So everyone wants an 800 number that’s cool and catchy. I have to admit that I tried to get a really cool one for Pronetos, but all the numbers that spelled 1-800-PRONETOS or something akin to that were taken. As it turns out, I’m glad. Here is the problem.

If you are a Blackberry user, like millions of other people across the globe, the numbers on the keypad don’t correspond to the numbers on a Twentieth Century phone:

So when you have a neat-o number like Key Bank (1-800-KEY 2 YOU), I can’t call you! And that’s only the beginning.

The menu hell that you have to go through when you call your bank or credit card company is equally useless.

I called American Express the other day and one of the first things they want me to do is enter the first four letters of my elementary school. I don’t know where that came from - I must have told them to use that as a security password, but I certainly don’t remember it. Anyway - I CAN’T ENTER THOSE LETTERS DUDE I HAVE A BLACKBERRY!

So take a tip from LGM, or the guys at 37Signals who advocate handling their own customer service: offer real customer service with no menu hell and endless phone trees, and for Pete’s sake just get any old 800 number. I’m not going to remember your stupid number any way - I’m going to store it in my Blackberry.