Your Neatest Set of Tricks to Getting your Consumer Complaints Heard
You think that businesses were appreciative for every scrap of custom you brought their way. You still can't help but believe that the customer should be king. In the real world though, businesses see that you need them just as much as they need you, and they see no reason to treat you any better than they could get away with. Not infrequently, we all come across some business practice that makes our blood boil; what exactly we do to get some action with our consumer complaints is entirely up to us, our imaginations, and our creativity. Let's look at some of the more practical, more creative ideas that people have come up with over time to get the attention they deserve.
Filling in a complaint in small claims court is about the most effective way you could think of. Businesses often seem to lose all their nerve once they wind up in court. They usually just submit and do whatever you ask them to, or they skip their date in court altogether, and forfeit. I once sued a bus service in small claims court for having made me travel in a badly maintained, filthy bus. I sued them, and won. When they didn't pay, I just told them that I'd complained to the police and they would be coming down any minute now to impound a bus of theirs. The check came that afternoon by messenger. But apart from silly moves like this let's look at some of the best ways you can get your consumer complaints resolved.
To begin with, politeness works with all consumer complaints. If you are on the phone with a call center rep, and they seem to have no real acceptable solution to your problem, just let go of your pride and ask them what they would do if they were in your place. You'd are surprised how often they'll really stop to think, and then give you a nice insider tip on what to do. If you happen to be in a hotel, a train an airplane or anything, and they don't seem to be taking their responsibilities seriously, try using your mobile camera to take pictures to prove your point. After an unsatisfactory stay at a hotel once, I just showed the receptionist pictures of everything about the room that was dirty and broken. They gave me a hefty discount on my bill. Another move I saw once, involved having the unsatisfied guest asking the manager, "could you please come up to my room and discuss this with me in private?" The manager is usually very impressed by the confidence in such a request and is also quite grateful that you didn't cause a scene.
Another great move is to cut out the middleman. If it doesn't look like the business is going to be cooperative with any consumer complaints, you just need to call the company that issued the credit card you paid for the service with. Just tell them to reverse the charge, and they will suspend payment until they investigate. If your account of what happened holds water, you don't even have to bother with any negotiations; you'll get your money back. American Express is particularly great with this.
As for negotiating effectively, how about just wasting their time? If you are on the phone with a call center rep and they don't seem to be really eager to help you, just stay on the phone and keep telling them how your unsatisfied. They are forbidden from hanging up on a caller and they are anxious to quickly get each call wrapped up, because they get paid per call. Just drive them up the wall telling them how unhappy you are, and not accepting anything they give you; pretty soon you get what you want, because they just want to get rid of you. The same thing works if you're in a face-to-face negotiation with a manager; if he makes an offer that you are not happy with, or if he tries to get you to name your compensation, one of the best ways to get the biggest figure you can get, would be to just keep wasting their time telling them how unhappy you are with everything, and repeating over and over all the terrible things you've experienced with their service. Put the ball in their court, and pretty soon, they'll come up with much better compensation package than you could ever work up the cheek to ask.
If all else fails, write to the CEO of the company, or at least threaten to do so. Resolving your consumer complaints doesn't have to be unpleasant or complicated. Often enough, it just needs a little extra nerve.