Complaining well

In the 90s when CD players were new I bought one. It was a dud. Over the course of the next year when the warranty ran out it spent 11.5 months being "fixed."

Then the dealer refused to fix it even though it never was fixed. They refused to replace it.

I wrote the president of Sony in Japan using the best Japanese format. I:

• talked about the weather
• said I loved Sony products
• knew this was an aberration
• knew he would want to know
• asked what he wanted to do

A new DVD player that worked beautifully, arrived in the mail.

I had less luck with Laura Ashley wall paper where only part of the roll was printed.They ignored my plea(s).

More and more there's shoddy products and shoddy service and complaints usually leave clients and customers frustrated.

Today I came across an article in The Guardian on going to the CEO for a complaint.

They give a place one can find the CEOs contact.

And they even link to The Complaining Cow blog. Her logo is the top today's blog.

Of course some companies don't care. No matter what one does, there will never be a resolution, but for those that do, there's hope.

At the same time when I receive exceptional service, I call attention to that employee, maybe not the CEO but at least the next level up.