Talk to a Human for Once!

The IVR Cheat Sheet by Paul English is an amazing resource that I can't wait to put to use.

Do you get fed up with listening to automated systems when calling companies? Here's a cheat sheet telling you how to get a human being for over 100 different companies (and more are being added all the time)! It even has phone numbers for some of those illusive companies like Amazon.com. You can also rate the companies on their customer service.

I will have to put this to use with Capitol One. Can I just say how annoying it is to go through all their prompts just to activate my card? And they don't even seem to have a specific prompt for activating the card, so I still have not done it (partially due to the fact that they sent me a new card with a new ugly design when the old one does not expire for a few years - who cares that they have updated my account, I like the old design!).

And if you want to read a very funny book that discusses this problem and others, I highly recommend Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door by Lynne Truss. She rants about the automated systems and how they claim to be better for the callers even though they are not. Wouldn't we all just rather ask a human our question instead of going through the menus and then having to repeat them when we still aren't finding what we want?