The One Website You Need to Check Out Before Buying a Car: Truecar.com

From: http://www.truecar.com

Buying a car soon? I highly recommend the website Truecar.com. It is very simple to use. Type in the vehicle model and the zipcode. Truecar will show you the range of prices people have paid in that area. That way you are better prepared when you walk onto the car lot. Truecar gets there information from various sources that include: finance companies, government records, thousands of dealerships in almost every state, and insurance companies. Give their service a whirl. Best part is that its free!

The Future of Customer Service - Skullcandy's Fansourcing Model

Courtesy of Skullcandy via Fortune Website

In the December 26th issue of Fortune magazine, there is this article written by Jennifer Alsever entitled, "The Service Dude." The story is about a company called Skullcandy who is, according to the article, "maker of highend headphones." They have employed a rather ingenious method of providing customer service. They basically pay their fans an hourly rate and give them points towards Skullcandy headphones and ipads to provide online customer service. This is quite different from every other company's customer service model. The typical company hires people who may or may not even use or like their products or services to assist their customers when they call in or go online to contact them for help. I see this being the future for many companies that have cultivated loyal fan bases like Skullcandy. There are some limitations to this strategy. For example, you will still need separate customer service reps to handle billing or personal information related matters. But for troubleshooting or product experience level questions, companies should embrace the future and start recruiting your fans before your competitors do.

Skullcandy Products: http://amzn.to/t8tMEG

Fortune Article: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/12/21/skullcandy-fan-sourcing/ 

Edit 1/4/2012: After doing more research, this fansourcing platform Skullcandy uses is a service provided by a company called Needle http://www.needle.com Check it out!

Parents Can Rent Toys At New Website

Parents Can Rent Toys At New Website « CBS Boston

I found this story while browsing during Sunday Night Football. This takes the old saying "Keeping up with the Jones's" to a whole new level. My question is this. What do you do when you have to send the toys back and your kid cries endlessly? Note to all the parents out there. If you can't afford the real presents, you could probably do better things with that money...

Does This Video Help You Understand "What is a Credit Bureau?"

I found this video on youtube. I wonder if people learn anything they didn't already know. Let me know.