How to be better at making consumer complaints: Don’t be misguided, act fast and 28 other tips

Keen-eyed readers may have spotted this page – at least this page in its human form – popping up on RTÉ’s new series The Complaints Bureau in recent weeks. It is on every Thursday night at 7pm on RTÉ 1 (yes, that is a shameless plug) for the next few weeks and sees a crack team of consumer journalists (and Pricewatch) highlighting the problems of people across the nation and trying to solve them.

While the stories are new, the themes will be familiar to readers, with participants routinely let down, misled and ghosted.

There are three stories each week which amounts to a total of 24 over the course of the series. There are also many, many complaints highlighted on this page – something we have been doing for the guts of 20 years – but even so we know we are only scratching the surface of consumer discontent and there are countless untold and unheard stories out there.

With that in mind, we thought now might be as good a time as any to publish a cut-out-and-keep primer to make you the best complainer you can possibly be.

1. Set goals

You are most likely to get results if you set yourself clear goals before you start screaming the place down and demanding things that will only serve to make your blood pressure soar. Before you go into battle, work out whether you want a refund or repair. Decide if you want compensation or if you will be happy with an apology. Have it clear in your mind whether you want to leave a service provider or if you would be happy to stay if they dangle a discount in front of you. Giving the end result some thought ahead of time stops you making it up as you go along.

2. Be flexible

While it is good to have at least a notion of what you want, it is also important to be flexible and to listen to what is on offer – if there is anything on offer – and do not rigidly adhere to your starting position.

3. Read the T&Cs

It might be no harm to have a look at the terms and conditions ahead of any contact you make. Such documents are long and boring but if you want to make a complaint you need to make sure that if they drop the “oh, it’s in the terms and conditions” line you can be ready for it. One way to scan the T&Cs for the issue you have is to copy the whole thing into a Microsoft Word document and use Ctrl+F to look for key words you think might be relevant. Words like “cancellation, contract, faulty, refund and notice” might be useful but it will depend on the nature of the complaint.

4. Breathe

We understand that bad customer service can be absolutely enraging, and it is hard to keep calm when you are being pushed from pillar to post or forced to listen to Greensleeves on an endless loop while being assured by an automated voice that your call is important when it is clear no one gives a rashers about you. Even in the face of extreme provocation, try to be polite. Remember that the people on the front line of customer care are the worst paid, most badly trained people you will deal with in any given firm so there is no point shouting at them. It will make you feel worse and them feel worse too. Aggressive people rarely win arguments and rarely get much by way of compensation.

5. But don’t be a pushover

Polite but firm is the order of the day. It is always better to come across as a reasonable person who has been wronged instead of an unreasonable one who is wrong.

6. And don’t be misguided

Don’t a be fobbed off by a shop assistant who says you are to blame for whatever has gone wrong. They are probably not qualified to tell you your laptop has suffered water damage because you dropped it in the sea, even if that is true. They have to send the product off to be properly assessed.

7. Keep notes

Good record-keeping is essential when it comes to complaining. Keep notes of what happened and when it happened. Write a quick timeline of your grievances – or at least the serious ones. If you are complaining about the milk you bought being sour that one time, such a timeline is probably not necessary. But for serious issues, record the sequence of events and include dates and times of phone calls or other conversations. Write down who you spoke to and what was said. You don’t have to be a court stenographer about it but document what has happened even loosely.

8. Act fast

When making a complaint, act fast. If you buy something that is clearly not fit for purpose, or is not as advertised, and you don’t return it for months, your case will be damaged. Similarly, if you complain about the lobster you ordered after you have eaten 80 per cent of it, don’t be surprised if the meal is not comped.

9. Know the limitations

It is also worth bearing in mind, that there can be a statute of limitations of sorts on complaints. If, for example, you are making a complaint about a package holiday that went awry, you have to do it within a few weeks of returning home or it will not be entertained.

10. Making contact

Try to find out who is the best person or department to make the complaint to. Ideally you will first contact with the person you dealt with initially or a company’s customer care department. If that is not possible, do a bit of research to find out how you might expedite the claim by contacting the decision-makers directly.

11. Ask for a manager

If (or should that be when) things are going badly after you contact a customer care centre, ask to speak to a manager or a supervisor. There will not be one available but there is no harm in asking. Request the name of the person you are speaking to – you won’t get more than a first name – but it is worth having all the same. And ask if the call is being recorded – is it worth reminding the person you are talking to that it is. And remember to stay calm. If the call is being recorded and you lose your cool it might work against you in the future.

When sending a letter of complaint, type it if at all possible. Photograph: iStock

12. Send a letter

If you are getting nowhere over the phone, put it in writing. Make sure this is written in a concise and polite fashion. Do not scribble a ranty note in green ink. Make sure the letter is sent to the right person or department. Ask for the name and address of the most senior person you can contact who deals with written complaints or do a Google search to see if it will throw up a name or department.

13. Type instead of write

When sending a letter of complaint, type it if at all possible.

14. Supporting documentation

And if you send supporting documentation only send copies: you might need the originals at a later date. Set out the history of your case, who you spoke to, explain what the problem is and what you would like to see done.

15. Timescale

Include a reasonable timescale for a problem to be resolved and make it clear what will happen if the problem is not resolved.

16. Seek help

See if there is a State-body that might come to your aid. And if there is, make sure to mention them in the correspondence.

17. Have a paper trail

Send the letter by registered post. It will cost a bit more but it means there is a paper trail. And companies hate a paper trail.

18. Brush up on your rights

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s website covers this extensively and all the rights you have can be found here: www.ccpc.ie/consumers/consumer-rights/. You can also call its helpline on 01 4025555 if you have questions.

19. Small Claims procedure

The Small Claims procedure is a cheap, fast and relatively simple way to resolve some types of disputes without having to use a solicitor. The application fee is €25, which is non-refundable, and the service is provided in your local District Court office. You can use the Small Claims procedure if your claim is for €2,000 or less, but only certain claims will be entertained. It does not handle debts, personal injuries or breaches of leasing agreements. It also does not deal with most claims about rental properties.

20. Be mindful

There are rights you think you might have but you don’t.

21. Incorrect prices

There is no point giving out about a shop refusing to honour the price on the shelf or on the website if that price is an error as retailers are not obliged to do that. Until money changes hands there is no contract in place and the price displayed is what is known as an “invitation to treat” – effectively you are being invited to pay that price to the shop. If that shop sees a pricing error before you buy a product, they are perfectly entitled to demand you pay the higher price. A shop can even cancel a transaction before the product is delivered to you on the basis that it was wrongly priced as an erroneous price makes the contract invalid. That is, of course, as long as the error is genuine. It is a different story if there is a pattern of misleading pricing in a shop and that could be a breach of the law.

22. The three Rs

While you have a right to a repair, replacement or refund, if something you buy turns out to be faulty or flawed in some way you do not get to pick which of those Rs is offered to you. The retailer makes the choice. That means you do not have an automatic right to a refund or a replacement – more often than not the retailer will seek to have the product repaired in the first instance. If it breaks a second time, they can offer to repair it again. They cannot keep doing it forever but they can repair something a couple of times before they have to consider either a refund or a replacement.

23. The warranty clock

If you get a replacement product under warranty, the warranty clock is not reset to zero the moment the new product reaches you. So, if your TV breaks after 10 months and you get a new one, do not be surprised if the manufacturer tells you the new TV has a warranty of only two months.

If a warranty has expired or something is not covered under the warranty, a consumer can still pursue a remedy under their statutory rights. Photograph: iStock

24. Statutory rights

But remember warranties are not the be all and the end all. They do not – and we cannot stress this enough – supersede your statutory rights. That means that if a warranty has expired or something is not covered under the warranty, a consumer can still pursue a remedy under their statutory rights. These are a legal guarantee allowing consumers to seek redress if an item is faulty regardless of whether a manufacturer has offered a warranty. Under the Sale of Goods Act, consumers have up to six years to seek redress for faulty or defective items. There are limits to this law, however. And the limits are typically governed by how much you pay for something, what it is supposed to do and what you do with it.

25. Digital content and services

Last year the Consumer Rights Act became law, giving people the same rights and protections over digital content and services that they have with physical products and services. This covers things such as streaming, downloads and cloud products. Also among the enhanced digital protections is the right to a full refund, exchange or repair when goods or services are not as described or not fit for purpose. People are also entitled to any upgrades to the product or service that are required to ensure the goods continue to work as expected and agreed, free of charge.

26. Retailer’s rights

Rights work two ways – consumers have them and so do retailers and service providers. If you are asked for and pay a deposit and then change your mind – or have your mind changed for you as a result of circumstance – do not automatically assume a provider will give you your money back. They might. But they might not. It depends on the terms and conditions.

27. Changing your mind

If you buy a product in a shop, you have no rights under consumer law if the product is not faulty or if you have simply changed your mind. There is no point screaming and shouting in a shop if they won’t entertain your pleas for a refund or a swap of that ridiculous leopard-print top you bought and have now, wisely, decided you will never wear.

28. If you caused the problem

A shop does not have to entertain you if a problem develops as a direct result of something stupid and/or unfortunate you have done to the item you purchased. So, if you drop your phone in the loo while posting something particularly hilarious on Snapchat, don’t expect to be given a replacement.

29. Going ahead with a purchase

Similarly, if a fault is pointed out to you at the time of purchase and you go ahead with the purchase, you have no right to a refund.

30. Contact Pricewatch

If you believe you have been wronged, you can always get in touch with us. We can’t deal with every complaint but do our best to get to as many as we can. So email pricewatch@irishtimes.com or write to Pricewatch, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 02 CX89.