If I hear the phrase " your call is important to us" while waiting for my carrier to answer their helpdesk number for hours, I'll go even crazier......
IME, most carriers run a bare-bones operation and expect callers to give up. That's of course if you can get through over the networks which seem to have unexplained outages. And when was the last time that you got a refund for lack of service...?

Don't forget, you can always get a passing ragged urchin (you'll recognise them from the bow legs due to rickets and the sooty covering from sweeping chiminees) to take your message to the nearest telegraph office for a farthing.
One other thing - you must never mention the name Dick Van Dyke in London, otherwise you'll be hounded by a baying mob with pitchforks and faming torches