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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/may/17/call-centre-automated-menu-maze
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Call centre 'enthusiast' helps customers navigate automated menu maze | Call centre 'enthusiast' helps customers navigate automated menu maze |
| (4 months later) | |
| It's one of the scourges of the modern telecommunications age: call centres and their seemingly endless lists of menu options that can keep you hanging on (and on) for minutes that feel like hours – all at your own expense. | It's one of the scourges of the modern telecommunications age: call centres and their seemingly endless lists of menu options that can keep you hanging on (and on) for minutes that feel like hours – all at your own expense. |
| However, a website has launched that says it will offer a helping hand through the maze, thereby saving millions of people time and money. | However, a website has launched that says it will offer a helping hand through the maze, thereby saving millions of people time and money. |
| Please Press 1 is a free service that claims it can shave several minutes off some calls by helping people quickly move through the annoying automated voice menus to the service they require. | Please Press 1 is a free service that claims it can shave several minutes off some calls by helping people quickly move through the annoying automated voice menus to the service they require. |
| The website gives the phone menu options for hundreds of companies and organisations – from British Gas and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to Virgin Holidays and Argos. It lists simple telephone key codes, so you know what options to press without having to listen to all of the options. | The website gives the phone menu options for hundreds of companies and organisations – from British Gas and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to Virgin Holidays and Argos. It lists simple telephone key codes, so you know what options to press without having to listen to all of the options. |
| The site has been set up by Nigel Clarke, a self-confessed "call centre menu enthusiast", who spent the best part of seven years researching, calling and cataloguing the intricate phone menus of a wide variety of firms and organisations. | The site has been set up by Nigel Clarke, a self-confessed "call centre menu enthusiast", who spent the best part of seven years researching, calling and cataloguing the intricate phone menus of a wide variety of firms and organisations. |
| He said some call centres had more than 80 options in their phone menus, with up to seven levels of menu, adding: "Some might say this is the modern equivalent of Dante's circles of hell." | He said some call centres had more than 80 options in their phone menus, with up to seven levels of menu, adding: "Some might say this is the modern equivalent of Dante's circles of hell." |
| Clarke gave the example of HMRC, which operates some of the UK's busiest call centres, where, he said, it can take up to six minutes just to get through their phone menus before a long wait in the queue. | Clarke gave the example of HMRC, which operates some of the UK's busiest call centres, where, he said, it can take up to six minutes just to get through their phone menus before a long wait in the queue. |
| "The cost of waiting is enormous," he said. This combined "navigation time" across all companies could be costing UK consumers tens of millions of pounds in phone charges every year, added Clarke. | "The cost of waiting is enormous," he said. This combined "navigation time" across all companies could be costing UK consumers tens of millions of pounds in phone charges every year, added Clarke. |
| If one assumed that 40 million adults in the UK make 24 calls a year to call centres, and that if each of them saved just one minute at 10p a minute, that would add up to a £96m saving, he said. | If one assumed that 40 million adults in the UK make 24 calls a year to call centres, and that if each of them saved just one minute at 10p a minute, that would add up to a £96m saving, he said. |
| However, Clarke acknowledged that there may be some companies whose systems would not allow you to skip through the introductory message. | However, Clarke acknowledged that there may be some companies whose systems would not allow you to skip through the introductory message. |