Last month, I posted a little tip about how to use social-engineering to fool customer service drones into actually helping you. Recently, Alex Scofield wrote to tell me:
After an infuriating 15-minute voice mail maze loop with AT&T "customer service", it suddenly occurred to me to try the stunt as outlined in your 6/24 blog entry. Worked like a charm! I called AT&T and went to the Join AT&T Long Distance option, where a human being took my call within a minute or two, then transferred me over to billing. Although it does little more than preach to the choir, The Economist's cover story deals with this issue in a general "State of Customer Service" piece that's worth a read.
So, try this at home, kids! And if anyone can dig up a free link to that story, feel free to let me know.
Posted by wasylik at July 30, 2001 12:45 AM