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Unplugging the phone tree
Phone operator taking a call. A new service can get you past the automated system and to a live person.
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TESS VIGELAND:
Flying these days isn't what you call fun. There's the whole taking off your shoes thing at security. But even before that, waiting through an airline's automated phone tree.
Well, this week, we heard about an online tool that can help. It's free from a site called NoPhoneTrees.com. We're taking it for a spin on our studio computer here, and what we see is a list of companies, not just airlines either, but I'm going to go ahead and click on Delta Airlines. And now it's prompting me to type in my phone number, and I've done that. It says it's navigating Delta's phone tree for me. All right, there's my phone.
OPERATOR:
Press pound to be connected and you'll be in the phone que at Delta Airlines. We appreciate your call. One of our representatives will be with you…
VIGELAND:
So I am now in the que to speak to a real live human being. Ultimately, I must say this is pretty freaking magical.
Mark Graysman is co-founder of Bringo, the company behind the site. And he says it is not magic; just some proprietary technology and old-fashioned manual labor.
MARK GRAYSMAN:
We had a bunch of folks calling up all the corporations around the US, and figuring out when to press 1, when to press pound, how many seconds to wait between commands; all the things that drive the average person like, oh me crazy, when I'm trying to get through a phone tree.
VIGELAND:
Of course, those companies whose phone tree codes have been cracked are not exactly overjoyed.
GRAYSMAN: One day after we launched, I think some of the larger companies started to notice that they were getting calls from a certain Web site, so we got a very pleasant call from Dell that made us chuckle, because in their words, we had, "disrupted their phone tree."
VIGELAND:
Graysman says that's led to an ongoing game of catch up.
GRAYSMAN: What we see happening is companies are changing their phone trees, so we lean on our users after they try a number, to let us know if it's not working. Then it allows us to keep one step ahead of the companies.
VIGELAND:
And by the way, Graysman insists his company does not share your phone number with anyone.
Here's another "shortcut" that sometimes works.
One time in a seemingly-interminable wasteland of useless phone tree options, they reminded me that "you can do most things on the web site." I'm not stupid; I was all over the web site. No, you can't do what I needed to do on the web. And, I lost it. I had lost my patience long ago, and I let loose with a string of invectives with a few choice Anglo-Saxon gems.
Instantly, I was routed to a person. That person confirmed that you couldn't do "The Thing" on the web site, and helped me. I was simply and totally satisfied as a customer. Thus, I was somewhat taken aback when, at the end of the phone conversation, what was apparently a supervisor who was listening in asked me if I was satisfied with my customer experience today. "Of Course" I replied.
Then a few moments after I hung up the phone did I realize that the reviled computer that was listening for me to say a number or yes/no, was also listening for the verbiage that indicates a very angry customer.
Doesn't always work, but isn't it neat?
The other thing I've been known to do in fristration is to incessantly press the star-zero-pound buttons in hopes of getting the attention of a real person. Sometimes that works, too.
But, thanks so much for your top on "NoPhoneTrees.com"
Joe in Baltimore
