Most companies put a lot of effort into customer service and genuinely want to help should you have an issue with a product or service. It is in their interests to sort out issues before they become problems. There have been occasions when customer service has been less than good. This can be frustrating and time consuming, and is not a good situation.

With this in mind, these tips will help you get remedy when customer service is less than ideal.

Phone

If you’ve spent too much time trying to contact a company by email or chatbots, the next step is the phone. Getting hold of contact numbers is not that easy, however, as the big players such as Amazon do not make it easy for you to phone them.

To find a contact number you may want to use a company such as Info-service.ie as they list the contact numbers for the major online retailers and companies. The example listed shows contact numbers for Ireland, but you should find an equivalent in your country if you’re based outside The Emerald Isle.

Reviews

If you’re reached the end of your tether, the next step is to give a bad review. This is more than just selecting a star. You should give a full and frank account of why the company has let you down. Try not to get emotional, don’t’ swear, but simply write down what has happened and why this is unacceptable.

Most companies will react to this straight away, often resolving the problem and giving you a sweetener to keep you onside.

If you still don’t get joy after leaving a bad review, leave your review on other sites such as Trust Pilot and Google.

Write a Letter

Should things not look great you can always write to upper management. The most effective way to do this is a handwritten letter. Unlike emails, they carry a lot more weight and demand a response. If you think about it, most companies get thousands of emails per day. You can count the number of handwritten complaint letters a company receives in a week on one hand.

Forums

If your experience is still less than ideal you may find forum posts about the situation where you can comment on them. This is another good way of getting the word out that your customer service experience has been awful.

Again, this kind of damage to a company’s reputation can be enough for them to sort out your problem.

Careful Where You Buy

Often, you may see ads on Facebook and other platforms where you’re given an irresistible offer. Heavily discounted, it is tempting just to buy there and then. This is not always the best thing to do, especially if you find the goods come from overseas, namely the Far East.

If you have a bad experience, getting in touch with them is difficult and getting a refund is almost impossible.

As such, be careful where you buy and ensure where you do buy has a positive reputation.

Author

Founder of Paisley.org.uk in 1998 and constantly strives to change peoples attitudes to the town, Brian is a self described Paisley Digital Champion who promotes Paisley via any means necessary. You can also follow me on X