You are trying to make an appointment with your mechanic/doctor/hairdresser, and no matter how often you call, you cannot seem to get anyone to answer.  After seemingly endless moments of being on hold and listening to either a cheery sales pitch or some hideous muzak ad nauseum, you are ready to unleash your fury on the first real person that crosses your path.  Sound familiar?  While it may be briefly satisfying to scream at the first person you encounter and demand to know just why your valuable time is being wasted, that will probably not get you the results you desire.

The Receptionist Often Has to Help Other People Besides You

Many people assume that the receptionist is not doing his or her job if their phone calls are not answered, or if a message is not returned promptly.  A woman who works as a receptionist for one of the most recognized car dealerships in the world had this to say about her job: “It is so frustrating for me to have to answer phones all day and then have the people I am paging not respond.  I absolutely hate having to ask people to continue to hold repeatedly, or to offer them a voice mail when I know that there is a very good chance that the message will go unanswered for a long time.  As much as I enjoy my job, there are plenty of days when I go home in tears because of all the negativity that has been thrown my way.”

Try to keep in mind that the receptionist is most likely the lowest person on the totem pole, and therefore not in a position to solve your problem.  She is probably doing several other things at the same time as she is answering phones, such as helping the customers who are right in front of her.  In this case, a lengthy diatribe will only cause the calls that are coming in behind yours to be ignored: “I’ve had many people tell me that, due to the fact that they cannot get a response, they are just going to go somewhere else.  As much as I do not want that to happen, I also cannot always take the time to talk a person out of their anger.  I am the only person to answer ten incoming telephone lines, and I also have to take care of the customers who are paying for their repairs.  If I stop and try to talk one customer into staying, then I have four or five other calls backing up behind that one who are eventually going to hang up in anger, and then call back and tell my supervisor that I am not doing my job.  I end up having to let one angry caller go in favor of not angering all the other callers.  It is a terribly flawed system, but that is the only one we have at the moment.”

 Instead of taking out your frustration on the receptionist, try the following steps:

Ask Where You Can Send a Letter of Complaint

When you have a complaint, a better strategy would be to avoid yelling at the receptionist, and instead calmly ask her or him to whom you should direct your complaint.  Start with the supervisor of the person or the division with which you are upset.  Put your complaint in writing, and then add all the pertinent details that go along with it: names, dates, times, etc.  Here is your chance to really vent.  This is the time when you can go into how upset you are, how disappointed you are, and how you are contemplating going somewhere else.  While you should make sure to keep your language controlled—it is never all right to swear or to use insulting words—it is perfectly fine, and even advised, to spell out just how this experience has affected you and your view of the employee, the department, or even the entire company.  Despite what you may think, companies do not want to lose their good customers, and this type of written communication can be incredibly effective. 

Go as High as You Need to Go to Get Results

What can you do if the person to whom you have written refuses to acknowledge your complaint?  The first thing you will want to do is to call that person and do a verbal follow up.  It is easy to ignore a letter, but much more difficult to ignore a person who is determined to be heard.  If you find that, after a reasonable amount of time, you are still not getting results, talk to the receptionist again and see who that person’s supervisor is.  At this point you may spend more time speaking to the receptionist than you do the person you are looking for, so keep in mind that the receptionist is your friend, and not your enemy.  Do not talk down or insult him or her; think of how angry you would be if he or she talked down to you.  Just treat the receptionist in the same manner you would like to be treated: “I can’t believe how many people speak to me as though I am an idiot when they can’t get through to the person to whom they wish to speak,” says the receptionist.  “For one thing, I would never speak to people in that manner, and for another, do they really think I am going to be more inclined to go out of my way and help them after they have insulted my intelligence?”  Trust that the person you are currently speaking to understands your frustration, and is ready to help you take the next step.

Find Somewhere Else to do Business

The final step in getting the results you want may be to give up and go somewhere else to get your business taken care of.  Although that is not an optimal solution, in some cases it is all you can do.  If you are not being treated the way that you deserve to be treated, then that company is obviously not worthy of your business.  If no one works with you to try to rectify your situation, then you have done all you can do, and it is time to make good on your promise to take your business elsewhere.  Many customers threaten to go somewhere else when they are treated poorly, but then return to the same place of business to be treated poorly again.  This only decreases the likelihood that anyone will take your complaints seriously in the future.  It would leave a much larger impact on the company if you take your business elsewhere, and then send the original company a copy of your paid bill with a letter explaining how you could not get your issue resolved, and this was how you finally chose to handle the problem. 

No matter what, you as a consumer need to be treated fairly and with respect, and if there is a company out there who is not doing that, then they absolutely do not deserve your patronage.  If you cannot feel 100% satisfied with what you are receiving, then take your business and your money somewhere where you can feel that amount of satisfaction.  Remember that no one at any company will be able to treat you poorly if you do not let them!