I seem to spend a lot of my time nowadays finding out how to complain.
I never used to be a complainer, for most of my life I have put up with so-so service, meh food, and a fair bit of corporate incompetence. But lately I’m on a one-woman crusade to raise the standard of customer service we have to put up with.
What changed
When we lived in Tenerife and then in Portugal, we daily faced levels of corporate incompetence that would have your toenails curling. But because I felt my Spanish language skills were not sufficiently sophisticated to voice a reasoned complaint (my Portuguese language skills were frankly laughable), and in both countries how to complain was such a complicated business, I didn’t try.
Besides, I reasoned, offering customer service that is utterly incompetent and frustrating to the point of raising blood pressure levels appears to be an integral part of the Iberian culture. So I sighed a lot, rationed how much bureaucracy I would tackle in the space of a week, and simply put up with it.
Whenever I was mid-way between physically banging my head on my desk, and bursting into tears, I fantasized about the efficiency of British customer service. I transported myself to a scenario where reasoned arguments and irrefutable logic flowed mellifluously down the phone line, punctuated by the occasional witty jibe. And when we returned to the UK, I took great delight in telephoning all manner of suppliers and agencies, revelling in the sheer ease of two-way shared comprehension.
But since taking on the role of financial attorney for my brother, I have found myself right back in those head-banging, close-to-tears scenarios with multiple agencies.
And I’ve had enough.
Two days ago I found myself asking, how do I complain, for the third time in as many months, twice in the last month alone. Once was to a debt management agency (the irony!), once to an energy supplier, and the latest to a national bank.
Why bother asking how to complain
I have never been an advocate on someone else’s behalf before. I have arranged, applied for, and advised on any number of claims, grants and discounts both professionally (ah, the heady days of applying for EU grants and funding for multiple projects) and socially on behalf of friends and family for many years but I have never had to deal directly with someone else’s finances before.
My brother is in the late stages of Alzheimer’s Disease and no longer has mental capacity to manage his own affairs. As his financial attorney, I have a legal right to deal with creditors on his behalf. And in that capacity, I have encountered appalling customer service and have had to battle to get justice for John.
Having worked in administration and government departments for 25 years, working my way up from the lowliest clerk to senior management, I am more qualified than most to tackle corporate incompetence whenever it impacts me. I have no idea how most people would begin to tackle this stuff. In my experience, lots of people have admin’ phobia and would never tackle these things.
Increasingly, when I ring to speak to someone on John’s behalf about an issue I’ve got, I find I am dealing with a trainee, possibly working from home, maybe in a call centre somewhere. That’s if I can even get someone to answer in the first place; waiting for an hour while listening to a voicemail recording interrupting some grating ‘melody’ to tell me my call is important, is far from unusual. When I finally get someone to deign to answer, I am continually being put on hold while they check with some mysterious manager and then come back to tell me something I know for a fact is incorrect.
A few weeks ago I found myself almost screaming down the phone to an energy supplier customer service operator “HE’S GOT ALZHEIMER’S!”. Jack says I do very well to remain so calm, but it doesn’t feel like that from where I’m sitting. And if I’m having to argue with telephone operatives to get my complaint dealt with efficiently, how would someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s manage?
And that’s why I do it.
Is it worth it?
So far, the two complaints that have been dealt with have resulted in two formal apologies and financial compensation along with a reduction of almost £1200 in billing. So yes, it’s worth it.
But what I hope for most is that something might change as a result. Some new directive might go out to ensure customer service operatives are fully aware of correct procedures and can give the right advice, or some system error might be looked at in order to prevent it happening again. If only one thing in one company changes for the better, I’ll take that.
Meanwhile, I will continue to ask the question, how do I complain, whenever I feel a company should and could do better. And I’ll keep taking the blood pressure pills.
