Defeating the IVR monster

You bought the consumer electonics widget. You sent in the rebates. Now the darn thing doesn't work. The store won't take it back because you've torn apart the box to send in the proof of purchase stickers. So you call the vendor's tech support line and enter interactive voice response (IVR) system hell.

Help is on the way. Computerworld editor Kathleen Melymuka sent along this link to Paul
English's IVR Cheat Sheet Web site, which gives you shortcuts to bypass many vendors' IVR systems and speak to a live human. I  plan on keeping this list handy for those post-Chrismas support calls.

If more consumer products companies would make their IVR systems truly helpful instead of using them as a way to block access to that expensive human capital at the help desk, perhaps such lists wouldn't be needed. Alas, we're far from that point.

English is an entrepreneur from Boston and a bit of a consumer advocate going back to at least 1998 when he appeared in the Computerworld story Evangelist' carries banner for V.90 modem standard. Now he has created a list of shortcuts that let you bypass those irritating IVR systems. Companies are listed alphabetically and grouped by category for eash searching. But even English doesn't have all of the answers. In the entry for Compaq he simply states: "no easy escape."

Want more? Check out English's blog. His November 13th entry: "Why are health club memberships so sleazy?" That rings a bell, as my local Gold's Gym recently reneged on a written agreement not to raise the monthly price once you paid the up-front "initiation fee." The rationale for the move from $29.95 to $30.95? "Hey, it's only one dollar."