I've heard that yelling, swearing, and/or saying random obscure words (like aardvark) to the computers on customer support lines will get you help faster because either the computers are programmed to listen for signs of stress and will give angry people priority, as they are the people most likely to get fed up and cancel service, or because they are programmed so that if they hear a word they don't understand, like a swear word, they will automatically transfer the call to an actual person (who will then be able to get you help faster). Does this myth have any merit? Or is it another case of an urban legend? Thanks
Can getting angry get u faster customer service
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aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
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Just do not make frets because you may get in trouble.
Never heard of that, but it sounds like an urban legend. Most automated systems rely on dial tone, and not audio, which is a lot harder to translate for the computer to account for every possible pronounciation of a word. Even the ones that rely on audio (I've only encountered one like that I think), it'll keep asking you to repeat what you said until a word (closely) matches what's on its' audio menu list.
Maniacal
the green Napoleon
Probably not no.
I think that voice automated systems are actually quite common nowadays. A few months ago our internet went out and so I had to talk to the tech support of our internet provider, the guys who designed our router/modem, the guys who actully built the stupid thing
, and one other company that was also somehow involved, never did figure out how
. Every time, one group would blame the other and only after I had called all of the companies did they do anything other than tell me to unplug everything/turn off everything/reboot everything/type 192.168.1.1 into any one of 5 different programs/do some other basic task that I had already done several times. After they got the problem fixed, it would either come back or another problem would take it's place within 48 hours
. I had to call tech support 28 times in a month that contained 31 days! Every time I had to listen to this annoying computer say "for tech support, please say tech support", or "please tell me your name", or "please tell me your phone number", or something else. It was all voice activated.I hate IVRs. I keep saying 'Operator' until I get a real human.
Abaddon
Deity
Hold 0.
99% of the time that jumps you to operator.
I promise you
Heck, chosing the first option, and then getting a human to redirect you to the proper place is faster than using those infernal computerised systems
I worked both in a call centre selling cavity wall insulation and also in the lost baggage control for British Airways!
99% of the time that jumps you to operator.
I promise you
Heck, chosing the first option, and then getting a human to redirect you to the proper place is faster than using those infernal computerised systems
I worked both in a call centre selling cavity wall insulation and also in the lost baggage control for British Airways!
aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
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When my mom gets put on hold she turns on the speakerphone and keeps doing whatever shes doing until they say something
Yeah 0 is usually the magic number.
Getting angry at real live people never works. What works instead is chatting them up and being real friendly even if they are being a complete idiot. You have to work them.
Getting angry at real live people never works. What works instead is chatting them up and being real friendly even if they are being a complete idiot. You have to work them.
Genocidicbunny
Bug squasher
Its very likely just a legend. Most menu-driven systems will be able to detect a user struggling to get through it (pressing random buttons and the like) but other than that they will probably just tell you "Im sorry, I could not understand...blah blah"
On the other hand, Im sure that the systems also have some amount of debug functionality which means that if said functionality is not disabled, you might be able to bypass the menu system to get an operator.
Yes I know that. When I am talking an actual person I am nice and friendly and polite... no matter how much of a pain they are being. Yes, they say to try restarting my computer (even though I'd done that 3 times a day for the last 2 weeks that I'd been trying to fix the problem). I still politly say that even though I've already tried that I'd do it again. I'm not talking about yelling at the tech support, they're just average people trying to do their jobs and yelling at them is not going to get my problem solved, it's just going to annoy them and get me inferior service. I understand this. My question was does the myth that yelling at the tech support COMPUTERS, but NOT the actual people, get you to a real person faster or is it just a myth?
aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
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Im not sure all phones have the menu thing
aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
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I mean the computer at the other end ... "press 1 for english, 2 to order a pizza, 3 to count sheep..."
dragokatzov
Warlord
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no, it won't. If I had it my way, it would make you wait longer
No, getting angry does nothing, at least not with the systems I've worked on. Nor does it help you with a live agent.
My job involves a lot of time on the phone dealing with automated system. I've run into very few that totally block you from getting a rep. The system may say 0 isn't a valid option, but usually if you press it several times, or use 0#0# repeatedly, it'll still go through.
And trying to be angry with a VRU = pointless.
