Until recently, he said, callers seeking the investor-relations unit were asked to call the company's transfer agent.

In the 15 years that the GE Answer Center has been operating, the number of callers seeking repair advice over the phone has increased, Mr. Keeling said.

Those answering the telephones at the company's offices repeatedly hung up on a caller seeking a response.

Laurie Nicholas Rabie, head of the northeast regional office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit membership organization that is listed in the new directory, said she also used it to help callers seeking information.

A caller seeking a routine appointment at New York University Medical Center in February was offered an appointment in July.

Computer Associates was overwhelmed by callers seeking its new personal-finance software in a giveaway offer.

Callers to the Oiler offices threatened to cancel their season tickets while the Kings' office in Los Angeles was swamped with callers seeking tickets.

A caller seeking to page someone on the A.T.&E. system will dial a phone number or special code assigned to the subscriber.

The percent of callers seeking live assistance who receive it remained much lower than in 2007 and the average wait time for callers continued to increase.

"Refresh my memory where I met you," he told one of the many callers seeking U.S. Open tickets.