It's always important to save time and money, in our business lives and in our personal lives. Of course, vendors and sellers don't always make that easy, so that's where this month's tips from ResearchNOTES come in. These are a few very good resources for keeping yourself up to date on consumer issues, learning how to spot a scam, and getting the most out of your customer-service experience -- even at those times when "customer service" begins to sound like an impossible dream...

Head to The Consumerist, at http://consumerist.com, for information about the top consumer issues of the day. You'll find lots of articles about scams, rip-offs, special deals and freebies, and how to survive the current state of the economy.

In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection offers several useful resources at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm. These resources cover such topics as buying a car, credit reports and scoring, identity theft, filing a complaint, and much more.

This post from the Top Diva blog is more than a year old, but it has some timely tips for dealing with customer service representatives. Take a minute to read the post at http://digbig.com/5babdy -- it will save you lots of time in the long run.

Do you have a favorite site for up-to-date consumer information?

Regards -- Marcy

Listen to Marcy's recent interview, part of Copyright Clearance Center's "Beyond the Book" podcast series, at http://digbig.com/5babne.

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Marcy Phelps
Phelps Research
Author, Research on Main Street: Using the Web to Find Local Business and Market Information (Forthcoming)
+1 303.239.0657                        Email: mphelps@phelpsresearch.com
Web: www.phelpsresearch.com     Blog:  www.MarcyPhelps.com