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Found Money: Customer Service Reps
By Molly's Brother | August 3, 2006
The squeaky wheel definitely gets the grease. I know that Mo’Nique had a recent run-in with United Airlines. The previous week before her incident, I too had an unhappy situation. Fortunately, my disaster trip didn’t hit all the gossip rags. (In this case, the squeakier wheel got the grease.) I did, however, let my frustration and situation be known to their customer service department. It’s a great way to be reimbursed for your troubles or to get discounts on future purchases.
Complain Immediately As soon as a problem arises, register your complaint. Talk to a customer service rep at the site or get a customer service representative on the phone. Be sure you keep a record of the phone call (especially the name of the representative you spoke to). If you aren’t able to get into the issue at the time of the incident, then make sure you do so when you get home. You must start the process in a timely fashion. The closer you are to the facts, the better off you are.
Remember to be courteous Once you do get someone on the phone, remember what your momma taught you: Be polite. You’re beyond frustrated. I understand. But I’m sure that Indian gentleman on the other end of the phone, at the other end of the globe doesn’t want to be talking about this any more than you do. Not to mention, how much can he really do so far down the corporate ladder, sitting in another corporate hemisphere entirely. Manners will get you everywhere.
Follow-up with a letter Once you are off the phone with the customer service representative, be sure to follow-up with a detailed letter to the company. In your letter make sure you:
- Identify the issue clearly and intelligently.
- Keep the letter short and to the point.
- End the letter stating that you expect to resolve this issue in a timely manner (At this point, if you expect some sort of compensation, say so.)
Be persistent If after a week, you don’t hear back from the company in question be sure to follow-up on your follow-up. Make a phone call. Write another letter. Act in some way so as to make it clear that you are not going away.
Following my run-in with United, I followed these steps and–after about a week or so–I heard nothing. Finally, on the morning of the 9th day home, I sat down at my computer, ready to get to the bottom of the issue. With anger inside and vitrol on my tongue, I opened my email inbox. And sitting there was an email worth $100 off my next trip with United.
It wasn’t the free roundtrip ticket I was looking for, but it was nice to be recognized for the hassle I endured. It was, after all, money free and money found.
Topics: Lessons Learned, Saving |
August 4th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
Wow, what was the incident, if you don’t mind my asking?
August 7th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
The Incident: I had a connecting flight that was due to leave at 2:50 PM. It didn’t leave until 4:50 PM. They tried to say that it was due to weather issues. I found out by listening to comments from the flight crew and from the captain that it was actually maintenance issues that the airline was responsible for. I followed up with a letter detailing this bit of news. Turned out, after further review, that I was right.