It's good to complain
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive March 2005:
It's good to complain
I literally have to watch every penny and I'm always looking for ways to save money.
I switched from Comcast to Sprint DSL in mid October, thinking it would save $30 a month and our phone bill and internet would be around $100. We have two separate phone lines for a business and personal.
I started getting my phone bill in November and it was close to $200. Shocked I called the phone company (have you read your phone bill lately). She stated it was correct (my long distance isn't even with Sprint)! December the same thing, January the same thing (I called in December and January trying to figure it out). Finally in February I figured each month they were charging me triple for DSL and it was hooked into the wrong phone line and this was $60 extra month!
I called in February explaining my whole situation, how it wasn't how I wanted the service in the first place and it wasn't billed to the correct phone line (there were supposed to be extra savings). I complained, she got nasty, I told her I would turn them into the Public Utility commission, she said go ahead and she disconnected me. Three days later I got something from the PUC, but I didn't turn it in thinking I'd waste my time.
On March 1, I tried again, got a nice lady explained how it was supposed to be set up, told her I wanted basic phone service on both lines and I thought that would be about $50 a month. She was very nice to me and listened to the whole story! She changed the service and said, yes, it would be about $50 a month.
Lo and behold, I got my phone bill today and that nice lady sent a note with the bill explaining she applied for me for a $248.98 CREDIT!!!!!!!! She credited for that whole time in error and extra charges Sprint was billing me.
I wrote a nice letter back to the lady and her supervisor.
This credit will pay my phone bill for almost 5 months.
There are angels out there
that's great news! I'm glad you got it worked out and got your money back on credit.
Awesome! Every company needs a lady like her!
It's always nice to reach a customer service rep that actually wants to give customer service. More often than not I reach someone who obviously hates their job and feels like every penny spent/owed is directly from their pocket.
Glad you had a good experience!
Absolutely, Marg. I came home to day to find in the mail a response from Nestle to a complaint about an out of date coupon on a product I bought recently. The letter contained one free coupon and four 40 cent coupons for that product.
By the way, when I had a beef with my phone company about billing, I sent a copy of the letter to the Pennsylvania PUC, and the PUC was very responsive. It had been my 4th written complaint to this company about their billing, and after I sent a copy to the PUC all was resolved to my complete satisfaction in about two weeks.
The rules of constructive complaining: (1) always complain in writing - phone calls do NOT leave a record - and in your letter state clearly what is wrong, what should be done to fix it, and what you want (i.e., refund, credit, etc.). Enclose copies of any supporting documentation. Include in your letter the names of everyone at the entity with whom you spoke on the phone, dates, and summarize the conversation (of course, you kept records of all these things, didn't you?) Keep a copy of your letter. (2) Check to see what government body (if any) is the appropriate body to receive a copy of your complaint letter and be sure to show at the bottom of your letter that you are sending a copy to that body. (3) If at all possible, check - on an internet website, with the "business" section of the main library near you, or simply by calling the business in question (most have an 800 number) - and find out who the CEO is or the Regional Manager. Direct your letter to that person. This is an area where "trickle down" actually works. The executive's secretary sends a copy of your letter to the appropriate department with a memo telling them to check into the problem and report back to the executive - and you can bet they want to report back that all is happily resolved.
I have had these simple techniques work with Sears, the Philadelphia Water Company, my telephone company, various stores, and now with Nestles (with Nestles it was an email complaint, but that is still "in writing").
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