Where to Make a Complaint about a Business

When we are not satisfied with a company’s service, where do we go to make a complaint? There are lots of ways to make known our dissatisfaction and we can utilize these ways to nudge a company into properly treating their customers.

Here we have a collection of manners and places to make complaints.

Before making a complaint about a business or company with other agencies, you must first exhaust all efforts to have your complaint heard within the company. You can call their customer service numbers and let the customer service rep know what the problem is. Make sure that you are calm and civil because nastiness will not work to your advantage. Most of this people will make it even harder for you to get your complaints answered if you are angry. Make sure you take note of the rep’s first and last names and if that’s not possible ask for their employee ID number. Do not forget to get their extension numbers so that you can call them back directly for follow-up. It is important to let them know that you have been a loyal customer of the company. For easy reference, always have receipts, contracts ready and make sure to remember dates accurately. If you feel you are not getting any results with the help of the rep, it is within your power to ask for the supervisor. Now if the supervisor is not able to help you, you may send a letter to the senior staff. It may be found on their website.

If all your efforts to resolve the issue with the company fail, there are other places where you can air your complaints. There are websites that cater specifically to airing customer complaints like ripoffreport.com, consumeraffairs.com and complaintsboard.com. These websites are used by customers to write down their complaints and companies are allowed to make a rebuttal. However, this does not guarantee that the complaints will be resolved.

You can go to specific agencies that handle customer protection if you want to file a report against a business entity. One such agency is the Better Business Bureau. The agency was founded in 1912 and is a corporation consisted of a number of local BBBs. They generally cover businesses within the United States and Canada. The BBB’s goal is to promote a fair and honest business marketplace where companies and their customers trust one another. The BBB can act as a mediator between the consumer and the company they are complaining about.

Another entity that can be used as a venue for complaints is the Federal Trade Commission. It is an autonomous government agency that aims to promote consumer protection. It was established in 1914 under President Wilson’s Federal Trade Commission Act.

Still there are other venues to air your complaints, like the Ombudsman, or you can even go to the media depending on the gravity of your complaint. When all else fails, your last resort is to go to court but you have to remember that before taking that step, you have to have exhausted all possible measures.

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