Imagine sitting on hold with a customer service agent for a delayed delivery or a canceled flight, or getting locked out of your email or social media account. The minutes creep by and a recorded voice reminds you that your call is “very important” to the company.
Dealing with customer service has become such a headache that numerous businesses aim to take over this task — in exchange for a fee. Specialized companies offer to negotiate your medical bills, lower your recurring bills such as cable TV or cellphone charges or seek compensation for passengers when their flight is canceled or overbooked, including ClaimCompass and Airhelp.com. But startups such as GetHuman, which is available on the web and is compatible with Android and iOS 8 or higher, and Service, which is also available on the web and is compatible with iOS 9 or higher, offer to handle general customer service headaches for you.
[Read: Should You Post Your Complaint on Twitter or Facebook?]
GetHuman launched about eight years ago as a website that helped people find the best contact number for specific companies and navigate their way through phone trees. It still offers self-service guides if you want to handle customer service obstacles on your own. But as Adam Goldkamp, director of operations at GetHuman, puts it, “About a year ago we realized there’s probably more we could do to help frustrated customers.”
Now, for a flat fee, you can skip the hold music and hire GetHuman’s concierge to resolve the dilemma for you. For instance, the website estimates that handling a hacked Facebook account would take users 41 minutes and 10 steps to untangle themselves. But if you hire GetHuman for a one-time $30 fee, your time investment is estimated at three minutes and one step. And Goldkamp says they’ll refund your money if you’re not satisfied with the outcome.
Facebook, Comcast, the IRS, United Airlines and Amazon are among the companies GetHuman deals with most often, Goldkamp adds. In cases such as dealing with the IRS or a health insurer, where your GetHuman concierge isn’t authorized to speak on your behalf, the concierge might sit on the phone for you until they can conference you in, Goldkamp explains.
While GetHuman charges a flat fee depending on what your issue is, Service charges 30 percent of whatever money or airline miles it’s able to recover for you, assigning a dollar value to any miles you receive. If Service can’t recover anything (think: a company won’t compensate you or you need a nonmonetary resolution like restoring access to a locked social media account), you’ll pay nothing. Service helps with customer service issues such as lost luggage, warranty issues or billing errors, but it doesn’t deal with government agencies, says its founder and CEO Michael Schneider. “We’ve had people complain that the line is too long at the DMV, and while we agree and sympathize, we don’t deal with any government issues,” he explains.
According to Schneider, Service frequently deals with companies such as American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Time Warner Cable and Comcast. A feature in the Service app called Service Protect also scans your email for flights. If you’re entitled to compensation due to a flight delay or cancellation, Service automatically contacts the airline on your behalf. “You activate [Service Protect within the app] once and forget about it,” Schneider says. Other online shopping tools such as Paribus and Earny (available on the web, Android and iOS 8.0 or higher) scan your email and apply a similar process to price adjustments if an item you purchase drops in price.
Consumer savings expert Andrea Woroch says customer service tools like this can make sense for busy people juggling multiple responsibilities. “Maybe you’re getting married, you’re on your honeymoon or you’re trying to meet a deadline for your job … it’s just causing you so much stress, it’s just not worth [dealing with customer service] sometimes,” she says. “You have to look at what the value of your time is versus what the fee is. Are you earning more than what you’re paying to deal with certain services?”
[See: 11 Easy Ways to Slash Travel Costs.]
For smaller issues, some consumers choose to give up rather than navigate a phone tree in the hopes of getting a refund. Of course, in cases where you need a working computer or a flight home, that may not be a viable option.
Still, some experts aren’t convinced it’s worth paying for this service. “Usually it’s something that with a little bit of research you can do on your own,” says Christopher Elliott, consumer advocate and author of “How to Be the World’s Smartest Traveler.” According to Elliot, “The tools and resources [for how to contact a company and advocate for yourself] are there so that you can do it on your own.”
Some advocates like Elliott provide a similar service, but instead of charging the consumer, they write about how they resolved it, so readers can learn from their experience. “This is the kind of service people shouldn’t have to pay for,” he says. “The companies should do the right thing,” he adds.
[See: 12 Ways to Be a More Mindful Spender.]
Still, as frustrating as it may be, some companies simply do not allocate resources to provide excellent customer service or reduce phone wait times. “Users are … not looking forward to handling it,” Goldkamp says. “That has to do with frustrating hold times [and] getting the right department who can actually help you,” he adds.
Many tech startups, such as social media platforms or subscription services, frequently change their customer service processes, adding another layer of complexity for consumers. One week a phone call might be the best path to resolution, but later a phone number might be replaced by live chat or email support. Goldkamp says GetHuman stays abreast of these changes in how companies handle customer service issues, so they can contact them and get resolution for users.
Schneider highlights that Service, while attached to a fee, offers added peace of mind for consumers. “There’s value in knowing that you’re going to be treated fairly if something goes wrong,” he says. “You’re not going to have to waste your time getting whatever is fair.”
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Should You Pay Someone to Deal With Customer Service Issues for You? originally appeared on usnews.com
