Customers report dropping F-bombs to be transferred to a real person

Nov 21, 2012 12:27 GMT  ·  By

Apple Support is listening carefully to what you have to say, even when you’re talking to the automated service. Apparently if you drop an F-bomb they’ll immediately transfer you to a real person at the end of the line.

“I was having some trouble with my (older) laptop and wanted to order a new keyboard to fix it myself,” a Reddit user reports.

“After exploring every option possible in the machine based list, I eventually got frustrated and used a few choice words that triggered something in the computer I was talking to.”

The user, identified as floppybutton on Reddit, says, “It cut itself off in mid-sentence, apologized, and in about 10 more seconds I was talking to an Apple tech. Unfortunately for me, he couldn't help me order my new keyboard.”

The user was, nonetheless, happy with Apple's service, saying, “At least I got the answer that they aren't made anymore, instead of having to drive over an hour to the closest Apple store for the same information.”

TNW says the method isn’t to be abused, adding that it might not even solve your problem faster, since you won’t be moved up the queue.

However, at least two Reddit users confirmed that swearing on the phone during a call with Apple’s help desk triggers some sort of f-word recognition software that immediately puts you in contact with a human being ready to assist you.

A person who allegedly worked as a Quality Assurance representative for AppleCare says that pressing zero will achieve the same results, “but he/she will only be a ‘call director,’ who will apologise and the transfer you back to the correct queue,” according to the TNW report.

The cursing method has been known to work with many phone-based customer services.