Savor the Success - Business Network for women entrepreneurs

Very often, I think that we're not very good advocates for ourselves.  I mean, how often have you had someone treat you poorly and you decided it either wasn't worth the trouble or wasn't going to be worthwhile to do anything about it?

You'd expect that, as an attorney, I complain all the time when a company treats me badly, right?  Nope.  I'm guilty of it too.  I don't like to make waves on my own behalf. 

In fact, despite my mom's urging to the contrary, I'm not calling my pediatrician to complain about the doctor who let my son go home with a 107 degree fever on Monday because he never bothered to take his temperature.  But I don't want to bother her...

Why?  I truly don't know.

But it's a common problem.  We just have so much going on in our lives.  Who has time to complain? 

You do. 

And let me tell you why...

There are actually two really good reasons.

First, because I'd want to know about the sub-par service if I was the owner of the company.  When companies get large, they don't really have a mechanism to tell if and when their representatives are treating their customers well.  Any company worth anything generally really appreciates the information. 

I mean, what would you do if someone told you that one of your representatives was treating people badly?  Besides, who else is going to tell them?

Second, and just as important, because it is absolutely worth your time.  Here's my story...

Anyone who's been following me on twitter (twitter.com/DeenaEsq) is aware of my day of horror with Verizon FIOS installation. 

Long story short, I had a scheduled arrival time of 8am-12pm.  At 1:00, I started calling Verizon and spent almost 300 cellphone minutes (because they turned off my phone at midnight the night before for the switchover) trying to get someone to my house. 

Did they come to your house?  Mine either...

I gave up at 7pm.  Oh, and I couldn't get a phone back on in my house for another 4 days because it had to be ported back to my original provider. UGH!

I was so irritated that I decided to write a letter to Verizon's corporate office (which, incidentally, I can see from my apartment window) explaining to them what had happened and expressing my dissatisfaction with the service that they had offered me.  I sent a copy to the Vice President of Verizon operations and to the Board of Directors. (I'd like to take this opportunity to mention that it's important to send it as high in the chain as you can go.)

I didn't give any indication in the letter that I am a lawyer.  If you'd like to see a copy of the letter, you can email or DM me.  I'm happy to send you a copy.

It took about five days, but I received a phone call.  From the NY Area Manager.  He expressed how shocked they were at the treatment that I had received and asked what they could possibly do to get me back as a customer. 

After a little negotiation, I got three months of service for free, I was able to pick my installation window (and they actually showed up), a free multi-room DVR for a year and a check for the money that I'm out on my cellphone bill (though technically I'm still waiting for that check).  All told, it equals about $600.00.

Was it worth my $.42 stamp and an hour of my time to write the letter? 

Darn skippy!

So, what's the point of this lesson?  It's that sticking up for yourself does pay. 

And it offers a valuable service to the retailer or service provider... If you get nothing else, you know that you're helping to improve their service for next time. 

If that's not power, what is?