How to get through to customer service

Have you ever tried to get help for a problem that you have to call customer support for and you just can’t seem to get it. In my experience it seems customer service is lacking in many places (what ever happened to the customer is always right), Since I myself am in the business I may tend to notice it more and that in it self helps me know how to maneuver through the red tape of getting to someone that can help you. So I am going to offer a few easy tips to make life a little better.

Have you ever tried to call customer support and you get that old fateful recording (I guess just like those new commercials they don’t use real people anymore) If you just don’t hear the option you are looking for or just cant bare to sit through it all - I find MOST systems still have the good old ZERO option they don’t tell you about - Just hit ZERO on the phone at any time and it usually gets you right through to customer service (sometimes you need to hit it more then once for it to work).

At the start of the call:

Always ask for the person who answers the call their name or ID (this is in case they get nasty with you or even disconnect the call at some point because they cant be bothered - Trust me it happens) If you need to call back you at least have a name or ID.

Try to see if they can give you a direct number to call them back or take your number to call you back if you get disconnected - There is NOTHING worse then holding on for a long length of time and then getting disconnected and having to start all over.

If they say they need to transfer you to another department ask for the name of the department first and the number (again in case you get disconnected or the conveniently drop your call after you have waited for an hour)