Tip 1: Don’t Waste Time with Level 1

When you first call a customer service center, the first person you speak with is probably not empowered to handle much more than the most basic issues. If you have a simple question, these are the people to talk to. But if your issue involves something very atypical or complex, these people will probably not be able to help you. In some cases, they will explicitly state, “Oh, that can only be done by a supervisor.” But most of the time, they won’t actually suggest that you need to speak to a supervisor to handle an issue. It’s up to you to recognize when an issue needs to be escalated, and you need to be persistent in your effort to actually get to a supervisor. Usually, it doesn’t take much: “This sounds like something I need to speak to a supervisor about; could you please transfer me to your supervisor?”

Sometimes, the Level 1 rep will tell you that your issue doesn’t require a supervisor and that they can help you just as well as a supervisor can…take a moment and consider whether that’s true or not. Sometimes, the Level 1 person really is the best person to handle your issue. If you call a wireless phone company about needing a small credit, Level 1 can typically help you out. But if you need to do something that goes contrary to the standard policies of the company, Level 1 isn’t gonna cut it. If you’re sure you need to speak to a supervisor and Level 1 is hesitant in transferring you, politely say, “I appreciate you trying to help me out, but I really need to speak to a supervisor about this. Please transfer me to one.” Typically, they will put you on hold and transfer you.

If they continue to resist (some Level 1 reps are told to avoid transferring customers to supervisors as much as possible), insist that you have a right to have this issue resolved at a higher level: “I need to speak to a supervisor right now. Please transfer me.” One possible shortcut is to state early on in the conversation, “I was actually speaking to a supervisor about this issue earlier and I accidentally got disconnected. Could you transfer me back to that department?” This is a little deceptive, but it could save you a decent amount of time…if the rep thinks that your issue was escalated before, they’ll be more likely to think that it’ll need to be escalated again.