Rebecca from Virginia wrote in with a good lesson for customer-service representatives (meaning, everyone in any company!) based on the post entitled, “ACKNOWLEDGE ME!”

“Hey Bob, just had to write and say that your post was right on the mark.

”I’d been trying to straighten out a bank mess-up concerning my nine year old son’s savings account. After four weeks of waiting they said it was fixed, only to get the statement yesterday discovering it had another added service charge. I knew I was frustrated when I went to the bank today, but the manager’s whole attitude took the problem from frustration to complete anger!

”Never once did she apologize or tell me she understood how frustrating this was and that she’d get it fixed. Thanks to your article that I had just read, I realized why I was getting so angry. This allowed me to keep my cool and leave still in control. But, on the way home I was thinking — for this bank it went from my closing my son’s account of $126 when I walked in to my closing all of our family accounts by the time I walked out of the bank — all because someone couldn’t say ‘sorry.’

“When I write the bank president to express my frustration regarding the treatment of a child’s account, I will definitely mention it .”

—–

Thank you for your letter Rebecca. You shared something that all of us in any field of customer contact need to always keep in mind.

Just a suggestion, if I may: when you write to the bank president, be sure to let him or her know how much you had previously enjoyed being a customer and that you always appreciated the staff being friendly and treating you with respect (assuming that’s true).

Then, calmly and rationally state the problem, how it made you feel and the result.

The nicer and less emotional you are in your letter, the more the president does NOT want to lose you as a customer, and will respond accordingly.

For an example of a very effective letter, you can cick here and download my free special report, How to Write A Complaint Letter That Gets Results.