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Complaints against your telephone service provider

Generally speaking the telephone industry tries to provide you with reliable service and reasonable cost and to respect your wishes. Let's face it - if they did not, they would lose customers and be out of business in very short order. So, as angry as you might be at some injustice which you feel your provider has dumped on you, with some patience, it will be generally be resolved with a phone call or two. It might take some time, depending on the complexity of the problem, but you should first try to resolve it with the company directly, or with your agent. (If you're our customer, we are agents for the companies we represent and we will fight them for you!)

In your fight, it is important to not get angry and yell and scream. First of all, the person you are yelling at probably had nothing to do with causing the problem and may not even be able to correct it. Secondly, such behavior is the best way to turn off the person you are talking to and you will not get resolution. Be firm, and clearly state your problem and what you want done to resolve it, but raising your voice in frustration will not result in resolution. Indeed, if you are insulting, rude and obnoxious, you may get resolution and nothing else. On the other hand, if you are polite, courteous and patient, you very likely will get an apology, and perhaps some perks for your inconvenience and your understanding.

The person you reach in your initial call may be only able to resolve minor problems, so a request to speak to his or her supervisor is a first step. Yes, you will probably have to go through the entire explanation all over again. Remember - patience!

You've tried. You've been patient. You are being stone-walled. It's time to bring in the big guns. The FCC and your state Public Utilities Commission take a very dim view of companies that run roughshod over their customers. Your next step is to inform the person you are talking to that you will file a complaint with these agencies. If he wasn't paying attention to your problem before, that statement in itself will usually result in settlement.

Still at an impasse? Thank them for their time, but let them know that you will describing the problem in detail to these regulatory agencies.

The FCC has made it easy to file a complaint. Click on this link and locate the general area: "General", "Slamming" or "Indecency and Obscenity". For help from your state regarding complaints other than slamming (Slamming complaints are handled by many states directly. Those states have links on the FCC web site.), use an internet search engine to locate the PUC for your state. The FCC complaint site is http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html

As we said above, if you are our customer, we will fight the big guys for you, because above all, we place "Integrity before Profit."

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Copyright © 2004 Eugene Volz  All Rights Reserved.