I gave a lot of thought to how I would identify companies and individual employees by name while writing my book, Service Failure. Through the help of my editors and a little trial and error, I came up with what I think is a fair and reasonable way to approach this issue.

As my audience for this blog continues to grow, I think it's time to apply this personal policy here as well. My goal is to use examples of good and bad customer service to inform and perhaps entertain, while recognizing that customer service is difficult, mistakes can and will happen, and sometimes even the best companies and employees fall a little short.

Here's my policy:

When I receive poor customer service, I won't mention the company by name unless I've first attempted to address my grievance with a company representative.
I will mention companies by name if I am commenting on a news story (rather than my own experience as a customer).
I won't hesitate to identify companies by name when I receive exceptional service.
When discussing individual customer service employees, I will only use their first names unless I've been given permission to quote them by name.

Like all policies, it may get broken or stretched from time to time, but I'll do my best to be faithful to it.