Ways to get a live human: bypass those endless customer service phone trees, have them call YOU back.

We’ve all called a customer service department to get information about a product or resolve an issue.  So, you know the drill: Dial the number, navigate an endless maze of automated voice prompts, reach a live human and, finally, begin to explain your situation. If you zapped an entire lunch hour doing this, you're far from alone.

 
That’s why I love the website GetHuman.com

It’s a searchable list of more than 8,000 companies, customer service numbers and details on the fastest way to reach live company reps.

Here’s a post by a CVS Pharmacy just this week:  “At most CVS stores press 8001 to skip all menus as soon as the automated voice starts. This will start a special ring in the pharmacy and is usually used by supervisors to get in contact with the pharmacy right away. ”

Plus, there’s a cool feature to have a company call YOU instead.  Find a company, and if call-back is available, you'll see a big orange button for it.  Tell them your phone number, and they get the company to call you back instead of waiting on hold.