Getting through a voicemail tree when your kid is talking nearby
Marcy on navigating voicemail prompts with a talkative baby nearby:
I was just trying to take care of some business on the phone involving a voice recognition menu. My eight month-old daughter was babbling happily nearby. She kept interrupting the process, causing much frustration. I called back, using the mute button, only unmuting to say "yes" and "no" until I could get to the part that was all number-based (entering account numbers, credit card numbers, etc.) You can mute the phone, but still use the number pad to enter the information. I accessed my account, provided the identifying data, entered my credit card number and expiration date and paid off the balance all without raising my blood pressure while my daughter played next to me. Sometimes, it's the little things.
Related post: Gethuman.com lets you bypass voicemail hell
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my quick and dirty addon to that is holding your finger/thumb over the mic hole.
It takes a bit of getting used to, but you can do it without taking the phone away from your ear (very important on some impatient ivr systems) :)
Posted by: Josh | 03 August 2006 at 10:10 AM
For future use - most VRU's (voice recognition units) have a feature built in that if you hit a certain combo of keys that it will take you out of the voice recognition and switchover to only touchtone - I know the company I work for does this....
Posted by: Lauren | 08 August 2006 at 06:44 PM
Hubby likes to use the not at all kid friendly way of getting to a real person. Most VR menus are set to recognize foul language, so that if a person is upset, they can get a person right away.
Posted by: marcy | 09 August 2006 at 07:06 AM