How and why did Please Press 1 get started ?

Whether calling my phone, insurance or energy company, they each had a
different and often worse way of trying to "help" me. I could sit there for minutes that seemed like hours, trying to get through their phone menus only to end up at the wrong place and having to redial and start again !

I once took nearly 3 minutes to go through 7 levels of menus, only for a robot voice to tell me they were closed !

Annoyed and Frustrated...

What really annoyed me was that I had bought a product or service from them but, now they had me as a customer they didn't care - they were wasting my time making me to work through a maze of menu options in the hope that I might eventually get to speak to someone who could help me..

Was this making life easy for me or for the company ? 
Did this show they cared about keeping me as a 'happy' customer ?
Was this the 'customer experience' they wanted me to have ?

Or were they deliberately trying to stall me on the phone and make more money out of me from the premium rate number I was calling ?

Beating the system...

But I knew, as many do, that if you know what menu options to press you can quickly Press Ahead without listening to the long list of options you don't need or care about.

So when I called numbers regularly, I started keeping notes of the options to press. The numbers didn't change very often and then it hit me…

"Why don't companies make life easy for their customers and simply show me the menu options before I call so I know what numbers to press to get through much more quickly?"

I realised I could often save a minute or two at least per call. That soon adds up in time and money with all the calls I make each year. 

So I started to look for companies that did tell me the options - but they are very, very, rare. And I looked at some of the phone menus - and many were and still are horrendous !

So I thought "OK, you won't tell me, so I will find out myself and tell others.  Perhaps then companies will respond and will provide the information to us to show they care about their customers."  

The Solution - Please Press 1 ...

These are the words you hear everytime you call and this is the service we provide: you can find the phone number and menu options so you can "Press Ahead" in 3 simple steps.

Having had my rant, I am not saying these phone systems are all bad - they do have some benefits and we discuss some of the Pros and Cons here

There is also much more in this section: how we started, our ideas, benefits, how it works, our research findings, and our mission in the sections alongside and the rest of the site. You will also find a lot useful information and links around the site e.g the cost of UK calls.

Please show your support...

So my small personal frustration hobby has grown into a passionate personal campaign to which I have dedicated a lot of time and thought to and is now the beginning of an on-line service which I hope will save you time, money and frustration when phoning call centres.

I want companies to provide the menu options to us. So please ask the companies "to show you care…use Please Press 1"

I hope you find the site useful. Please let me know; and please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Thank You

Nigel Clarke
Founder
Please Press 1