How To Fight and Win

Fight Companies Online And Win

The Consumerist's step-by-step guide to posting your complaint against a company online and getting results.

Those results can be money, an apology, a new device, or a hug, but you can tap into the power of the magical internet to get you some serious traction.

After blogging about customer complaints for nearly a year, and even ending up on TV a few times ourself, we've got what we think is a pretty good idea of what works.

STEP ONE: GET SCREWED

This is the easy part...

START A BLOG

For ease and speed, Blogger.com is pretty good. Give the blog a catchy title, like "Verizon Is Eating My Face."

POST YOUR INITIAL COMPLAINT

Type the letters, one after another. Be sure to include Who, What, Where, When, and How. It's fine to be all emo but at least get the facts in there before you start slicing your wrists all over the screen.

INCLUDE CONTACT INFORMATION

A valid email address should do. If you don't feel like dealing with this blog for the rest of your life, set up a new email address like verizoniseatingmyface@gmail.com.

ENABLE COMMENTS

People will need to offer you advice and solace, as well as throw text-based poop in your direction. Leave these playground gates open. Respond to questions when appropriate.

STOCK SMOKING GUNS

Include pictures, audio, video, phone call recordings, scanned copies of letters, and conversation transcripts. YouTube is good for uploading video. You can even get away with uploading pure audio there too. The key idea here is to publicly publish evidence to bolster your case. The more and the more irrefutable it is, the better your chances are of getting that money or hug you want.

Some of the following involve using HTML code. Don't worry if you don't know much about it. These services offer code you can drag and drop into your blog. Their sites also include instructions on doing so, in case you get stuck. Everything is learned through trial and error, so if it doesn't look right, tweak until it does!

INCLUDE CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE COMPANY

If people hear your cry and are sympathetic, they may take it upon themselves to call or write the company on your behalf. Boom! Instant protest campaign.

EMBED A SITEMETER

Insert sitemeter code into your site. This will keep track of the traffic your blog receives. Images from its graph also makes for an easy post, "Look, traffic is up 300%!"