Call centres: I'm a customer service expert - my 9 hacks to beat call centre queues and speak to real people

• Customer service expert Lady Janey shares tips to avoid long call centre waits
• New research reveals the average Brit spends nearly 40 minutes on hold
• Lady Janey highlights the frustration of automated systems and unhelpful agents
• Her mission is to empower customers to take on companies with poor service

A customer service expert has shared her top nine tips for avoiding call centre queues and reaching a live advisor.

Lady Janey, a passionate advocate for improving customer service, is on a mission to help the millions of Brits stuck on hold, battling automated systems or unhelpful agents.

Known as the Queen of Customer Service, Lady Janey has joined forces with Talkmobile to empower UK customers to take on companies that fail to meet their standards.

The collaboration comes as new research from the mobile network reveals that the average Brit spends nearly 40 minutes on hold before giving up.

Lady Janey, real name Jane Hawkes, said: “Companies that keep you on hold are relying on you giving up, I really believe that. They are relying on you falling at the first hurdle.

“But if you’re prepared to wait on the call for 40 minutes it shows it’s important – but we don’t have time to do that.

“Once you get through, there’s nothing worse than being passed from pillar to post and having to repeat the same information again and again.

“It’s also very much a script the advisors follow, and their flexibility to deviate from that script and appreciate things are often grey rather than black and white escapes some.

“It’s a tall order trying to get even a general query resolved, it’s like a Bush Tucker Trial – never mind a problem that’s causing you a lot of upset and stress and aggravation.

“And, not forgetting the endless hold music, you really are bombarded. It’s no wonder people give up.”

Lady Janey has compiled a top nine list of tips to help Brits bypass the long waits and connect with a real person on the other end of the line.

1. IGNORE all options provided by the bot and simply wait to be transferred when no response is detected.
2. Reply YES or NO to every question
3. Dial ZERO, multiple zeros or multiple hashtags.
4. Say ‘speak to a real person’ or ’speak to agent'
5. Make a note of the order of options so you can fire through them and press ahead on future calls.
6. Choose the option for ‘thinking of leaving.’ This puts you through to a dedicated retention team that will be empowered to offer incentives and deals. They may also be able to connect you directly to the most appropriate department for refunds and redress if applicable. Equally choose the ’sales’ option and ask to be transferred.
7. Provide nonsensical voice recognition answers when presented with a series of options to be connected quicker to a representative as the system will not understand your responses.
8. Use the ring back facility - if available - to avoid having to wait on hold.
9. Reduce your wait by making smart calls. Ring at optimum times. Call off peak during the working day if you can and avoid weekends.

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Talkmobile’s research revealed nearly two-thirds (60%) of Brits have spent up to 45 minutes on the phone listening to hold music or hearing repeated assurances their call is important.

More than a third (35%) of Brits said they have waited at least an hour to be connected with an advisor and worse still over one in 10 have waited 60 minutes or more for help with an inquiry.

And, a quarter say they’re willing to wait up to half an hour before they’ll give up and put the phone down, slightly fewer are prepared to hang on for a further 15 minutes.

The average amount of time a UK caller is prepared to wait until hanging up the phone is 38.2 minutes, according to the study.

Have you ever been stuck on hold for what feels like forever? Share your worst call centre experiences and any tips you’ve found helpful in the comments section.