Last week, our internet went down. Because I work from home, I couldn’t do what you do in offices, which is stand up and yell, “Is it out for everyone or just me?”

I called the cable provider and had the following conversation:

Cable guy: Whom am I speaking to?
Me: This is Jonathan Acuff. (I have to use my fancy full name on the phone.)
Cable guy: The name on the account is “Jennifer.” Can I call you Jennifer?
Me: What? No. You can’t call me Jennifer.

I didn’t care that he asked me that. English wasn’t his first language and he was instructed to follow a script. He was trying his best.

He just worked for a company that doesn’t care about customer service. Unfortunately, a lot of companies are leaning that way. They care more about getting new customers than keeping old customers.

So how do you hack customer service to make sure you have a good experience?

Easy, you use two specific words.

[Tweet “Want better customer service? Use these 2 magic words with companies.”]

One afternoon, after getting the run around, Blues Traveler reference, Jenny got frustrated with a company. They called her back to fix the issue. In frustration, Jenny said, “How do I get to talk to a real person who can actually fix my problem? I don’t like dealing with so many automated systems.”

That’s when this customer service rep told Jenny a secret. It’s so simple you might not think it will work, but here it is:

If you want to hack customer service, tell them, “I’m cancelling.”

The rep told Jenny that those are trigger words. They set off an alarm for the person on the phone and ensure that your problem will be escalated. Suddenly, they’ll call you back and find discounts and offers they didn’t initially have for you.

The funny thing is, if they continue to give you terrible service, you’re going to cancel anyway, so why not be upfront about it?

If you love the service, don’t threaten to cancel. That’s dumb and it’s lying. But, when you’re ready to leave but would stay with a discount, pull out those two magical words.

Want better service? Just say, “I’m cancelling.”

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