Tips for Successfully Dealing with Customer Service

Perhaps one of the most frustrating experiences for today's consumer is calling customer service about a problem. While there is no guaranteed path to a satisfactory customer service experience, there are ways to improve the odds in your favor. Here are 12 tips for successfully dealing with customer service.

1. Be Prepared. Have identifying information that the customer service agent is likely to need (such as an account number, invoice number, product serial number or receipt details) at your fingertips.

2. Be Succinct and to the Point. Describe your problem quickly and clearly. Limit the amount of time that your spend complaining about the company, product, service or other issues not directly related to resolving you problem.

3. Know What You Want. Be specific about what you want, whether it is a replacement product, a refund, a repair, a discount or refund, or something else.

4. Be Polite. Customer service representatives are professionals who have been taught to deal with surly customers, but they are human, and you likely to get a better response if you are civil and respectful. No matter how annoyed you become, don't swear at customer service personnel.

5. Document Your Contacts. Documents all your contacts with the company about your problem, including when you called (time and date), the number you called, and how your problem was resolved. Be sure to note whether you are promised a discount or refund, an adjustment to your bill, a call back, etc. and when to expect it.

6. Get a Name. When you first get a customer service representative on the phone ask for a name and/or identification number.

7. Mention Past Calls. If you are making your second (or more) contact with customer service, let the representative know that at the beginning of the call.

8. Understand the Customer Service Agent's Limitations. If your problem is with a company's policy, the customer service representative probably can do nothing more than explain the policy to you.

9. Take out the Middle Man. When one of my friends calls customer service, she always politely asks the first agent to answer the phone to connect her with a supervisor or manager. Her belief is that supervisors or managers have authority that a call-center representative probably doesn't have to waive a charge, adjust a bill, approve a refund, etc. While I haven't had an opportunity to try this myself, she assures me that more often than not it works, saving her a lot of time and hassle.

10. Get a Case Number. At the end of your conversation with customer service, get a case number or some other identifier to make it easier for customer service to find your file if you have to call again.

11. Use Leverage. Before calling customer service, figure out how much money you have spent with the company in the past and how long you have been a customer so that you have the maximum amount of leverage to bring to bear if you have to threaten to take your business elsewhere.

12. Complain. If despite your best efforts, customer service does not satisfactorily solve your problem, leaving you frustrated and fuming, make your disappointing experience know. File a complaint with the company; write a letter to its top executive; and/or notify a consumer advocate, the Better Business Bureau, or a local politician.

Sources:

Alina Tugend, www.nytimes.com, Short Cuts - When "Customer Service" Seems Anything But - NYTimes.com

Kevin VanGinkelwww.essortment.com, Tips for life: how to deal with customer service departments