# Bypass that IVR and get right to a human.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bypass-that-ivr-and-get-right-to-a-human/332441>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 23, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bypass-that-ivr-and-get-right-to-a-human/332441 "2005-11-23T17:01:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bypass-that-ivr-and-get-right-to-a-human/332441/1 "2005-11-23T17:01:24Z")

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I just heard this on NPR and thought I’d share. Are you often frustrated by those  
Interactive Voice Responses (IVR)? Do you often go through several choices only to  
be put on hold for 5-10-20 minutes or more? Are you annoyed by having to enter 16  
digit CC numbers, bank acct. numbers, Soc. Sec. numbers on your phone keypad,  
only to make an error and have to start over? Would you like to bypass all that  
rigmarole and jump to the front of the queue? Just go to the following web site and  
you can learn how to foil many of these systems. [http://www.paulenglish.com/ivr/](http://www.paulenglish.com/ivr/)

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bypass-that-ivr-and-get-right-to-a-human/332441/2 "2005-11-23T17:17:28Z")

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My friend at work had tried for three days to get some help with a charge on his Verizon bill. No luck. I had heard Clark Howard talking about this, so I gave him the code to get to a Real Live Human at Verizon.

Sure enough, he did, and the problem was handled in about 30 seconds.

Between this, [snopes.com](http://snopes.com), and [bugmenot.com](http://bugmenot.com), I am Queen at work. 😃

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**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bypass-that-ivr-and-get-right-to-a-human/332441/3 "2005-11-23T17:39:31Z")

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While I can empathise with having to navigate a poorly designed IVR system, in some cases by-passing it can make you wait much, much longer to talk to the person who can help you. For instance, one of our clients uses an IVR system to route callers to the proper customer service representative. Anyone who by-passes the IVR portion of the system gets dumped to a general queue, from which they are eventually transferred (by a CSR) to the queue they would have been in had they selected the proper option from the IVR menu.

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bypass-that-ivr-and-get-right-to-a-human/332441/4 "2005-11-23T17:49:42Z")

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I believe the link in the OP is also known as a VIP list, that customers give out to their preferred clients. In my friend’s case, he was on hold for only about 15 seconds before a RLH came on the line, and the problem was fixed right there and then, when he had been trying for three days to get it resolved.

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bypass-that-ivr-and-get-right-to-a-human/332441/5 "2005-11-23T17:50:44Z")

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Dammit.

[del]customers[/del] companies