Social Swatches: 5 Ways To Complain & Get Results

Social Swatches:

5 Ways To Complain & Get Results

It’s been three weeks since the day you were promised the rug you ordered.  Frustrated and furious, you’ve called repeatedly – and it still hasn’t arrived.  Here’s how to turn your rage into results:

• Put your anger on simmer and speak calmly, but firmly to the person who will most effectively help you, which is usually the manager, not an endless string of operators and middlemen.
  
• Don’t start the complaint with negatives.  State your case assertively and back it up with facts.  Have names and dates at your fingertips.  Demand a specific remedy and a deadline.  If you feel you won’t get satisfaction, stop payment immediately and negotiate from there.
  
  
• Be prepared with documentation:  a written record of the problem as it developed, copies of sales receipts, and photographs of flawed merchandise.
  
  
• Enlist your antagonist as you would a friend.  Say, “I understand you’re not directly responsible for this problem, but I need your help…”  Tell the manager you’re writing him a letter to document your complaint.
  
  
• Still no success?  Get a third party to intercede on your behalf.  Call the Consumer Protection Agency in your state or your local Better Business Bureau, both of which will advise you on how to bring your complaint to a small claims court.