To combat one of life's major annoyances, we called 25 companies and tried to find the secret code that lets you bypass the automated menu and go straight to a human being.*

NUMBER ESCAPE ROUTE
Banks
Bank of America 800-900-9000 Hit zero twice, after menu choices play
Chase 800-CHASE24 Hit five, pause, then hit one, four, star, zero
CitiBank 800-374-9700 Zero
Wells Fargo 800-869-3557 Zero
Travel Reservations
American 800-433-7300 Press zero twice, then say "agent"
Amtrak 800-872-7245 Zero or say "agent"
Continental 800-523-3273 Three – but sometimes calls go straight to an agent
Delta 800-221-1212 Zero
Northwest 800-225-2525 Star, zero, after initial greeting
Southwest 800-435-9792 Calls answered by operator; during busy times you might have to hold
United 800-864-8331 Say nothing (but you have to listen through lots of menus)
US Airways 800-428-4322 Hit four after initial greeting, then hit one
Wireless Providers
AT&T Wireless 800-888-7600 No easy escape
Sprint PCS 888-788-5001 Zero twice, then say "agent"
T-Mobile 800-937-8997 Enter your phone number
Verizon Wireless 800-922-0204 No easy escape
Credit Cards
American Express 800-528-4800 Hit zero, pound, three times over (ignore prompts that it's an invalid entry)
MasterCard 800-MC-ASSIST Hit zero three times (once on each menu)
Visa 800- 847-2911 Hit zero three times (ignore prompts saying that it's an invalid entry)
PC Tech Support
Apple 800-275-2273 Zero three times; if virtual rep answers, say "operator"
Dell 888-560-8324 Hit zero twice
Gateway 800-846-2301 Hit zero, pound
HP (Compaq Products) 800-652-6672 No easy escape
HP (Hewlett-Packard) 800-474-6836 Say "agent"
IBM 800-IBM-4YOU You go into a hold queue immediately

*Many of the companies listed have more than one customer contact number. In addition, some companies give faster service to customers who take the time to type in their account number or phone number. Companies change menus frequently.



Updated July 16, 2003