Secret customer service hack that lets you skip phone robots to speak to a human in SECONDS

Fed up with being forced to deal with robots every time you have a simple customer service query? 

TikTok users claim to have stumbled upon an ingenious hack that helps callers bypass the endless automated questions now used by most major firms’ helplines and get straight through to a human being.

LA music industry expert Liz Kamlet revealed that customers should type out the zero symbol followed by the pound key (0#) every time a recorded voice asks them for information such as their account number or the nature of their query. 

The hack confuses a company’s automated system, prompting it to transfer the customer to a real-life operator – and Kamlet claims it works for ’90 percent’ of brands including major airlines, banks and retailers. 

When Dailymail.com tested the helplines of eight major US businesses, the trick proved successful for five including Chase bank, American Airlines and Amazon.

Dailymail.com tested eight major helplines and found the hack worked for five

At Chase, we were able to get through to a human within 41 seconds. This was over three times faster than when we inputted the information requested by the automated system as usual. 

Amazon, DHL and American Airlines transferred us to an operator within in one minute. For Delta Airlines, it took 43 seconds. 

However the hack did not work for FedEx, Expedia and Bank of America. 

These customer helplines hung up on Dailymail.com, with Expedia citing ‘system issues’ and FedEx repeatedly stating ‘I need to understand the reason for your call’. 

The system also only allows you to bypass frustrating automated questions – and cannot reduce call wait times for operators. 

For example American Airlines quickly said it would transfer us to an operator – but added it would take up to 28 minutes to actually able to speak to someone.

Tumbling customer service standards have been the subject of fierce debate in the US, with the pandemic and work-from-home culture often blamed for ever increasing call wait times. 

Brands are also increasingly relying on ‘virtual chat’ services and artificial intelligence to answer customer enquiries.

Last year data from call-center analytics firm CallMiner found that average call wait times in the US had tripled since the beginning of the pandemic.

TikTok viewers responded enthusiastically to Kamlet’s hack, with many saying it ‘worked like a charm.’

Other users responded with their own tips and tricks for bypassing a company’s automated systems. 

‘I just scream ‘representative’ or ‘help’ over and over,’ one user said.

Another wrote: ‘For some companies that doesn’t work so I just start talking gibberish so the bot is like ‘sorry I don’t understand I’ll connect you to someone.’

The video has now racked up 2.1 million views.

It starts out with Kamlet responding to the question: ‘What’s a piece of information that feels illegal to know?’

‘This little piece of information has saved me so much time and aggravation and frustration,’ Kamlet said. 

‘So try it out.’

Kamlet’s videos usually offer advice about the music industry and how her followers can create success as a songwriter. 

She claims to have worked with world-renowned artists over her decade-long career and is married to singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop who has written songs for Eric Clapton and Barbra Streisand.