I'm convinced the our society has seen a greater decline in customer service and civility in the past 20 years than in the rest of my lifetime. Due to that decline, I've taken a much more confrontational approach to doing business with others when necessary.
I have a simple philosophy about this failure in customer service. If you tell me something, 
stand behind it. If you lie to me, expect me to confront you. If you steal from me, I will track you down and recover what you stole. If you cheat me, I will make sure that the world knows to avoid you and your business.
A few years ago, I was in the midst of a negotiation that was going poorly. An attorney for a major company and I were negotiating the deal, and he was a moron. His god-complex made it difficult for him to be civil. He was arrogant enough to call and leave two scathing messages on my voice-mail. I was frustrated and angry, but I used his own words to turn the tables on him. I kept the recordings, transcribed his words and sent them to my House of Representatives rep. He was fired. The next company attorney was much nicer.
During a short sale last year, I couldn't get a negotiator to complete the file. She kept stringing this poor couple along and they nearly went into foreclosure. I used my blog to write an open letter to Jamie Dimon, the CEO of J. P. Morgan Chase. The short sale was approved in two hours. A short while later, she did the same thing, and nearly caused them to go to foreclosure again. This time, I got her boss on the phone, and he and I worked out the details in 2 hours and they closed 13 hours before the courthouse sale.
Today, my older son was on the winning end of one of these types of consumer conflicts. He went to our local hospital in October. He was doubled over in pain. After 10 hours of poking and prodding, the doctor sent him home with meds that made him sick, a diagnosis of "I have no idea, but go see this specialist" and here's your $6200 bill. Cash, check or credit card?
The next day, he was able to get in to see his doctor. After a brief checkup, a $5 prescription and 24 hours of rest and meds he was completely well. The hospital started to harass him about his bill, so he followed an old family tradition. He sent a letter to the CEO of the hospital, the president of the state medical association, his congressman and two local newspapers. Yesterday, a local newspaper paper published his letter. Today, the hospital called to apologize and see if they could make it right. They're trying to figure out how to make the bill go away.
Friends, if you receive poor service, anywhere, make it known to the service provider. If the service provider blows you off or treats you disrespectfully, make it known to the world. You've got a blog. Public humiliation does work for some folks. If someone tries to cheat me, I will have no compassion on him what-so-ever once he has rebuffed my efforts to reconcile it. At that point, he has set his own fate in motion. Poor publicity does hurt some businesses, and some do care enough about being in business in the future to reconcile their wrongs. If everyone is held to account for their service, the service will get better.
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