What you need to know
- Google is testing a new feature in Google Search Labs that will call a company's customer service line on your behalf.
- It's called Talk to a Live Representative, and it cuts out the navigation and hold times from your call.
- When a live representative has been connected to the call, Google will call your phone to connect you to them.
Google is trialing a new feature in Search Labs that will initiate a call, wait on hold, and connect to a customer service representative — all on a user's behalf. It's called Talk to a Live Representative, and it can be enabled now in the Google app for Android with Search Labs. However, since it's being tested for now, it won't be available for everyone.
The feature is uniquely designed to help connect users with customer support lines. When you ask Google for a company's customer support number, a Knowledge Panel will often appear in the Search results with that number. Now, with Talk to a Live Representative enabled in Search Labs, a new button will be available below the Knowledge Panel for this feature. It was first discovered by Android feature spotter Sterling in a post on X.
Google says that Talk to a Live Representative can "wait on hold and connect you to a live representative." While this might sound similar to Hold for Me on Pixel, this new functionality is more robust. With Hold for Me, the user has to initiate the call and navigate automated menus to get to the right place. Only then can Hold for Me take over while you are placed on hold.
With Talk to a Live Representative, the entire process — from initiating the call to navigating automated menus to waiting on hold — is handled by Google. When the live support agent has been connected, Google will call you from a previously specified phone number to let you take over the call.
For now, the service is quite limited, only supporting 30 businesses across five categories: airlines, telecommunications, retail, services, and insurance. Here's the full list:
- Airlines: Alaska Airlines, Delta Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United
- Telecommunications: Assurance Wireless, Boost Mobile, Charter Communications, Cricket Wireless, Samsung, Sprint
- Retail: Best Buy, Costco, Gamestop, The Home Depot, Walmart
- Services: ADT, DHL, FedEx, Grubhub, Instacart, Securus Technologies, Stubhub, UPS, Waste Management, Zelle
- Insurance: Esurance, State Farm
You'll notice that this list is far from complete, excluding some of the biggest companies in their respective market. For example, AT&T and Verizon are two of the largest telecommunications providers and are both notably unsupported. However, considering this is just a trial run, it's possible Google could add support for more companies in the future.
To try it for yourself, open the Google app on Android and look for the Search Labs button in the top left corner of the screen. The Talk to a Live Representative experiment should be at the top of the list, if you have access to it. Tap the toggle under Talk to a Live Representative and you'll be all set to try out this feature.
When you begin a Talk to a Live Representative session, you'll be asked a few short questions about why you're calling for support. This will help Google direct your call to the right place. After that, you can forget about the call until it's time for you to take over.
If you are trying to use Talk to a Live Representative outside of a business' support hours, Google will let you know when the support lines are available next.
