Anyone who works with Lindsey Thayer on a regular basis has probably come to love her positive attitude and infectious laugh. Lindsey is one of our “newer” Customer Service Representatives, joining American Profit Recovery in March 2010.

Lindsey spent many years working in the hospitality industry before being hired to service this collection agency’s clients. She was referred to us by current employee, Al Scott, who knew of Lindsey through family friends and thought she’d be the perfect fit!

When recently asked how she was doing, one of her Sales reps Keith Klebba had the following to share: “She’s very good at following up with me and my clients. I think we work very well together and I hope she stays here forever.”

Lindsey and her husband John live in Norfolk, MA with their dog Kiedis (wonder who their favorite band is, huh?) She has fit right in with this Marlborough, MA based team becoming immediately involved with many of our charity projects including Making Strides last weekend.

Have you spoken with Lindsey recently? Leave a comment about how she has helped you in your collection needs!

Its national customer service week so we thought we would not only recognize the great work that our CSRs do but also take the opportunity to show them off a little. Meet Ryan Melnechuk. He’s one of our key customer service reps in our Michigan office. If you’re a client of this collection agency and you are in the lawn care or banking industry, you have probably talked with Ryan.

Ryan is a graduate of Western Michigan University and has been at American Profit Recovery since 2006. He started in sales and transitioned to his current customer service role.This Canada native says his main goal is to make customers of APR as comfortable as possible and he does a great job!

When not servicing or training his clients, Ryan spends time at home with wife Andrea and son Landon.

Take a look at the video interview and learn more about Ryan:

This name may sound familiar to some of you for different reasons as Austin started out with American Profit Recovery as an Outside Sales Representative who brought on many clients during his time in that position.  Austin worked in this role as he finished up his requirements at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island.

Upon graduation last spring, Austin was looking for something a little more steady and consistent and decided to transition into the role of Customer Service.  This was an easy move since his knowledge of our clients and APRweb had already been learned.

Austin works out of our Marlborough, MA office and has been part of our APR team since June 2008.  He has participated in all of our PLANET Day of Service projects as well as our Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk with his girlfriend Erin for the past 3 years.  This Vermont native is not only great with our clients, he’s great with our internal team as well and has played a big role in getting our 2 newest members whom you will meet later this week up to speed in their new roles.

Is Austin your CSR?  Leave a comment below on how he’s positively impacted your business!

In honor of Customer Service week, I thought it may be fun for you to meet each member of our CSR Team. Unfortunately I do not have videos of each but trust me – they are soon to come.

This is the team I get to work with on a daily basis, and I’ve had the pleasure of working directly with Ginny Dwyer in our Marlborough, MA office since she was hired in April 2007. Ginny was referred to us by another employee because of her extensive background in Customer Service.

Ginny was hired as American Profit Recovery‘s 2nd customer service rep and has watched the department evolve and change dramatically since her start. She’s been flexible and helpful through each step and has provided a consistent voice to our clients for 3 1/2 years.

Ginny works mainly with Mitchell Knell and Matt Moskowitz’s clients specializing in the industries that they sell. She is thorough and direct in her training and servicing and always has the client’s best interest in mind. This Eric Clapton fan is the proud mommy to 2 dogs and lives here in Marlborough.

Is Ginny your Customer Service Rep? Leave a comment about how she has helped you recently and click to watch the quick video below:

Meet Ginny on YouTube

Its National Customer Service Week and we’re celebrating at American Profit Recovery.

We have a team of 5 exceptional individuals who handle incoming calls and emails while training and making scheduled outbound calls to our 2500+ clients every day. And although we believe that every one of our over 60 employees at this collection agency takes part in servicing our clients, we thought we’d take this week to highlight the 5 who make it their full time job.

Ready to put a face to the name? Meet (From L to R) Ginny, Samantha, Ryan, Austin and Lindsey!

Check back in throughout the week to learn more about each of them individually!

Many dread the hustle and bustle of malls. The hassle of finding a parking place, battling teenagers and weeding through knee-deep merchandise makes many turn to Internet shopping due to its ease and convenience. However, one factor to keep in mind when purchasing the perfect item online is the critical difference between http:// and https://. You’ll also find this information valuable if you ever deal with a collection agency and try to make a payment online.

In order to keep your personal information from being compromised, pay close attention to the web browser and the address prior to entering your credit card information to complete your transaction. The world-wide web is not only full of simple ways to conduct business, great deals and easy shopping, it is also loaded with cyber-crooks looking to swipe your personal information.

When browsing the internet pay close attention to the letters which preface your favorite web site. The letters http:// stand for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol; the additional S (https://) at the end stands for secure. When you visit an http:// site, it talks with your browser through regular, unsecured language; protocol for information to be passed back and forth between web servers and clients. This means it is possible for someone to snoop in on your computer’s conversation with the website and view your private information. Therefore someone may have the ability to see your credit card number and other personal information the site may be asking you to enter.

Sensitive information such as credit card numbers, account numbers, pin numbers and social security numbers is volatile and should be guarded, especially when it is entered online. HTTPS web sites and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) sites use protocol which encrypts information passed between a client (browser) and a server (web site). Web snoopers can be avoided by using these particular web sites when you complete a financial transaction over the Internet.

Also be aware of digital spoofing schemes where an https:// connection is not always a guarantee of safety. Take steps to ensure that the entity you are connected to is the actual web site you are in searching for and not a look-alike site set up as a deception by electronic eavesdroppers. Also, when you are at your favorite coffee house, the airport or other public hang outs that may offer free Wi-fi be sure to check the security of their connections. Some of these particular places have secure connections and some do not; be sure to be aware to keep someone from easily checking out what you are posting on-line.

Security is a huge issue for any collection agency as we do have to deal with sensitive information. American Profit Recovery has weekly IT meetings that also focus on our security. We take this very seriously and we want you to as well. Don’t get scammed by inputting your information into a website that is not secure. It could take you a long time to correct that mistake.