Folks, if you are getting (or have good reason to believe you will get) mediocre customer service, speak the six words that pretty much guarantee an increase in the quality of said service...
"May I speak with your manager?"
Your willingness to take it to the next level tells the customer service rep two things.
(1) You are going to get what you want, whether it's from the CSR's manager, or the manager's manager, or how high up the food chain you have to go, so it would be in everyone's best interests for the CSR to just attend to your problem here and now and not have to get their boss involved, where you could discuss the CSR's unwillingness to help you...odds are they'll just take care of your problem immediately and get you on your merry way, rather than get their boss involved.
(2) If you've ever worked customer service, you know that you can tell the customer "no" repeatedly, but when he/she speaks those six words and you transfer it to your manager, your manager will want to get on with their day, and just tell you to give the customer what he/she wants, and then you really look like a tool when you've just spent 20 minutes telling the customer why you can't waive a late charge, etc., then your boss just comes in and overrides everything because he doesn't want to deal with the situation (that's below his pay grade).
But use this information judiciously. Please don't whine about something like a late charge that you and the CSR both know you've earned; use it when you get some gum-smacking lazy slacker who is obviously not doing their job, servicing the customer.
Hope this helps.