• By GalTime Consumer Watchdog Mary Schwager

    Online Customer Service Online Customer Service

    consumer tips for customer service

    In most situations, picking up a phone is such a simple way to make contact or get help. But when it comes to calling a major company's customer service department, well, "easy" isn't exactly the first word that comes to mind. In fact that dreaded pre-recorded message is so familiar, most of us can recite it by memory: "Thank you for calling. Your call is very important to us. If you REALLY want to talk to a LIVE person, we estimate your wait time to be (insert NEW automated voice) '23 minutes. If you don't wish to wait, you can go to our website for more information and customer service."

    You think to yourself, "Seriously more than 20 minutes?!" And then you just might decide to go with plan B--you hang up the phone and go online. But will you have more luck with a cyber rep? A new study estimates you have about a 50/50 chance of getting a helpful response from top retailers' websites.

    Read More »from Customer Service Online: How to Get Results
  • How to protect yourself when your debit card is stolen. How to protect yourself when your debit card is stolen. The news reports have been terrifying. Credit card numbers were stolen from University of Southern California dining halls in May and June, it was recently announced. Although no other personal information was accessed, these types of reports give rise to mass panic, as people envision thousands of dollars being racked up in their name.

    In this unpredictable economy, credit card thefts have continued to be an easy target for fast cash. But the panic isn't necessarily warranted. Actually, there is another payment type that you should be worrying about instead.

    That's not to say credit card theft isn't inconvenient. You've got to notify companies that are automatically debiting from your card, change how you shop online and carry extra cash for the things you'd normally just slide onto your card. If you're traveling, you may have to wait for the bank to deliver a new card to you.

    But your credit card is backed by a federal law that limits how much cash you're responsible for if it's

    Read More »from This Theft is Worse Than a Stolen Credit Card
  • How to Make Serious Money from Home

    Ready to transform your kitchen table into a corner office? Four women show you how to earn serious cash--on your own schedule. By Sarah Z. Wexler, REDBOOK.

    Jose Luis Pelaez/Getty Images THE GIG: REMOTE CUSTOMER-SERVICE REP

    Help people with their billing questions or tech snafus.

    HER DEAL: "When my daughter was a baby, I did support work for a Web company via email and through an online live chat system, so I didn't have to worry about customers hearing if she was crying in the background," says Dee Murphy, 37, of Seattle, whose daughter is now 7. "I chose an evening shift, from 4 to 10 p.m., so I could spend the day with her. When she started going to school, I moved up to troubleshooting tech problems, which pays a couple hundred dollars more per month. You don't have to be a champion geek, either--most companies offer training for newbies."

    CLOCKS IN: 30 hours per week.

    THE PAY: $1,600 per month.

    GET STARTED: Dee found her work through wahm.com, a resource site for work-at-home moms. Enter

    Read More »from How to Make Serious Money from Home



  • Aries (March 21 - April 19)
    Your opportunistic tendencies rear their ugly heads again -- or their beautiful heads, as the case may be. The person being reeled in is having fun, and deserves every bit of what they get, so don't waste time or money on pangs of guilt.

    Today's Aries Reading: Free Sample Karma Reading


    Taurus (April 20 - May 20)
    It's a good day to practice what you preach -- more so than others, that is. If you haven't learned to live by the lessons you're imparting to others then the world is going to teach you a thing or two for a change. Get ready for some consequences.

    Today's Taurus Reading: Free Sample Love Meter


    Gemini (May 21 - June 21)
    Undercurrents are more just ripples of emotion -- you're starting to see your money taken along on the current! Find the source of the weirdness, for your heart's
    Read More »from Astrology.Com Daily FinanceScopes -- Tuesday July 31, 2012
  • Liz CoslineLiz Cosline

    When there is higher pay for an employee the company has higher expectations - right? And that makes sense in that there is more responsibility. However employees don't automatically perform at higher levels if wages are higher and even if they do, it will not last for long. Commitment, dedication, employee engagement, initiative, and discretionary effort do not come from an individual for pay. These are the aspects of an employee that cannot be bought. No matter how high the salary, if you treat employees poorly they will begin to no longer care. This happens usually over time and from what I have seen is a response (reaction) to not feeling cared about.

    Here are some reasons employees will stop caring:

    1. Freedom is lacking. Striving for excellence and Best Practices are definitely important, but not every task deserves a micro-managed approach. Think how you feel it seems like you are always being watched. Autonomy feels good. Give them the chance to think of ways to do

    Read More »from Employees Don’t Care – Do You?
  • Easy FB Commissions has just been released by Sean Clark & Justin Michie. They have put together some very interesting software with the Easy FB Commissions. This software utilizes one of the largest websites and traffic sources on the net, Facebook.

    The best part is that Easy FB Commissions isn't like all the other crappy software products people have seen being released lately. This product is top notch can actually help people profit with Facebook.
    After a quick Easy FB Commissions review, http://easyfbcommissionsreviewx.com/ believes this program is a tool that can make anybody a lot more profits online.

    What is Easy FB Commissions all about?

    Easy FB Commissions is a software program that utilizes Facebook to get traffic and sales. The system allows people to setup high converting Facebook pages and promote the pages for free with the help of the software which will be available with the basic package.

    These are Facebook pages that promote top converting Clickbank products and

    Read More »from Easy FB Commissions Software Review - Does it Work or Scam? the Truth
  • Trash is Expensive

    Please take your trash to the nearest trash can. When we human cause so much trash it pollutes the waters and soil. There is only so much land to go around on Earth.
    Wildlife tries to eat trash and even just one piece of gun can choke a bird to death. You may need to eat that bird so we must take care of wildlife. Each kind has a special purpose.

    Fish are swimming in polluted oceans. They have plastic bottles and spilled oil in them.

    We are placing our water in plastic. This causes pollution. It is fine if it is fresh. Soft drinks in plastic are bad for you.
    Too many chemicals and preservative make humans and animals ill.

    Trash breeds flies and mosquitoes. These are some of the most filthy insects around. Roaches and fleas spread diseases.

    Trash thrown out of cars onto highways can cause deaths. Large animals get struck by small cars and kill a whole family. The animals were looking for food. Feed them away from highways.
    Feed birds bird seed. This gives them the strength to eat

    Read More »from Trash is Expensive
  • Blog traffic is the single thing that many blogger will say is their number 1 trouble. There are loads of programs online that claim to be able to get you more blog visitors but a lot of them provide nothing. In this post we will be going through how you can use 3xsocial as a way to get traffic to your blogs without the need for those traffic programs that simply don't work.

    The key benefits of using 3xsocial is that many men and women belong to these 3xsocial sites and you will be able to get visitors right from these websites. Backlinks will be another thing you're going to get when you start to bookmark your blog posts. The search engines like backlinks and the more you obtain the the more traffic the search engines tend to send you.Now you must also be aware that the various search engines will usually rank your Internet site higher when you have more backlinks.

    While you can become a member of as many 3xsocial Internet sites as you want the key is to focus on the high

    Read More »from Getting Targeted Traffic is Very Simple If You Use 3xsocial
  • Holly Hays, SELF magazine

    Not that you need a bribe to be goo to Mother Earth, but becoming greener can also net you more dinero. Who wouldn't love that?

    Tout your eco-ness
    RecycleBank.com dishes out deals on popular household brands. Earn points by logging on every time you do something earth-friendly (like recycling a plastic bag), and get coupons in return. Annual savings: $133

    Related: 20 Superfoods for Weight Loss

    Eat more veggies
    Red meat wins the dubious title of Food With the Biggest Carbon Footprint. Skip it twice a week ti slash up to 900 pounds of emissions a year and save coin. Proof: A four-back of beef burgers costs about $9, versus $5 for the veggie variety. Make the switch simple-use our recipe finder for delish meatless ideas.
    Annual savings: $416

    Related: Yoga Moves for Flat Abs

    Ditch techy clutter
    Odds are, you've got at least one flip phone or ancient MP3 player dying a slow death in ad rawer somewhere. Mail them in to Gazelle.com, SecureTradein.com or

    Read More »from Save Cash—And the Planet
  • Tear-jerking videos. World records. Ryan Lochte. There are so many reasons we're excited about the Olympics in London. That's why we dug through the Internet to find you these inspiring/weird/random facts to share with your viewing party during commercials.

    By the Numbers

    Here's a quick rundown of the stats: 26 Olympic sports; 20 Paralympic sports; 10,490 Olympic athletes; 4,200 Paralympic athletes; 200,000 staffers; and an estimated 500,000 spectators per day.

    WHAT TO DO IN LONDON

    Crowd-Pleasers

    Olympic MascotsOlympic MascotsThe London Games mascots are giant one-eyed creatures named Wenlock and Mandeville. According to event organizers, they're meant to resemble drops of steel used to build Olympic Stadium.


    Gold Standard

    Olympic gold medals are 1.34 percent gold, 92.5 percent silver, and the rest copper filling. Each medallion takes ten hours to make; it gets pressed fifteen times by a nearly 2 million-pound weight.

    Hiroshi HoketsuHiroshi HoketsuAge Is Just a Number

    The oldest Olympian competing this year is 71-year-old Japanese

    Read More »from Talk a Good Game at Your Olympics Party

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