Getting Great Customer Service #071

something's broken or you've been offended. Yeah, but then what if you enter a worst case scenario customer service wise, We're going to kind of go into how you handle that as well. And customer service. Matt just kind of fascinates me. You're a total nerd. I am like I could geek out on customer service stories or just how companies that handle customer service particularly well, like a company like Zappos just known for customer or service. I think

that's so cool. So I'm really interested to dive into this today. And Joel, on our recent episode that we did on Before You Buy a House, we had talked about doing the wave test when you when you drive around looking at properties to uh, it was something you came up with, right that. Yeah, I've never heard of it before, and this was a Matt original. Yeah, can I have always done that. We always just wave at

people and kind of gauge how friendly folks are. But some folks wrote in from the Pacific Northwest, or our friend Katie up there in Portland, and then a couple of other folks as well up in the Northeast, like I think it was in New York and in Jersey. We're saying, man, if you were to wave at somebody that you didn't know, you would just get stairs at best, you know. So maybe that's our Southern biased shining through. I don't know, but even still, I think that folks

should try to be a little more friendly. And if that's not something that you're used to seeing, give it a shot because you might be in a neighborhood that is extra friendly. And who doesn't want to live in a friendly neighborhood where everyone's happy to see you? I know I do, totally, Matt. I mean I want to live in a friendly neighborhood. I feel like we live in a friendly neighborhood. Some of our neighbors have reference to where we live as kind of like Mayberry, Like

that's kind of true. And that's kind of what that's what I love about living here. There are always neighbors walking down the sidewalks, interacting with one another. People just kind of know each other and look out for each other, hanging out the front yards. Now that's getting warmer. But what it takes is being intentional. You have to foster that as an individual, and even though it might go against the grain a little bit, maybe worth where you live.

You can be that weirdo, like you can be that friendly versa. You have to be the wave in this world? Do you want the waves to wave back? Right? But I think there is a good point that maybe that is also kind of a distinctly Southern thing. We're a little overtly friendly down here. And actually we had a listener, Darren who wrote in and he said, maybe instead of the wave test, consider asking a mail carrier. And I thought that was just the perfect suggestion. I didn't see that.

What did you say, asking a mail carrier what they think of the area? Yeah? Exactly, Like so asking about, hey, what happens on this street? They're like literally boots on the ground right, eyes on the street, and so they're a perfect person to ask suggestions about what the neighborhood actually looks like day to day, and that specific street, that specific house, what sort of activity are you seeing? And so I think, Yeah, Darren's point is well taken.

If you are looking to buy a home, hanging out and waiting for the mail to come by is not a terrible idea. You might get some great suggestions and some really great thoughts from a mail carrier before you go all in and buy a home. Yeah, I like it, And Jeel, I'm gonna go ahead and introduce this beer. I just sniffed the bottle yet again because this is one of the most delicious, fruity smelling beers I have

ever sniffed in my entire life. We have a beer, our second beer now from our listener Jared out in Texas, and this is an at real rubiside from Jester King, which they make some amazing beers out in Texas. I've never had at the Jester King, so I am very excited about this one. Yeah. I think I've only had one beer from Jester King before in my life, and their reputation totally percedes them. They've got this amazing kind

of farmhouse style brewery down there in Austin. Uh, And it's definitely one of those that I wanna visit for sure in my life, and atro Rubiside in particular. This beer is probably on like my top five beers I want to drink before I die list. So I'm so excited to drink this beer today. I told him you were pumped. He gave a thumbs up or something. Yeah. So thank you, Jared, seriously so much for donating this beer.

I can't tell you how happy it makes me. Yeah, Austin, they didn't They just have a south By Southwest or something. I don't know. I've never been, but want to check it out. Yeah. Here, it's a great town. By the way, I just had my first sip. Can't wait to tell everyone what we think about this beer at the end of the show. Quick hot take though, tastes like raspberry jam, you know, beautiful way Okay, Joe, Let's let's get nerdy. Let's talk about some customer service. Let's do it. Okay.

So part of the reason that we felt like we needed to tackle this topic on the show was so many people take what companies give them they failed to advocate for themselves. This can often result in you paying more than you need to unnecessary fees. And let's just state this up front. Not every company is going to deliver great customer service, and doing business with well reviewed companies is gonna nip a lot of customer service issues in the bud. But at times also you're gonna have

to do business with companies based on other factors. Potentially they're the only one close by where you can get the item you need. There are all sorts of reasons you might have to do business with a company that

isn't well known for customer service. And because so many times in our lives we have to do business with companies that might not necessarily be well known for customer service, it's really helpful to know how to advocate for yourself and how to get good customer service in light of that. So this podcast, we're going to cover a lot of tips for how to get good customer service and specific avenues that you need to take in order to make

that happen. Yeah, Joe, it's worth mentioning that not all businesses need to have really great customer service all the time, right, Like I think of Zenny and we talk about them all the time, but I wouldn't really expect them to have great customer service because they just sell cheap eyeglasses. They're the cheapest out there. You can't win it everything, right, Like they're gonna win the game when it comes to

getting really really affordable glasses. Yeah, it's kind of like when if you've been in a mechanic shop and they've got the sign that says you can get it two out of three ways, good, fast and cheap, right and Zenny, it's hitting two of those right. It's pretty definitely cheap, and you know they're solid eyeglasses, but you're not getting

great customer service at the same time, right, Exactly. The more expensive a product is, or if there's a service that's more personal, certainly that would require a higher level

of customer service. Like I think about realtors. You're spending close to maybe two months of your life if not more, with them, talking to them on the phone, texting, meeting with them in person while you're looking at properties, like you really get to know them, and so you want to make sure instances like that that that you do

have a high level of customer service. I think of wedding photography like that's something that I do weddings in general, very high levels of customer service are expected, and so I think that's certainly worth noting because there's going to be companies out there that don't provide good customer service. You just want to make sure that they've got other great things going for them in that vein, Matt, let's

kind of give a loose definition of customer service. It's going to depend on the company, right, What getting good customer service from that company means. You mentioned Zenny optical getting your product quickly and not being broken. It's like the only requirement rights, that's really the only requirement from Zenny. You're not going to have this amazing personal interaction with somebody from Zenny. That's just not how they do it.

If you go with the company like Warwie Parker to get your eyeglasses, you can expect a higher level of customer service. You should also just expect to pay more at the same time, Right, Yeah, it's a fine balance because often times we talk about trying to get the best deal and try not to be cheap. You know, we're trying to be frugal, but a lot of times with that price tag comes a level of customer service.

That they're trade offs, and so you know that sure within this example we're talking about any, buts Any, there's not gonna be someone standing there showing you the different frames and kind of fitting it to your face. However, they're gonna be significantly cheaper than they are with Warby Parker. Yeah, so I feel like my reaction from not getting the product as desired from Zenny and from Warby Parker, I would have two different reactions, honestly, you know, I would

try to get the situation rectified in both cases. But my way of going about it might just be a little bit different based on their reputation, based on their price point, and based on how they interact with customers today. But ultimately, you want someone to treat you with respect and kindness. You want help when you have an issue, and you want that company to to make it easy on you too, so that you don't have to jump through a million hoops in order to get your problem solved.

That's right, you know, And when there is a problem a company being able to provide great customer service, that comes down to the individual, like the individual that you're talking to or that you're meeting with, because honestly, so much is up to them as an employee to figure out what it is that you need or what it is that you're looking for, because in one instance, getting great customer service might be getting your money back, getting a refund, or if you really love the product, it

might be getting that replacement because hey, I really like the product, I just want to replacement this one was ship damaged. In other instances, man, it might be up to that person to understand that the customer is just looking to vent, like they're just mad about something, and there may not be anything hard or tangible that the

customer service representative might be able to provide. Great customer service doesn't always come down to what can be monetarily given or what product can be given to a customer. Sometimes it can be just listening to the customer. I think that's a huge part of it. And in some instances, I think it might be the customer looking for answers. They might want to learn. They might have some questions as to you, like why the product behaves this way,

or you know, why does this service include this? There might be things that weren't explained on the front end, which is also customer service, right like the sort of the sales proces says, but when there is a problem, it might be up to the customer service representative to figure out what it is that's wrong and make sure that the customer understands and that they are educated on

the product. Yeah, and so many of us Snowmatt too, that the worst part of not getting good customer service can be the time that we waste trying to get the problem solved, whether it's time spent on hold with the cable or internet company with that terrible hold music, how does it go something exactly like that. Yeah, you've got the Melanie down. Yeah, so there's totally that. I've

totally heard that before. We've all been there music. Yeah, And so it's that's one of the toughest parts of a bad customer service is waiting to even talk to somebody, and we're going to get into that in this show too. Basically, it can be emotionally draining as well as draining on your time, potentially draining on your finances at the same time.

So when we do take steps to have a problem fixed, it's helpful if we can find the easiest route to take that's going to eliminate some of that emotional and time drainage and just kind of the annoyance that comes with trying to get good customer service. Yeah, I think that's honestly the biggest reason and why I don't advocate

for myself. Like when there's times when I know that something's wrong but I don't do anything about it, it's because I just don't have the time for it, or I just don't have the patients because I'm thinking, what are the chances of this getting fixed? And a lot of times you know it's it may not get fixed, or you might get a discount code for the next time you placed an order with them. There's the thought that with larger companies that that may not work out

in your favor. But yeah, like you said, when when you do take the steps, you advocate for yourself and to try to have a problem fixed, like you wanted

to work. If I want to dedicate any part of my day towards getting something replaced or getting a discount because something showed up scratched, you want to know that it's gonna work right, Like you want to know that the steps you take are going to be worth your time, worth your energy, that it's going to be an efficient use of your time and that in the end, yeah, you're gonna get results, totally true, Matt. Results are what it's all about at the end of the day when

it comes to getting good customer service. And so let's talk about the strategies that you can implement into your life in order to get better customer service on the regular right after the break, All right, Joel, and now the first step to get great customer services make sure that you're doing business with great companies whenever possible, right, Yeah,

all the time. You want to read reviews, you want to make sure that you're doing research, and even better, hopefully you've heard about that company or that retailer from someone else who's used them. Both of those. Uh, those are two great steps that you can take when you're vetting a company or service. Yeah, there's some companies in particular, they just have great reputations for stellar customer service locally

in your area and then nationally as well. So for instance, Matt, we've talked about Aldi before as being a great grocery store, not just because they have some of the lowest prices, but guess what, Aldi has the sweet double Guarantee, which means if you buy an Aldi product and you don't like it, you can return it and not only do you get your money back, but you also get a replacement item. So that's like great customer service right there. Well, on top of that, I think they just retitled it

or they renamed it. I think it's called twice as nice. That's nice. Maybe I don't know. That's cute. Yeah, that's cute. Aldi just also treats their employees really well. So you're bound to get better customer service at and Aldi than you are at one of the other major grocery chains. That people are just nicer and more helpful, and and

that's because their company treats them well. There are so many other companies, like I can't list them all that have great reputations for customer service, but just a couple of real quick costco ll being those are companies that have great return policies that treat customers well. Have you ever made a return man at like an electronic store and they're asking for all sorts of identification. They don't trust you. It's just a huge pain to do that.

It makes you not want to go shop there. It makes it makes you feel like that company thinks that you're a criminal, and that sucks. That's bad customer service. So anytime you can do a little bit of research about a company before you do business with them and kind of know their customer service patterns, obviously not applicable in every scenario, but any time that you can, it's really helpful. That's part of why I shop at Aldi, why shop at Costco. Their reputation for customer service just

precedes them. Jel And you mentioned like companies treating their employees well. Good customer service I think is indicative of

how an employee feels about the company. Because if you have an employee who's excited to help you, or they're talking about the product right even like the customer service even before the sale, because they just want to help you out, Like that's customer service as well, not just fixing the problem, but on the front end, just chatting you up, like talking about your needs, what is it that you're looking for. When you have someone that's really pumped to be there, it makes you feel good about

the company because clearly they do care. And if they hated their job, if they hated the company, I think the chances are that they would be you know, going above and beyond for you, the customer would be slim. Yeah. I think anytime a company offers their employees a sense of autonomy and a sense of buy into the company, I think that person, that individual, that employee is going to serve the customer better. So I think when you get bad customer service at a place, just know too

that the that employee is probably disgruntled. They're probably not being treated very well by their employer. Because companies that do treat their employees well, Matt, you're right, You're exactly right, those employees are then going to treat their customers well. That's that's how it works. That, Yeah, it trickles down right completely. And so the next tip that we're gonna cover is just to make sure that you are being

a good customer. And this means not asking for an unreasonable things Like I think about Costco, how they have the pretty much unlimited return policy on a lot of items, on a lot of items, right, But and so technically, like you can buy something from Costco and ten years later I didn't like these chips that about ten years ago, sorry Costco, but you can return them and according to company policy, they have to accept it, they have to

take it back. But that's just not cool. Certainly, a big part of customer service is how they treat you in that interaction. And I think the fact is they may not treat you as well if they feel like that you're taking advantage of the system, if you're doing something that they feel is sort of uncouth and just not cool. Well, you know what, Like, you're not going to get great customer service if you're trying to return some tires to Costco after you've been driving on it

for five years, which you could totally technically do. Just don't be that guy, don't be that girl. And I think, actually, Matt, that those bad apples, those bad customers. In recent years, we've seen companies that have great return policies start to make their return policies just a little less consumer friendly.

And that's because of the people that to return their tires after driving on them, or someone who wears the shirt for twenty years and returns it to l L being because of they're awesome in return policy, and so that just kind of ruins it for everyone, and it makes companies less likely to offer great customer service. So be a good customer. Right be someone who doesn't take advantage of the rules, but who uses something like a nice return policy from a company in the way that

it's intended. Don't ask for unreasonable things. That's just crappy. We tossed this topic out in our Facebook group as well, Right Customer Service, and the overwhelming response that everyone kind of pitched in and said that this is what you need to do, is to make sure that you're being nice. Make sure that you're being a decent human being, because humbug like nobody wants to help out a jerk, become the type of person that someone actually does want to help.

The language I saw being used that multiple folks used was that when you have a customer who is being nice and friendly, that they want to delight and surprise and go above and beyond for that customer, because you know what, like a lot of times folks do come in and they're just not happy, they're complaining and they're honestly taking it out unfairly on the customer service representative or whoever it happens to be in front of them, and if you can just be nice, but do make

sure you're clearly communicating with them as see what your problem is, well, the likelihood of you getting helps and even getting something else thrown on that maybe they wouldn't have done anyway. If if you're being considerate of them in their time as well, well, chances are you're going

to be way more likely to be helped. Yeah, if you walk into a situation where you're hoping to get a problem resolved and your reaction is human worker, fix my problem, as opposed to making a personal connection with a sense of understanding that they're not the person, even in all likelihood, who caused the problem to begin with.

If you ask them even just how how their day has been going, or even just reference their first name, those little bits of kindness, uh, treating someone like a human in the interaction, even if you've been disappointed and the company hasn't lived up to your expectations, you received an item that was broken, the communication back and forth just has been less than stellar. When you do get someone on the line, treating them with kindness goes a

long way in you getting your problem resolved. So being a good customer, realizing that people have bad days and taking a few deep breaths before you make that phone call, even if you've had the most painful experience can be really big in actually getting your problem solved versus it lingering and steam coming out of your head at the same time. Yeah. In our Facebook group, Bryce, he mentioned not just being kind, but kind of going over and

above being kind. You know. He mentioned chatting up customers back massages that we're talking about for the customer services, you can get all up in their space see how they respond. But he talked about how customer service can be soul crushing work in particular, like call centers, that's

all they do. They just sit there and they just get chewed out call after call if you take a minute to actually talk to them and like you said, like treating them as a human versus seeing them mess with of a tool to like, okay, you are between me getting what I wants and you know where I am right now, instead looking at them as an actual human being. Instead, like he talked about how he gets that v I P treatment and not only does this problem get solved, but he kind of comes out ahead

even more. I love that great tip. Bryce. Also, don't forget to tell the truth, don't make things up. I think that can make a customer service experience even harder if you have embellished a problem or you haven't been completely for coming in what happened. So be a good customer. But let's say it's hard to find a human at a company. It's maybe a bigger company, and you just

are having trouble even getting someone on the phone. Well, I think it's important to mention sites like get human dot com, Dial a Human, and lucy Phone they can

help you find an actual person. And lucy Phone is actually a really cool service, Matt, because what they'll do is you put in your phone number and they will essentially wait on hold for you and then call your phone when the customer service representative picks up, so you don't have to hear that really terrible music that you and I just try to do a rendition of a little bit earlier. You're not waiting on hold. Your phone rings when the customer service rep is ready for you,

ye juel. In specific to lucy Phone, I love on their site that they have how much time that they saved their users over eighty four years of their life. That's incredible. I love that, and it's worth noting to that different sites like get human or dial a Human they may not have like special secret numbers or anything

like that. Some of them might depending on the company that you're trying to look up, but it's just a great data as a great sort of aggregate site where you can look up any phone number for any company, even if you can't find it on that specific company's website.

But often they have those prompts listed out, yeah, exactly, which is so nice because you don't have to wait through hearing every single it might take five or six button pushes or maybe even more to get to that customer service rep that you're looking to find, like a minute each as well, so you're looking at you know, five six minutes and just a bunch of annoyance. So get human. If you can find the prompts before you even get there, or even just a number that helps

you reach someone more quickly, that's that's awesome. I love that. The next thing we're gonna talk about is one of our favorite sort of avenues for getting great customer service, and that's using social media to reach out to companies when you have a problem. And Twitter is quickly becoming the best way to get in touch with companies, but you can also reach out to Facebook either way. Both of those can help you get in touch with the sort of the most savvy and helpful folks that work

for that company. And the fact is is that these companies they don't want negative questions or negative press sitting out there, whether it be on their Facebook page or whether it be an act that has have been responded to. They want it to look good. And so when you have a negative experience or you have a complaint that's sitting out there floating like, people see that and that's something that they want to nip in the butt as

quickly as possible. You're not typically making that phone call in front of three or four of your friends, but when you are posting on social media, you are, and they're aware of that, and so they're trying to make best use of their resources. Yeah, I believe someone in our Facebook group mentioned Facebook Messenger. That's quickly becoming another place where companies reply to customer service complaints. I personally

have used Twitter a lot. I feel like it is super helpful, even just the d M version of Twitter, for example, at Comcast cares and at A T T Cares. If you're having issues with bigger companies like that, they often have actually specific handles, or even if they don't have a separate handle, that's where they have kind of their best customer service team. It's usually kind of a

savvier bunch that can make things happen more quickly. Often, the people that work in customer service on the social media side, they're more empowered to make decisions to to benefit you when you have a problem, So turning to social media is a great way to go. I just wanted to give an example, Matt. I've talked about on the show before, a company Rapify that I used to wrap my car and it was great. I made some money by putting a car wrap on my car and

driving it around. A lot of people made fun of me for it, but you know what, it was Okay. I made some money on the side, and I'm totally fine with that. But when that campaign ended and I took my car in in order to get the deco removed, there was just a minor issues. The person taking it off broke my rear wiper blade, and I was emailing back and forth with someone and then they just kind

of ghosted me. They stopped responding. Man, not cool. Yeah, and I just I responded like three or four more times and was having trouble getting anyone to acknowledge me. So finally I took to Twitter and I said, hey, Rapify, what's going on. I've been emailing with the same person and and they just stopped replying. Can you help me get my problem solved? Man, that problem was fixed that day. It was super helpful. So I wasn't looking to shame

them initially. And I think sometimes customers go to social media too quickly to make a company feel terrible about what they've done. They'd like to get their problem resolved. More than anything. They want to make that company feel some pain, and they think social media is a way to do that. I think if you approach it in that manner on social media, you're unlikely to get served in the way that you want. But if you approach it from a way of just asking for help, that's

a much better way to go about it. But yes, social media is one of the best avenues for actually getting some movement on the problem that you're facing. Yeah. Another quick example, back in the day, when you and I used to host our own podcast, well, like the company that would store the file like the digital files and distribute you know, our audio files that company, we're

having an issue with them. We had reached out earlier that day and hadn't heard back in an hour or two, and so I was like, hey, let it hit him up on Twitter, sent out a nice tweet, and within nine minutes they responded and we had our issue being worked on, which was amazing. That's the kind of response that I wanted to see because in our case there

is a more major issue. I think our podcast was down or something, but it was something that needs to be resolved very quickly, and hopping on Twitter like that, you know, with a nice tweet like that, was a very effective way to see quick results. And actually I just thought of one more example. Atlanta three on one is an awesome Twitter account that Atlanta, the City of

Atlanta has. It's like at a t L three one one, and they constantly feel people's requests if they see like a water main break or the sidewalks busted, and they respond to folks typically like within the hour. And by the way, I just saw in there that bolk pickup is going to be changing when it comes to our trash. So heads up, they're putting useful information out there. So I thought that was a unique way that not only is a company, but an actual city is using social

media to keep people happy. Great customer service from your local government. I love it, Matt. Another important thing to consider when you're striving to get great customer service is to document your conversations. If you're on the phone with an employee from a company and your promise something, it's

really important to ask for that in writing. A lot of people, in particular with the big Internet and cable companies, have issues being told something by a customer service representative, but with no written proof, you're just gonna run into a brick wall all day and when it comes to actually getting that thing. So asking for something in writing when you're on the phone is super helpful. Or at least ask for that person's name and employee number. That

can be helpful as well. If you're doing an online chat with someone, which I love online chats, personally print that online chat out when you're done. If you're emailing, keep your email record so that you can point back to it when you're talking to potentially a different customer service representative, or even just refreshing someone's mind. Keeping a record is super helpful If you don't have a print at home, and you don't want to print that out

or you can't. Even taking a screenshot is incredibly helpful, and a Mac that's super simple. I know, it's shift command three and that takes the screenshot of the entire screen right there. So that way you've got that proof and then you can hold the company to what they

said that they would actually do. On the note of asking for their name, a listener in our group, Joe, he actually mentioned to ask what their name is when you're talking to them, just from having a conversation, and to write their name down so you can actually use it. And that one's totally stuck out to me because I

have a terrible habit of not remembering people's names. So yeah, when I saw that, I thought, oh man, that's totally something I could do, because again, it comes down to being human, and when you're calling somebody by their actual name, they're gonna be more responsive to you because, you know what, that's what their friends call them as well, or probably that's probably what their friends called them. That's a great tip.

I hadn't really thought about that, but writing down the name and then using it throughout the conversation just helps reinforce that that person is a person and not just a tool to get what you want to accomplished. Right. Another thing that you should consider is escalating if need be. We've talked on a prior episode about the customer retention department being the only place that's actually going to consider

lowering your internet or cable bill. Looking for the right department or asking to speak to a manager in case you run into a roadblock, that's gonna be really helpful for you, whether it means actually using the word escalate, asking in particular to speak to a manager, or asking if you're even in the right department. That's a way for you to get your customer service issue addressed if you keep butting your head against the system. CHEDO in This last tip that we're going to cover before the

break isn't something that I've actually done. You wrote this down, so I'm gonna see if you have personal experience with it. But you mentioned to try contacting like the vice president you know, or maybe like the founder of a smaller company by like looking them up on the website, figuring out their name, and then looking them up on LinkedIn and then maybe like shooting him a message through LinkedIn or something like that. Have you done this yourself? So

I have U only a couple of times. It's one what you've done more than what maybe, So it's not something it's not something you want to abuse. But if you do find yourself like running into an issue continually with the same company, typically the person that started it, if it's a smaller company or a vice president of a larger company, those are the kind of things they

want to know about. They're not always up to speed on exactly what's happening in the customer service call center or or with the employees that are responding via chat, and so reaching out to someone kind of who's a little bit higher up in the company, that can be a play that you make. That's kind of a last resort that you don't use often. Yeah, I guess that's kind of how you go about plant all the big

guns exactly. Yeah. So when one time, Matt, this is a story for another day, but my niece on Leaf was stolen and I thought that the thief has stolen my charging cord and not return that when when I got the car back. Those charging chords, like six dollars are super expensive, and so I reached out to Nissan to try to ask if they had any sort of program, any sort of way of giving me a huge charging chord, anything like that, and I was getting bubb kissed like

nobody was responding at all. So I figured it was worth emailing someone who I thought it was a decision maker, and I finally heard back on LinkedIn from a vice president that worked for Nissan that who was super helpful. It's not something I want to do every day because I don't want to bother people that have more important things going on. You could also look up their address and show up at the front door in the morning and knock. Right. That's a really good tip, Matt, that's

a really good tip. All right, Maybe you don't do that because that could get you arrested or something like that, but but a LinkedIn message or an email to to someone in charge can be really helpful. If you email Jeff Bezos from Amazon, you might not get any traction, right, but if you email one of his under links, one of his vice presidents, you might actually get some movement. You might see something happen if you have a customer

service issue. So that's why I mentioned the vice president thing. So I love that you did that. Man, it never hurts to ask. And so after the break, we're gonna cover what to do in a worst case scenario of terror a customer service stick around for that's as well as some other tips and considerations. Right after the break, all right, mat than just a minute, we're going to get to those worst case scenarios. Where do you turn if you're unable to get any sort of customer service movement?

So we'll get to that in just a second, But first, it is going to be different when you're trying to get customer service movement from a small, local company versus a national company, right, And that can be good or bad depending. There are often fewer mechanisms in order to get good customer service when you're dealing with a local company. I had an issue the other day where I asked to speak to a manager and the person I was speaking to was the manager. And that's kind of what

happens sometimes. Jokes, right, that's kind of what happens sometimes in a smaller, more local company. There's just not much recourse if you can't connect with that single individual. But there's also the chance for more humanity when you're talking to a local company a national company, there's a there's a higher chance that you're going to need to find the right phone number or you social media. That just depends oftentimes right on the size and the structure of

the company you're dealing with. And Jel, you mentioned social media. Let's again go back to that, right, Let's envision that you've exhausted all the different options that we've kind of covered up until this point. Honestly think going back to social media and kind of doing a form of online picketing is the next step to take. Yeah, if you're

getting completely stone walled, that might be your only option, right. Yeah, Seriously, like complaining on social media because it's out there and because everyone sees it, and that if they don't address it, they look bad. But those social media complaints can honestly be the nudge that a company needs. I'm thinking of United Airlines after they treated several of their passengers very poorly and busted them up. There's a whole movement where

folks were taking over the United Journey hashtag. That was the hashtag that United Airlines had come up with for an advertising campaign, and it's totally backfired because shortly after that was when they dragged that doctor off the off the flight, you know, and they totally remember that bleeding from his face. It's terrible, it's not good at all.

But folks were claiming that and kind of repurposing it basically talking about just how terrible United Airlines was and even coming up with new hashtags, like there was one that was hashtag new United Airlines mottoes where folks were essentially writing in with their own sort of slogans based on the current news and just all the terrible things

that United Airlines was doing. You know. Hopefully they learned their lesson and will be able to kind of move past that and then never have an incident like that in their history. But that was a way for the people to speak collectively and say, hey, this is terrible, Like, we do not stand behind this, We did not like how you're treating your customers or just people in general. It's just a terrible way to behave as a company. I guess while we're bashing United, let's do another one.

There was a guy back in the day who had his guitar broken by United Airlines and he came up with catchy YouTube video where he wrote a song about it on a guitar that wasn't broken by United Airlines, I guess, and that was that just went viral. And so they're just these ways in the worst case scenario where you can use social media kind of to your benefit.

We mentioned earlier about reaching out for help, and now this is a case in which you're kind of picking and letting people know that you've had a bad experience. In my opinion, that's more of a last resort, but it is a step that can be helpful if you are experiencing just complete inattention to your issue. Yeah, at that point, you're not trying to get your problem fixed anymore. Essentially, what you're doing is you're warning other customers. You're saying, hey,

watch out for these guys because they suck Matt. And that's online picketing, But there's an in person version of picketing as well, right where you can actually stand in front of a local business on a weekend, right and hurt their sales and hurt their reputation by doing some picketing in front of a business. And I feel like, again that is a last resort sort of option for you. But if you have let's say, body card dealership and they pulled a fast one on you. And this happens

all over the country. They say, actually, you don't qualify for that loan at six percent, even though you've signed all these papers. Now you have to come in and resign this paper where you have a fourteen percent interest rate. Let's say you've had something terrible happened to you, you should consider at least picketing in front of that business with a sign telling the truth about what happened. Yeah, you have a legal right to do that. Exactly, you

can't be on their property. You need to be on a sidewalk or at least you know your local municipalities rules when it comes to picketing. But no, you're right to the same time, and if you need to stand up for yourself and you need to pick it in front of a local business letting people know what happened to you. I think in the case of something severe and egregious that a company has done to you, it's a worthwhile consideration. Yeah, this is also something I've never done.

Have you ever picketed before? No? Never pick it. Yeah, I'm glad I've never gotten to the point to where I felt like I needed to do that, I know, yeah, but I've seen people doing it before. Have you. I don't think I've even seen one do that before? Really, Yeah, with a sign, and that happens oftentimes, right Matt In Like union negotiations with an employer too, have you seen have you seen people? Yeah? Yeah, I remember seeing folks back in the day in front of public's. Yeah, came

on you for not negotiating fairly with the union. That that kind of stuff happens. And so I think for employees trying to get good customer service from their company, right they they chose to pick it. I've seen people standing in front of individual businesses with a sign and the key is too. Like I said, no, your municipalities rules, abide by them and at the same time tell the truth. So whatever you put on your sign, no slander, no misinformation.

You want to make sure you're being above board and telling people exactly what happened and saying it's discinctly so that people driving by can actually read it. And again and keep in mind that this is less about you getting good customer service at this point and helping your fellow consumer or your friends to know that they are

not going to get good customer service themselves. And you know what, maybe though, if a business, if you're hitting them where it hurts in the pocketbook, driving new customers away from their doors, that can actually sometimes be the impetus for them to act angels. So beyond picketing, you know what you've gotten to where things are just gone really south and you think maybe even the company has done something illegal. Now is the time that you can

turn to different government agencies. Groups like the cfp B, which is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or the o c C which is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Those are both going to be financial related. So if you're having issues with a credit card company or a bank, you know, anything financial related like that, those are some of the agencies that you can go to.

But then just like the Federal Trade commission or insurance departments for health commissioners, there are a number of different federal agencies that you can turn to, and that's their job, like their job is to regulate these different companies and these industries and they want to hear from you. Yeah, we'll put links to a few of these on the show notes, and in particular, the Consumer Financial Production Bureau

which was created a few years ago. It's not quite as effective as it was under the former boss of the CFPV he was awesome. But still there's a great place to submit a complaint, and I've heard good reports of people that do file a complaint on the CFPB or on O c C against the bank occ dot gov that the banks actually take action pretty quickly. So it's not a place where your complaint goes into the

ether and is unheard. It actually works, not only so that the federal government knows what's going on with these businesses, but so that action will be taken at the same time on your specific case. YEA. So filing a complaint with the proper government entity. For instance, if you're having a problem with your insurance company, you report them to your state's insurance department. And always reporting a company to

the Better Business Bureau can be effective as well. Yeah, Jill, you know good customer service it speaks volumes about that company, and you know the different companies that address a problem well with a thorough response can actually help create a more loyal customer and honestly, for customers, sometimes you just have to know who and how to ask and hopefully we've given some helpful tips to get the result that

you're looking for. Yeah, Matt Crystal on our Facebook group mentioned getting great customer service from Wayfair after she had encountered a problem. And companies that respond well to people even in the middle, in the middle of an issue, fix it with a smile on their face. They're much more likely to have a customer for life even than just a customer that had a great experience from the get go. So it's important for companies and customers to know the problem resolution is a way for a deeper

relationship to be built. And then lastly, it's important to not to not forget to say thank you, leave that great review, take that survey as well if you know so you can get some feedback. You know, just like you would tip a good waiter, you want to let that customer service person know that they've done a good job. And maybe on social media, that means making sure you

follow up with that initial tweet and thanking them. You know, it's not like you're just putting that message out there and letting it sit like they're gonna respond and yeah, follow it up with man, thanks so much for resolving my issue, or you know you guys are the best. They're trying to make sure that you're a happy customer and make sure that you're representing that well to your followers and your friends, no doubt, buddy. All right, let's get back to the beer that we had on the

show today. Matt listener Jared sent in a trial Rubicite from Jester King, and like I said, this was like a bucket list beer for me, and it didn't disappoint. This was incredible. I mentioned that it tasted kind of like raspberry jam. It totally did. There were so many raspberries in this. It had a perfect dry sourness to it and just very fruit forward. This is a beer that I'll remember for a long time. It was it was. It was really that I'm with you man like it.

It had tons of raspberry flavor. But typically you think, okay, if it's gonna have tons of fruit, you expected to be sweet, like sweet and sticky and just kind of just over the top, like you're sniffing a glade plug in or something like that. It's like, let's just as gross. It's what you do on from time to time. Maybe you never sniff glade plug ins as a kid, don't think so Okay, well that was just me. But with this you could tell that there was tons of fruit

in it. But yeah, well, like you said, there is a dryness to it and a balance that I mean, I would almost say it is unmatched. Yeah, this is an incredibly balanced beer. I wouldn't say that this beer is incredibly unique in any sort of way, like it didn't have like some kind of crazy twist on it, or it didn't have like this odd flavor that you

just totally weren't expecting. It's just an amazing barrel aged raspberry sour and they're doing it better than anyone else out there, you know, like it's just a standard awesome beer. Like there's no gimmicks, there's no games. Yeah, just that style that they were going for, done up perfectly to a t. Right, you can't beat that. So good, so good, So looking forward to having more from Jester King one

of these days. Yeah, so sincerest thanks to Jared for donating last episodes amazing beer and also this complete gem from Jester King Joel. Before we go to long, let's go ahead and do our final thoughts and wrap this episode up on don't you kick it Off? All right, buddy. We're talking about getting great customer service today, and one of the most sure fireaways to ensure that you're going to get decent customer service, not in all cases, but often is by being kind. And this was reflected in

the responses we got in our Facebook group. No one wants to help a jerk be the type of person that a customer service representative actually wants to help. Not only do you want to be kind, but you also want to be persistent. Certainly start off with those phone calls or those emails, but then beyond that, if your issues are not getting resolved, to make sure that you're documenting your conversations. You want to be able to build off of those discussions that you've had in order to

work towards resolving those issues. And then don't forget to escalate appropriately. You don't want to come in guns blazing with this incredibly minor customer service issue. If you you want to go, you want to go in the appropriate route. That probably starts with just finding a human to talk to, and Matt, we mentioned some sites that make it easier for someone to actually reach a human at the company

that they're looking to get customer service from. But if you need to go even further, you might need to talk to someone in the customer retention department or asked to speak to a manager, and ultimately it might get to the point you're doing some online picketing or you actually have to submit a complaint with the government entity. That's not the first place to turn, but it is nice to know that they're there if the problem continues to persist. All right, Joel, that is going to be

it for this episode. Just like you mentioned, we're gonna have those links up in our show notes up on our website at how to money dot com. And if you like this podcast, we would encourage you to submit a review, and don't forget to hit the subscribe button while you're there. And if Matt and I haven't done as great of a job as you would like, send us an email. You can go to how to money dot com slash do better. We read everything that comes

in there until real quick. I think it's worth mentioning to. We need to thank all of our listeners out there who have left awesome reviews for us over at Apple Podcasts. Those help get the word out. We are incredibly thankful for those, so thank you to everyone, many many thanks. We appreciate it, Joel. Until next time, best friends out, Best friends Out,