Have you ever been on the phone or computer trying to solve a problem and all you can seem to reach is one of these four things: a) a computer voice asking questions; b) the email form to complete (and they will get back to you within 24 to 48 hours; c) voice mail; or, d) a chat windows?
Here are three tips to finding a human being, when that is what you REALLY need:
Tip Number 1: You call the main number of a company and can’t get through to tech support. Press the option for SALES instead. Sales will always answer. Once you have a person, explain that what you sold them isn’t working and ask to be transferred to a person in tech support (be sure to request that they hang on until someone picks up.
Tip Number 2: You call the 800 number and the computer voice announces the queue is long and proudly describes its auto call-back feature. Hmm…that doesn’t work for me! So, here is a trick. Call back and press whatever number is for non-English speaking. This line is normally not as busy. Once you have a human being on the phone, ask them to transfer you to the right department (sometimes they can assist directly).
Tip Number 3: “Find the Phone Number”. Most sites have the phone number they want you to call, but some sites no longer offer this information. BUT, most of these companies have a corporate presence and you can use this to your advantage when the situation is serious. To find the corporate headquarters, Google, “What are the corporate headquarters for (insert name)?” Sometimes this is all it takes, and you have a phone number to call. If there is no phone number, go to yp.com and type in the name of the company you need to find and the City and State that appeared when you googled the corporate headquarters. This method works for U.S. based companies, but you may have to dial direct, instead of an 800 number.
