How to Get Credit for Service Interruptions

No one likes it when you have an interruption in any monthly service you pay for. You pay for the whole month so why not get a whole month? A few hours of lost service in a month we usually tolerate but what if it is a bad month were several outages took place. How should we handle it?

I have written this to tell you exactly how to handle it so you can get the credit you deserve. There are some steps you need to make a habit whenever an outage occurs. Never assume that the service company will keep a record of these outages and attach them to your account. After all the service company is in business to make money they don't like giving credits. They do give credits for those customers who have outages documented.

Customer service representatives will cheat. If your calling in about a service outage they don't always document every call especially if the outage is widespread. I am sure you have called about a service outage before only to be told it is area wide. What service rep will tell you is that it is either being worked on or they have knowledge of it and have dispatched a crew. What we assume is that they have documented that call we just made. That is not always true. If they are getting a lot of calls for the same issue they will inform only. What you must do is to make them document the call by asking for a reference number to this call you just made. It is their job to document every call and to provide reference numbers to the customer. So, anytime you call about a service interruption make sure you get some sort of reference number for the calls you make.

Winter months are hard on service companies due to ice, wind, etc. However, you do pay for a months service. If I only had one short outage in a month I probably would not ask for a credit. My Internet company had 5 outages in a weeks time lasting several hours each. If I did not make any service calls or have any reference numbers I would not have any proof that this occurred. So, it is very important that you always call for any service interruption and get a reference number.

Your next step is to call the billing department give them any reference numbers. You want to ask for a credit. In most cases you will receive a credit. If you don't receive a credit than ask for a supervisor. Remember you dealing with customer reps who can only do so much. Some companies the lower level customer reps are not allowed to give credits. That should not discourage you and you should ask for someone who can.

Your last resort if you cannot get satisfaction is just about every service company, including banks, have a retention department. These people are like gods who put the customer first. They don't want to lose your business and will bend over backwards to accommodate you. If you cannot get the credit you deserve than these are the people you need to talk to.

You don't have to be subject to service outages, without getting some of your money back, if you follow these simple steps.