A method for supporting an operator of a household appliance, in particular a domestic appliance, by making contact with customer service for the household appliance with the aid of a portable communication device is disclosed. A machine-readable code affixed to the household appliance, in particular the domestic appliance, is detected by an optical detection device of the portable communication device. On the basis of the detected code, a communication link is established between the portable communication device and communication equipment of customer service, specifically automatically via the portable communication device.