Customer Service

Real customer service is getting more and more rare. Know the latest trends in customer service and which companies are doing the best and worst job providing it.

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Spirit Airlines faces public wrath over dying Vietnam vet's case

The Internet and social media have changed the balance of power between individuals and companies that treat them badly. Spirit Airlines is a company that I routinely trash for their horrendous contempt of the customer that comes from the top down. Spirit is the kind of company you think I ...

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Free apps that free up your "on-hold" times

The common headache of waiting on hold to speak with a customer no service representative is about to get a whole lot streamlined thanks to some free apps.

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Consumer Reports: Best Retailers to Shop

Which retailers do a great job day in and day out making customers happy? The March 2012 issue of Consumer Reports has a new list of who's on top and who flopped.

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Rebates more hassle than they're worth?

My rule for rebates is that I'll buy something with a pain-in-the-rear-end rebate only if it's a decent deal before the rebate and the rebate is just like icing on the cake. But if it's only a deal when you factor in the rebate, that's no deal at all to ...

Free apps eliminate having to wait on hold

Nobody likes to sit on hold with customer no service. I recently wasted 43 minutes doing just this, so the episode is fresh in my mind! But now a couple of free apps could mean I'll never have to wait on hold again. If this has happened to you recently, ...

New website to resolve consumer complaints

Using the Internet to air consumer gripes is an effective tool, but one that's still in the early stages of chaos. Recently there was action taken against the student loan lender Sallie Mae**. When borrowers hit financial troubles and were unable to pay, Sallie Mae was granting temporary deferrments, but ...

Target takes on showrooming

Target has a new approach to deal with showrooming that I believe is a step in the wrong direction. Showrooming is the name for what people do when they go to a retailer, browse around and find something they like. Then they take out their smart phone, take a picture ...

Groubal takes your Internet gripes directly to companies

The Internet has made a huge difference in the way customers air their beefs with companies. Now comes word of a new free site that says they'll take your gripes right to a company. The thing with complaining on the Internet is that there's a certain backlash about it all ...

Best Buy article hits a nerve with disgruntled shoppers, employees

The Internet furor over a recent article about how Best Buy is slowly going out of business has important lessons for all small business owners. When Larry Downes wrote his article, he couldn't have anticipated that more than 2 million people would view it. Nor could he have known that ...

Honda learns a hard lesson about customer service

Amid all the ballyhoo about the class action lawsuit (and subsequent small claims court suit) against Honda, there's a simple story of a company that didn't take care of its customers and now has to face the repercussions. I used to own a 2003 Honda Civic hybrid and averaged 43 ...