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.

See 101 Habits of an Effective Complainer and for detailed help of laws, template letters information and advice get How To Complain: The ESSENTIAL Consumer Guide to Getting REFUNDS, Redress and RESULTS!

But in the meantime here are three more tips:

1) Believe complaining effectively is not negative

Many people will say that complaining is negative, brings down your mood etc. This can be the case, when you are not effective. Do something about the complaint. That is being positive, moaning can be damaging and bring you and others down. Saying “I complained and I got my refund/repair/redress…” etc. is a very positive statement which can encourage others to complain effectively and get results.

Complaining is good for your health! When I wrote an article about this on LinkedIn years ago there wasn’t anyone who disagreed! Peter, who provides leadership coaching and mentoring, said “Complaining is NOT negative – if that’s not a double negative !! 🙂 but some people exploit that perception in order to make you feel bad about raising concerns etc. Great businesses see complaints as a way of raising their game. Bad ones shoot the messengers, in general.”

2) Point out helpful feedback

If appropriate to the situation, point out to the company to which you are complaining that you hope that your feedback has been useful to them in developing their customer service. This demonstrates that you are looking to continue shopping with them if they handle the matter well.

Gavin Patterson was CEO of the BT Group from September 2013 until February 2019. He spent an hour each day responding personally to customer emails. See Calling all CEOs: please read emails from your customers and learn about your own business.

He believes that customer feedback is the single most important category of information coming into the business.

3) Don’t be opportunistic

Effective complainers are not about seeing a complaint every time they go into a shop or receive a service. It is simply about complaining when things genuinely go wrong.

Remember The Complainers documentary on Channel 4 in 2014? The Complainers Giving Complainers a Bad Name?

There were examples of people who complained just for the sake of it who went on and on and on at the same people for trivial things and they made themselves look very silly! As The Daily Telegraph put it “the difference between a valid complaint and a cathartic lashing-out was one of several distinctions largely ignored by The Complainers.”

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!

“If complaining is an art form, Helen Dewdney is Rembrandt” – Robert Rinder TV Judge, Barrister TV Presenter

New consumer guide from best-selling author, The Complaining Cow – released 18 December

The British find it hard to complain and assert their legal rights and it’s even harder when they get fobbed off by companies. Consumers say it can take too much time or they just don’t know where to start. Even after embarking on a complaint, some quite simply don’t have the confidence to keep going. At last, help is at hand. Consumer Champion Helen Dewdney, The Complaining Cow, has written a new book 101 Habits of an Effective Complainer.

Cover of How to Complain updated 2019 large cow logo

The book is released on 18 December 2019 and follows the success of her earlier best-seller How to Complain: The Essential Consumer Guide to getting Refunds, Redress and Results!

Although written in an easy-to-read and light-hearted style, 101 Habits provides readers with the confidence to complain effectively, improving the way people make complaints, so as to get the results they want.

Each page provides a complaining habit to consider and an example of how and why it empowers the reader to become more effective in getting the results they want. These anecdotes come from Dewdney’s own experience or from one of the people she has helped to gain redress using that habit. Accompanying the habit and example is a novelty graphic to illustrate the point!

Whilst some consumer books give the information needed to complain, this new book is unique in that it helps to develop a new mindset for complaining effectively. By showing how and when to complain (and also compliment), the reader will feel empowered to be more positive and confident after reading and using a selection of the 101 habits. Regardless of the issue, whether it’s telecoms, retail, energy or finance, the same basic principles apply to complaining in any sector.

Reviews

Consumer champions have been quick to praise 101 Habits of an Effective Complainer.

When it comes to asserting one’s legal rights Barrister Robert Rinder (TV’s Judge Rinder) knows a thing or two. He says that Dewdney’s book is

“… easy to follow, beautifully written and – above all – teaches us that complaining effectively doesn’t require rudeness or angry sharp elbows. Dewdney’s book is a brilliant reminder that being a successful complainer (or getting what you were entitled to in the first place) is simple to achieve and can even be fun. Her superb how-to guide isn’t for ‘complainers,’ it’s for anybody who has ever been a consumer and been let down – it’s for all of us.”

Rinder isn’t the only consumer rights celebrity who has endorsed the book. Matt Allwright, presenter of BBC Watchdog, says:

“Helen’s book gets it spot on, and steers you away from all the complaining cul-de-sacs and coups de foudre. Before you pick up the phone or log in to Twitter – read it. A great result is probably closer than you think.”

Paul Lewis, the presenter of BBC Radio 4 Moneybox, puts it this way:
“If How to Complain is the essential companion to your shopping then 101 Habits should be by your laptop whenever you think you have been treated badly by a retailer or a business you have dealt with. Breathe deeply. Flex your fingers. And get complaining!”

101 Habits of an Effective Complainer will make a great Christmas present for anyone who needs more confidence in asserting their rights and getting the results they want!

What's in there then?