The Seven Steps to Winning Every Consumer Argument
Author: Michael Finney

1. Respect yourself

Whether you are trying to return a blouse you bought one week ago or a ,000 car you bought one year ago, the process is remarkably the same. It all begins with respect.

You must respect yourself enough to go after what is right. Many consumers just shrug off lousy treatment time after time. After a while they are programmed to be a victim. How does this happen? It generally begins in childhood. We all carry with us our life story. It’s like a guidebook to our personal selves and how we react to any given situation.

If as a child you were told often enough by your parents to be quiet, you may learn to keep your thoughts to yourself even into adulthood. If bullies stole your lunch money, you may get used to, and even expect, a certain level of economic violence. If older siblings took advantage of your good nature and grabbed two pieces of bubble gum when you only offered one, you were programmed to expect fraud and deceit.

We all have a victimization chapter in our books, and, making matters worse, we tend to read those chapters out loud when in the marketplace. We broadcast our victimhood when buying a stereo or complaining about a lousy haircut. Those we are dealing with pick up on the victim vibe.

Two perfect examples: a guy buying a new suit and a woman entering a car lot. You’ve heard these stories a hundred times. The clothing saleswoman talks in circles about materials and cuts that the man doesn’t understand, while the car salesman talks about mechanics and sound systems the woman couldn’t care less about (of course, it could be the other way around, too). It’s not a coincidence; salespeople are professionals at reading the victim vibe.

So the first step to solving a consumer problem is to put the personal history aside and start this day as a new one. You deserve respect, so expect it. When complaining about a consumer issue, smile and say hello. If you are complaining in person, don’t slouch. If you are complaining in a phone call, don’t mumble. Act and talk as if you complain about consumer issues all the time and always get what you want.

Keep your past as a consumer victim a secret. Play down the past often enough, and as time goes on, you’ll have new headings in your victimhood chapter—headings like “The Time I Complained,” “How I Stood Up for Myself,” and, finally, “Winning with a Consumer Complaint.”

Your victim chapter can become your power chapter.

2. Know what you want
No child ever sat on Santa Claus’s lap and didn’t know what she or he wanted. Few employees have ever gone in to ask for a raise without having a dollar figure in mind. Yet consumers complain all the time about issues without having any idea how they want things to play out.
I had a consumer once call in to my radio show about a lemon car.

“It has never worked correctly,” she told me. “Six months after I bought it, the car was in the shop for two weeks and has been back in the shop five times since then, and it’s only been three months. It still doesn’t run right.”

“What do you want done?” I asked. “What would be a fair solution?”

She told me she hadn’t really thought about that. “How about a promise to keep fixing the car even after the warranty expires?”

Now that was a little like going off to college proclaiming that you are going to get all Cs. It might be OK, but you should aim a little higher, and that’s what I told this consumer. “Look, why don’t you ask for a new car. The law says you can return this one and, minus a small mileage charge, get your money back.”

She liked the idea and eventually, with the help of an attorney, returned the car and got a refund.

Before complaining, know what you want, and be ready to say it with good humor. A few years back, I was vacationing on the beach and rented snorkeling gear. There were signs everywhere saying that if equipment was damaged, the consumer had to pay for a replacement.

I went snorkeling and, of course, ripped a fin while taking it off. When I returned it, I pointed out the damage, and the clerk told me it would cost me fifty bucks.

I said, “No way am I paying that.”

He said, “There’s the sign—we were clear on what would happen.”

“Yes,” I said, “you were clear on the concept, but not the cost or my situation.” He asked what I meant.

I said, “First of all, you are charging me retail, when you are going to buy wholesale; at most a new set will cost you a pair.” The clerk was a sharp guy and said, “OK, give me and we’ll call it even.”

Because I had given some thought to what I wanted and what this conversation was going to be like, I was ready with a response. “That’s not fair,” I said. “I only ripped one fin, so that cuts the cost in half.”

The clerk was a little taken aback but said, “OK, I have never done this before, but give me .50 and we’ll call it even.”
I said, “No, that’s not fair either.”

He was getting frustrated and asked why.

“These fins are old—that’s why they ripped,” I told him. “You have rented these many times, and the fins are worn out because of all that wear and tear.”

The snorkel guy was ready to get rid of me, so he said, “How about six bucks?”

Now I must admit that getting the charge down to from is pretty good, but I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. “Look, if I pay you the , I’ll feel ripped off.”

He was at the end of his rope and asked, “What is it you want?”

That was the question I was waiting to hear, the one I was prepared to answer. “I want to leave here feeling good about my day at the beach, so that next year I’ll come back and rent snorkeling gear from you again.”

The clerk looked at the growing line behind me and said, “Mr. Finney, I’ll see you next summer.”

Knowing what I wanted and explaining why I should have it got the job done for me, and it can get the job done for you as well.

3. Be flexible and ready to negotiate
Although you need to know what you want, don’t assume that’s the only solution to your problem. True, I didn’t want to pay for the ripped fin, but I might have paid the if I had been given a half-off coupon for the next time I rented snorkeling gear. There could have been other solutions; the important thing is to stay flexible.

Negotiating is an important part of the business and legal professions. It is also important to anyone trying to buy a chair at a garage sale or an expensive piece of art at a big-city gallery.

There are hundreds of books and thousands of typed pages devoted to the subject, but the best advice on negotiating I ever heard came from the wife of a deceased Mafia deal maker. The underworld figure had actually died in his 80s of natural causes. He had lived a long life, his wife said, because he understood that everyone at the table had to get a piece of the pie. He may have been a criminal, but he knew not to take more than his fair share. He made sure that everyone walked away with what was most important to him or her.
If that philosophy can keep an organized-crime boss alive for 80 years, it truly has something to offer all of us. Keep in mind the other person’s agenda.

4. Give everyone a chance to do the right thing
This rule is so important for consumers to keep in mind because it ends many problems just as they are starting. By giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, you put yourself in a better position. Start with what is easy, and work your way to hard.

I learned this when I bought my first car. One day the engine wouldn’t turn over; there was no power at all. I figured that it wasn’t the starter, since there was no sound, so I was looking at the alternator as the source of the problem. I was working hundreds of miles from home that summer and had a mechanic look at the car. He agreed with me and suggested that I install a new alternator. I called my father for a second opinion, and he said, “Why not try the battery?”

I asked why, and he said, “Because that’s the cheapest and easiest thing to replace.” I bought a new battery, which fixed the problem and gave me a new mantra: start easy and work your way to hard. That’s true when repairing a car, working on a relationship, or filing a consumer complaint.

Assume the right thing will be done, and often that’s the way things work out, so you don’t have to get all stressed. Give everyone the chance to do the right thing. Start easy.

5. Don’t respond in anger
If the “easy” doesn’t occur, be ready to take it up a notch. However, do so calmly and with dignity. I often mediate problems that could easily have been solved by a supervisor—and would have been, if only the consumer had gotten through to one. The consumer often doesn’t, because in the company’s computer files tracking the complaint, he or she has been red-flagged as being uncooperative or angry.

Recently I had problems with a telephone clerk for a major credit card company. Actually, it was more than a problem—the clerk hung up on me. I called the number back and the operator answering the phone identified herself as Debbie. I thanked Debbie for her time and asked to speak to a supervisor. She told me that wasn’t possible. I told her, “Debbie, I am calling to complain about an operator just like you. At this moment I don’t have a problem with you or your work, but if I am not connected with a supervisor soon, you are going to be added to my complaint list.”

I was telling the truth; Debbie knew it, and she connected me with a supervisor right away.

I was angry but didn’t allow myself to become the issue. The issue was poor customer service, not my reaction to it. I kept the focus on the real problem by not directly responding to the first operator’s rudeness or to Debbie’s lack of concern.

6. Take the high road
A big mistake consumers make every day is to start citing laws and talking about lawyers. “I’ll sue—you’ll hear from my attorney,” they say to a clerk in a major department store. By saying that, they have boxed themselves into a corner, a very small legal corner. You see, when a consumer talks about what she can do legally to a store, the government, or a service provider, she has confined the conversation to a very small arena.

Never talk about what is legal; talk about what is moral. Talk about what is fair and what has occurred in the past. By and large, talking about anything but what is legal works best for consumers. Here’s why: businesses know more about the law than you do and often employ huge numbers of lawyers to interpret the law and huge numbers of lobbyists to help create the laws.

Now ask yourself, who has better legal standing, you or an entire industry? Even if the answer is you, you probably don’t have the money or stamina to make your legal point stick. So instead talk about how good the company has acted in the past; talk about how it could lose a customer; talk about going to the media; talk about going to Michael Finney and how that could hurt its business. Don’t talk about what is legal unless you are a lawyer or really are willing to sue.

7. Be ready to do battle
If you can’t get the business to budge or you are dealing with a criminal enterprise—say, a mechanic who set out to rip you off—be ready to do battle. That means you’ll be taking time out of your day to complain to the district attorney’s office, consumer advocacy groups, and state agencies. Be ready to find an attorney and/or to file a small claims court action. Going to court is more energy-consuming than most people know and is seldom worth the effort. But winning in court, on the other hand, is also a better feeling than most people know, and it makes a legal fight somewhat appealing if you feel mistreated enough, if you feel put-upon enough, if “enough is enough.”







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By Michael Finney Author of Consumer Confidential

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