The Washington Post interviewed Ben Popken, editor of one of our favorite blogs -- The Consumerist. Popken gives tips on how to avoid -- or at least mitigate -- customer service nightmares. Tip one: keep a written log of your call center interactions.

Beware dear agents, super-informed, super-organized callers armed with recording devices are going to get more common.

Read the rest of Popkens's tips here.

A site run by the same publisher (the Gawker group), Lifehacker, has some tips from readers on getting good service here. One reader had this to say:

I suggest that where legal (apparently in 38 states - check your local laws) we ALL start taping our calls to customer service. If they think their call may end up on a blog post somewhere, perhaps they will treat the customer with a little respect. I also must point out that not all CS calls are a nightmare... in fact I had a rather pleasant call this morning with a woman from Virginia who worked for Verizon. I'm all for praising a company or person, when they get it right.