Hit The Jackpot With Customer Complaints
If you're like most people, you pay your bills on time and keep your identification card current. But oftentimes, people make errors that land them in trouble with their service providers. In this post, we'll show you how to work the system by turning that customer complaint into a big fat payday! While it might seem like an easy way out of paying for something yourself, customers who complain are often rewarded with discounts or other benefits on their next purchase. So without further ado:
In this post, we'll show you some ways you can use customer complaints for maximum benefit. Just to give you an idea of what we're talking about, here are a few examples:
Get a discount on your phone bill.
What do you do if your cell phone bill is higher than normal? Most people call their service provider to ask for a lower rate. Big mistake! Instead, contact your cell phone provider and explain the following: "Recently, I got a quote from another company for the same service at a cheaper price. I'd like to switch over to that company and save some money." The cell phone company will most likely match the competitor's offer in order to keep your business. And if they don't, make sure you remind them that you've already submitted a letter along with documentation proving the competitor's offer.
Get a free Bluetooth headset.
What do you get if you contact your wireless carrier and explain that you paid full price for a new product, but just don't like it? Most people would probably ask for a refund and move on. But that's when the management team kicks back. Instead, try to offer an incentive to the company. Explain that they should "give us something" or "take care of us in some way." An example might be: "I don't like my Blue tooth headset because I can't hear the person talking in my ear very well when I'm wearing it. Since it's a new product, I don't think you can give me a free replacement or anything. But if you do this, I'll be happy to keep the product and not ask for a refund." Most companies also appreciate loyalty, so being proactive will help them stay in business.
Get your mortgage reduced by $500.
What do you do when your monthly mortgage payment is higher than normal? Just like with cell phone bills, most people contact their mortgage company to ask for lower rates. But that's a big mistake. Instead, contact your mortgage company and ask to lower the rate. You can ask them to send you some information on the organization that sets their rates, or you can tell them that if they do this, you'll be happy to keep paying the higher rate in order to keep your home loan with them. This is a great way to get a few hundred dollars off of your monthly mortgage payment without having to ask them up front.
Get a free electronic device.
Many people have the same complaint about their cell phone or television, but just don't want to spend the money to get a new one. Instead of paying full price for a new product, contact the company and ask for a discount in return for your loyalty. This can be done by explaining, "I've been supporting this company for years now, but recently I noticed that I'm paying more than before. So I was wondering if you could do something for me in return. If you give me this [insert reason here] discount, then I'll continue to purchase from you." Most companies are happy to provide an incentive to keep customers as long as they don't request money up front. Get a credit card with a $500 line of credit.
Tell your bank that you're shopping around for the best credit card deals. Most banks will have an incentive to keep you as a customer by giving you the same or a better offer than the competitors. If you stay with them, great! But if not, they'll just consider it business as usual to lose some customers and keep others.
Get free Internet service for 1 year.
This one is our personal favorite because it's so simple! Over Christmas, we got quoted a price for internet service that was much cheaper than what we were paying at the time. So we signed up and called our cable company to cancel our service and tell them why. Long story short, they were super nice and said that we could keep the service for another year and would only have to pay $50. Instead of cancelling service after a year, we decided to stick with them for another year. And this is what we did:
Phone - Always be friendly when speaking with your phone company, even if you're not happy with the service. They'll more than likely give you some kind of incentive to keep your business if you're nice about the whole thing.
Internet - Explain to them that you've been with them for a year now and are happy with the service.
If you're not happy and would like to cancel, be polite about it, and ask if you could get something in return for your loyalty. Ask "if we continue to purchase from you, can I get something this year instead of having to pay the full price?" Or just ask "if we continue to buy from you, can I get some kind of incentive instead of only getting the standard rate?"
Taxes - If you have any repeat customers (i.e. clients that you continue to do business with) then you'll have an opportunity to ask for an incentive. Just explain that because you're a repeat customer, you like the way they've treated you so far, and would like to continue working with them. If anything, just make the request in a very polite way and see if it works for you.
If all else fails, there is always the option to just forget about complaining and go find something else that might work better for your needs. Remember, it's more important to stay loyal to your provider than it is to complain about them. The best way to do this is by finding out what you can do for your provider that might keep them from losing you.
Bonus tip: Keep in mind that there are other ways you could be getting loyalty points than just complaining on the phone. Some of these things might be the following, but may not apply to your situation:
Get a free trial of new products and services – If you have signed up for a product or service, and it's free, by all means take advantage of it.
Conclusion...
Complaining is a great way to get exactly what you want. But in order for it to work, you have to be smart about the way you approach the situation. Complaining will not always help, but if you take the time to look for other ways, then complaining can become a useful tool for getting exactly what you want.
Even though complaining isn't always necessary, some people would rather complain than find other ways to get things done. If that's something that you struggle with then feel free to leave a comment and let us know why! If you have any specific questions on how we got certain incentives, feel free to ask in the comments and we'll be happy to answer them!
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