Mile Nerd

I spent last weekend cleaning out my email inbox. Thousands of messages were either moved or deleted. Man, reading through years of old communication does a weird thing to your brain. You see the ways people have changed (including yourself), who you lost, how other relationships have grown…and it’s just a really interesting (and kind of sad) way of seeing how much time has passed in your life.

Anyway, I might be answering some random questions in the next few weeks. After all that reading, I realized there were a lot of common issues out there. One of them seemed to be confusion in conflict resolution with banks, airlines, hotels, and other companies. For example, I forgot how many people had written with issues collecting credit card bonuses. So here’s a quick-hit list of methods that help whenever you need to move up the ladder. Probably obvious to some, but I know many of you have had questions about this through the years…

1. Talk to a supervisor – It’s amazing how bad some first-line-of-defense customer service reps can be.
2. Hang up, call again – Also amazing is how different the response can be from 2 different supervisors at the same company.
3. Articulate the issue and what you want – Part of the problem for some is they get sheepish. Others can get so worked up that clarity gets lost. Breathe, think about it before you call, and take your time. You’re talking to people. For me, it always helps to appeal to them as human beings before moving into threat mode. How would they like to be in a situation like the one you’re in? Sometimes I ask that exact question.
4. Be clear about the facts – You look dumb when you threaten to get a lawyer and it turns out you were the wrong one in this scenario. Facts help – dates you talked to customer service reps, names of who you talked to, screenshots, etc.
5. Twitter – Depending on the company, it can be an effective way to get attention. Multiple readers were getting nowhere over the phone and ended up with great resolutions once they started tweeting. For some companies, email and chat can be a good option. For others, it’s a total black hole.
6. Corporate – “I’m calling corporate” has become a joke. But there are times when it’s effective to talk to people who don’t normally deal with upset customers. It takes a little googling but most contact information is easy to find.
7. Better Business Bureau complaints – This takes more effort so it should always come later in the process. After the other attempts have been made. But I’ve had incredible success almost every time I’ve gotten to this point.
8. CFPB complaints – If it’s a credit card or banking issue, this is a great last resort for most people. But, again, only after trying other steps. I’ve observed that skipping ahead to this point is often because of social awkwardness. Many times, picking up the phone is all it would have taken.
9. Lawyers – Ideally, it never gets to this point. But, hey, sometimes people end up in unusually bad situations. If you have a relationship with a lawyer, sometimes a well-written letter from them is all you need.
10. Small Claims Court – Nothing more annoying than overly litigious people. But this list is for people who were actually wronged in some way. So, yeah, it’s smart to know the small claim limits in your state.