These days, we tend to have to deal with a lot of different service providers for everything from our finances through to our utilities and technology. It is understandable then, that from time to time there may be an occasion to get in touch with those companies, perhaps because of a query, a mistake in our billing, or with a complaint. Big companies are notorious for having problems delivering good customer service, and among the complaints people in the UK tend to have about accessing the customer support resources they need are things like poorly designed automated phone systems, people in offshore call centers who are difficult to understand, and trouble getting through to a department that can actually resolve their issue.

If you need to get answers or actions from a big company you deal with, whether it is your bank or your mobile phone network, here are three things you can try:

Use Social Media

Traditionally, getting hold of someone at a given company who could help you or answer your queries meant a phone call, but now it can actually be far better to send a tweet or post on their Facebook page. Big companies have people dedicated to dealing with things that are raised via social media, so you are likely to hear back from someone promptly, but also, because other customers will be able to see what you are asking, it is important to them to handle your message well so it doesn’t damage their reputation. It is also usually very easy to find the social media accounts for companies’ customer service teams.

Get Contact Numbers Fast

It can be really difficult sometimes to find the number you need to call for the issue you have on the websites for large companies. Often they try and ‘pre-screen’ issues by making you go through an online troubleshooting questionnaire before suggesting you call, or the only numbers you can find are sales ones. Because it can be such an issue finding numbers for relevant departments quickly, a third party service that can quickly give you customer service numbers exists for UK customers – click here for more information.

Try Web Chats

A lot of businesses now offer web chats for customer service and technical support. This can be a good alternative to phoning, because you’ll be talking to a real person in real time, but won’t have to worry about understanding each other clearly because you’ll be typing. A great advantage to this is that if you need to queue to speak to someone, rather than wasting time like you would waiting on the phone, you can just carry on using your computer with the chat window in the background, and you’ll be alerted when a representative is ready to speak to you.

These are some easy ways to get better and easier customer support when you are dealing with big companies – whether you prefer to call or use the internet.