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Marketing and advertising include many words that can be difficult for common people to understand. Likewise, many people think that the words Customer and Consumer have a similar meaning, but they have a different meaning from the marketer’s viewpoint, though they sound similar. There are various situations where we can understand that the customer and consumer can be the same person, but these words altogether have a different meaning.
When you buy goods or services as a consumer you have certain rights that protect you in the event that there is something wrong. Make sure you understand your rights as a consumer.
By Millie Johnson
And we thought the costumes were the scariest thing about Halloween! Dr Amy R Hackley, Senior Lecturer in Marketing in Birkbeck’s Department of Management, explores the dark side of holiday consumerism.
Citizens Advice says people should consider switching products such as mobile and broadband contracts or mortgages.
By Sarah Butler
The Institute of Customer Service found that UK firms are spending over £9 billion every month to cover complaints handling.
By Jai Singh
By Christien Phelby
You might find your box of Kleenex is missing a few tissues.
By Lauren Almeida
New study shows perception gap in influencer compliance rates where 60.5% don’t trust mega influencers to declare all ads despite just one complaint received for every 184.5k sponsored content pieces posted.
By Michael Ofei
Your consumer rights protect you when you’ve bought faulty goods, items that weren’t as advertised, or received otherwise poor service. If you’re involved in a consumer dispute, you could be entitled to a refund or replacement.
By Steve Clark
One tool is to increase ‘dwell time’ by keeping customers in the store for as long as possible.
By Jaymelouise Hudspith
An article from The Conversation.
By Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, Reader in Consumer Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University
When you’ve parted with your hard-earned cash for something, you’re well within your rights to expect your money back if the service or goods aren’t up to scratch.
But, it’s often hard to get past the worry that you won’t be taken seriously if you try to complain.
Ultimately, knowing how and when to complain is crucial. To help, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide to complaining successfully. Feel free to complain if it’s not good enough.
Here is how to make a complaint and get results:
This might sound obvious, but picking the right time to raise an issue is just as important as actually making the complaint.
Whatever you’re thinking of complaining about, don’t do it if you’re only looking to get free stuff out of it.
Not only will it be painfully obvious that this is your intention if that’s all you’re gunning for, but it could lead to you being banned from somewhere as a result if you’re busted.
Valid reasons to make a complaint
It’s all very well knowing that the hot dog you ordered was delivered by a grumpy sod that made you feel about as wanted as a steak in a vegetarian restaurant, but you need to give the company some idea of what it would take to get back in your good books.
The three main methods of fixing customer complaints are:
While you may not be automatically entitled to compensation or a refund in every circumstance, it’s more likely to be achievable if you know what you’re looking for.
Have a think about exactly what you want to be offered in response to your complaint before you make it, and it’ll make the process a lot easier.
Before you go in all guns blazing, make sure you’ve got all the facts first.
Write down a full description of the issue and research what your rights are. Try consulting our guide to your consumer rights and have a quick search on Google for advice on your particular situation.
Any photos, receipts or comments from witnesses that you can gather can help with your case – the more info and material you have when you make the complaint, the better chance you’ll have of resolving the issue effectively.
If the complaint’s about a purchase, try to state the exact time that you were in the store or making the order, too. This sort of info (combined with a description of the staff member who served you) can hugely help a company to decide whether further action needs to be taken.
The added bonus of this stage is that gathering all the info and writing it down can be kind of cathartic. Once you’ve blown off some steam doing this, you might even find it a bit easier to lodge your complaint without losing your rag.
We understand that you won’t be at your happiest after a disappointing incident or purchase. However, remember that the people you’re dealing with are human too, and they’re just trying to do their job.
What’s more, those involved will be much more inclined to help you out if you treat them with respect – even if you are absolutely fuming inside. After all, it’s highly unlikely that they were directly responsible for the problem in the first place.
If you’re calm and collected, you’re also much more likely to explain your situation coherently and with enough detail for the issue to be resolved successfully.
You should always complain as soon as possible after the event to stand the best chance of getting a positive end result. This is especially true if you’re complaining about faulty goods – and make sure you stop using them as soon as you notice there’s an issue.
After all, would you really believe someone was distraught about the service they received in store if they only got round to complaining six weeks later? Or that a frying pan was totally unfit for purpose from day one, but it’s obvious that they carried on using it for a fortnight?
If there’s a reason you haven’t been able to complain earlier, be sure to clarify this in your complaint.
At this stage, going straight to the manager or owner of the company to tell them their business is shambolic might feel tempting, but you can often sort out complaints much faster if you start at the source of the issue.
If your problem involves something that happened in a place where you were present or with something you bought in-store, you should first ask to speak to the person who (in your eyes) caused the problem in the first place.
In many cases, they’ll be happy to solve the issue there and then as the last thing they’ll want is for the complaint to go further up to a manager.
Alternatively, if your complaint is about a product and the store has a customer services department, it’s worth going straight there first – it’s their job to keep you happy!
If your issue involves something you bought online, then the first port of call should be to check the company’s website or social media for a customer service email.
If your complaint is about an item you bought from a shop, get yourself down there in person rather than doing it over the phone. It’s far harder for someone to ignore or overlook your complaint if you’re making it face-to-face.
If there’s absolutely no other way for you to contact them than over the phone, keep a full record of the conversation by jotting down the most important points and make sure you get the name of the person you’re dealing with.
Putting your complaint in writing is a good shout if you can’t physically go there – that way you’ve got solid proof of all communication. This could be via letter (if you’re old school) or email, addressed to the relevant person.
If the company does decide to send you some free things or money in the post, the whole process will be much easier if you include your full details in your complaint. This will be covered if you’re writing a formal complaint letter, as your address should be written at the top.
Make sure to include any statutory rights you feel have been broken in your letter, and ask the company (politely) to get back to you within a reasonable time frame so you’re not left hanging. This also makes it much easier to chase up if they don’t stick to the date.
Lastly, check your spelling. Bad spelling doesn’t excuse a company for not dealing with your complaint properly, but it will help give a good impression and show you’re serious about your issue if you’ve proofread your complaint before sending it.
If you’re a confident writer and feel like you have a strong case, you might even want to try your hand at writing a viral complaint or making a complaint video that could gain thousands of views.
No business likes to receive complaint tweets for all to see (although everyone gets them), so they’re more likely to want to be seen to offer a solution ASAP to protect their image.
If your matter is too elaborate for 280 characters, or it’s a more personal matter, simply send them a direct message about your complaint.
Still no reply? Badger them on all their social media channels until you get a response (but don’t use aggressive language!), and if you’re still having no luck, send a formal letter to the company’s head office. Which brings us to our next point...
You can attempt to contact someone very high up by searching for their email address on this website. Alternatively, you can try to guess (e.g. alansmith@company.co.uk, asmith@company.co.uk or a.smith@company.co.uk etc.).
You may notice a profile picture pop up next to an email address when you type it in – this shows you are using a valid email address and is (hopefully!) the intended recipient.
The higher up you take your complaint, the more people you’ll end up speaking to. It’s always useful to be able to reference how you’ve tried to resolve the problem already, as this shows how seriously you’re taking the complaint and avoids any ‘he said, she said’ situations.
If your complaint is ignored or dismissed, you can do the following:
An ombudsman is a form of ADR scheme (Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme) which you can reach out to if you’ve exhausted all other options and are still not getting anywhere.
The ombudsman will only act if an admin or service error has occurred, so you can’t go to them if your complaint is more about a difference of opinion (bad customer service, for example).
These are some of the leading ombudsman services, but there are different types of ADRs for different sectors. For complaints in other areas, a quick Google should bring up the relevant contact.
If your complaint involves a breach of contract, you can try to take it to a small claims court. The maximum amount you can claim for with small claims is £10,000 in England and Wales, £5,000 in Scotland and £3,000 in Northern Ireland.
Finally, if you’re really struggling to get anywhere with the company, then you might want to look into taking legal action – depending on how serious the claim is.
If you’ve exhausted all the options available within the company itself and still aren’t happy, there are people you can go to for help.
The Citizens Advice Bureau offer free advice to anyone on money, legal or other issues and you can either call, email or pop into a local centre to chat with them.
5 April 2022
Did you know supermarkets employ some cunning tactics to make you spend more money? Here’s how they do it and how to avoid being duped.
By Ashleigh Mutton
An article from The Conversation.
By Rachel Bowlby, Professor of Comparative Literature, UCL
By Dr. Sophie King-Hill, Senior Fellow in the Health Services Management Centre (HSMC), University of Birmingham
By Emily Lidgard
By Elizabeth Atkin
By Ciaran Clark
Were you the child whose indignant letter yielded a free bar of chocolate? Séamas O’Reilly puts pen to paper to reveal why we are a nation of complainers.
By Séamas O’Reilly
