Recommended Reading for Managers at Microsoft

2. Put the customer in control. The best kind of customer service happens when management enables employees to put the customer in control. This require two leaps of faith: first, that management trusts customers not take advantage of the situation; second, that management trust employees with this empowerment. If you can make these leaps, then the quality of your customer service will zoom; if not, there is nothing more frustrating than companies copping the attitude that something is “against company policy.”

Bona tempora volvantur--by Guy Kawasaki: The Art of Customer Service.

The whole post is good stuff, but I’ve found at Microsoft this one is key.