Habits of an effective complainer
Techniques to improve your complaining skills!
If you are not used to complaining, don’t like complaining, get fobbed off easily, but don’t like being out of pocket there are things you can do to help you improve your technique.
Lots more in the book
101 Habits of an Effective Complainer
Check out the reviews!
But in the meantime here are another three tips to start you off!
1) Use social media appropriately
You can’t give out personal details and you can’t describe detailed events on social media. However you can call out poor service and give more details in direct messages and refer the company to previous correspondence. See 5 ways how not to use Twitter to complain (and 5 ways how you should).
When I took Tesco to court (and won!) it was after several emails and tweets. I couldn’t possibly describe all the events in one tweet or even several. But the tweets told Tesco that I would be going to court due to it not honouring a refund, the details of which I had in writing. It responded quickly and took the matter into direct messaging. Some people will say that companies do this to get the bad publicity off the Twitter feed. This isn’t necessarily the case, as they often need further details and direct messaging allows for more characters and providing personal information. I was able to give the information about the order etc. The fact that they weren’t empowered to do anything with it is another matter…!
2) Make notes
If the poor service happened whilst you are out of home or office tap into your phone or use a notebook! Make notes of how you were left feeling, names of people you dealt with and any relevant activity that will help you later.
Nicola ordered a kitchen and later realised that she needed another shelf. She went to the store to enquire about the possibility and the staff member was very rude. He told her that she should have used his company to measure up and the problem wouldn’t have happened. He said that they couldn’t get another shelf ordered as the kitchen had been discontinued. Nicola doubted this as the kitchen was still being sold online, so she thought it might be quicker if she spoke to the store. She was really annoyed and not a little embarrassed as the manager had been quite aggressive and it looked like he was trying to warn other potential customers that they would face similar problems if they didn’t use them to fit as well as supply. Before leaving the store she wrote down the name of the staff member, what he had said and what she felt.
The next day Nicola composed an email to the manager of the store and was able to be calm, giving the name of the staff member and what he had said. She was able to refer to her notes and use them effectively. The manager wrote back to apologise and offer the shelf at a discount and assure her that the staff member would be sent on some training to clarify some points of customer service.
3) Set the rules
Give a deadline to the company by which you expect to receive a satisfactory response and what you will do if you don’t receive one.
There are numerous posts on my blog about items which have been sent in error. See Unsolicited goods for all the questions people asked! Many people want to believe that these have been sent in error. This often isn’t the case. The wrong item has been sent, or there has been an administrative error. In these cases they needed to provide the company which sent the item a reasonable deadline by which they should collect the item and after this date they would dispose of the item.
For lots of help, consumer laws, advice and templates GET THE BOOK! How To Complain: The ESSENTIAL Consumer Guide to Getting REFUNDS, Redress and RESULTS!
Please note the image of the book is a previous copy you will receive the most up to date one!
