How to get further with customer service

You catch more bees with honey than you do with vinegar. That old saying is so cliché but so true, especially when it comes to dealing with customer service representatives. Sadly, I’ve seen so many people feel that yelling, screaming, swearing, and general baby like temper tantrum throwing will get them whatever they want.

With me and many people I know it doesn’t. In fact, I’m less willing to help someone acting like a first grader who had the ball taken away from him.

I spent over 20 years in retail environments and currently in a support position. I’ve done it all, bagger or cashier at a grocery store, management, support, customer service, sales, technical sales, IT, and so on. I’ve been yelled at. I’ve been sworn at. Insulted, threatened, harassed, chased, attacked, etc. All that ever got these people was anything from being asked to leave the store to being escorted out by the local police department in handcuffs.

How can you get customer service to work with you? That’s actually pretty easy and would go miles further than yelling and screaming.

First, be polite. This is the most important. The person you are talking to, whether over the phone or in person, is actually a person, not a computer. They have feelings and are most likely not the cause of the reason why you are talking to them. They didn’t make your computer crash nor did they make you drop that call so don’t blame them. I’ve personally driven over 20 miles out of my way (each way) to help out someone because they were respectful and polite to me.

Second, body language. Be open and non threatening. Don’t stand there and cross your arms, stare them down, grit your teeth. This will only create a tense situation. Be relaxed, make eye contact (not daggers) when you are talking to them. Be non threatening.

Next, know your facts. Nothing will blow your credibility faster than inaccurate information coming out of your mouth. It easy sets the representative you’re talking to at an advantage and they will think that if you can’t get the facts straight. Know what you are talking about and what it means.

Also, don’t lie. We hate it when people lie to us and we know when people lie to us. If you’ve had your computer in for service several times before, trust me, I will look up the previous tickets. Don’t lie about time frames, outages, and the number of times you’ve called. We have that information handy so we know. We know when you’ve been in for service, we know about outages, and we know you’ve been waiting in the store 15 minutes, not the hours you’re claiming. Also, we can tell the difference between a mistake and a lie. A mistake is getting the number of dropped calls in a day off by a few. Lying is saying you drop all calls when the records show you’ve only dropped a couple.

And, listen. Listen to what the representative is saying. Feel free to repeat what they say. It shows us that you are listening and chances are that the representative won’t have to repeat themselves (they have plenty of other people to help). Have a conversation.

Stick to the relevant stuff. Trust me; they do not want to hear how frustrated you are because of traffic or your sick dog. “Woe is me” stories will only get you yawns and a tired look. Stick to the relevant stuff, yes, you need to be very logical with this. What happened, when did it happen, etc…

Be firm but be willing to compromise. Be firm about the issues you’re having but what you think may be a good resolution may be ridiculous in their eyes. Six months of free service because your HBO was out for two days is beyond reasonable. Credit for the two days is norm, maybe you’ll also get a partial month’s credit.

Feel free to ask questions. This is a two way conversation. If you’re unsure about something, speak up. The representative will assume you understand them unless you speak up (but don’t interrupt them). When they are done, ask for clarification if you do not understand what they said. Leaving with unanswered questions will only add to your frustrations later on.

Don’t get impatient. If you are in a line or have a number, don’t get mad if you’re waiting a reasonable amount of time. The representative may be busy with someone and they want to make sure that their customer is taken care of, chances are they will do the same for you.

One thing at a time! Don’t unload several issues all at once. Let the representative know you do have a few (or several) concerns but deal with one at a time. Getting all jumbled and multidirectional will only make the situation less efficient and more frustrating for both people involved.

Remember your please’s and thank you’s. Yeah, it sounds so grade school but these representatives work hard and probably have a harder job than you do (for most people, there are some jobs more demanding than customer service, military, police, fire etc, but not an accountant or a janitor). Those simple little words can go a long way.

Know when they can’t help you and when they won’t help you. Big difference. If they won’t help you, they don’t care about the policies and don’t want to help you. If they can’t help you, they may have policies restricting them from doing what you are requesting them to do. None of them wants to get fired just to make you happy, if they can’t help you,

Don’t be afraid to ask for a manager or escalate. Be polite about it. The representatives are not superman; they cannot do anything you want them to do. Due to abuse policies are in place that don’t allow them to do everything (see above). Managers usually have more leeway with the rules, as long as they have a good reason to and their decision is a good one for the business.

Be willing to give as well as take. Sure, it’s nice to be compensated for your troubles, but if you’re looking for free service, expect to pay for something in return, maybe a discount on the service or even a contract. Like most businesses, they aren’t here to give away everything.

If you feel your representative doesn’t want to help you or isn’t competent, ask to speak to someone else or a supervisor. For all you know it could be their first day on the job and they’re still trying to learn the ropes.

Some companies have automated phone call surveys. Remember, these surveys, unless specifically asking about the policies, are asking you to rate the customer service representative, NOT the policies. If you didn’t like the policy but the representative did a good job, don’t give them a bad survey, these surveys DO go back to their supervisors generally.

Phishing is on the rise: The basics on how to protect yourself?

On several forums that I’m a member of there have been a drastic increase in the number of phishing attempts. People pretending to be someone they aren’t, banks are a big target but also escrow services, PayPal, eBay, various registrars, credit card companies. These people are tricky, they make the email seem urgent (on the lines of “we need to verify your information or else your account will be deleted”).

First and most importantly, DO NOT GO TO THESE SITES IN THE EMAIL. Usually these sites will have malicious scripts in them that will copy logins and passwords. Don’t worry, if you did go to one site, quickly close out the window and get yourself a copy of “Spybot: Search & Destroy” or LavaSoft’s Ad-Aware (both are free). Install and completely can your system with both (one at a time, though). And for kicks, if you do not have any virus protection, get Grisoft’s AVG, it is also free (and favored amongst my techie friends, better than a lot of the competition that costs more). Clean up that system! It is also a very good idea to clean out your cache (temporary internet files), cookies, and history.

Next, go to the web site that you normally go to and find their fraud department, normally most will have an email for this, abuse@(institution).com for example, abuse@paypal.com is PayPal’s. Forward the email to that email address. Close out the browser’s window if you had one open.

Go back into your browser and go back to the site in question. Log into your account like you normally do and make sure everything is OK. If you are ever unsure, CALL THEM. It is your money and reputation. Don’t assume they will do everything for you; most do not have the manpower to monitor every account.

Also, change your passwords often and make them secure (see previous blog from this month). Do not make them easy for anyone to guess!

Most phishing attempts can be stopped right from the beginning. Even if an email seems legitimate, protect yourself and do not click on any links in any email like these. Go directly to the site in question and log in that way.

ICA gives instructions on how to fight the Snowe Bill

Read about it here

The ICA has put out a statement assisting people with a template letter and a list of senators to help fight the Snowe bill.

Click on the above link and start mailing!

The EFF Speaks out against the Snowe Bill

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has issued a statement on the Snowe Bill, calling it a "free speech double-whammy".
Read it here

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Posted by Corynne McSherry

Congress is contemplating a so-called “Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act” (APCPA) that takes an odd view of consumer protection. In the name of stopping phishing schemes, Senator Olympia Snowe has introduced S. 2661, a bill that would expand trademark law, limit consumer access to information about competitive products, and eviscerate key protections for anonymous speech. Co-sponsors are Senators Bill Nelson and Ted Stevens (yes, THAT Ted Stevens).

The bill starts off relatively inoffensively by prohibiting the use of false information to solicit identifying data from a computer (this was already illegal, but we’ll let that go for now). But then it goes on to forbid the use of brand names in domain names, and the use of another’s domain name in emails, on websites, or in web ads. This prohibition is unnecessary: if the use of a brand name in a domain name is confusing, it is already actionable under trademark law. And it is dangerous because, unlike current federal trademark law, the APCPA does little to protect noncommercial and comparative advertising uses of trademarks. For example, U.S. trademark dilution law excludes noncommercial, parodic and comparative uses. Under the APCPA, however, noncommercial use is merely a factor to be “considered,” not a clear exclusion, and comparative use is not explicitly protected at all. Given that trademark law simply doesn’t apply to noncommercial uses of marks, such meager “protection” for noncommercial use is unacceptable. Moreover, it appears that the bill would give a new weapon to folks like Sanofi-Aventis, the pharmaceutical giant that tried to use trademark law to shut down a news site about a new and controversial drug, Acomplia, because the site (www.acompliareport.com) included the name of the drug.

To make matters worse, another provision allows any Tom, Dick or Harry to force domain name registrars to reveal a customer’s personally identifying information by simply sending an email alleging that the customer has violated the new law. No need to comply with the traditional legal niceties of, say, an actual filed lawsuit or a subpoena that might permit the customer to go to court to protect her anonymity. A mere allegation is enough.

Sure, phishing is a problem. But you don’t solve it by rewriting trademark law and depriving lawful speakers of the chance to keep their identities private. This ill-conceived legislation should be

Security - everything is only as secure as your email password

There has been a lot of chat lately about stolen domains, phishing, and all the like. Most people put huge passwords in their bank account but that’s about it. Sadly, the weakest link in the security chain is the password to your email.

Why?

Almost all sites that require a password have a “forgot password” link which will email you instructions on how to change your password. If someone knows the password to your email then the most secure password out there is at risk.

How can you prevent this?

Make your email passwords secure. Make them as secure, but not the same, as your bank account passwords, registrar accounts, work related passwords, and so on. This does not mean make those passwords less secure, make your email password more secure. There are simple little tricks that anyone can do that will even trip up brute-force attempts and password cracking scripts.

Most people want passwords they can remember so they use birthdates, nicknames, significant other’s names, pet’s names, streets where they grew up, a school they went to, or a hobby. Someone who knows you well can usually guess these in a few tries. This is dangerous since relationships don’t always last forever and then you’re at risk (and it is with someone who isn’t too happy with you).

You can still use these as a password, but a few simple modifications can make a not secure password into a very secure password.

For example, my name is Draggar. I have a dog named fluffy and I like soccer. I was born in 1965. A few unsecured passwords for me would be “draggar65”. “fluffy”, and “soccer”. These would be easy to guess for most of my friends and family. How can you make them a little more secure? Add in a simple number. For example: “19draggar65”, “dr4gg4r” (the number 4 instead of the letter A) “f1uffy” (the number 1 instead of the letter L), “s0ccer” (the number 0 instead of the letter O) are more secure but still not the best.

What is the best? Long and complicated. No, you don’t need 40 character passwords (you can if you want to). Throw in some non alphanumeric characters in random places. “flu_ffy” will throw off a lot of password hacking programs. Want to go even better? Use non-standard letters (letters not commonly used in your country), for example: dræggar (a æ instead of an A), d®aggar, ƒluƒƒy (ƒ (mathematical symbol for “function”) instead of f’s). Still, longer is better. D®aggar_s0ÇÇer” would be a very secure password for me. If you don’t know how to use these symbols, it is easy. Hit the ALT key then enter in the 4 number combination from the keypad (do not use the numbers above the letters) for example, ALT-0241 is ñ (Spanish letter, as in señor or años). Feel free to look them up at ACSII map but you’ll need to put the number 0 in front of each set.

Please note that the best solution for a secure password is not something along the lines of a hobby, nickname, pet's name, etc. The best passwords are a combination of letters, numbers, and alphanumeric characters that are seemingly random.

Note: Some browsers may not support these characters. I do know they work with Internet Explorer and FireFox but also some applications may not support them either.

Good luck and keep those passwords secure!

SEDO Takes on the Snowe Bill!!

This was posted on a forum (a domainer's forum) today. It seems that SEDO is taking action with the ICA to lobby against the Snowe Bill or the falsely advertised "Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008". Feel free to read and enjoy.

The post can be read here:
DNForum.com

Added 3-11-08:
Sedo has posted on the same forum:
Sdeo's Post

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Dear (),

As a founding member of the Internet Commerce Association, Sedo believes that it is important to invest our resources in ensuring the long term health and viability of the domain name market and the business of traffic monetization. Whether you buy and sell domains for your business, maintain a portfolio of domain properties, or simply enjoy the use of domain names for personal websites or blogs, a threat has emerged to domain ownership and it is time for interested individuals and businesses to protect our rights.

As you may have already read in the news or on a forum, a bill was recently introduced in the United States Senate by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) that aims to drastically and needlessly expand the scope of rights associated with a trademark outside the realm of traditional trademark law. The Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008, or the Snowe bill as it is referred to, appears on its face to be directed to fighting the practice of “phishing”, which is a worthwhile cause, but contains many elements completely unrelated to this purpose, such as creating a cause of action for displaying advertising on a generic or descriptive domain name simply because another company has registered rights to a similar word or phrase.

If this bill is passed by Congress and signed by the President, it would immediately arm large businesses and government agencies with the ability to claim countless valuable and legitimate domains from their current owners. Supported by the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA), a coalition of companies that include Verizon, AIG, Dell, and several large hotel chains, the Snowe bill is attempting to confuse the issue of malicious phishing scams with the lawful and legitimate business of buying, selling and monetizing domain names.

By removing many of the intended checks and balances of traditional trademark law, designed to ensure that trademark rights are limited by geography and class of goods and services, the Snowe bill is attempting to eliminate many of the roadblocks large companies have faced in their attempt to gain de facto monopoly rights on words that rightfully belong to the public domain. Furthermore, the absence of due process principles make it likely that valuable domain properties could be taken from their rightful owner due only to a vague resemblance to another’s mark.

I encourage all Sedo users and domain owners anywhere to help fight the Snowe bill by joining the Internet Commerce Association, a non-profit industry organization founded to help represent domain name investors and developers and the direct search industry. The Internet Commerce Association is comprised of responsible businesses and individuals who have joined together to improve public confidence in internet commerce. Based in Washington D.C., their mission is to promote and share best practices among participants in the domain name industry and to educate consumers, policy makers, law makers and the media about the value and benefits of direct navigation traffic and the domain name industry.

Please visit www.internetcommerce.org to learn more about the Snowe bill and how you can support the ICA in our effort to fight its passage.

Best Regards,

Your Sedo Team

Projected winners and losers of the Snowe Bill

A list is being compiled of the winners and losers of the Snowe bill and so far:

The winners are any corporation who is aggressive against cyber-squatting and domains:

• Dell
• Microsoft
• Adidas
• Walmart
• Mariott
• Verizon
  
• Several other large corporations

• Plus WIPO (more claim fees)
• ICANN (more registrations changing hands = more revenue)
• Cyber Squatters outside of the US since they'll be outside of US jurisdiction
• Phishers outside of the US (like most of them) for the same reason
  

And the losers:

• Small businesses (they'll lose their web presence)
• Domainers (internet real estate investors)
• Web masters / programmers - they'll also lose their sites
  
• Parking companies such as Sedo, Parked.com, NameDrive, etc..
• Registrars such as GoDaddy, Moniker, TuCows, etc..
• Ad supplying companies such as Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft (yes, they're a winner and a loser)
• Web hosting companies, more people won't want to have websites or domains in fear of them being taken away
  

This has already been tested when a senator named Sam Adams used SamAdams.com as his campaign page and Sam Adams (the beer) sued him for copyright infringement.

Even generics are not safe, like cars.com, laptops.com, pictures.com etc..!!!

Before I go, here's a list of companies who support this bill, as you can see, some of these are going to benefit from this new law. Companies are part of an organization that is trying to pass a law that will benefit them and hurt others. What's wrong with this picture?

American International Group, Inc.
Bacardi & Company Limited
Compagnie Financière Richemont SA
Dell Inc.
Eli Lilly and Company
Hilton Hotels Corporation
HSBC Holdings plc
Marriott International, Inc.
Verizon Communications Inc.
Wyndham Worldwide Corporation

(Source: http://domainnamewire.com/2008/03/03/senate-anti-phishing-bill-or-reverse-cybersquatting-in-disguise/ )

RIP - Gary Gygax

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080304/ap_en_ot/obit_gygax

This is an extremely sad day in the roleplaying game community. The creator of Dungeons and Dragons has died.

We will miss you, Gary Gygax. Your creativity brought roleplaying games to us first on our tabletops and on the telnet, then on our computers, and so on though movies, books, music, even MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft and Everquest.

I will have to put today in line with the day John Lenin was shot. An icon has died.

Stop the Snowe Bill - petition

Wow, 3 posts in one day!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/snowe-bill-threatens-domain-name-registrants-and-internet-commerce

Sign the petition!

A letter to Senator Bill Nelson, co-sponsorer of the "Snowe Bill"

(Author's note - I am not against anti-fraud, anti-phishing, or anti-cyber squatting / typo squatting legistlation, but people really need to look into the misleading titles of many of our laws to see what they truly involve. This is truly a don't judge a book by it's cover case).

Senator Bill Nelson,

I am writing this letter in response to the Ms. Snowe’s bill a.k.a. the “Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008” (“APCPA”). I am emailing it to your office now so I can be assured that there is a quick delivery of this letter and I will also mail it (USPS) a copy of it to your office in the next few days so there is a hard copy on paper about my serious concerns in regards to this bill.

While the cover of this bill does seem for the better good of every person in the US, the law itself opens the gateway to take control of a large part of the internet from the people to large corporations.

The two major points in the bill are both already illegal or against parent-organization policies.

Phishing (a.k.a. using deceptive practices to obtain information to acquire a gain from an unsuspecting target (monetary, etc...)). This is already illegal against US law (fraud, theft etc..) and including this in the bill is just a redundant addition to our laws. Not only that, the vast majority of phishing attempts are conducted by individuals outside the US and outside of US jurisdiction. This bill would not even put a small dent in the number of phishing scams we see in our emails often (I’ve seen many). The average consumer needs to be educated on how to notice a phishing attempt as opposed to a legitimate communication from the institution that they do business with (most commonly banks).

Typo-Squatting and Cyber-Squatting (a.k.a. the use of a trademark in a domain or something that is “confusingly similar” to a trademark and/or creating a site that is confusingly similar to the copyrighted material in order to profit (either though ads or the sale of the site and/or domain). This is already against ICANN and WIPO policies, so once again, this addition to the law is redundant to current policies.

Both of the main points in this law are not needed in new legislation since they already exist with their respective governing bodies.

The main concern is that this bill allows entities to register a trademark then file a case with WIPO and obtain any domain name (including generic words), even if it is used for legitimate purposes and had been registered long before the trademark was submitted.

For example, if I own the domain “laptops.com” (I do not, just an example) that I registered years ago and had a site dedicated to laptops (sales, support, reviews, etc..). A large computer company could easily trademark “laptops” and then file a claim against me for the domain forcing me to hand it over. I would lose all the time and money I put into the site plus the large corporation would then quickly and easily gain from all of my hard work (by getting in all the traffic I was getting on the site) and my reputation as a web master would be tarnished since I would have this case against me and would have a “cyber squatter” black mark on my name. While this bill is proposing to prevent cyber squatting the exact opposite would happen, large corporations would be able to profit from the hard work of small businesses and individuals who pour a lot of hard work into developing a successful site.

I can understand that many members of the senate may not have the most current knowledge of web development, domaining, and related industries. If you’d like, feel free to contact me (information at the bottom of this letter) and I can give you a list of names of people who are very well educated as well as ethical in this industry who can discuss it in full detail. This bill is bad news for small web-based businesses and I’m sure you can agree that small businesses are the backbone of this country’s economy more so than the large corporations who would fully benefit from the points in the bill that are not already covered under other laws and policies.

STOP THE SNOWE BILL!

I don't have much time to discuss this but click on the link above to read about a new bill that can kill the domaining industries and give corporations the ability to just take domains from anyone for any reason.

This is a blatant attempt to commercialize the web and take control of domains. This is a huge industry that they are trying to kill so these corporations can pad ther own wallets by taking the money away from domainers.

Also, CADNA has an article on their site:
http://www.cadna.org/en/press-release-february-26-2008.html

Abuse is one thing but allowing companies to take long time registered domains because of newly registered trademarks, regardless of their use, is plain old legal theft. This is another attempt from our government to let corporations control the internet and the economy while taking it away from the average consumer.