How to beat the big bad Corporations.

Have you ever been short changed by a big corporate company? Like insurance, credit card, or the like. You know where your signed up for something you didn't want, or they don't want to pay what you were entitled to.

Well most of these companies are corporations usually pretty large in size, and most of them have the most annoying customer service automated system along with annoying customer service people. These people work 8 hours day like most of us and probably don't like their job, and they answer 60-100 calls a day of frustraited yelling customers. So they aren't they best people to negotiate with, they are underpaid, under trained, and usually don't care.

Well don't lose hope, I am going to share with you the few things I have learned about these compaines, the things they don't want you to know. Thier Weakness!

First thing is to bypass their automated touch tone phone system to get to a service person. To do this there is usually a key word or two that will bypass it. Usually the words Help, Transfer, Operator, Service or dialing 0 will do this, in some cases plain old naughty language will also do it. The F word has worked for me a few times.

Once you get to an actual person first write down their name (always write down names) or associate # (FYI they are required by law to give you their name or badge ID), give them your information I know you probably want to skip to the good stuff but by kindly giving them your information they are able to access their computer to pull up your file if they don't access your file they don't know who your are. Not to mention if you ask for a supervisor or manager at this point the person in charge will tell the associate to continue to deal with you until you do give up your information most supervisors and the like won't accept your call until they know who you are and why you are calling.

Ok so now the associate has your file, when they ask if they can help you, kindly ask to speak with their supervisor or manager. ( FYI customer service centers are required by law to let you speak to their supervisor). I recommend trying to negotiate with the supervisor, thats what they are there to do, they usually have a budget and are able to approve small items and resolve this while you are on the phone.

Now here comes the good part. There are generally 3 things that will bring a large company to negotiable terms.
If you are not able to resolve the matter with a supervisor or were not able to get a supervisor then the next actions can be taken to get their attention. Most companies have a dept called Customer Relations or Executive Relations these depts general report to the Service Operations Manager, or the CEO. If you are unable to resolve your differences by talking to a supervisor you can ask to speak to either of these depts, most of the time you will be put into a follow program in which one of these depts will contact you back, they only work the good 8-5 schedule.

These depts are usually pretty darn good at solving minor problems, specially if you work with them to resolve it. They are usually more trained in negotiation, and are able to get information very quickly from other depts, in most cases their budget is as big as any supervisors, and usually they have the power to approve things even a supervisor can't because their entire dept is set up specifically for handling customer complaints.

Now if you can't get this dept by asking for it, there is another way to reach them. The BBB ( better business bureau) in 90% of the cases I've seen a BBB complaint goes directly to either Customer relations or the Legal dept to be handled, because the complaints and responses are actually written and not verbal, and because they are documented with the BBB only highly trained associates are allowed to respond.

Now if you have done all that and still don't seem to be getting anywhere there are two alternatives 1st is to have an attorney write a letter of demand. Now a Demand letter is treated differently then just any old letter with an attorney signature. A demand letter has a few things, one is that is states what the company did, and what you would accept as settlement, make sure you clearly state what is acceptable. The next item is a date to which your offer expires. If you do not state that in so many days or by a certain date you will no longer accept this offer but will be forced to continue with legal action then they won't respond as well. If you make a Demand with an expiration this will more then likely be sent to the legal division for review, and in most cases you will contacted and counter offered until terms are accepted. Most companies don't care to send anyone down to your state to show up in a small claims court case so if your under $5000 then small claims is where this would take place. Most companies will offer to settle and resolve the matter. ( The max $ amount for small claims may be different from state to state, once you have more then $5000 in dispute this can go to crimal court in which you will need an attorney to file.)

Now if that still does not work the next option is a little more threatening and I don't recommend it until you have exhausted negetiating with the other depts. If you truly believe this company owes you a debt or has caused you personal loss in some way, then you can contact that customer relations dept, a supervisor, legal or pretty much any department by written or verbal form and inform that if they do not correct what was done, and settle with you then you will be taking all your information to the local newspaper, radio, and TV station. Once you have threatened media most companies will jump all over you trying to resolve it as quickly as possible especially if they are in the wrong. Now as I said I only would attempt this if the company seriously messed up and is not willing to fix it, this is border line Blackmail which is illegal. They only time this is not considered blackmail is when you were ripped off, or had wrongful action done to you by the company in which you are threatning in this case it is settlement reinforced by a threat of action.

Most large companies do not want to see their names on the local news because of something they did wrong, they will lose business, and if they have done the same thing to other people a group of people may gather an start a class action lawsuit against the company.

Now if going through supervisors, customer relations, executive relations, legal, BBB, and threatning media do not work then either your asking for something you don't really deserve, or the company has legally done nothing wrong in which they would be intimadated by such threats.

I highly recommend going the route of supervisors or customer relations they people are trained to resolve problems as quickly as they can, they are usualy given budgets in which they can negotiate with you and can in most cases resolve your problem on the spot without you spending days or weeks trying to fight their legal dept.

*********** This information is not legal advice, it is not a substitute for any legal action, it also may put you in a worse situation depending on what your attempting to gain. If legal actions are needed please seek the advice of a licensed Attorney******