Showing posts with label voice mail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voice mail. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Escape Voicemail Jail and Long hold Times

Everyone has experienced calling a major corporation and put through their seemingly never-ending voicemail prompt system. Once you finally do reach a human operator, you’re most likely in the wrong department anyway. Then, you get placed back on hold to wait in line for the next available agent.

This list helps solve the frustrating process of reaching a human operator. It doesn’t eliminate all of the button pressing, but it will guide you to the fastest route to a human operator. The sooner you reach an actual human operator instead of prerecorded greetings, the more likely you will be satisfied with the results of your call. Waiting on hold for what seems like an endless timeframe (five minutes can seems like a half hour), can really hurt the overall customer service experience.

This list provides at least 740 different major companies with instructions on how to reach a human operator. I tried a few of the numbers myself for companies that I normally call and have a good feel for their average hold times. The time from dial to speaking with the first human operator from the “gethuman list” compared to the usual button pressing was vastly quicker, noticeable after only a few calls.

For the corporations that are listed, the phone numbers to dial along with the instructions to follow once you are connected are listed in their respective columns. There is also a column for consumer rating: a rating for each company’s phone support system. It also provides you the option to leave feedback on any of the companies and your experiences with them (1 through 5 rating plus the option of written comments).

Save yourself some time the next time you need to dial any major company and check this list first.

www.gethuman.com


Tuesday, February 19, 2008

GrandCentral: One Number...for Life

Tired of carrying multiple phones or having a list of contact numbers? GrandCentral, which is currently teaming up with Google, has created a solution that far exceeds many average users needs. GrandCentral provides a phone management system that that lets you personalize and customize multiple phone numbers through One Number...for Life.

GrandCentral does not replace your current phone numbers or current devices. They provide you a new phone number that is not set in stone at one location or specific to one device. GrandCentral lets you answer, filter and control calls from any phone at any location with your new number. GrandCentral is currently in beta version and for now is available only through invitation.

Below is listing and summary of the features GrandCentral currently offers.

Screening:
Know who is calling and screen unknown callers. Whether you receive your call on a home, work or mobile phone, GrandCentral tells you who is calling before you accept the call. If the number of the phone calling you is already in your GrandCentral address book, they will let you know the name you have for that contact. If it is a new phone, GrandCentral can ask the person for their name the first time they call. Stop telemarketers in their tracks by never picking up, and then blocking their number so they don't call again.

ListenIn:
Hear why someone is calling before taking the call
. Like a home answering machine, GrandCentral lets you listen to voicemail as it is being recorded. You can pick up the call at any time just by pressing the star key. No need to wait until a voicemail is done to hear it and no reason to accept every call. You can surprise people as they are leaving a message by jumping in on the call.

Call Record:
GrandCentral lets you save all or parts of a call. Both parties will hear an announcement notifying callers that call recording has been initiated or stopped. Listen to your recording in your GrandCentral inbox or by phone when you check your voicemail.

SPAM and Blocked:
U
nwanted callers won't bother you again. Do you ever get unwanted calls from an annoying telemarketer, pushy sales person or ex-boyfriend/girlfriend? With GrandCentral you can make sure they never bother you again. Either use the "Send to SPAM" option to route callers directly to a SPAM voicemail box or completely block calls with the "Play number not in service" message. In both cases, your phone will not ring when you are called from these numbers.

Notifications:
Receive voicemail updates via email and SMS (text messaging). When you get a voicemail message, GrandCentral lets you know about it with an email, SMS or both. Just enter where you want your notifications sent. There is also a link from your email to listen to the message.

Forwarding Phones:
GrandCentral makes life simpler by letting you control all your calls with one phone number. Choose which phones ring when your GrandCentral number is called or send calls directly to voicemail depending on who calls you. Personalization is easy and there is no need to give different people different numbers or send out a new phone number if you change your job or move. Just update your GrandCentral forwarding settings.

Greetings:
Personalize your voicemail greetings by caller or group. You can play a personalized voicemail greeting based on the individual or group settings you have for any person in your GrandCentral address book. You can also record greetings by calling your own GrandCentral number and following the voice prompts. Listen to and update your greetings as many times as you like.

RingShare:
Go beyond the ring. Why should everyone have to listen to a "ring, ring" when calling? Have fun and play custom sounds for callers waiting for you to pick up. You can even choose to play different tunes for each group or individual.

WebCall Button:
Allow people to call you from your website or blog while keeping your number private. Add a WebCall button to your website or blog for people to call you. Your number stays private and you can use all the normal GrandCentral screening, blocking, forwarding, and other features that put you in control. The WebCall button takes care of connecting the call to you after getting the caller's number.

CallSwitch:
Change phones in the middle of a call. To switch from one phone to another without hanging up, just press the star key while you're talking. Your other phones will ring and you can pick up the one you want and hang up the other. Best of all, your caller won't even hear the switch.

Click 2Call:
Call from your address book or inbox with one click. GrandCentral makes returning calls or calling your contacts simple. From your account, just click on one of the "Call" buttons, and we'll call you and then call that number.

GC Mobile Overview:
Get visual voicemail for your mobile phone. GrandCentral Mobile lets you access all the core GrandCentral features from any web-enabled mobile device that can play MP3 files. Log on at http://m.grandcentral.com with your regular user ID and password and the site will remember you for future visits.

For more information on GrandCentral, visit their website at www.grandcentral.com. Try calling MedCom now with our new Call Me Button in the top right corner of the blog's home page.