How to Get What You Want From Customer Service

Contacting customer service can be a frustrating endeavor. Shift the balance of power into your hands and get what you deserve: efficient and effective problem resolution.

Things You'll Need

• Telephones
• File Cabinets
• E-mail Accounts
• File Folders
• Pads Of Paper
• Personal Organizers
• Computers

Instructions

1. Get organized. Have all of the necessary documents - serial numbers, product IDs, bills and service agreements - readily available before contacting a company or a service provider. In addition to making your contact more efficient, being organized will allow you to articulate your problem better.

2. Have a clear idea of what you would like to accomplish and what you would consider to be the resolution, and outline details and your goal on notepaper.

3. Select the best way to communicate with the company. Visit the customer service representative at a local business, phone the company, write the company or consider using e-mail. In addition to reducing the frustration of navigating the voice response system and being placed on hold, e-mail allows you to keep an electronic record of all communications.

4. Document all communications you have with the company. Your knowledge of the issue and the record of the steps you've taken make you more powerful.

5. Record the time and date of each communication, as well as the name of the representative and the representative's location. Many companies have several representatives working for them.

6. Communicate effectively. Get the problem out on the table as efficiently and effectively as possible. A brief description of the problem will let you and the representative know if you're dealing with the right person.

7. Be prepared to move on to the next authority if the representative is limited in what he or she can do.

8. Ask the representative for a supervisor if you cannot obtain resolution.

9. Follow up. Let the company know what you think of its service after you've gone through all of the necessary channels and resolved your problem.

10. Use your notes, which should be full of information, and send e-mail to the company.

11. Let the company know what it did well and which elements of service could use some improvement.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep in mind that the customer is always right. The preparations you've made will help you state your problem and the desired solution.

• Avoid letting the representative bully you. As a consumer, you're entitled to be heard, and if you've received bad service or a defective product, you're entitled to reimbursement.

• Remember to include the following information when communicating: the name or model number of the product or the type of service you purchased; the date of purchase, transaction or service; the location where you bought the product or received the service; the problem with the item.

• Some companies don't respond quickly enough to e-mail. If your issue needs immediate resolution, consider using multiple channels simultaneously.