It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.

Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.

Thank you.

 

Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.

 

The Touch-Tone Phone Tree Hell Conspiracy

page: 1
1

log in

join
share:

posted on Jun, 19 2008 @ 05:14 AM
link   
Ever wonder why, when you call up just about any company to ask a few questions, you get stuck in a tangled tree of button-pushing nightmares? Well, it is a conspiracy that seems to backfire on itself a lot...A bit of "poetic justice."
The actual reasons behind the "conspiracy" are texted in italics below...The backfire is in bold--

Source: Touch-Tone Trouble

...More than 90% of large businesses rely on phone trees to field calls. As you might guess, this is supposed to save money...
...That's why corporate America spent $565 million in 2005 on new ways to trap you in touch-tone hell.


Problem is, their plan isn't working very well. Consumers hate these systems, and most of us will do anything to bypass the phone tree and get a live rep. Millions visit sites like GetHuman.com, which lists the secret codes for accessing an agent...
...According to a Datamonitor survey of companies that use phone trees, more than 85% of callers manage to hunt down a live operator. And once that happens, they burn up the line grousing about the !*&@!! system. No cost savings there...

...Southwest and Scottrade are clever. So far, they've resisted the phone-tree temptation in favor of a simple business model that reduces call-center demand. Take ever-profitable Southwest. It has coach-only seating, simple fares, a clear-cut rewards program and a Web site so straightforward your cat could book a flight...

...Perhaps the success of Southwest and Scottrade will convince their phone-tree-hugging competitors to follow suit. Meanwhile, consumers will keep tracking down agents. My new favorite weapon: NoPhoneTrees.com, a site that does the impossible — it navigates the phone tree for you and rings you when it gets an agent on the line. Now that's more like it!

Happy phoning!


[edit on 19-6-2008 by MidnightDStroyer]



posted on Jun, 19 2008 @ 05:55 AM
link   
reply to post by MidnightDStroyer
 


I hate being on the phone, period. I just don't like them and I dread when I have to make a call that goes to one of these ARU hell call centers.

ARU = Automatic Response Unit.

I used to work in customer service at the other end of calls and that is what has probably turned me off from talking on the phone at all.

Thank You for this information. I plan to use it!



 
1

log in

join