Making
An Effective Complaint
Cathy
came to me recently fuming with a serious complaint. Whenever she
goes to restaurants, she asks if there are peanuts or peanut oil
in the food before she orders it. She's extremely, life-or-death,
allergic to peanuts. After the restaurant told her that the food
had no peanut products, she dug into her chicken salad. Within minutes,
her tongue and lips were swollen and she was on her way to the emergency
room for treatment.
She's
going to lodge a complaint with the restaurant. She's really angry
about what happened to her and she's scared that it will happen
to someone else, perhaps even a child.
Cathy
wants her complaint to be effective enough that it will actually
change the way that the restaurant respects customer needs!
Using
a Complaint to Effect Change
- Relax
as much as you can and review the problem unemotionally. What
happened? Why did it happen? What went wrong?
-
Decide how you want the situation resolved. If you just go in
with a complaint and no request for specific action no real change
will occur. Do you want compensation for what happened to you?
Cathy does! She wants them to reimburse her out of pocket medical
expenses and pay her HMO for the treatment she needed. Collect
the bills you've paid and any estimates to fix outstanding problems.
She also wants them to hold a national training for their chain
providing information about the serious nature of food allergies.
She'd like them to have basic medical response training, too.
- Who
should you complain to? You've got to find who has the ability
to say "yes" to your proposed remedies. In Cathy's case,
the restaurant manager gave her a hurried apology and then left
the company. In any case, he wasn't able to make any real changes.
- Cathy
called the district manager for the chain. He claimed it was an
accident and she agreed, but he couldn't make any systematic changes
on his own. Cathy asked for a referral and he gave her an introduction
to the company's Chief Operations Officer.
- If
you can't get information by being polite and persistent, use
public information to find out who can make a decision. In addition
to the chief operations officer, other good choices would include
the Chief Executive Officer or Vice President of Marketing.
- Do
you bring a lawyer into it? That's up to you. It can get the company
to treat the action more seriously but it might also lead to them
dragging their heels and covering their butts. Some cases warrant
having a lawyer protect and help you through the process.
Tips
- Be
polite, calm and friendly. You don't have a problem with the person
with whom you're speaking, you have a problem with something that
happened. You need their help to get it resolved well.
- If
you paid by credit card and the situation is unresolved, notify
your credit card company within 60 days that you dispute the charge.
You do not have to pay the disputed part of the bill while it's
being investigated but you must pay for any services or products
that are not subject to disagreement.
- Give
a brief and clear statement of the problem. Include date and location,
model and serial numbers if it has them. Know who sold you the
product or performed the service.
- Keep
a log of with whom you've discussed the problem, from your first
contact. Include date, time, items discussed and disposition of
the problem. Did they offer to fix the problem? Did they refer
you to someone else?
- Keep
a record of all phone calls, mail, email, etc. When you mail them
something, pay for a return receipt request with the Post Office.
Keep a file, in chronological order, of the complaint with all
supporting documentation.
- Never
give the company your original documents. Always give them copies
of the documents.
- Ask
for specific remedies. Don't hem and haw and see what they'll
offer besides an apology. Be reasonable with your requests.
- Send
a follow-up letter talking about the resolution. Include appropriate
thanks for the people that you dealt with in moving to resolution.
- Continue
to be polite, calm and friendly.
Still
Unresolved?
You've
got a number of ways to get satisfaction. You can complain to your
local government or your state's Attorney General's office.
Call
the Better Business Bureau. Find if there is a mediation or arbitrage
program that the business you were dealing with has agreed to work
through. You can file a claim in Small Claims Court. If the problem
is really worth the expense, you can get a lawyer involved.
One
of my favorite referrals is to Denver-based consumer advocate Tom
Martino. He handles complaints all over the country and has gotten
some pretty amazing resolutions. He recovers millions of dollars
for customers each year. Find his site at: http://www.troubleshooter.com/.
-Cindy
Nemeth-Johannes
