April 13, 2011

How to Get Results When You Have a Consumer Complaint

Two weeks ago, my sister’s wedding was called off. That is her story to tell and not mine. A few days after this happened, she asked my Mom and me to go to the bridal shop to pick up her wedding gown. She didn’t want to do the final try-on or pick it up. We agreed. When we got there, the seamstress almost seemed annoyed that she wasn’t there to try on her gown; so I told her that we were picking it up because the wedding had been called off. Could she please just bag it up and get it ready to go? My Mom and I never unzipped the opaque bag to look at the gown, assuming everything would be ok. We were too distracted by the fact that my bridesmaid gown had been shipped to California instead of the East Coast. We got that straightened out and drove home.

Four days later, my Mom wanted to see if a shawl she had been knitting for my sister, would have matched the gown. She unzipped the gown bag and the dress had been hung inside it, backwards. That seemed odd, but my Mom didn’t anticipate any problems. She gently pulled the one side back to look at the front of the gown and she saw a huge gash in the center of the dress, right under the bust. She immediately called me in a panic and I told her to get off the phone with me and call the store. They asked her to bring the gown in, so a week ago, my Mom and I drove another hour back to the store to show them the gown.

When we arrived at the shop, one of the employees went to get the manager. When she finally emerged from the back of the store, I could tell things were not going to go well. She was scowling at us before she even approached us. My Mom explained what happened and showed her the gown. The manager did that quick head nod thing that people do when they want you to just hurry up and get on with it. She combined it with pursed lips and an evil glare. When my Mom finished talking, she took the gown, hung it on the seamstress’s rack in the back of the store and said, “You’ll need to talk to her. She’s the last person who touched the dress.”

My Mom looked at me and whispered, “passing the buck.” We knew things were going downhill quickly.

The seamstress came to the front of the store with the gown after we waited a good 15 minutes, all the while getting evil glares from the manager. She looked at the gown and then accused my Mom of intentionally cutting the gown with scissors. She wasn’t quiet about it. My Mom, an honest woman who thinks “sucks” is a bad word, was obviously in shock. She held up her hands and said, “No, no, no, I’m not accusing you of doing anything to the gown. I’m wondering if maybe, when it was being bagged up, if it got caught on a hanger or something and ripped?” The seamstress repeated her accusation and it was time for me to step in.

“I don’t think you understand,” I told her and the manager. “My Mom is not here because she wants her money back. She simply wants the gown either fixed (if it can be) or replaced. This dress is neither wearable or salable at this point. That’s what she wants so what’s it going to be?”

The seamstress stormed away with the dress mumbling that she would try to fix it. The manager continued to give us evil glares. At this point, I asked the manager, quietly and politely, if I could please have the name of her boss and phone number. I said I would also like a phone number for customer service at their corporate office. She screamed back at me, “What do you need my boss’s info for? I didn’t do anything!” and I politely told her that I needed that info because she was being extremely rude. She wrote down a first name for me, not her name, and handed me a piece of paper. She seemed extra annoyed when I told her I would also be needing her name.

About three minutes after the seamstress stormed away with the dress, she was back, with a sewing job that could have easily been duplicated by my 5-year old daughter, while blindfolded. My Mom, always polite and kind, actually thanked the seamstress for the hack job she had just done on the gown and zipped it up. I told my Mom we weren’t going to get anywhere with these women and mentioned loud enough for them to hear that they had screwed with the wrong person.

The hour drive home was brutal because I had steam coming out my ears and my Mom was on the verge of tears. Never, in her entire life, had anyone treated her so terribly. They treated her like a criminal and she was devastated. I told her I would fix it when I got home. I don’t get sad; I get mad (and even).

Within seconds of walking in my house, I was on the computer. I worked as a recruiter for five years. I can find the name, phone number and email address of anyone in the business world within minutes. And that’s just what I did. . .

Step 1: Find the highest person to contact possible. Don’t waste your time screaming at the local manager who is simply a parrot and possibly a jerk too. Look for a CEO, President or VP; top executives are key. They are the ones who make things happen. Websites like manta.com can help. Within seconds I had the name of the CEO. I also knew from an article I found that he took over the company from his parents, who started it. Even better. A quick browse through google revealed the bridal company’s root email system. They are frequently things like firstinitiallastname@company.com or something similar. I believe I had the CEO’s email in about three minutes flat.

Step 2: Craft a professional letter. If you start out with a rant, you’re a “crazy consumer” and they don’t want to hear it. It’s easy to dismiss you.  If you start out with a compliment, you have them hooked. I started out by telling them that 12 years ago, I wore one of their bridal gowns and it was gorgeous. My sister loved mine so much that she wanted to wear a gown from that company too. I told the story about how we drove over an hour each way, many times, to try on gowns, choose a gown, and have alterations done. And then I explained my experience in vivid detail. A complaint letter is nothing if it doesn’t start out with honey, explain the complaint and then say what you want. I spelled it out: either replace the gown or fix it (this option didn’t seem possible after what happened). I also mentioned at the end of the letter that I had already filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I mentioned that I have written a blog for over five years and then mentioned the many places where I have been syndicated and published over the years. I told them I’d be happy to share my experience with my readers across the state, the country and the world.  I also provided a link where other negative reviews of that store had been posted. I told them I wasn’t alone and that they had a real problem in that store. And then I thanked them for their time.

Step 3: Find more executives to contact. I sent the letter within an hour of being back home, but the next morning, when I got home from work, I hadn’t heard from anyone yet, so I looked for more executives. You can find these names on business websites, in press releases on the company’s website and in news articles too. I emailed a ton of them but I pasted all their emails inside the BCC area. That way, with a header like “Dear Owners, Executives and Employees,” they have no idea how very far-reaching your email happen to be. It compels them to want to quiet you and fix the situation.

Within 15 minutes of sending the second email, I had a phone call from someone at corporate who oversees that store. It was approximately 16 hours after the original incident.  My email had been forwarded to her from the  CEO. The CEO wanted it taken care of asap, and had already involved many executives at the corporate office.  After I accepted an apology on her behalf from the CEO and the entire company, she told me how she was going to fix things. She discussed how those two women are not good representatives of their company so therefore, they were going to be dealt with; and she also said she would replace the gown and have it shipped directly to my Mom’s house.

A few hours later, I had another phone call. This time, she offered a full refund for the gown and the alterations. This is unheard of in the bridal industry; but anything is possible when you have a valid consumer complaint and you stay professional about it.

Step 4: Follow up. Continue to follow up with the contacts you gain and are given until the problem is solved. This is crucial. If you start the process, you don’t want to stop until it is over. Last Friday, I emailed the woman and said my sister had thought about it and wanted the refund instead of the replaced gown. Monday morning, I followed up and told her she can expect a phone call from my Mom so that the refund can be processed. Today, I sent her another email.

Over the years, I have received everything from free meals from McDonald’s and Wendy’s (for forgetting to give me sauce or giving me the wrong food in the drive-thru), to free portrait packages at places where I was treated rudely and made to wait long past my appointment time with a temperamental baby. Everything is negotiable when you receive poor service, as long as you’re talking to the right people. The key is good investigation, persistence and professionalism.

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