O.M.G.
I have officially found a FREE service that will change your life (for the better) forever.
I know it has mine....
I recently heard about a new service, Fonolo, but had never really checked it out until this morning. It is a free site that promises to let you skip the annoying automated phone menu you get tangled in when calling a company's 1-800 number and calls you at the point in which you actually need to be on the phone (for instance: to enter your pin number or when it is actually at the point of transferring you to an agent.)
Their website explains it quick and easy:
Fonolo is a service that makes it less frustrating to deal with large companies over the phone.
Deep Dialing is a way to skip the phone menu when calling large companies.
Consumers: Our free online service gives you Deep Dialing and much more: Intelligent call history, call recording, bookmarking and Quick Tones.
So like I said, I decided to give it a test run this morning. First I called American Airlines. Well I didn't, Fonolo did. I just clicked on American Airlines, selected which point I wanted them to call me at, and entered my phone number. Sure enough, my phone rang a minute later and an American Airlines recording said, "Please enter your American Airline Advantage number now." (Oops, I totally don't know it off-hand). That ended that call. Anyway, it went pretty well. I didn't have to dial, listen to all the prompts, try to guess which one I actually needed, and then pray I was right. Fonolo got me there the first time. Nice.
I had trouble thinking up another company to try out. I figured out that if you register with the site (which is FREE), you can access a VERY extensive list of all companies on the site. If a company is not listed, you can submit their phone number to be included. Members also have access to some cool (FREE) features such as being able to see the menu (and what it will say) when you call a company, being able to bookmark your most commonly called companies, and even being able to see a list of your recent calls. You can have Fonolo call you at your house; you can even add additional numbers (say you want to call AT&T from your cell or work number; the menu will call you there!)
So if you are wondering, I just randomly picked Advantage Rent A Car for my second test call. It didn't have a menu; when my phone rang, I heard, "Thank-you for calling. Your call might be recorded or monitored to ensure quality standards." It then rang straight through to an operator. I am not sure if this always completely eliminates hold times, but at least it gets rid of the endless phone menu loop!
If only they would hurry and add Time Warner Cable; I absolutely DREAD calling them. A million prompts. An hour and half hold time. Ugh. That, my friends, will be Fonolo's true test...
Until then...
No more frustrating phone menus. No more screaming into the phone "OP-ER-ATOR!!" or punching "0-0-0-0-0..." only to hear, "I'm sorry. That is an invalid selection. Please listen carefully to the following options...."
Seriously, a service worth it's weight in gold.
Thank you, creators of Fonolo!!!
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