In response to yesterday’s story (item 30) about how to reach real
humans when using an Interactive Voice Response system, I have just
been dealing with Telstra and after having gone through
multiple voice prompts and two operators, I asked the final operator if
there was a more direct route.

Apparently if you ring a Telstra number and receive voice prompting do the following to get to an operator quicker:

1. Say a word ie “mobile” or “phone”
2. Press the hash (#) key
3. Wait for the recorded message
4. Press the hash key again

Apparently this will put you at the top of the queue for the next available operator.

CRIKEY: We’ve also been sent a link to this extensive cheat sheet
of “steps to find a human” at US companies. Has anyone put together a
similar list for Australia? Any tips to boss@crikey.com.au