Why do you need smart tricks to resolve your consumer complaint? I am sure you must be thinking.
Raising a voice against injustice will not fetch you any results, if you are just a common man in India. Indian consumers face a lot of struggle in getting their issues resolved as there are still no strict laws for defaulting brands.
You purchase a TV and if it does not work as advertised, then there is very less help available to you. Once you have purchased an item, the sales guy may even refuse to recognize you or may direct you to some pathetic helpline number of the company. After this, your nightmare starts.
You will be put in long queues and your ear may get pain listening to pre-recorded “waiting” messages. I am sure everyone of us has experienced this. It is a very common experience in India for customers and sadly we all have accepted this mistreatment being a tolerable Indian.
In this article we will talk about 8 super smart tricks to get attention of the company to get resolution in your consumer complaint. It will tell you how you can build pressure on the company and literally compel it to resolve your complaint. Keep reading this article to know smart tricks to resolve your consumer complaint:
Tricks to resolve your consumer complaint
1. Presales pressure
Before actually buying any product or service, convey a strong message to the salesperson that you have doubts about the after sales service of the company and so you do not trust them completely. You should ask him, in case of any problem who will solve your issue?
Tell him that you hate running to the support center or being in queue. This presale strategy may not fully work but this will put enough pressure on the sales guy. In the process of convincing you, he may give his own number or something extra, that can make you feel “special” later.
2. Over React
Assuming you have purchased the item and something is not working within the first few hours or days as it should have been. Now, is the time to over react! Yes, you have heard it correctly. Over reacting on a small defect may put enough pressure on the seller or company to resolve your complaint quickly. It is one of the best tricks to resolve your consumer complaint.
Just remind the seller that you were already aware before buying the item that this would happen as you do not trust the brand. In such situations, normally he will do everything to make you comfortable.
3. Talk like a Lawyer
If all the above tricks to resolve your consumer complaint have failed then you should start talking legal, even if you do not know anything about consumer rights.
Ask the company or its support executive to furnish every detail about the customer support process of the brand. Get details like company address, distributor name & address, company officials, nodal officers etc.
4. Contact Support & follow up
Lodge a complaint in the call center of the company for support and properly note down the date and complaint ID. Ask the support agent what would be the expected turn-around time for such complaints.
Do not follow up before the expiry of that turn-around period. If they do not resolve the issue within time, then you should call customer support again and update your complaint saying this is the second time you are calling.
Please note that updating the same old complaint ID is very important. Usually the customer agent will insist on closing the old complaint and creating a new complaint ID. But you should insist on updating the same old complaint with new details.
Repeat calling & updating your complaint till you get relief from the brand.
5. Shout without doubt
In my opinion this strategy is one of the best tricks to resolve your consumer complaint. If repeatedly updating your complaint and calling them again & again does not resolve your issue then you should start over-reacting once again on the support call. Start yelling and showing that you are frustrated enough to take strict action against the company.
But remember, do not curse the agent but curse the company!
Once you have put enough pressure on the agent, ask him to connect you to his supervisor on the phone.
In most of the cases, the agent will deny connecting you to supervisor and will tell you that there is no supervisor available at this time. But don’t get fooled by this. Keep on insisting that you need to talk to his supervisor.
Also, before starting this pressure game, tell the agent that you are already recording the entire conversation on your phone which can be produced as evidence later. This would be enough pressure for him to connect you to the authority.
6. Reach higher
If you are dealing with telecommunication, banking or insurance companies and if registering your complaint with the Supervisor does not fetch the desired results then your last resort in customer support would be to contact a higher authority like Nodal officer in your region.
Generally you can meet a Nodal Officer personally or contact them through phone or email. However, the phone number of these Nodal officers will almost never work and you will never get connected to the officer.
So, you should try sending email instead. It has been seen that sending a complaint through email to a Nodal officer generally gets some attention.
But please note that the Nodal officer will not entertain your complaint if you have not tried other support channels first.
Recently, Government of India has mandated all eCommerce companies to appoint a Nodal Officer to ensure compliance with the new rules on consumer protection as per Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2020.
So very soon you will be able to reach out to Nodal Officers in the eCommerce stores also, if you are not satisfied with the progress in your complaint.
7. Start legal action
When all the tricks to resolve your consumer complaint have failed and if you are still not satisfied with the resolution provided by the Nodal officer, then the probability is that your complaint is complex and you may have to further pursue it to get better relief.
At this stage, you can send a well drafted legal notice to the company through your lawyer. The legal notice is usually sent to the company’s registered address.
When you send this notice through a lawyer, it puts enough pressure on the brand and conveys a message that you are seriously considering other options.
Usually, you will get some response (positive or negative) after sending a legal notice to a company.
8. Go Court
If even sending a legal notice does not work then there is a strong possibility that the brand is not ready to hear your complaint and is not interested in resolving the issue.
The only option left for you now is to approach the Consumer court or consumer forum in your matter. You can approach consumer forum online and file a case here.
When a case is filed in a consumer forum, it sends a very clear signal to the company that the consumer is willing to go the extra mile to get resolution.
Nobody wants to waste time & energy in fighting a case in court and the same is true with the company as well. So, mostly the company will try to settle the dispute out of the court which puts you in a better position to negotiate.
Please note that it is not required to hire a lawyer to file a case in the Consumer forum and you yourself can represent your case in the forum. But there is no doubt that in spite of knowing these smart tricks to resolve your consumer complaint, hiring an experienced & qualified advocate will get you better results.
If you do not have time to follow these tricks to resolve your consumer complaint yourself, then there is Voxya who can help you to get resolution in your consumer complaint. You can file a complaint and get resolution in your complaint easily.
