How can I shame a company?

[Typhoid Mary]

I pay a monthly fee for a service. The service is not being provided in a timely manner, and expectations are not being met - it's jeopardizing the health of my kids. Their marketing literature is a blatant lie full of promises that are not kept. After weeks of being jerked around, I've had enough. The call center employees don't care and emails to management are not returned. I would like to publicly shame this company so others don't fall into the same trap. What's the best way? Their Facebook page? A report to the Better Business Bureau? Rent a billboard?

[LaineyAZ]

Are they subject to any state or federal regulations?  Can you look up their company incorporation paperwork and find out who their board members are, or who their insurance company is? 
I know that's not publicly shaming, but regulators and insurers can get their attention pretty fast.

[ender]

If it's an ISP, they are all the same.

But since you said health related it's probably not.

[pbkmaine]

Write a letter to the CEO and copy the Better Business Bureau and your state's Attorney General. Set up a Twitter account and mention your problem there and on Facebook.

[Paul der Krake]

The pro version is to create a website and out-SEO them. Depending on the company this ranges from super easy to dead impossible.

[arebelspy]

Review sites, too, can make a difference.  Yelp is a big one.  And when you Google them, Google usually has their own reviews of businesses.

The threat of those can also make a difference, to use before you shame them.

[SwordGuy]

We used to pay a monthly fee for a service - it was for an apartment owned by a local doctor.

Some things broke and the doctor didn't fix them.  We went on a rent strike.

After 11 1/2 months my wife was tired of the bathroom not getting fixed.  (The bathroom in the apt upstairs flooded and ruined our own bathroom walls.)

My wife met with the doctor at his office and showed him photos of our bathroom.  She explained that in two weeks it would be the 1 year anniversary of our bathroom looking that bad.   If it wasn't fixed before hand, she promised to show up in his patient's waiting room with a birthday cake and the photos to have a birthday party for her bathroom.

We got things fixed right away.  Lots of things fixed.

The key to this technique is to protest in such a way that it will really cause a lot of embarrassment.   Since we lived in a small town you can bet the story would get around.  He certainly did.

Another example:

My parents put a sign in their yard that described the problem and said it had been 10 days without being fixed.  They named the organization responsible for fixing it.

Each day they would paint a line thru the number of days and paint a new number one larger.  By day 15 the problem was fixed.

[arebelspy]

Some things broke and the doctor didn't fix them.  We went on a rent strike.

After 11 1/2 months

Did you live rent-free for almost a year because he wouldn't fix up the bathroom?

[hoping2retire35]

Some things broke and the doctor didn't fix them.  We went on a rent strike.

After 11 1/2 months

Did you live rent-free for almost a year because he wouldn't fix up the bathroom?

my thoughts too.

Can we turn this into a thread of stories about how people have shamed companies and others who provide a (bad) service. I am liking this.

[Paul der Krake]

I will take dumps in the bushes and shower at the YMCA if that means not paying rent.

[SwordGuy]

Some things broke and the doctor didn't fix them.  We went on a rent strike.

After 11 1/2 months

Did you live rent-free for almost a year because he wouldn't fix up the bathroom?

Only 9 months, we waited 2 1/2 months before going on strike.

Yeah.  I don't understand it either.   

But I sure as heck liked it because we were dirt poor and no one was exactly watching that we paid the rent on time while we were on strike.  (You still have to pay the rent, you just put it in a bank account for that purpose instead of giving it to the landlord.) 

When you are poor and income is not a routine, fixed amount, a few days wiggle room is awesome.   Personally, at the time I wished she hadn't done it.  (Now I'm glad she did because it's a great story!)

Just to be clear, we always paid on time to the landlord otherwise.

[SwordGuy]

When I moved to Fayetteville, NC, I ordered a Sprint DSL internet line to be put into our house to support our business.  (That was "the fast thing that would still be affordable" back in the day.)

I was working a project in DC during the week so I was only home about a day and a half each week on the weekend.

The DSL line was put in and it did not work.   Help desk didn't help so I waited until next weekend when I was home and tried again.   This went on for about 3 months. 

At this point I was convinced the help desk could not help me.

So, went on the internet with dial-up service and found the list of major corporate officers at Sprint for investors to review.  I picked the name based on job titles and phoned sprint and asked to speak with that senior VP.

I got his secretary, who is whom I actually wanted.

I explained the problem and how long it had been going on.  I explained that if it was not resolved very promptly, I would be contacting my local city councilmen, county commissioners, the NC Utilities Commission, and the US Federal Communications Commission.  I was going to ask them all one very simple question, "How is our area supposed to attract new businesses when we cannot provide basic telecommunications services?"

She assured me that Sprint would address it promptly.

That was 4pm on a Thursday.  (I had come home early that week. :) )

At 8:30am the next day, Friday morning, the telephone started ringing.  It rang all day long.  People from Sprint from all over the country were calling to help.  They didn't know what I needed, they just knew they really, really wanted to help me.

I arranged for a technician to come to my home the next Monday morning at 8am.   He worked on the problem until 8pm that night.  He replaced the dsl modem.  He went to the office and changed settings.  He came back and checked more things.   That afternoon he determined that my neighborhood had been so poorly wired that the signal wasn't coming to my home clearly and strongly enough.  It was going to take a $25,000 booster to overcome the problem.   When he asked is boss how the company was going to make back that $25,000 at $49.99 a month, the answer that came back was, "I don't care, I just want it fixed today!"

The right question to the right person can be very powerful.

[Miss Piggy]

I used Yelp to leave a scathing review of a concrete company. It was quite thorough (and 100% factual; no opinion needed to make my point). Not sure how many people read it or whether anyone decided not to use the company because of my review, but I sure felt better for leaving it. My husband left negative comments on the company's own Facebook page, which they replied to.

[JLee]

When I moved to Fayetteville, NC, I ordered a Sprint DSL internet line to be put into our house to support our business.  (That was "the fast thing that would still be affordable" back in the day.)

I was working a project in DC during the week so I was only home about a day and a half each week on the weekend.

The DSL line was put in and it did not work.   Help desk didn't help so I waited until next weekend when I was home and tried again.   This went on for about 3 months. 

At this point I was convinced the help desk could not help me.

So, went on the internet with dial-up service and found the list of major corporate officers at Sprint for investors to review.  I picked the name based on job titles and phoned sprint and asked to speak with that senior VP.

I got his secretary, who is whom I actually wanted.

I explained the problem and how long it had been going on.  I explained that if it was not resolved very promptly, I would be contacting my local city councilmen, county commissioners, the NC Utilities Commission, and the US Federal Communications Commission.  I was going to ask them all one very simple question, "How is our area supposed to attract new businesses when we cannot provide basic telecommunications services?"

She assured me that Sprint would address it promptly.

That was 4pm on a Thursday.  (I had come home early that week. :) )

At 8:30am the next day, Friday morning, the telephone started ringing.  It rang all day long.  People from Sprint from all over the country were calling to help.  They didn't know what I needed, they just knew they really, really wanted to help me.

I arranged for a technician to come to my home the next Monday morning at 8am.   He worked on the problem until 8pm that night.  He replaced the dsl modem.  He went to the office and changed settings.  He came back and checked more things.   That afternoon he determined that my neighborhood had been so poorly wired that the signal wasn't coming to my home clearly and strongly enough.  It was going to take a $25,000 booster to overcome the problem.   When he asked is boss how the company was going to make back that $25,000 at $49.99 a month, the answer that came back was, "I don't care, I just want it fixed today!"

The right question to the right person can be very powerful.

That's nothing short of brilliant.

[Typhoid Mary]

Yes, please do hijack the thread and have it become stories about people who have shamed companies because I need ideas!! I am used to bad service, rude employees, etc... When my children are effected by it, the Mama-Bear claws come out and I can use the hints by reading others' stories. I REALLY like the idea about calling the VP. I feel like consumers who whine to media/social media are labeled whiners, but I honestly feel like consumers consistently get the shaft. After a bad week of it, I had had enough. Maybe tomorrow I will still be mad enough to make some phone calls.

Edited to add that I need ideas.

[ender]

Yes, please do hijack the thread and have it become stories about people who have shamed companies!! I am used to bad service, rude employees, etc... When my children are effected by it, the Mama-Bear claws come out and I can use the hints by reading others' stories. I REALLY like the idea about calling the VP. I feel like consumers who whine to media/social media are labeled whiners, but I honestly feel like consumers consistently get the shaft. After a bad week of it, I had had enough. Maybe tomorrow I will still be mad enough to make some phone calls.

I have only complained on social media a few times about larger companies, but in both cases they were very responsive. I wouldn't discount that possibility.

Mediacom in particular was endlessly frustrating trying to talk with them via a phone tree. A complaint on their Facebook page got me in a conversation immediately with someone who knew far more than the poor phone center folks.

[Papa Mustache]

When you call any customer service department the second or third time - immediately ask to speak to their supervisor. I'm nice enough to tell the operator that it isn't anything they did. Then I start working up the ladder to get to someone that can make a difference for you. I spent over a year trying to get sales tax refunded from GoPro from a purchase I made at work. Nobody at the bottom had the power to do anything but listen to the story again, make notes again and refer the problem to some department that I could not apparently speak to directly. 

[2buttons]

1. Cut off payment to service.
2. Find alternative service.
3. Write bad reviews
4. Call local newspaper, tv station, lawyer, congressman to make it political.
5. Move on with with life (really should be number 3b) because its not worth the time and energy - trust me I know from experience - and because once you put it behind you your life will improve. 

P.S. I went so far  as to FOIA the local government to uncover the contractor didn't have a business/occupational license. 

Move on, seriously, you will be much happier and it will stop eating you.

[Spork]

Yes, please do hijack the thread and have it become stories about people who have shamed companies!! I am used to bad service, rude employees, etc... When my children are effected by it, the Mama-Bear claws come out and I can use the hints by reading others' stories. I REALLY like the idea about calling the VP. I feel like consumers who whine to media/social media are labeled whiners, but I honestly feel like consumers consistently get the shaft. After a bad week of it, I had had enough. Maybe tomorrow I will still be mad enough to make some phone calls.

I have only complained on social media a few times about larger companies, but in both cases they were very responsive. I wouldn't discount that possibility.

Mediacom in particular was endlessly frustrating trying to talk with them via a phone tree. A complaint on their Facebook page got me in a conversation immediately with someone who knew far more than the poor phone center folks.

And I have been on the company side.  As Ender says: very effective.  I've been in engineering when someone makes an end-run around the normal tech support call center.  You've got 2 VPs pushing to get one person's thing fixed.  Drop everything!  I've seen it trump big problems.

It's been mentioned but bears repeating:
* facebook
* twitter - and keep following up the tweets.  Sometimes the drama becomes viral and works in your favor
* email to senior VP or CTO
* dedicated forums.  I don't know what the company here is, but every industry has 2-3 forums that are dedicated to their industry.  Someone from the company monitors these and WILL respond.  For example, in the ISP/cable industry dslreports.com is very highly monitored.

I know you're frustrated, but when you go public, try to refrain from coming unhinged.  Yes, you may show some of your frustration, but remain civil.  You don't want to come off as someone that's just "never pleased by anything."  You want the folks that read it to be on your side, possibly entertained.

[Yonco]

Please state the company and how they have treated you.    I respect your review and i wont buy from them, i'm sure others will follow.

[Mrs. PoP]

Just a reminder that whatever you do, keep it clearly factual.  Here's a recent story where a couple was unhappy with service from a photographer and turned to social media to get it resolved in their favor.  But they lied (stretched the truth?  Omitted details?) when the story went viral, and are now (probably deservingly) on the receiving end of a defamation suit worth potentially big bucks.

http://weddings.resourcemagonline.com/2016/09/when-clients-go-too-far-the-andrea-polito-story/706/

I've had good luck in the past tracking down email addresses for VPs, etc and getting responses that way.  It also helps that at that point it's in writing, where a phone call is not.  Reviews/complaints with the BBB went nowhere, but bad reviews on Angie's List did actually get some attention.  If you go that route you have to decide which matters more, a resolution in your favor or leaving the bad review up for others to see, since if you let Angie's List mediate a resolution the bad review gets deleted. 

[Lulee]

Turn to the BBB.  They saved my bacon after my mom sold me down the river by volunteering me to help out a freaked out friend of hers who was getting one or two calls a month at her home asking her for a pay day loan.

Yes, she should have just said there's no such business here and hung up before hearing their sob stories but she wouldn't.  Being physically unwell to start with, she just wigged out about this, especially after finding out they had her address and not just her phone number, and Mom decided I could figure out where on the internet these people were getting her info.  Oddly enough, I did after a few hours of searching and used the site's help page to request they take down the listing (her DIL had created a catering business while living with her which was what the idiot site had for the listing).  I explained to the friend that this was all I could do and she was happy until about 6-8 months later when another call came and she really got upset.  The site's help page was broken by then so I couldn't do anything there.  I found out who owned the site and then asked the BBB to intervene since I couldn't reach anyone directly for help.  Within a few days, the owners stripped her phone and address from the listing.  Peace was restored and Mom has instructions NOT to volunteer me for anything ever again.

[Eilonwy]

I've had very good results with Twitter. Also recently filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau that got the desired results. Yelp will sometimes get an apology.

[davisgang90]

I'll echo twitter.  I was having trouble getting a document filled out and uploaded to my account by USAA.  Two tweets later and the problem was quickly corrected.  Given that it was a document to help set up a designated payee account for my disabled son, USAA didn't want that kind of bad press.  I needed the document to setup Social Security Income benefits for my son with autism.

Here's what I posted:

"@USAA_help 1. For 2 weeks I've been asking for signed paperwork for SSA Rep Payee Direct Deposit back from USAA.  6 calls. Unsat."
"@USAA_help 2. When form finally uploaded by USAA, unsigned form I uploaded 2 weeks ago. Unsat."

They replied in 20 minutes and less than an hour later the document was signed and uploaded. 
I will add, I've had a very good relationship with USAA for decades and this was an anomaly. 

[FIRE Artist]

People seem to get good results going to the media here.  It doesn't have to be a huge issue, just one that the viewing audience might be interested in. Magically things get resolved pretty fast this way. 

[ender]

People seem to get good results going to the media here.  It doesn't have to be a huge issue, just one that the viewing audience might be interested in. Magically things get resolved pretty fast this way.

Whatever you do, keep it professional.

The quickest way to ruin your case is to make a stupidly childish complaint or rant.

[J_Stache]

You can take out a newspaper ad, like Eugene Merman did with Time Warner.
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/comedian-rips-time-warner-cable-hilarious-newspaper-ads-132169

[Typhoid Mary]

Thanks for all the replies. Our issue was with a local utility company - I couldn't cancel our service and still have hot water or a stove to cook on or heat this winter. I can survive all those things but small children like warm baths and sleeping in bedrooms that don't smell like natural gas. I posted publicly on their Facebook page and sent an email to an out of state VP and miraculously had a repairman show up even though they were booked "weeks out". I will admit to throwing a temper tantrum the fourth time I had called their call center and was still told I didn't qualify for a repair because it wasn't an emergency. That didn't help my cause, and it wasn't the call center employees fault. :(
I will not delete my Facebook review.  I think he public needs to know this is a continuing issue with the company. Wish I had other options.

[Spork]

I am glad you got it resolved.

Utilities are hard... as they are government mandated monopolies.  It's not like you can do a whole lot.  You might also check if your state has a public utilities commission (or something similar) and drop them a letter.  If there are enough complaints, it can affect them in rate increase requests and possibly in renewing their monopoly contract.  (I know one city I lived in changed cable companies every other year for several years due to the amount of complaints.)

[arebelspy]

I posted publicly on their Facebook page and sent an email to an out of state VP and miraculously had a repairman show up even though they were booked "weeks out".

Cool.

Good work being the squeaky wheel.

[GuitarStv]

The best way is to talk with your feet.  Go to their competitors and get a replacement.  Fire them.  Then move on.

I kinda disagree with this.  At least for many large, corporate companies they will be slower to find/fix a problem if people aren't very clear about what that problem is.  If you want to go somewhere else, do it . . . but leaving negative reviews helps other people (both the company being reviewed and other potential users) be more aware of the particular problem you ran into.  It's a benefit to everyone.

[Loretta]

Hi Mary, I'm having a somewhat similar situation with bugs in my apartment that the building management is non responsive on.  I got loud and used the words "pissed off" to the 2 flunkies in the office who have been giving me the run around.  Time to ratchet it up this week if no help, and I'm thinking an email to their bosses or the county's consumer affairs office as starters. 

I pay a monthly fee for a service. The service is not being provided in a timely manner, and expectations are not being met - it's jeopardizing the health of my kids. Their marketing literature is a blatant lie full of promises that are not kept. After weeks of being jerked around, I've had enough. The call center employees don't care and emails to management are not returned. I would like to publicly shame this company so others don't fall into the same trap. What's the best way? Their Facebook page? A report to the Better Business Bureau? Rent a billboard?

[DoubleDown]

I've found another good strategy for getting instant results is calling up the company, get someone in authority on the phone, and in a very professional and calm tone ask for the address of their legal department in order to have your lawsuit served. If hey have a legal department, get them on the line and ask the question. They will inevitably ask what it is about. You quickly say in a matter-of-fact way (and like your forthcoming lawsuit is now a foregone conclusion) what your problem was, that it has not been resolved, and now you just need to know where to serve papers for the lawsuit. They will inevitably find a way to fix the problem right away. I've only had to use this two or three times, but in every case I got instant results without needing to file a lawsuit (it was always a bluff in each case anyhow).

[Typhoid Mary]

I've found another good strategy for getting instant results is calling up the company, get someone in authority on the phone, and in a very professional and calm tone ask for the address of their legal department in order to have your lawsuit served. If hey have a legal department, get them on the line and ask the question. They will inevitably ask what it is about. You quickly say in a matter-of-fact way (and like your forthcoming lawsuit is now a foregone conclusion) what your problem was, that it has not been resolved, and now you just need to know where to serve papers for the lawsuit. They will inevitably find a way to fix the problem right away. I've only had to use this two or three times, but in every case I got instant results without needing to file a lawsuit (it was always a bluff in each case anyhow).

I need to try this with them also :) The "service credit" they were to apply to my bill never happened.