Be Bold and Ask

I will start by saying that I am not afraid to ask. For what? Well, when I have a bad experience with a company I am not afraid to ask, or even demand if necessary, for some kind of compensation for my troubles. You would be surprised what a good company would do to satisfy a customer. But, you have to be willing to ask. Many times it requires that you go through several levels of personnel before you get to the person who has the authority to give you what is appropriate compensation. My husband is always amazed when I tell him what I have been able to receive in compensation for a company mistreating me. He is one who would never call and never ask!
One experience that forever will stick out in my mind is when we were planning our trip to Europe. Ryan and I planned a trip to France and Italy. One of our plane tickets was totally paid for with airline miles and the other we paid for partly with airline miles and bought the rest of the miles we needed to get the ticket. Well, the person that initially helped me did everything wrong and in the end I was being punished for it! It all ended with me on the phone for several hours, dealing with very rude customer service personnel, before I finally was able to speak with a manager. Now, I will say that when I first called all I wanted was for my ticket to be processed and printed. But, after an hour and a half on the phone with very rude people I wanted more. I told the manager that I now wanted a refund of the $250 I spent on the ticket and I wanted the ticket for free, this was a round trip ticket to Paris! And do you know what? She gave it to me! That is right, I got a round trip ticket to Paris for free, well, it did cost me some of my miles but that is nothing! I would have gladly paid for that ticket, if they would have given me proper service, but they did not. My husband was amazed! He said there was no way that they would give me the ticket for free! Again, I am not afraid to ask! I am not afraid to be bold and ask to be compensated when I am wronged.

But, sometimes you can be bold and ask for something even when you haven't been wronged. A good company wants to keep their good customers. So, here is my story. As you know from previous posts, I have been wanting an IPhone! Well, just this past weekend my husband finally agreed that I could get one! I was so excited, but at the same time disappointed too! I would have to wait until my current phone contract expired and that wasn't until September 4th. That is a long time from now. So, I thought that I would call and just see if I couldn't get them to waive the termination fee. I have been a customer of theirs for over 6 years now. I have always paid my bills on time and been probably what they hope all customers will be. So, I called. The man at the company asked me why I was leaving and I told him that I wanted to switch to another plan, one that offered me a phone I liked better. He then started offering me stuff to stay! This man said that I had been a good customer for a long time and they didn't want to lose me! Basically he offered me the farm to stay! I hung up the phone with free internet, 1,000 texts a month and a pic 3 plan where I can call the three numbers I gave him for free! I pay $45 a month and I now have a $100 plan! I made sure to ask him if this was for good and he said yes and that I didn't have to extend my contract at all. So I thought, okay, I will do this until September and then get my IPhone. But wait, why would I leave? This man just gave me the best deal I could ever get on a phone! So, because this company was willing to try to keep me as a customer and gave me such an incredible deal and service, I am staying with them. I am giving up my IPhone and sticking with them. I decided to get an ITouch instead and get a new, cooler and more functional phone with my current provider! This was smart for them and a coupe for me! I am thrilled!

So, the moral of the story is this: Be Bold! Don't be afraid to ask! The worst anyone can say is NO! That doesn't hurt! But, if you know that you deserve compensation, go to the next level! The person you are speaking to may not be able to help, but someone there can!

Good Luck!