Top tip for 2010: Fire your customers

I just tweeted a link to these top ten customer service tips for 2010, but it is worth placing special emphasis on point 9:

Fire Them. In 2007, Sprint famously fired 1,000 customers that were clogging up their customer service lines and costing the company loads of money. Not every customer you have is profitable. Look for more companies this year to fire you if you cost them money and recommend you take your business elsewhere.

Easy come, easy go, I suppose...

Bank complaints soar by 122%

Charges and poor service to blame, says The Guardian.

Man invoices sandwich shops for time spent waiting

The amazing thing is Prét a Manger and EAT actually sent him money or vouchers. Read the full story here, but here's a brief synopsis:

Paul McCrudden, a digital strategist, recorded all the time he spent as a consumer during the six weeks from the middle of June to the end of July. He sent invoices to 50 companies that he used.

He charged them £25.50 an hour – which is 25 per cent of his usual hourly rate at work – "to reflect the fact that time spent with them is not as 'productive' as it is with my employer".

While the whole thing is little more than a joke, it just goes to show how much shops want to create a positive impression - or perhaps don't want to upset anyone. And if it makes the press, everyone's a winner.

Country artist shames United Airlines on YouTube

Country singer Dave Carroll had to release "United Breaks Guitars" and post in on YouTube to get compensation from Unitied Airlines. 4,324,864 and counting views later, they have probably learned their lesson.

EasyJet using Twitter for customer service

Getting hold of easyJet's customer services team has always been a bit of a challenge....But now there's an easier way. You canlog on to http://twitter.com/easyJetCare and chat with a friendly member of easyJet's customer relations team called Paul Hopkins. Paul answers questions from passengers, chases down complaints and even gives out his personal e-mail address, it seems!