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Gather
the Facts
Whether
it's a suit gone crazy or a lawn mower that
can't even cut cake, you need to put all the
pertinent facts down on paper.
When did you buy it? Do you have the receipt?
Exactly what happened? What steps have you
taken to remedy the situation? With what
result?
In the case of a
garment failure, you need to know who to complain
to. In the scenario of the tear-away suit,
you can take the suit back to the store where
you bought it -- if that's possible. But
maybe you bought the suit on that last trip
to visit your Aunt Bessie... and she lives
clear across the country.
The manufacturer
is ultimately responsible in this kind of
case, and so you need to know who that is.
Look at the label (you don't take those out,
do you? For shame! You're giving up a lot
of valuable information if you do.) By
law, any garment sold in the U.S. must have
the legal name and address of the manufacturer
on a label affixed to the garment. Since
that could take up the whole label, a system
was put in place through the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) to allow companies to request
a Registration Identification Number (RN number)
that takes the place of all those words.
It's about 5 digits long. You can get the
full name and address of any garment company
from the FTC's website just by inputting the
RN number. (In Canada, it's called a CA number,
and since a lot of trade goes back and forth
across the border, you may have clothes with
those numbers.)
Just put in the 5-digit number you have on
your label, and the site will provide you
with the legal name and full address of the
manufacturer. Only one RN or CA number is
issued to a company; they use it in every
garment they make.
Distance
Yourself from the Emotion
Complaining
is a stressful thing to do. It's adversarial,
and most of us don't like to get into that
kind of situation. Because
of that, it's easy to cross the line from
factual to emotional very quickly.
If you have to, try to think of the problem
as something that happened to your neighbor
or an acquaintance. This should help you
stay cool. Stick to the facts, and don't
let emotion color them.
For
example:
FACTUAL:
I bought this suit on June 3rd this year,
wore it once in June and then once in July.
While wearing it in July, the seams came apart.
EMOTIONAL:
I was totally embarrassed to discover
my suit unraveling right before the most important
clients I've ever had! This is a useless
piece of garbage that you are selling for
a king's ransom.
While the statements
in the emotional version may be very true,
the manner they are express in will not further
your case but will put the person on the receiving
end on the defensive.
Put
Yourself in the Other Person's Shoes
It's easy to get
so caught up in the heat of the moment that
you become irate, loud, possibly even abusive
to the person you are complaining to -- whether
by phone, in person, or in writing. Go
back to the first rule: What's your goal
in all this? That's right, results!
If you had to listen
to someone shout at you, use profanity, threaten
legal action or any one of the many other
ways that poor complainers express themselves,
you wouldn't exactly be excited about helping
them achieve their goals. In fact, you might
just decide to get back at them by dragging
your feet, doing as little as possible, and
quoting inflexible company policy at them
instead.
- If
you are complaining in person,
watch for visual cues that you've begun
to stray over that emotional boundary, and
back off. Regroup and lower your voice.
Go back to being factual.
- If
you're complaining on the telephone,
try to summon up the face of someone you
like and picture them on the other end of
the line.
- If
you're writing out your complaint,
have someone who is not involved in the
dispute read it to help you tone down anything
that might hurt your case in the long run.
Learn
from Your Mistakes
You're not going
to get it right every time -- but you can
learn something each time. Watch when other
people complain, too. Who gets their way,
and how happy were all parties when they walked
away? If you
see a superstar complainer
(not the loud mouthed guy who just about blows
a neck vein, but the one who rationally discusses
the situation and walks away with his refund
or replacement in hand) study
how he or she does it. You
will need the skill, sooner or later. |
