Experience has taught me that if you want speedy customer service these days, nothing works better than stirring up a good stink on the company’s Twitter or Facebook page.

Unfortunately, my fantasies of seeing “Spirit Air Is The Worst” shoot to the top spot as a trending topic were killed when I realized the company had neither an official Twitter or Facebook page to speak of.

Given the airline’s track record of abysmal customer service, it’s not hard to imagine why.

Companies basically open themselves up to a world of hurt when they offer customer service on public forums like social media sites.

These sites have rapidly become the new “town halls” for consumers to bash brands for falling short, much like National Bank Transfer Day gained steam on Facebook after banks announced plans to charge consumers $5 debit card fees.

But a new survey released this month by Conversocial revealed social media isn’t always the surest way to have your voice heard. In fact, some companies are straight up ignoring your tweets and wall posts.

Of ten retail brands surveyed, the worst offenders were Costco, Kmart and Kroger, which were found to ignore 100 percent of all consumer complaints on their Facebook page.

Sears and Safeway scored high marks, answering 57 percent and 40 percent of complaints in less than 30 minutes, respectively.

But overall, the study found the majority of complaints voiced on Twitter and Facebook were largely ignored

Here are some ways to give yourself the best shot at having your voice heard:

Be persistent. I set up a reminder for myself a week after I emailed Spirit with my first complaint so I would remember to email them again. After my second message, I received a response from a representative and had a full refund within a month.

Power in numbers. There were a couple dozen other passengers on my flight just as annoyed as I was when we were stuck overnight without any forewarning. As a group, we decided we would send in complaints and that may have helped us in the long run. It’s far more difficult to ignore a slew of identical messages than a single complaint.

Don’t underestimate the hashtag. Even if the company doesn’t have a Twitter account, that doesn’t mean you can’t cause a ruckus anyway. Tag your tweet with a hashtag and the company’s name (ex: #SpiritAIr, #Costco) and anyone who searches for their name on the site will eventually see your tweet. I tweeted a gripe about Spirit and saw my message retweeted by users who had similar experiences, which gave my message more impact.

Skip the phone. Customer service lines are a labyrinth seemingly designed to make you want to hang up. Going to a store in person to speak with a manager makes you harder to ignore. If that’s not an option, check out Gethuman.com, a great source for tracking down phone numbers for real people in companies.

Track your moves. It’s important to keep a record, so you can back yourself if a company tries to tell you they never received your complaint. Email leaves a trail, but if you call, record the date and time of the call and ask for the full name of whoever you speak with.

Take it to the top. A friend called Subway’s corporate office when he had a terrible experience at one of their shops and received a response in record time. The CEO does not want to be bothered by consumer complaints and it’s likely he or she will put pressure on lower level departments to get back to you if you pester their office too much.

Be nice. I’ll be the first to admit I can be hot headed when it comes to poor customer service. But before I call a company to complain, I give myself at least half an hour to gather my thoughts and calm myself down. You’re far more likely to have a positive result if you are kind and polite.

First Things First

•Give the merchant the first chance to solve the problem. Contact the salesperson, retailer or business when you have a complaint about any goods or services you bought. When there is a complaints department, use it. When there isn’t, talk to someone in authority, such as a manager. A face-to-face discussion is best. Be firm and businesslike, but polite. Calmly and accurately describe the problem and what you want the company to do to resolve it.

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If the problem is not resolved that way, ask for the telephone number of the company headquarters and contact the customer service department. Request specifics about how and when something will be done, and get the company representative’s name in case you have to refer to the conversation later. Write down any details of your complaint and keep them in a file. Make sure to date your notes.

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If your call doesn’t produce satisfactory results, write a letter to someone higher up, such as the general manager or owner (see sample letter). Provide all the details of the problem and explain your efforts to resolve it. Ask for action. In the case of products, send a copy of your letter to the manufacturer, and be sure to keep a copy of it yourself.

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If none of these steps work to your satisfaction, consult the key consumer contacts of this Handbook for government offices and consumer organizations that apply to your situation. If you don’t know where to start, call the federal-provincial-territorial government consumer affairs office where you live. Someone there will direct you to the right organization. Or, use the Complaint Courier to file your complaint online.

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Taking legal action should be your last choice. If you decide to sue, remember that there are often time limitations on filing lawsuits. You may wish to check with a lawyer about the legal process and any limitations that may apply to your case in your province or territory.

Strategies for Success

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Do not be afraid to complain. Good businesses will be pleased to correct any mistake on their part. They know that customer goodwill is the best form of advertising.

•Always keep a file of important information related to your purchase, include the sales receipts, repair orders, warranties, cancelled cheques, contracts and any letters you have written to or received from the company concerned.
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Do not procrastinate. When a product is defective or unsatisfactory, it is important that you return it quickly so that you do not lose the right to get your money back or to collect damages in some cases. Always check the return policy before you buy.

What to Do When You Have Complained Without Any Results?

If you feel you have given the company enough time and that your problem has not been resolved, send a copy of your complaint letter and copies of supporting documents (not originals) to, or file a consumer complaint with, your provincial or territorial consumer affairs office or Better Business Bureau. If you use the Complaint Courier it will give you the option to automatically forward your complaint to the appropriate government office.

Small Claims Court

Small claims court can be an informal and relatively inexpensive way to resolve disputes when the amount involved is less than $3,000 or, in some provinces, up to $25,000. However, you will have to pay a fee to file a claim. Once the suit is launched, you may have costs for such things as serving orders, payments to witnesses and travel expenses.

You do not need a lawyer to go to small claims court, although in most provinces and territories the help of a lawyer is allowed. The court staff is experienced in helping consumers prepare the necessary forms, and the judges have the power to settle disputes. This court allows each side to explain its story and does not expect consumers to know legal technicalities.

For information on how to proceed, contact the small claims or provincial or territorial court nearest you (look in the government listings in your phone book). The websites of these courts also often list the procedures to follow and have copies of the forms you will need to complete.

But how well do the leading complaint websites themselves work? On Monday, an old-fashioned bricks-and-mortar organization, the Consumer Federation of America, delivered a mixed verdict: The best sites are great for helping consumers voice irritation, but not so great for helping them address it.

Stephen Brobeck, the federation’s executive director, said the group decided to examine more than a dozen complaint websites, in part because they show up so frequently in Web searches.

Not very long ago, aggrieved consumers had few options beyond griping to friends or relatives, filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or state attorney general, or suing, Brobeck said. Now, sites such as My3cents, Complaints Board, and Ripoff Report, offer an alternative.

Though some sites, such as My3cents, offer consumers the chance to post positive comments, the sites have special appeal to the disgruntled.

“They’re unhappy, and they want to vent,” Brobeck said. “And this is a very low-cost way to vent, with potentially high impact.”

Susan Grant, the federation’s director of consumer protection, said the best sites could help potential customers of the large, national companies most likely to appear in the sites’ databases.

She said a lack of complaints should not be seen as any sort of guarantee. “But if there are lots of complaints, and lots of complaints about particular kinds of problems, that’s a good indicator to consumers that they may want to look elsewhere for their purchases,” Grant said.

Grant said the sites could also prove useful because consumers sometimes shared stories about how they ultimately solved a problem.

But it wasn’t until after she wired money to rent the property that she discovered she actually was involved in a scam.

Now, the woman won’t be moving into the house, and she is out $900.

Gibsonville police Chief Mike Woznick was alerted to the scam via an e-mail from the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which is a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.

The woman lives in Guilford County and has a Gibsonville address, but she doesn’t live within his police department’s jurisdiction so Woznick wasn’t involved with her case. However, he thought her experience was one that should be shared so people would be careful when using the Internet to buy or rent real estate

“People just need to slow down,” Woznick said. “I feel sorry for the people who are getting scammed. There is no question they are looking for the best possible scenario for their resources. But if they don’t slow down, they might as well drop that money along the interstate somewhere. It’s the same loss.”

The Internet Crime Complaint Center has received 23 similar complaints, Woznick said.

In the Gibsonville woman’s case, she was using oodle.com, a website where people can post and scan classified advertisements. She received an e-mail alert from oodle.com about a three-bedroom house that was available on Elderbush Court in Greensboro.

While oodle.com is a legitimate website, the e-mail the woman received was not from the owner of the property. After receiving the e-mail, she contacted Remax in Greensboro. She was told that it was being rented directly from the owner so she responded to the e-mail and filled out an online application, Woznick said.

After a few days, the woman made arrangements to wire the money to the owner. She wired $900 on May 14 to Eric Cooper in Battersea, London. Shortly after, she received an e-mail from DHL about where she could pick up the keys to the house. A week later, she received an e-mail from oodle.com informing her she was a victim of a scam, Woznick said.

Typically, the imposters claim they are doing missionary work in a foreign country and need to rent their home while they are away. Usually, the imposter asks to have the rental money sent to another country, according to the website.

Woznick said the perpetrators of this type of Internet scam are difficult to catch and costly to prosecute. Federal agents typically won’t pursue scams if they don’t involve thousands of dollars.

As a result, Woznick recommends that people use caution when making deals online.

While the house was real and for rent, the person posing as the owner was an imposter.

According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center’s website, scammers duplicate postings from legitimate real estate websites and repost the ads after altering them. Sometimes the scammers use the broker’s real name to create a fake e-mail address. When the victim sends an e-mail through the classified ad’s website inquiring about the rental, the victim will receive an e-mail from the imposter.

Its complaints committee upheld 15 of the 20 cases it examined. Three of the 20 cases came from the authority’s monitoring programme. One such case involved press advertising for Tony Quinn slimming products. One advertisement claimed a woman had lost 31 lb (14kg) with Mr Quinn’s weight loss system. Another claimed a product could shrink the user’s waist.

The authority wrote to Mr Quinn seeking substantiation for the claims made. The company said all testimonials featured genuine customer statements and said the products were not required to undergo individual testing to bear claims as they were food products. The complaint was upheld.

The committee did not uphold a complaint about an advertisement for the Red Bull energy drink, but expressed concern about it. The cartoon advert showed a boy feeding Red Bull to pigs. He then went to his mother and begged for her permission to go to what was described as “a gentlemen’s club”. She said he could do this “when pigs fly”. The pigs were then seen flying past the kitchen window.

The advertisement ended with the boy leaning on the stage, watching a dancer at the club.

Complaints suggested the caricature of the child was unsuitable and inappropriate and objected to the portrayal of women.

The committee did not consider the majority of the advertisements to be in breach of the advertising code, but said the scene depicting the boy in the club was “in conflict with the spirit of the code”.

Elan on March 29 filed a complaint with the ITC asserting that Apple had violated a patent relating to the ability to detect the simultaneous presence of multiple fingers on touch devices. The technology involved is used in the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, MacBook and Magic Mouse products.

Elan asked the ITC to issue an order barring importation of those products into the U.S. Elan also asked the ITC to bar Apple from selling any of these products it had already imported into the U.S.

Elan is alleging that Apple infringed patent number 5,825,352, which is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Elan is a semiconductor design company, which also develops products focused on touch technology.

An Apple spokeswoman declined comment on ITC’s initiation of an investigation into its products.

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Network Marketing allows people to have the lifestyle they want, work from home on their own time, and be their own boss. I have been a consultant since spring of 2005. The Arbonne products sell themselves. I would not be in this business if I did not believe in these products. My goal is to share with others and teach others how to get the same discount that I get as a consultant. If someone wants to be a business builder, then that is great. If someone wants to be a consultant to get products at a discount, then that is fine too. This business is not for everyone, but these products are!!! If you are interested in learning more about Arbonne I would be glad to talk to you.

For the first time in years I ditched commercial tax software to give Free File Fillable Forms a try. It allowed me to file Schedule Cs and other forms of mid-level complexity with no more guidance than the IRS instructions and my 2008 return. It made me wonder if I really needed a $20 or $50 tax program.

Then I hit a weird glitch. The IRS rejected my e-filed tax forms. Twice.

This is surprising because e-file is supposed to be the IRS’s forte. A big reason it went to the trouble of creating Free File Fillable Forms was to help taxpayers file electronically.

What made things worse is that the error message didn’t help solve the problem. It said I could only file two Schedule SEs. (I had only filed two) and referred me to the online help documents. They didn’t help either, so I called IRS media relations.

An IRS official said the agency would update the error code with additional information to make that point clear. But the episode got me to wondering: Are other taxpayers having trouble with e-filing?

The government says no. “The IRS is not aware of any problems or issues with Free File Fillable Forms,” the IRS said in a statement.

A spokesman for H&R Block, the nationwide tax preparer, concurs, saying his company is not seeing any difference this year in the number of rejects after e-filing.

So maybe it’s just me.

But in case you, too, are having trouble e-filing with Free File Fillable Forms, here are some tips from the IRS:

1. Check out the IRS FAQs for help.

2. Make your computer system as compatible as possible: Disable pop-up blockers, allow for cookies, and have an updated Adobe reader so you can print.

3. If you hit a snag not addressed by the FAQs above, try clearing your cookies, closing your browser, and then reopening it. (Also, if you are using an office computer, there also can be some firewall issues.)

4. If these steps don’t work, contact the IRS support desk at irs.gov.website.helpdesk@speedymail.com

In their complaint, the Raffs make a pair of arguments. One concerns penalties and whitelists on the world’s largest search engine, issues we examined at length in a feature story late last year. But the other details an issue the media has largely ignored. The Raffs also argue that with its so-called Universal Search setup, Google is using its search engine monopoly – which controls an estimated 85 per cent of the global market – to unfairly favor its own services over those of its competitors.

“[It] allows Google to leverage its search engine monopoly into virtually any field it chooses. Wherever it does so, competitors will be harmed, new entrants will be discouraged, and innovation will inevitably be suppressed.”

With help from data compiled by market-research outfits HitWise and comScore, the filing makes the case that in the three years since the debut of Universal Search Google has used it to harm competitors in two separate markets: online mapping and price comparisons. In providing Google Maps and Google Product Search (formerly Froogle) with prime placement on its own search engine, the Raffs argue, Mountain View has exerted discriminatory market power to squeeze out the likes of MapQuest and Pricegrabber.

Everyone knows that Tiger knows that he has built a golf empire over past few the years. Golf has given him the ability to generate revenue from endorsements such as apparel, books, games and etc. He has strategically positioned himself in such a way that these revenues function as derivatives to pay him and his family over and over again. In essence the Tiger Woods brand/image is an icon to golfers across the globe, because there is no one that can deny he is one of the best at his business. THAT WAS UNTIL THE 2010 SCANDAL!

Basically what has changed –

Too bad for the Tiger Woods brand/image (and unfortunately for his immediate family), his personal set backs may negatively impact on his business in 2010. Unless he can remain focused and somehow restore his image in the public eye, the Tiger Woods brand/image and business will ultimately suffer in the short term. It does not have to suffer? But it does not have to be that way for his business. Nor does it have to be that way for internet marketing or online businesses. In fact, because of social media sites like FaceBook, YouTube and Twitter, the online marketing business is thriving in 2010 and well beyond. And yes they are free advertising platforms for all types of opportunities. But only if they are used correctly.

The correlation between Tiger and Branding –

So exactly what does Tiger Woods and internet marketing have to do with a home based business opportunity? In a one word answer, they correlate with branding an image that is recognizable. The Tiger Woods association with golf is synonymous, because he has branded his image to represent one of golfs elite players. Successful internet marketers have learned this and have built their home based business empires by replicating the process. The brilliance behind the Tiger Woods model is that he figured out this one simple strategy. Once the dust settles, he will continue building the Tiger Woods name in association with golfs elite again. This will once again provide him with derivatives that will pay him and his family over a lifetime. But knowing how competitive Tiger is, the setback will only be temporary. Tiger will be back and his image will be bigger than it was before.

What Woods is now undertaking is on a scale unlike anything that he or any other athlete has attempted before. Uncharacteristically, his timing is terrible. He is entering the real estate business just as the economy seems moribund—and if anything, the golf business is in a worse state. The National Golf Foundation, an industry trade group, reported that 2008 was the worst year in two decades for opening new golf courses, with the sluggish real estate market as the leading negative factor. It also noted that 2008 was the third year in a row with “zero to slightly negative net growth in supply”—meaning that more courses went out of business than opened.