Giant corporation ignoring your repeated and valid pleas? After exhausting traditional methods of complaint resolution, including, but not limited to, at least calling at least once and escalating to a supervisor, try “Faxing For Dollars,” another get-em-by-the-balls technique described by Ron Burley in his book, Unscrewed: The Consumer’s Guide To Getting What You Paid For.

1) Draft a good, cogent, spell-checked, grammar-checked one-page complaint letter (here’s how), with your full contact information.

2) Find the fax numbers for executives. These can be found by Googling for: SEC filings, Financial documents, often found in company’s investor relations section, press releases, Internal promotional events, like charity auctions and golf tournaments, sales materials, contracts, other legal documents…

Be sure to look at the roster of executive officers on the company website, and cross-reference it with the management information available for most companies under finance.google.com

You can also try calling the company switchboard and do a little social engineering to get more fax numbers, Burley says to say something like:

I’m with the firm of Hurley & Burley. I’ve got a balance sheet that I’m supposed to fax to Ms. Jones’ office, but all I have is the district fax number, and I certainly don’t want to send it there.

Or

Hi. Ms. Ramona Jones requested a list of tee times for October. She didn’t give me a fax number to send it to. Can you help me?

3) After harvesting as many executive fax numbers as you can, fax them all copies of your complaint letter, again, again, and over again, until you receive a call on your telephone. If you don’t have a fax machine, you can send faxes online with a service like eFax.

4) When that happens, keep your head screwed on, and your voice even and professional. Burley says say something like, “Thank you for calling. I realize that you are a busy person, so I hope that we can come to a quick resolution of the matter.”

Burley writes,

The executive may have assumed that you are a crazy person or a zealot; just show her that you are sane, that your request is reasonable, and that all you want is your acceptable goal. She will quickly do the math and realize that it is in the company’s best interest–in time, effort, and energy–just to take care of you, whether or not she believes that you are right. It’s called “paying you to go away.

And that, friends, is called winning.

PREVIOUSLY: How To Kick A Scammy Car Dealer In The Nuts
(Photo: Getty)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.