When you’ve been stuck on hold for the better part of an hour with a robotic company representative who keeps insisting your call is important to them, no amount of smooth muzak can calm you down.
LucyPhone is willing to absorb the wait for you. The app claims to have saved its users over 60 years, which gives you enough time to meet someone, get married, start a family, raise your kids, send them to college, and become a grandparent. Or you can keep pressing the “1” button for English. Your choice.
Using LucyPhone couldn’t be simpler. Via its smartphone apps for iOS and Android or website, just tell the service who you want to call. If you get put on hold, press the star key twice on your phone to tag the app in for you. LucyPhone will hold down your spot in line and call you back once a real person is on the line.
LucyPhone claims to be the first “consumer-driven ‘virtual queuing’ or callback system,” and promises to keep its service free to consumers and to never sell or share phone numbers. Instead, LucyPhone makes its money with its cloud-based callback software CallPromise, which it provides to companies like Intuit and MetLife.
While it may lay claim to first, it’s far from the only option out there. FastCustomer offers a similar service, hopping in line for you and reconnecting when you’re through the line. It works with over 3,000 companies and can be activated with a simple text.
LucyPhone also works in partnership with customer service tool GetHuman to provide its Call Back service. GetHuman provides a wealth of information to consumers looking to connect with support, including shortcuts through phone trees and numbers to skip straight to real help.
Photo via Alexandra E Rust/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)