The Right Way To Complain To Companies

At one time or another, we've all had a problem with a company -- whether it owed us money or gave us bad service.

And we complained.

But did we complain the right way -- to get the most bang for our gripe?!

There are effective and ineffective ways to get yourself heard, as Early Show consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen explained Friday.

According to Koeppen:

The biggest mistake people make when complaining is that they lose focus. They go off on tangents about something related to their problem, but fail to really state what their specific problem is and what the solution is that they're seeking. I've seen complaint letters that are ten pages long and written on the back of wall paper. That's not going to help your cause.

Keep letters short!

You'd be surprised at the number of people who fail to give all the information the company needs to handle their complaint.

So, the first thing is to give your name and address, as well as the name and address of the company. When you get to the body of the letter, you want to state your problem and give a brief history. Next, ask for a specific action to be taken and say how long you are willing to wait for that action to be completed. And this part is crucial: Tell the company how you can be reached. Include all phone numbers, as well as e-mail addresses. Finally, when sending the letter, include any accompanying documentation, such as a copy of the receipt or perhaps photographs related to your claim. And this is a big one: Make sure to include all serial numbers, if that's applicable.

If you opt to use the phone to register your beef, before you make any call, make sure you have all the information needed to properly process the complaint -- all the same info you'd include in a letter.

Reaching a real, live person at a company can be difficult. But there are two Web sites, gethuman.com and dialahuman.com, that can get you out of voice mail hell and directly to an operator.

Once you do reach an operator, be very succinct. Don't go off on tangents.

And be nice. If you're calling to complain about being stuck on an airplane for eight hours, remember that the person on the other end of the phone isn't the one who caused the plane to be stuck on the tarmac. It may sound cliché, but you really do get more by being nice.

Another complaint option is live chatting on the Internet.

Many larger retailers who have a presence online offer live chatting. Basically what that is is instant messaging with someone at the company. For the purpose of this story, I lived chatted with several firms. The first was LL Bean. I explained that I had a rip in my ski bag and wanted to know what I should do about getting it repaired. Within about three minutes, I was conversing via e-mail with a live person, and within 10 minutes, I had all the information I needed on where I would have to return the bag and whether it would cost me anything. I also did a live chat with backcountry.com, which sells outdoor gear. Within 30 seconds, they answered my question about how to return an item that didn't fit.

So, even if you aren't the most Web-savvy person, you may want to give live chatting a try!