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Illinois Assistive Technology Program Funding Manual

How to Complain and Win

It’s time to get mad. You don’t have to take it anymore. It’s time to fight back. And the best part, you really can win. You just have to know how.

Here are some helpful suggestions you can use to get what you want.

Know your rights. Sometimes companies/agencies/schools/bosses/ administrator, etc get away with egregious behavior simply because their victims don’t know the law. Knowing the law -- and letting the bully know you know -- is sometimes effective in getting the change you want.

If your complaint involves a law, contract, warranty or guaranty, read all the fine print. You don’t necessarily have to limit yourself to the solutions they suggest, but you should at least know what they promised.

Know what you want. Be clear in your mind and in all your communications about what you want to happen. That way you won’t get sidetracked.

After all, the person you're talking to may not have the goal of making you happy. His/her goal might be just to get you off the phone.

If the person offers ways to fix the issue, it will usually be with ways that don’t cost much. When my new laptop’s hard drive failed for the second time last month, Dell wanted to send me yet another replacement part. But I knew from the start of my call that I wasn’t getting off the phone until a replacement computer was on its way.

Make sure what you want is reasonable and doable. Your definition of those two terms may vary from the company, et al, but don't be ridiculous about it. The school district didn't give your child extended school year services, for example, don't expect them to build a ramp at your home.

Be concise. Boil your story down to its essential elements; you might even practice first with a friend before you pick up the phone. Nattering on about irrelevant details will just make it easier for the person you called to tune out or miss the point. It's like telling a joke for the first time, people usually stumble, sometimes even blowing the punch line. But after they've told that joke a half dozen times, it comes out flawless. Practice saying what you want in less than 15 words or less. Here is what that rehearsal might sound like.

First try, "Oh! Hi, I didn't expect you to answer the phone so quickly, I was eating a cookie. Um...OK.. well, here's the deal. I went to the fair with my friend sherry, she drives, i do not... And, anyway, we went to your booth at the state fair." Forty-seven words and there's no clue about what I'm saying.

Second try, "Hello, I went to the fair, you know that day it rained... I almost didn't make it because my windshield wipers weren't working on my friend's car..." Twenty seven words; I cut 20 words out of my tale... but I'm still no closer to getting to the point. And still, who knows what I want?

Third try, "I went to the booth at your state fair. At first the snotty people minding the booth ignored me..." That sentence has 20 words, and all the person knows is that I went to the fair, and I diss'ed their volunteer help. Besides, you’re going to have to repeat your story over and over and over to get results. Might as well save yourself some time by editing in advance.

Don’t be a jerk. Effective complainers believe this: You don’t have to be nice, necessarily. You do have to be polite.

You don't have to be sweet, understanding or particularly patient when you deal with people who resist giving you what you want. But be unfailingly civil. Rude behavior just gives people an opportunity to hang up on you, or feel justified in not helping you.

I’ve found being nice sometimes greases the wheels. Some people are so used to being berated that they melt pretty quickly when dealing with someone who’s pleasant. Try chatting them up, then ask them how they would handle my problem if it were theirs, instead of mine. Many times, they’ll respond to this treatment by putting you in touch with someone who can actually solve my dilemma.

Know that the company/agency's problems are not your problems. Higher-ups love to tell you exactly why their procedures don’t allow them to do what you need them to do. Guess what: You don’t have to care. How they choose to conduct themselves is not your concern. What is your concern is getting your problem fixed, however they ultimately decide to do it.

Carve out some time. I’m convinced some companies/agencies try to wear you out with excessively long hold times. You can’t force them to pick up the phone, but you can fight back by out-waiting them.

Get yourself a portable phone or, better yet, a portable with a headset. That way you can do other things to keep your sanity while waiting for the company to see reason.

It took one person three hours on a Saturday morning to persuade Dell to see things her way. She survived innumerable transfers, two disconnects and endless stretches on hold largely because she wasn’t tethered to a desk the whole time. Thanks to her portable head set, she was able to play with her daughter, sort mail and even do a little light housekeeping while she talked to Sandy, Matt, Phyllis, Jason, Raina and the rest of the Dell crew about how they were going to get me a replacement computer.

Get names and call back numbers. Sometimes, you don’t have three hours in a row to spend on the phone. Rather than start over from the beginning each time you dial, make sure you know how to get back in touch with the people who handled your last call. Having a name and number also comes in handy when you get transferred into voice-mail hell or the phone simply goes dead -- not that anyone would ever, ever deliberately hang up on you.

Take notes. I don’t know why, but the powers that be are inordinately impressed when you can tell them exactly when you were told what by whom. These details can also help when you’re enlisting others to come to your aid (see below).

When in doubt, get it in writing. Advocates usually recommend putting disputes in writing. The reality is that most problems get handled over the phone, and you don’t necessarily have to conduct business by snail mail.

If the issue involves a promises, blown timelines, insurance or other disability related issue, put everything in writing and send the letters certified mail, return receipt requested. Keep a log of all your communications with the company and copies of every relevant piece of paper.

Keep moving up the ladder. You probably know that if you can’t get what you want from a the fist line phone person, you should ask to speak to a supervisor. But the folks with the real power may be several rungs up the ladder. If you strike out, try the company’s community relations division. A letter sent to the company/agency's president, CEO or superintendent can often break through a logjam like nothing else.

If they violated the law, you may need to contact the appropriate regulator. You’ll need to do some research to find the right office, and you can’t necessarily count on results.

Desperate measures
If you’re having a problem with the government itself, the ultimate resource may be your local, state or federal representative. Many lawmakers pride themselves on taking care of their constituents on this grassroots level.

Then there’s always the option of alerting the media. But if the company/agency’s behavior has been particularly terrible or you think you might be part of a trend, you can try calling your local newspaper or television station to see if you can interest them in your plight.

A writer at the Los Angeles Times discovered that a local phone utility was charging many of its customers for DSL service that didn’t work. The utility kept insisting that there was no problem, or that customer complaints were "isolated incidents." After the reporter heard from a bunch of "isolated incidents" and wrote a front-page story about them, the company was forced to stop billing people for something they never got.

Finally, you can always hire a lawyer. It’s not the easiest or most cost-effective way to get what you want, but sometimes it pays off.

Real-estate agent Judy Thomas tried for six years to get TransUnion to remove another woman’s bad credit history from her credit report. Thomas finally won a $5.3 million lawsuit against the credit bureau. The judge later reduced the award to $1.3 million, but hey, Thomas made her point.

This article was adapted from an article by Liz Pulliam Weston, How to Complain and Win

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