It is a process that makes thousands of consumers seethe every day. You call a “customer service” line to ask a question or complain and are then placed on hold listening to canned music before being passed from section to section with no resolution. Meanwhile, the company that is supposedly helping you pockets your money, often at premium-rate prices.

However, clued-up callers are turning the tables on these companies, which so often tell us that our “calls may be recorded”. It is now the consumer who is taping the conversations in the hope that sales and service staff sharpen up their act when told they are under scrutiny. If they do not, or if promises are not honoured, the caller can send the recordings to the company with a request for action, or even use them in court.

It is legal to record all calls without telling the person you speak to, provided that it is for your own use. But if you intend to share the call with a third party – for use as evidence in a small claims court, for instance – the failure to explain that you are taping the conversation at the start of the call could lead to a civil prosecution.

Nevertheless, EasyCallRecording. co.uk, a new website that enables people to record and download telephone calls for 10p a minute, including the cost of the call, has helped users to score consumer victories against big players including Dell and Excel Airways. The site’s founder, Ben Fry, was inspired by the “terrible trouble” that he and his wife experienced with the call centre staff of two household names.

Natalie Bishop, a 30-year-old estate agent in London, used the service to record a series of calls to British Airways in the run-up to a trip to Barbados with her boyfriend.

When the airline’s check-in staff said that she had not bought upgrades she explained that she had and that files of the relevant telephone calls could be accessed online in minutes. It turned out that the operator had agreed to book the seats but had failed to process the payment. The result: free upgrades worth £600.

Mr Fry advises consumers to record all conversations where money is at stake. Calls to insurers and banks are prime examples. Another of the site’s users, Montague Kobbe, of Clapham, used a recording of a conversation with his bank to prove that he had not requested loan insurance at £14.99 a month after he spotted the unwelcome extra on his bill. The 26-year-old’s e-mail to customer services, with the recording attached, was answered with an instant refund. Service since then has been “excellent”.

Both Mr Kobbe and Ms Bishop like the convenience of Mr Fry’s recording system, which requires no technical knowledge. To use the service dial 0871 2385555. You will be given a PIN code and put through to the number you want to dial. To access the recording, dial 0871 2386666 and enter your PIN. You must register online to download free audio files of calls, which are otherwise deleted after a year. The current pay-as-you-go service allows you to record calls to UK landlines, 0845 and 0800 numbers only. A subscription service set to launch this week will allow members to record incoming calls as well as calls to all British and international telephone numbers, including 0870 numbers, from 12.5p a minute.

However, it is possible to record calls in other ways. The founder of Callsmayberecorded.co.uk, on which people post their recordings to name and shame complacent companies, says that users of Skype, the internet telephone provider, can download software to do the same job. For example, Ecamm’s Call Recorder software costs about £8. Smarter mobile phones, such as the Nokia 6230, can also record calls in a format that can be e-mailed, as can a range of gadgets on sale at Retellrecorders.co.uk.

Investing in a digital recorder at about £200 could be cost-effective if you record numerous calls. A lower-tech solution is an old-fashioned cassette recorder and a telephone-to-recorder adapter. These are available from Maplin, the high street retailer, for about £35.

You could also try bluffing. The mere mention of the process can transform customer service. Neil Fowler, editor of Which?, the consumer magazine, says: “Simply telling a company that you are recording the call could be very effective, whether or not you actually record it.”

Mr Fowler and the Information Commissioner’s Office both point out that customers can also ask companies for transcripts of their telephone calls if these have been recorded.

The great customer service rip-off

- Many customer service lines are on 0845 and 0870 numbers. These are advertised as local and national rate numbers but cost much more to call than standard landlines.

- Which?, the consumer group, says that a ten-minute call from a BT landline to a standard number starting 01 or 02 could cost as little as 3p. The same call to an 0870 number would be about 80p.

- Unlike calls to standard landlines, those to 0845 and 0870 numbers are not included in the fixed-fee packages many people have.

- Organisations that use 0845 and the more expensive 0870 numbers can share revenue from calls with the service provider. The longer you are on the line, the more they make.

- Last year the Department for Work and Pensions made £268,000 from 0845 hotlines to advise those on low incomes about benefits and winter fuel payments.

- Log on to Saynoto0870.com, which lists thousands of 01 and 02 alternatives to 08 numbers. The site also has active forums packed with money saving advice.

- The site currently has a link to a petition on the website of 10 Downing Street calling for a ban on GP surgeries using revenue-sharing numbers for booking lines.

- From next January new rules from Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, will bring 0870 rates into line with standard landline rates.

- In the meantime, ask for a refund whenever you are kept on hold for more than a few minutes or when you are not satisfied with the service you receive.

- Recording your calls could increase your chances of a payout and should ensure speedier service. Invest in a recorder or visit EasyCallRecording.co.uk.