It has happened to all of us. A product breaks and the manufacturer won’t honor the warranty. That big rebate on your new computer is weeks overdue. Your cable TV services has you yelling “Comcast: It’s CRAP-tastic”. And so begins your descent into customer service hell.

A lot of times, the difference between getting excuses and getting want you want is knowing how to complain effectively. MSN Money has outlined some great complaining tips in this article. The basics themes are to know your rights and what you want the company to do, be concise in explaining your problem, and don’t be a jerk about it. They also had a great tip about getting a headset so you aren’t tethered to a phone for the three hours Dell is certain to put you on hold.

The article also mentions keeping notes of your conversations, including names and dates. Their reason is to impress the next rep you talk to, but the better reason is to have a record should you need to escalate your complaint and to let whoever you are dealing with know you are thorough and won’t let the issue die until it is resolved.

I actually prefer written communication to phone calls, but for those instances where you need to talk to a live person these tips should be quite useful.

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Posted in Customer Service Tips by BillyOceansEleven 1 Comment