1. Be businesslike, don’t rant.
Ranting and raving accomplishes nothing, but makes you sound like a lunatic. Put your rants on www. zinos.com and write something brief and to-the-point to the company.
2. List precisely what would make you happy, and be realistic about it.
3. Document everything.
Start a file, write things down, copy everything you mail, make a log of the chronology of events, and put them in the file. Leave a “paper trail.” Record phone calls if it’s legal. In some states only one party has to have knowledge and consent to the recording. Check the law for your state and obtain an opinion from an attorney-at-law.
4. Get names & titles, dates, places, and write down a description of the person if they won’t give their name.
Do this early on while things are still calm.
5. Move up the chain-of-command quickly.
Don’t waste your time with people who don’t have decision-making power, like local numbers, toll-numbers and customer reps. (Usually they can’t pass you up the food chain fast enough.)
6. Find the company on the Internet, go to their website and get the home office number, and names of CEO, president, chairman of the board, etc.
If you can’t find any of the names you need, read their press releases. Then take a look at who sent the PR and what their email address is and make the leap, i.e., if it was Mary Smith, smithm @hugecorporation.com, well, you’ve got a shot at knowing where to send president Nancy Worcester’s email – worcestern@hugecorporation.com .
7. Nothing says ‘lawsuit’ like a certified letter.
It will get your mail opened.
8. You can cc: your attorney, the media, your elected officials, the Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission and so forth.
9. Keep going up the ladder until you’re sure you’ve hit a dead-end.
10. Here are some helpful resources: National Association of Consumer Advocates, NACA, http://www.naca.net . Consumer help by zip code, and your elected officials – http://wwwican2000.com. Good luck!
Susan Dunn, MA, Marketing Coach,
http://www.webstrategies.cc. Marketing consultation,
implementation, website review, SEO optimization, article
writing and submission, help with ebooks and other
strategies. Susan is the author or How to Write an eBook
and Market It on the Internet. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc
for information and free ezine. Specify Checklist.
