The only way to get satisfaction is to FIGHT. [POLL]

...At least, that's what my Mom has always told me.

I've felt embarrassed in the past when she felt she was being taken advantage of, when she wasn't happy with a product, etc and did whatever it took to get satisfaction. Belittling people, yelling, threatening, whatever.

But the older I get, the more I encounter terrible customer service, sub-par quality of products, and just an overall dissapointment in the way companies operate these days.

And more and more I'm realizing that being nice gets you only so far. Once you're convinced you're owed something that you're not getting, and you've given them more than enough time to fix the problem, you have to pull out all the tactics to get these people to do what they should have done in the first place.

It's dissapointing, it really is. Just yesterday I 'went off' on a company I've been a customer of for five years because I was paying for a service I wasn't getting. And within an hour, it was fixed. I was nice for two days prior and got nowhere. Had I freaked out on day one, who knows? I might have gotten the problem fixed in much less time and much less agitation on my part.

What do you think?

I've worked a few jobs where the customer is always right and I hated it!

Im sorry but if you call me names and yell at me, I did everything in my power to lengthen the problem and drag it all out for the jerk who couldnt even say please or thank you.


I always helped out people more and faster when they were nice.
And I teach my students that - 'you always get more flies with honey than with vinegar'

YUP! Our internet went out....my first phone call got me nowhere. My second resulted in me getting nothing resolved AND being called a liar...a liar. The man on the phone said I was lying and that my internet was working properly! he also told me it would be 3 weeks before someone could come to fix it. now i am LIVID. so i call back. i not only get a sooner repairman date, but i report him after the nice man on the phone this time manages to keep his cool even though i am not full-fledged yelling as i was at 'justin' [the one who called me a liar]. he transferred me to the supervisor who took my complaint down and then scheduled me for a repair date within 2 days! HAH!

I usually get VERY good customer service with Verizon, except this ONE time...

I had SUCH an issue and this one twirp was on the phone with me POSING as a Supervisor. (I found out later he wasn't). Now, I get strong voiced, but I never yell, curse or get derogatory. I just don't back down and state my case strongly. This moron just didn't GET it and just kept repeating the same moronic statement. And I LOVE repeating their slogans to them, like 'You never stop working for us? You just did!' or something like that...

Well, this guy kept saying 'Ma'am, you're not getting your way, is there anything else I can help you with? If not I will be hanging up the phone'.

I told him if he did, then he would be hanging up ON me because I'm not done yet and I want to speak to HIS Supervisor.

He told me that wasn't going to happen. After that happened a few times, he told me to have a good night and then there was silence.

Now, I know there are certain companies that HAVE TO wait until the customer hangs up first on ANY call, even friendly ones, or else it shows up that they hung up on the customer, so I took a chance that this was one of them and stayed on the line and kept talking to the twirp saying, 'I KNOW YOU'RE STILL THERE, BRIAN. How PATHETIC ARE YOU, PRETENDING YOU HUNG UP????'

I swear to God, 30 seconds later, he said, 'Ma'am you're not getting your way' (!!!!!!!).

Well, the next day, I called and got another person - a SUPERVISOR - and she credited me what I TRULY deserved and said she was taking care of this 'Brian' character, who WASN'T a Supervisor!!!!!

THAT was the WORST!!!!!!

You have to pick your battles... or you wind up jaded and bitter.

And you have to know WHO to talk to.

If I am truly dissatisfied, I ask for a manager. I don't bother arguing with a rep or a salesperson who isn't authorized to ultimately satisfy me.

I also do NOT agree with abusing or belittling ANYONE under ANY circumstance. It really is true that you get more with honey than with vinegar.

I also recognize that a lot of reps are just towing the company line. They say what they need to say as they are told to say it. It isn't going to do me or them any good to scream at them. When one of my girls has me get on the line with a client and my girl is in tears because she was just ripped a new one by the client... I am absolutely not going to give that person anywhere NEAR what I might have offered if they had been pleasant.

I reserve my nastiness for heads of companies and managers. And only if I have made a strong effort to be nice and have gotten NOWHERE. I have no problem writing nasty letters and making less than nice calls.

On the other hand... I am also really free with letters praising customer service and good quality. Because I feel that it inspires a healthy confidence and work ethic.

ETA: And I NEVER NEVER curse or swear at a person. I think that is SO low rent.

It really depends on if the Company can fix the problem or if it's over and done with...If it's over and done with and there is no way the company can fix the problem I may let it go because I just may get more aggravated then it's worth.

If it's something that can be fixed...I would first be nice then ask for a manager and if I get no where there I will find away to get somewhere....I would call everyday (Like i did when Villa's catering can hit me and blamed it on me 100% paid by Villa's insurance comany thanks to my persistence) but let me just add this boils up inside of me and ruins my day so in the future if I can fix it on my own or there is another way around it I may just not fight with the Company.

For those of you in customer service who do your jobs well, bravo. I'm third-tier support for my company and know what it's like to deal with unreasonable people. It's all part of the job until someone makes a personal remark about you. In any customer service job (1st tier) I've had in the past, I've been told that's the point they are either:

1. Put on hold and connected to a manager who advises them that they will not tolerate personal attacks against their employees.

or

2. Told if they continue with these personal statements, their call will be disconnected.

But I'd still like to know what you do with other customer service people outside of your professional life. Not what you do in your job. How you react when you are the one not being satisfied.

To clarify on my original post:

1. I am not making an idictment on anyone here. Unless your name is Sam and you work for www.nomonthlyfees.com. Or your name is Patrick and you work for www.tigerdirect.com.

2. I, and my mother, have never EVER called people names.

3. In my most recent bad experience with customer service, I gave them 6 chances to do the right thing and fix my problem.

I had already put in two very professional and very nice support calls with an additional two updates with more information. I sent two emails in hopes of contacting someone else. After 2 days with no resolution and no one addressing my concerns, I drafted a four page letter with all the details on my myriad of issues, addressed it to managers only, and faxed it. It was completely factual and without emotion until the end when I wrote:

---

My husband and I have been customers of www.nomonthlyfees.com for almost five years. Never have I received such poor customer service or technical support.

I find it hard to believe, as your website states, that support is your number one priority. It is now 2 days since the original support ticket was entered, I still do not have access to my email, I have lost all faith in the “service” and “support” of your company and am considering backing up all my data and going to a hosting company that is capable of providing the minimal support that a customer of five years should be able to expect.

I will ask once again:

1. When is my support problem going to be resolved?
2. When your guarantee of Same Day Response is broken, how do you reimburse your customers?

This letter is addressed to MANAGERS only. I have already dealt with unacceptable first-level customer service and first-level technical support and have no resolution.

---

I don't think I crossed a line there and stand behind my actions. Although my problem was fixed, I received no other communication to tell me so. Nothing from any manager, or tech support person. And my second question has never been answered. Their guarantee is complete BS.

I am currently looking into options to switch companies because I can't afford this happening again.

Some companies just have horrid customer service and are asking for it.

It's so strange that you bring this up. I tried ordering stuff off my registry last week. I started with WeddingChannel.com customer service. The lady was very nice, but unable to resolve the problem and transferred me to someone at Macy's. He on the other hand was a complete arse!!! When I asked to be transferred to a supervisor, his response was to ask me what he should tell the supervisor. My response was 'tell the supervisor you have a customer on the phone that asked to speak to a supervisor!' Geez, how hard is that?? But, that wasn't good enough for the jerk - he wanted to know specifically what to tell the supervisor. So I replied, tell him/her that you and I are not communicating and I want to speak to a supervisor. His response??? Get this, he said, 'we're communicating, you just don't want to listen to me!' The @$@$@$ nerve on that guy!!

I get the supervisor on the phone and very calmly explain the situation, and after 20 minutes she can't figure it out and/or fix the problem, so she transferred me to customer service. Umm, I thought that was who I was talking to. Customer service was able to fix/resolve/explain what the heck was going on.

All of that took 2 hours - while I was at work (and not during lunch either).

Not once did I raise my voice, use foul language, or get nasty. However, when I got an email about how well my questions etc were handled I blasted the guy who behaved badly and praised the girl who ultimately resolved the issue.

I didn't pick any of the answers because none of them really apply to how I handle issues like that...

I don't really think that getting nasty and yelling is the right way to go about getting a problem rectified. My mother always says, 'You catch more bees with honey than with vinegar' and that's how I approach problems...

I'm not going to just walk away and forget about an issue, but you can calmly and politely address the issue and ask for a solution rather than letting things escalate. I find that business owners, customer service people, etc, are much more likely to want to help you if you're nice to them. If I don't get a resolution this way, I either take it up the line to the person's superior or go to the Better Business Bureau.