My friend Marc recently had a moving
experience. That is, he bought a new home, and went through the usual
gymnastics of dealing with brokers, lawyers, utility companies, and movers, to
name but a few. His new mailbox was full of "welcome to your new home" offers
for various services and discounts, including a free oil change, and a 10% off
coupon for one of the big box stores.
On closer examination, Marc realized that the coupon wasn’t really a coupon.
It was an offer for a coupon. To receive the coupon, he had to go online
and fill out a form, which he did. Time went by, but the coupon never arrived.
So he went back online, looked up the company’s customer service email address,
and sent a note explaining that he had never received his 10% off coupon. Not
long afterwards, Marc received an automated response telling him that his
problem couldn’t be helped by the computer-based customer service people, he
would have to make a phone call.
Ring. Ring.
The customer service rep listened patiently to Marc’s story, put him on hold
for a while, apologized, and promised to send out the coupon, "which should
arrive in about six to eight weeks." (How difficult, he wondered, would it be
to put the thing in an envelope, and mail it out? Or, better yet, since the
original requirement was to submit an electronic form, how difficult would it
have been to simply email the blasted thing?)
reading his mind, the customer service rep went a step further, and offered to
send a gift card in the amount of $35, to be used while waiting for the coupon.
The gift card was delivered by UPS a few days later, but long after the 8 week
waiting period had ended . . . Marc still had no coupon. So, he made another
call, and this time was given a different number to call, with a specific
extension to punch in.
person who answered this call had no idea why Marc was given her number, and he
was eventually switched to a very polite representative, who sincerely
apologized, and said a coupon would be sent right out. He should receive it in
a week to 10 days. To make it clear that this time it would indeed arrive, he
was given a confirmation number.
never arrived. Not in 6 to 8 weeks. Not ever. Marc happily used his gift card,
and decided it just wasn’t worth any more of his time and energy to pursue the
coupon. And because of the hassles, any further shopping would be done in a
different Big Box store, one that made no offer, and lived up to it.
End
of story? Not quite.
All
of a sudden, emails started flooding Marc’s inbox with "helpful" tips, sale
opportunities, and miscellaneous benefits to shopping at the store that offered
the coupon but never sent it. Not a big fan of spam, Marc attempted to
unsubscribe, only to get a screen asking for all sorts of information, other than
the email address to remove from their "subscriber" list. Unable to break
through the information barrier, and unwilling to give out his address and
phone number in fear of yet more intrusions, he returned to the phone.
you were hoping for a happy ending, guess what? There is one! This time, after
repeating much of what you just read to a very patient representative, he was
offered another gift card, this time for $200, and most amazing of all, the
card arrived just a few days later. Marc has still not received the coupon, but
it doesn’t bother him nearly as much.
Moral: Persistence pays off!
For
your own happy endings with corporate America, get yourself a free copy of the 2008
edition of the Consumer
Action Handbook, which offers the best advice on how to lodge winning
complaints. It includes the names, headquarters, addresses, phone numbers, Web
sites, and email addresses of virtually every top flak-catcher at hundreds of
corporations, as well as key federal, state, and local government agencies and
nonprofits that might help solve consumer problems. There are also plenty of
detailed tips about shopping from home, identity theft, telemarketing, credit,
privacy, product safety, scams, cars, insurance, banking, phone service – you
name it.
can access the handbook online,
but I think the printed copy belongs in every house. Uncle Sam must agree.
He’ll send you up to five copies for free. Makes a great housewarming gift.
us know of your recent experiences in trying to get your complaints resolved.
If you haven’t already succeeded, maybe we can help!
Nancy
Castleman – Co-author of "Invest in Yourself: Six Secrets to a Rich
Life" and founder of Good Advice
Press. Nancy has spent the last 23 years teaching people how to get out of
debt, save money, and live better on less. She writes on all these subjects for
CreditBloggers.com.
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Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.