Complaining about service when things get really bad (2). See yesterday’s posting

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Still no favorable resolution? Fortunately, there are third-party programs that can help.

If you paid with a credit card, the federal Fair Credit Billing Act and the policies of credit card issuers help you withhold payment for goods and services you think  are defective or not delivered as promised. If you cannot resolve the matter with the service provider, contact your credit card bank to dispute the charge (you usually can do this even if you’ve already paid the bill). Once you’ve requested this “chargeback,” your credit card bank will place a hold on the disputed charge and investigate. The service provider can protest the chargeback, but sellers rarely successfully reverse chargebacks if the customer has returned (or tried to return) the goods or can document the service defect.

Another option in the united States is to file a complaint with the local government consumer agency. These consumer protection offices have legal authority over many types of businesses, and should refer matters it can’t handle to a more appropriate state or a federal agency. The matter might be resolved via phone or email, but these offices may also perform inspections, gather evidence from third parties, do legal or technical research, or mediate the dispute. Staff might do more than resolve your complaint; they might get the supplier to agree to change it’s business practices or even force the business to pay penalties.

The Better Business Bureau can also  help, but government agencies have the force of law behind them. The government can conduct formal investigations and use law enforcement tools to obtain the facts that will help them negotiate a settlement on your behalf. even pursuing legal action if evidence shows the merchant has violated the law.  There are also private-sector mediators who can help you and the business come to a resolution, although such mediation may be of little value with businesses that have no incentive or desire to work out a settlement.

The last resort is to bring an action in small claims court. Most courts have legal advisers to help you prepare your case. But the Epicurean way is always to negotiate a resolution quietly and politely, if you can.  

Complaining about service (part 1)

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Although most of us gripe about service headaches to family and friends we seldom—studies show it’s as few as one out of four—complain to the company that dropped the ball. And many consumers who do complain to businesses do so ineffectively.

A lot of consumers remain silent because it seems like too much trouble to complain or they want to avoid a confrontation. Others don’t complain because they think it won’t help—the warranty expired a week ago so the store won’t do anything. But generally, telling a company—especially a reputable company—that things didn’t go well usually produces good results. The trick is to complain competently, and to diligently follow up.

I have always asked to speak to the company’s owner or manager, stating  the facts as I saw them and what the company could do make amends. One should be polite and reasonable. No one responds well to hostility.  (When I ran a company I made it a rule that all complaints had to come over my desk, and I dealt with them personally.  This is not a common habit, but it is very effective in gaining  good will).

If your phone call fails to yield results, put it in writing. Attach to your email, or enclose with your letter, copies of relevant documents such as contracts, invoices, receipts, and previous correspondence.

Another option is to post your complaint—and your desired resolution—on Facebook or Twitter and tag the company. This forces the company to decide whether it wants to gain good or bad publicity from your dispute. While it’s not too risky to ignore one customer’s complaint, many companies don’t ignore complaints that have been broadcast to hundreds of other potential customers. Many companies, particularly national ones, have staff who monitor social media websites to resolve complaints quickly and show that the company is responsive to its customers.

Tomorrow I will discuss what to do if the problem escalates.

Younger people today don’t have the IQ they used to have

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Our IQ levels are gradually falling compared with previous generations, if IQ tests are an accurate gauge of intelligence.

Scientists in Norway analysed scores achieved by 730,000 young men, born between 1962 and1991, who did IQ tests as part of their national service. They found that for many years the IQ levels of entrants rose by about 0.3 points a year on average. This is consistent with the Flynn effect: the steady rise of IQ scores, by about three points a decade, observed across the developed world in the 20th century, a phenomenon put down to massive improvements in education, diet and healthcare over that period.

However, IQ levels peaked among the cohort born in 1975, and then began to fall, at a rate equivalent to seven points per generation. The researchers speculate that changes to teaching methods and the shift to screen-based entertainment could be responsible for the change.

My non-scientificmore guesses about the reasons:

1.  Have a problem? Google it.  You don’t have to think, internalise it for more than minutes or reconcile it with other related things?  The correct information is only a finger-touch away.  The brain is not as exercised as it was years ago.

2.    Fewer actual conversations and exchange of information than used to be the case.

3.    Distractions, such as constant attention to cellphones and too much social media and movie streaming

4.   Lack of rigor in education (nowadays it seems as whole essays can be downloaded from the internet to fulfill an assignment or even during an exam – or is this a folk tale?).

It isn’t included in the ancient documents, but I believe Epicurus believed in constant striving for self-improvement and better understanding.  We may not be making that easy.  Kids like to be stretched.

 

The hypocrisy of the Amazon-using classes

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“Great abundance is heaped up as a result of brutalizing labor, but a miserable life is the result”. (The Essential Epicurus”, by Eugene O’Connor, Great Books in Philosophy series)

Well, that was prescient!  What immediately comes to mind is Amazon – huge numbers of people working long hours at pitiful wages so that we can get some not-very-important product we could otherwise walk half a mile to buy (and be fitter for it).
I say this while invariably hesitating before clicking on the “ buy now” button.  But I still press that button and order from Amazon, which, yes, makes me a hypocrite.

We need to pay more for the convenience of Amazon, and Amazon needs to pay its staff more.  And the boss needs to pay loads more tax, and stop trying to avoid what he does pay.  Paying tax for the benefit of the whole community is both Epicurean and, one would have thought, simply common sense. How those taxes are used apportioned is another matter altogether.

Lying to children about death

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The Winter edition of “Free Mind”, published by the American Humanist Association, carries an article headed, “No, we shouldn’t lie to our children about God and death”.   it quotes a Wall Street Journal article advising parents to tell their children that God and heaven are real, even if they don’t believe it.  The reason given  is that the idea of dying and turning to dust might work for adults, but belief in God and heaven helps children grapple with tremendous and incomprehensible loss.

This idea is very common and there are many people who blame the country’s growing secularity for moral decay, nihilism and despair. Attorney General William Barr has charged that “the campaign to destroy the traditional moral order has… brought with it immense suffering and misery.” He and those who think like him reject studies which show that religion per se has little to do with mental health and the way kids interact with other people.  It is the social aspects of organised religión that help children grow up living ethical and meaningful lives, not religious services or dogma as such.  Children need to grow up surrounded by like-minded people who care about them, show their love of them, and look out for them.

The article goes on to say that children are people and deserve respect. If you don’t want them to lie to you, you shouldn’t lie to them.  Tell them they will die – one day, far in the future ( reassuring!)  Tell them that being dead is not painful  (“Death is nothing to us”. Epicurus) and that people who die don’t get hungry or frightened, but live on through cherished memories, the continuation of projects they have  contributed to; and stories and anecdotes, preferably amusing, about their lives.  Meanwhile, get them to join clubs, sports teams, choirs, whatever so that they have plenty of socialization.  Fill their lives with love and learning.  There is no need to choose between theism and nihilism.

My comment: I was brought up with chapel every day and had a grounding in  christian thinking.  As a teenager I was religious ( which had more to do with loneliness than religion, looking back on it). But I haven’t needed the church and priests to remind me at all times to try to live life (I hope) with integrity, honesty,  politeness, kindness and consideration, telling the truth. It has been Epicureanism that has reinforced this, not  fairy stories about angelic choirs and heaven after death.

On the other hand I also think it fine for children to be exposed to the Sunday school bible stories and internalise their messages, if this is not a contradiction!  One needs choice. What do you think?