One thing I am CONSTANTLY saying to clients and anyone I get into a financial discussion with is “no offense to customer service people but” they are the least trained employees of all companies and majority look at the position as it’s just a job.

So while I have to say there are MANY people in customer service positions who do an amazing job and are sweet and wonderful there are their polar opposites and those are the ones we tend to get when we have problems and are trying to handle the situation.

So let me break it down for you why I have that opinion as I have experienced it myself several times and you can hopefully follow my lead to what I did.

Let’s look at the hierarchy of a company. The top is the president or the CEO and you can’t pick up the phone and get them on the line with your problem. You also can’t just get the vice president or the national director or even the technical director as they are at the top of the food chain (so to speak). And their salaries are a lot more than $15 an hour that I guarantee you.

So as you go lower down the totem pole so to speak you get to customer service agents. Now again, no insults here but I have NEVER come across someone who has a career as a customer service agent. Many use the position as a stepping stone towards management or higher.

I have heard numerous stories of people saying they were never trained properly and NUMEROUS credit clients telling me they contact their electric or cable, paid the final bill and asked for the service to be turned off but it never was and then they get a call from a collection agencies months or years later but now the battle of how do you prove it kicks in.

Ever have them say the call is being recorded for “quality assurance purposes”? if you get to the point where you have to sue or at least threaten to sue its amazing how the recorded call they make has been scrubbed as they did not need it any longer so the proof of their employee either broke the law or didn’t do their job correctly or the proof of what they told you was on that tape is now gone along with your case.

I once called to help a client pay a bill and get the account removed and the rep on the phone told me she has been doing collections for over 20 years and was telling me negative items don’t fall off your credit they just move towards the back of the credit report because it gets older.

Now how many consumers have probably believed her as she did say this to me with a great deal of conviction until I started quoting laws and pointed out she is in need or serious retraining.

After I got her manager on the phone I stated of what she said and also said I recorded the phone call and the manager/supervisor did the Michael Jackson moonwalk faster than I ever saw. Of course agreed with me and then said she will speak with her and I said forget the conversation, if I was an attorney I would be getting ready to serve a 1st class lawsuit and shut your company down because it doesn’t take a genius to figure out this lady has been lying (intentionally or unintentionally) to consumers for possibly 10 of the 20 years she has been in the business and god only knows how many consumers she tricked into believing the crap she was spilling.

SO… the moral of this story, as we are in the cell phone age ALL cell phones have a app on it that can record. If not just download and app. Take the time to be in a room where you can put the call on speakerphone to record the call, then when talking about closing an account or switching services or speaking to a debt collection you let THEM KNOW you are recording the call for your quality assurance and they can’t do anything about it. It’s amazing how much more professional someone gets at their job when they know the call is being recorded. And then you can now save the call on your phone for future use IF you ever need it.

As with everything in our lives, ESPECIALLY financial issues you need to be proactive. Consider every move to be as if you had to go to court for the issue how could you prove your case?

Don’t be a sucker and let someone either damage your financial good name over a mistake on their end or take money out of your hard earner wallet.

Be proactive, protect yourself. Every agreement or contract you sign never is in your favor and if you don’t protect yourself you’re in trouble, let’s end this blog with a too real life example.

As a family you get a family cell phone plan with several lines for each family member. If you decide to cancel before the 2 year contract for any reason (EVEN POOR SERVICE and your provider only agrees to give you service NOT GOOD SERVICE).

So you’re mad at the service and switch, maybe to a company who is offering to pay the switching fees (good luck and limber up for hoop jumping). Well cancelling triggers the up to $300 early termination fee (FOR EACH LINE). So if you have 4 lines that’s a total of $1,200 just for the termination fee. That company that says they will pay for the switch? Find out what they need first and make sure it’s something your current carrier will or can provide you as I have heard many stories on this and problems…. Coming from …. You guessed it, the customer service department.

So if you record both calls for yourself and there is a problem you now have some ammunition on your side.

From this point technically getting an attorney involved would really help but with their fees it’s not worth it….. or is it? Email me and I can get you in touch with top level attorneys for basically free at they are top rated so contact me as literally every family needs to have the ability to speak to an attorney or have an attorney help you for the little problems to stop them from becoming monster problems.