to call Cook's Illustrated is Wednesday.This is not the day with the shortest wait on hold in the phone system, but we still recommend it for its ideal combination of low call volume and short hold times. Plus we believe that Cook's Illustrated staffs the call center well on Wednesday.
Why call this Cook's Illustrated number?
Below is a sample of recent calls to Cook's Illustrated, and their purpose. Are any of these similar to the reason you are trying to call?
Checking magazine subscription status: "I want to check if my daughter is still an active subscriber to the magazine."
- From a call lasting 5m 59s , Jan 4, 2024 4:58 PM
More Ways to Contact Cook's Illustrated Customer Service
There are of course other ways to contact Cook's Illustrated customer service besides the phone. Below we list the best ones, by medium.
Use this link to find customer service help through their website
As a last, sometimes only, resort- Cook's Illustrated customer service can be accessed through their website. This can entail digging through help articles before finding a form and "being allowed" to submit a problem to their team, and rarely leads to a real-time conversation, which is why GetHuman does not recommend this unless it's the only way.
Conclusion and closing notes
This is Cook's Illustrated's best phone number, the real-time current wait on hold and tools for skipping right through those phone lines to get right to a Cook's Illustrated agent. This phone number is Cook's Illustrated's best phone number because 3,312 customers like you used this contact information over the last 18 months and gave us feedback. Common problems addressed by the customer care unit that answers calls to 800-526-8442 include and other customer service issues. Rather than trying to call Cook's Illustrated first, consider describing your issue first; from that we may be able to recommend an optimal way to contact them via phone or web. In total, Cook's Illustrated has 1 phone number. It's not always clear what is the best way to talk to Cook's Illustrated representatives, so we started compiling this information built from suggestions from the customer community. Please keep sharing your experiences so we can continue to improve this free resource.
GetHuman does not provide call center services or customer support operations for Cook's Illustrated. The two organizations are not related. GetHuman builds free tools and shares information to help customers of companies like Cook's Illustrated. For large companies that includes tools such as our GetHuman Phone, which allows you to call a company but skip the part where you wait on the line to get a live human rep. We continue to work on these tools to help customers like you (and ourselves!) navigate the messy phone menus, hold times, and confusion with customer service. As long as you keep sharing it with your friends and loved ones, we'll keep doing it.