Believe me, if you really piss me off I will disconnect you (after warning you of course!) and leave a note on your booking to let others know about your attitude. You have to really earn it though. Good luck!
Just to let you know, e-mails and messages addressed to the CEO are usually answered by the same regular CS Team but are dealt with slightly more delicately.

The best customer service tip I ever received: compliment *every person who helps you* to their manager/supervisor. Most companies with corporate customer service lines (this includes your local services/utilities) keep notes on each phone call. If your last call’s note says “customer sent compliment to supervisor”, the current phone call will go a lot smoother… the representative knows that they can earn positive feedback from you, something they may not get often because most people call when something is wrong, not when it’s right.

Taking just a couple minutes out to do this can save hours of annoyance. Even if the person wasn’t able to help you, compliment their professionalism or politeness. This can make your complaints hold more weight and is often a faster avenue to a service level that can help you.

This technique helped resolve an ongoing service issue I had with our trash/recycling company years ago which was especially helpful because it’s not like you can threaten to go to a different garbage pickup service. It has also definitely gotten me very good service with credit card companies, retail companies, and other utility providers.

I agree businesses should value all customers, but as a customer I’m appalled that people who are willing to be bullies get the better deal.

No discount? Okay, come and get it at your expense. Will you be issuing a refund or do you want me to initiate a charge back with my credit card company?

While I would probably just keep the stove, expecting a discount when receiving damaged (however slightly) merchandise is hardly unreasonable.

In fact, many companies I’ve done business with have given me the option of getting a discount or getting a different unit when things like this happen – without me even having to ask. They want you to take the discount because it’s cheaper for them than an exchange or (god forbid) a return.

This should be a last resort and usually only when money is involved or has been lost. Most companies care about their BBB rating and they will work with you.

I have worked in customer service for 4+ years doing everything from phone, to email, to credit department support. What others have said is true, remain calm, get to the point, have all information ready (and something to write with!), and know what you want.

The tip about not lying is second only to not yelling. We may have more information about your situation than you realize. You do not know our tools. You would not believe how many people flat out lie to me. One other thing I would suggest is if you messed up, accept fault.

If your sister in law makes a collect call to Moscow on your home phone be honest and ask if there is anything that can be done. Do not claim the ghost in your attic must have made the charge, or that the company is hurting so they are sticking things on your bill. All that will get you is labeled crazy person of the day and make you the talk of the office.

Customer service people are human. Sometimes their hands are tied but most of them want to help. If all else fails use this little line “I am sure if you were in my position you would feel….” Works every time.

When I started banking as an adult my income was low and my net worth was $1800. My bank provided lousy service and treated me like I wasn’t a valued customer.

Now I have a net worth high enough that the bank would love to have me as a customer.

It’s not going to happen. They showed me that they didn’t value me as a customer, they only valued the number of dollars they could bring in the door.

My family and friends won’t bank their either. Some had their own experiences, but most just listened to me. That bank cost itself a lot of money because it didn’t want to spend 5 minutes dealing with a customer who wasn’t making them money right that minute.

I’d think long and hard before I’d be so glib about letting a customer walk out the door. Sure, maybe the customer does *only* $20,000 worth of business per year, but that’s today. And he may know another 5 guys who do the same or even one of your top 20.

One of those websites that buy and sell gift cards wouldn’t let a transaction through because I wasn’t in the same geographic location as my billing location.

Well, duh. I travel. I buy things online all the time both at home and away from home, to be shipped to the house, to be shipped to others, or to be downloaded/emailed to me wherever I am. I’ve never had this particular issue happen for any website.

I sent a nice email explaining what happened and asking if there was anything I could do to make a purchase. The customer service response I received was a form letter providing almost the same text the website gave me, but with even less information about why the transaction was rejected. It wasn’t even an attempt to answer any of my questions.

I looked around on their website and the next level up I could find was the CEO. (Plenty of lower level employees were listed, but none related to customer service or my problem.) The gist of the page I read was that the CEO would be happy to receive and personally respond to email.

I wrote him a letter. I reiterated my problem and questions and let him know I was disappointed with the customer service response. I never heard back.

When I did get back home, I logged in again to see if I could make a purchase and paying by credit card was no longer an option. I haven’t been back since though I have spent plenty of money with their competitors.

Honestly, I just don’t understand some companies. You would think they would make an effort to help a willing customer spend money. What I did, didn’t work, but I’m not sure what I could have done differently.

Chat is a good way to log everything. Most big companies have some sort of online chat support setup. I find the support to be pretty good and it gives you a handy log of the conversation you can save as a file.

Don’t demand escalation right off the bat. Some people have decided that they always have to talk to a manager to get anything done. Thats not true and its obnoxious.

Don’t assume escalation will change the answer. For me *usually* when people escalate my issues to my manager then she asks me about it and I have to tell her whats going on and what the answer should be. Then my manager repeats my answer to the customer. Of course if you’re debating a policy then sometimes the front line person can’t change the rules and only the manager can make an exception. So often escalation is a good tactic if you really think you’re in the right or want to make an issue out of it.

Don’t think crappy policies are just stupid and evil. Sometimes a company has rules or procedures that on the outside look like the company is either being mean to you or just incompetent. But there could very well be very good and logical reasons for those policies that the company setup in the first place. For example we sometimes make customers jump through a bunch of annoying hoops to get a replacement part. Well for most customers that just seems like useless bureaucracy and an annoying hassle. But we setup those policies because too many customers were basically making false claims and using our older easier lax process to get free parts out of us.

In one of those cases the return was received but the refund has not been processed after three months, and two emails to customer service have not had a response; can never get through on their customer-service phone line. I’m escalating to a postal letter (with delivery confirmation) this week and may also find them on Facebook.

On the flip side, two pieces of home equipment arrived with parts missing. In both cases, an email to the manufacturer, attaching proof of purchase, resulted in prompt shipment of the missing part at no charge.

Unfortunately, too many companies use their customers as their quality assurance department.

Recently I had to make 3 calls to get my phone company to correctly credit my account for a bill that I had paid. I had cancelled checks for the last 6 month’s bills with their routing number and the date that
it was presented and honored by my bank printed on the check. Each time I called, they refused to even look at the cancelled checks if I mailed them.

I wasted at least one to two hours on the 3 calls with two and one month intervals between at the company’s request for them to research the problem, and with each call having to talk to two different people who did not share information.

I was finally given the credit when I talked to a supervisor and my reply to the
comment:
“Don’t worry, your service won’t be cancelled.”
was,:
“I’m not in danger of being cancelled, you are.”
The tone then changed, and after noting that I had been a loyal customer for 28 years, I was credited with the amount. They still didn’t want to see my cancelled check.

This did leave a bad taste in my mouth, as at that point they didn’t care whether I had paid or not, they just did not want to lose a customer.
I still wonder what kind of a system they have that is better than clear evidence that a bill has been paid, but that takes more than 3 months to resolve the issue.
I can imagine the information that would be needed if in this situation.
If they had sufficient information about each bill paying transaction I could easily design a system which would supply the answer in seconds.
If they did not have sufficient information stored, I don’t see how they could ever definitively answer the question. The best they could do was guess based upon amounts, date ranges, and doubly credited accounts. But this would assume that there was no embezzlement. It would be clearly inferior to using a cancelled check.

This was an exceptional case in that I gave the company 3 chances. Generally, they get one chance if that.

I just wanted to add that, as a former A/R/billing clerk for a law firm, I would never waive a late charge unless the client asked. So if you are disputing a fee or late charge (whether it was your fault or the company’s), it never hurts to ask for a one-time waiver, if you’ve never had one before or haven’t abused the privilege (yes, they keep track of your previous charges, requests, and waivers). I know a former bank of mine allowed one waiver of an overdraft fee per year if you asked for it, which most years we never needed, but was really helpful those few times when circumstances collided and left us with a $25 fee.

And I will agree that I would bend over backwards to help a client who was kind to me, regardless of the issue, whereas someone who was upset or yelling or making personal attacks would get the minimum attention from me to get them off the phone or out of my office because I have anxiety issues and prolonged exposure to difficult situations would reduce me to a quivering mass of tears and possibly a panic attack. Put simply… I am a human being, and I am not the cause of the problem, but right now, I am the only person who can resolve it, so treat me with the decency you would want to be afforded were the situation reversed.

The owner and service guys were very apologetic when they had the make-up visits (and once came after hours), but the fact that it happened twice was enough to set me looking elsewhere, and I’ve been debating whether to talk to the owner just to let him know why and to suggest that they at least implement confirmation calls. However, the guy hasn’t been particularly pleasant and beyond apologizing didn’t go above and beyond, so … I probably won’t!

One last comment, and this goes along with being reasonable, is to only complain if it’s worth it. If you ordered something a size M and got an L, that’s worth it. If you order a new stove and it has a 1/2″ long scratch on the back that no one will ever see because it’s against the wall, don’t ask for a discount.

Had a 10 month battle with Samsung over problems in their shipping department. The notes that my wife had taken during each call saved us.

If you are complaining to a low level functionary, a great technique to to empathize with them, because after all, they often have limited power to resolve your issue, but can either get you to someone who does, or can make an end run around protocol to help you out.

Always tell the truth when complaining, because once you’ve lost your credibility, your chances of a successful resolution go way down.

Sometimes I’ve been that clerk, and abusive customers may not remember me, but I sure remember them! It was difficult seeing these people in other social settings and trying to maintain any sort of respect for them.

We had an issue with a moving company, posted on yelp warning people, were contacted by the company and asked to remove it if they gave us some of our money back, we removed it, and we never saw a dime.

If you are promised something, follow-up if you don’t get it in a timely manner.

Vent in a letter. The person reading the letter has plenty of time to reflect on your issue. If you are calling someone at a 800 # they don’t have the time. Their job is to fix your issue and get you off the phone as fast as possible so they can help the next person.

Please don’t shoot the messenger. Sometimes resolving a problem can be time consuming and the fix is not instantaneous. It might be a few hours, it might be a day. Freaking out at the person who is geniunely trying to fix your problem is just making things worse.

Remember the video JD posted last week “A real person, a lot like you.”