<![CDATA[Consumerist: Executive Customer Service, How To]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/consumerist.com.png <![CDATA[Consumerist: Executive Customer Service, How To]]> http://consumerist.com/tag/executive customer service/how to http://consumerist.com/tag/executive customer service/how to <![CDATA[ Take Your Tmobile Complaints To The Tippity-Top ]]> Here's a big sexy pile of escalated T-mobile contact info in case you have an intractable complaint that regular customer service can't or won't help out with. Besides the senior management and internal reporting division, It includes a way to figure out how to dial a whole mess of executive customer service reps, as well as which specific government bodies to file complaints with the situation warrant.

Tmobile
Stuart, Executive Assistant to the Vice President
1-877-290-6323 ext. 341-8025.

Glenn A. Zaccara
Sr. Manager, External Affairs
425-378-4982
glenn.zaccara@t-mobile.com

Michael Butler
Chief Marketing Officer
Michael.Butler@T-Mobile.com

Bryan L. Barkoff
T-Mobile Wireless
Regional Retail Manager
Detroit North
Office # 248.465.1756
Fax # 813.353.6711

Kelly Spindle
Executive Customer Relations Coordinator
T-Mobile USA
877-290-6323 Ex. 8082

Avelar, Mercedes
Mercedes.Avelar@T-Mobile.com'

Clelland, John
John.Clelland@T-Mobile.com

Carney, John
John.Carney@T-Mobile.com

Otley, Casey
Casey.Otley@T-Mobile.com

Brodman, Cole
Cole.Brodman@T-Mobile.com

Corporate Responsibility Department
corporate.responsibility@t-mobile.net

Deutsche Telekom AG (owns T-mobile)
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 140
53113 Bonn, Germany
Fax: +49-228-181-8872
www.telekom.de

Investor Relations E-mail: investor.relations@telekom.de; investor.relations@usa.telekom.de

Other e-mails:
'hamid.akhavan@t-mobile.com'; 'michael.guenther@t-mobile.com'; 'rene.obermann@t-mobile.com'; 'robert.dotson@tmobile.com'; 'robert.dotson@t-mobile.com'; 'robert.p.dotson@t-mobile.com'; 'Kai-Uwe.Ricke@telekom.de'

T-Mobile International (T-Mobile's parent company)
Landgrabenweg 151
53227 Bonn, Germany
Fax: +49-228-936-31719
www.t-mobile-international.com

File a complaint against T-Mobile with the Washington State Attorney General's Office
[www.atg.wa.gov]

When you file this complaint, use this address for T-Mobile on the form:
T-Mobile USA, Inc.
12920 S.E. 38th St.
Bellevue, WA 98006

File a complaint with the New Mexico Attorney General's office
[www.ago.state.nm.us]

When you file this complaint, use this address for T-Mobile on the form:
T-Mobile
Customer Relations
PO Box 37380
Albuquerque, NM 87176-7380

"You can try dialing 1-877-290-6323 x341-8025 and changing the extension to do an EVCB (Exec. Voicemail carpet bomb) buy reducing the extension by 1 (i.e. 341-8024, 8023, 8022) so far i have been doing this and it seems to be connecting me to various executive customer relations personnel."

(Photo: Greg Easton Photography)

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Consumerist-5215075 Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:26:26 EDT Ben Popken http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5215075&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Search The Consumerist Directory Of Company Email Addresses And Phone Numbers ]]>

Are you trying to escalate a complaint within a company and want to see if we've posted any inside email addresses or phone numbers? Try replacing "companynamegoeshere" in the following URLs with the company you're looking for. If the company name has multiple words, remember to separate them with hyphens, i.e. washington-mutual

consumerist.com/tag/email-addresses/companynamegoeshere
consumerist.com/tag/executive-customer-service/companynamegoeshere
consumerist.com/tag/phone-numbers/companynamegoeshere

If you can't find what you want, we may not have any contact info for the company, but that's ok! Here's a few way to find a company executive's phone number, and how to figure out someone's email address.

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Consumerist-5011849 Fri, 30 May 2008 10:21:20 EDT Ben Popken http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5011849&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Use Wildcards In Google To Uncover Company Email Address Formats ]]> eecbomber.jpgOne of the stumbling blocks when launching an EECB is figuring out the company email address format. There is actually a very easy way to do this. Just use wildcards in Google. What are those? We'll tell ya, inside...

First, figure out what is going to come after the @ symbol. Often this is the same as their main company website. But just to be sure, I like to go to the investor relations section of the website and look for a sample email address.
With that in hand, type *@companywebsite.com into your Google searchbox. The * is a "wildcard" that tells Google to return all results with anything before @companywebsite.com. Google should present you with several pages showing all sorts of company email addresses. From those, you should be able to figure out the email address format, or formats.

Now you can combine the format with the company executive roster, which you can find by looking under "Management" in Google Finance or by looking under the "About Us" or "Company Profile" or some other similar section on the company website, and start launching those EECBs! If there's multiple formats, you'll want to make a version of each person's name using each format. Many of the emails may bounce, but some can get through, bringing you closer to customer satisfaction.

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Consumerist-365494 Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:25:37 EDT Ben Popken http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=365494&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ What To Say When You Call The CEO's Office ]]> ceoonphone.jpgThis classic article on the art of "turboing," escalating your problem to the executive's office, has some great advice about what to say when you get there. Here's a line Rob Levandowski, himself a former Tier 2 XEROX customer service rep, uses to get his foot in the door once he reaches the CEO's secretary:

"Hello, my name is ________. I'm one of your customers, and I was hoping to speak to (CEO's name) because I'm really getting frustrated with getting a problem resolved, and I know that your company doesn't want me to feel that way."

Rob says this works because if they don't help you, they're backed into a corner of seeming like they actually do want you angry and frustrated. And despite what articles on this site might otherwise suggest, most people like to go bed at night feeling like they're good people. The rest of the article is a really great refresher course on how to win when calling executive customer service.

The Art of Turboing [Macwhiz]
(Photo: Getty)

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Consumerist-345371 Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:55:30 EST Ben Popken http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=345371&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ The Ultimate Consumerist Guide To Fighting Back (Revised Edition) ]]> We've posted recently about how to fight back when a business screws you over, and we've posted a lot of executive contact info over the years. Now we're packaging the two together into one big mega-post of usefulness: a one-stop-stop for figuring out what you need to do to start a customer complaint, or how to escalate a stalled one so that it can be resolved.

Section 1: "I've been wronged! What do I do next?"
Section 2: The Consumerist Corporate Executive Directory
Section 3: Success Stories

 
SECTION 1: "I'VE BEEN WRONGED! WHAT DO I DO NEXT?"
It's broken. It's been disconnected. It was charged eight times to your credit card. It never arrived. Whatever the problem is, here's the Consumerist plan of attack.

Step 1: Get things ready


1. Write down what went wrong. You don't need an essay, but even a sentence will help you clarify your thoughts and give you something to refer to as you move forward.

2. Write down what you will accept as a solution. List more than one thing; that is, first list what the company needs to do to fix what went wrong, but also try to come up with some alternatives that would appease you. These may help you later if you need to bargain with the company.

3. On this same piece of paper or document, put down all the company contact information. Get them from your own paperwork, Google, or our site if we have them (and if you find some info we don't have, feel free to forward it to us to add to our directory).


We suggest you keep everything in one document, so that you'll have a single location for all of your notes. If you're keeping track of things on your computer, there are several ways you can timestamp your entries quickly to improve your documentation.

Step 2: Educate yourself

con_cstoolkit_barechest.jpg Once you've got the basic details written down, you're ready to launch your attack. The best place to start is with the original Ultimate Consumerist Guide To Fighting Back (aka "that post with the shirtless guy"), which not only offers lots of links to useful tutorials, but organizes them into increasing levels of aggressiveness:


The Nice Route
How To Complain
How To Write A Complaint Letter (Remember that if you can find the appropriate bodies that oversee the company's industry, CCing your complaint letter to them can help)
How To Record Customer Service Calls
How To Never Get In Trouble For Recording Customer Service Calls
How To Escalate To The Most Powerful Levels Of Customer Service

The Hardball Route
The Underlying Principle For Forcing An Uncaring And Adversarial Company Fix Your Problem
How To Launch An Executive Email Carpet Bomb
Unlawfully Billed? Threaten To Report Them For Mail Fraud
How To Fax A Company To Death That's Ignoring You
How To Get Your Problem Solved By Posting It To A Company's Stock Forums
How To Start An Online Campaign Against A Company To Shame Them Into Fixing Your Problem
How To Get Unscrewed By Threatening To Stand Outside The Store Passing Out Flyers About Your Experience
(several of these are based on material from Ron Burley's excellent book, "Unscrewed: The Consumer's Guide To Fighting Back," which everyone should read.)

The Legal Route
How To Take A Case To Small Claims Court
How To Win A Case In Small Claims Court Against A Big Company By Delivering Your Small Claims Court Papers To Their Mall Kiosk
How To Find A Lawyer


Step 3: Make the call

Escalating the issue without giving the company a chance to make it right through normal channels just makes you look like a tool, so start with the official customer service number first.


Round 1: A Customer Service Representative
Round 2: A CSR Manager
Round 3: A Customer Service Executive
Round 4: Full Executive Email Blast

Remember that you control the call. First of all, you should set the tone by politely but firmly stating that you don't want to hear sales pitches. If you're afraid of being rude, then explain that you're on a cell phone and have to pay for extra minutes, or that you're at work and have to make this call as short as possible. Give them a reason they can understand, and ask them to please just help you resolve your problem as quickly as possible. If you're polite and friendly, the odds are better they will be too.

Then clearly and quickly explain your problem, and keep on topic and unemotional. (This is where your notes can really help you if you have trouble either being too meek or too confrontational.)

Think of the call this way: you are testing the CSR, and if he or she fails you, this round has ended and you don't need to waste any more time with him or her. In other words, if the CSR tries to upsell you even after your introduction, FAIL, move to the next round. If the CSR gets uppity with you, FAIL, next round. Don't waste any time trying to calm or reason with the CSR or get him or her to see your point of view.

If you have to take your issue past rounds 1 & 2 and start hitting the executive level, then the section below will help you find the necessary contact info.

 
SECTION 2: THE CONSUMERIST CORPORATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORY
So you've tried the CSR route, you've made your complaint clear, and the problem wasn't resolved. It's time to adjust your strategy. When you try to contact the executive level of a company, you'll almost certainly be intercepted by an assistant of some sort. But that's actually a good thing, because these are usually people with the power to actually fix problems that normal CSRs and their managers aren't authorized to touch.

Check out one reader's story in the "Be a Customer Service Ninja" post for details—he advises, "Remember that you are dealing with busy people, so don't bother rambling on about your problem, but rather try to give a succinct summary, including any identifying details that may be helpful (order numbers, confirmation numbers, etc.)."

Wily corporations change phone numbers all the time, so while we do our best to make sure this is accurate, it's possible the number we have here won't work. If you have a newer or better number for any of the companies listed below—or for companies that we don't have listed yet—please contact us at thetipline@gmail.com.


All US Airline CEO's Contact Infos
Giant List Of Cellphone Company Departments' Direct Numbers
List Of Consumer Electronics Customer Service Contacts

Adobe
Amazon
American Express
Amtrak
Apple - Email Steve Jobs
Apple - Executive Customer Service
AT&T (and here's their Office of the President number)
AT&T Landline Retentions
Banana Republic
Bank of America Executive Relations
Bank of America - CEO's mailing address
Bank of America - International Customer Service
Bell Canada
Best Buy
Bloomingdale's
Buy.com
Capital One
Charter Communications
Chase (also see this entry)
Chase Card, Chase Bank
Circuit City
Citibank
ClassicCloseouts
Comcast (also see their Twitter account)
Costco
DirectTV
Discover Card
Dish Network
eBay/PayPal
Equifax
Experian
Fry's
Geek Squad
Georgia Power
Hewlett Packard
IHOP
IKEA
Keybank
Microsoft
MyGearStore
National City Bank
Paypal (also see this)
Premier Exhibitions, Inc.
Qwest (also see this post)
Regions Bank
Register.com
Samsung
Speakeasy
Sears
Sears CEO
Sirus - CEO Contact Information
Sony Ericsson
Sprint
Time Warner Cable - Executive Customer Service
Time Warner Cable - Level 3Tech Support
Time Warner Cable, San Diego Division
T-mobile
TransUnion
United Airlines
United Healthcare
UNUM
Verizon
Verizon Tier 2 & 3 Service
Verizon Wireless
Wachovia
Washington Mutual
Westin Casuarina Las Vegas


If you don't see the company you're searching for above, try the following link:
"Search The Consumerist Directory Of Company Email Addresses And Phone Numbers"

con_cstoolkit_googlefinance.jpg And if it's just not on our website, then here's "How To Find An Executive's Phone Number Or Email Address"

If all else fails, one reader suggests trying Jigsaw.com, which costs $25 per month for access to a member-submitted and updated pool of corporate names, numbers, and addresses.

con_cstoolkit_puc.jpg "Find Your State Public Utilities Comission" Check out this link if you have complaints with any of the following: electricity, gas, telephone, cellphone, cable/dsl, towing, railroads, or movers.

If you enjoy playing detective, try searching the SEC's EDGAR database for company contact information: EDGAR

Bonus:
"How To Write Congress"
"Find Your Attorney General Or Better Business Bureau"



 
SECTION 3: SUCCESS STORIES
Not every campaign to make the world a fairer place succeeds, but every once in a while there's a consumer with the tenacity, confidence, and good fortune to keep pushing until things are fixed. Here are some of those stories, both to inspire you and to show you real-world examples of how you can fight back.

"Mother Saves Family From WaMu Foreclosure With Consumerist's Executive Contact Info"
"BBB Complaint Gets LA Fitness To Refund $5620 They Stole From You 3 Years Ago"
"Executive Email Carpet Bomb Against Vonage Results In $450 Credit"
"Overcharged, Man Secures U-Haul Refund"
""It's Policy" Were Fighting Words For Screwed Utility Customer"
"TigerDirect Apologizes For Unlawfully Detaining Customer For Refusing To Show Receipt"
"7 Overdrafts Refunded After Reader Writes Bank of America CEO"
"Calling DirecTV President Results In New, Non-Broken, HD DVR For Nearly Free"
"Executive Email Carpet Bomb Also Effective Against Cell Phone Spammers"
"Executive Email Carpet Bomb Scores Direct Hit On Time Warner"
"Executive Email Carpet Bomb, Consumerist Post, Prompt United To Solve Reader's Complaint"
"Executive E-Mail Carpet Bomb Scores Direct Hit On IKEA"



Since every situation is different, there's no way we can know for sure if this is what you should do—so use your own common sense and don't try to sue us, because this isn't legal advice.

If you see an error or out-of-date listing, let us know at thetipline@gmail.com.

[last updated: July 11, 2008]
(Photo: Getty)

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Consumerist-316524 Mon, 29 Oct 2007 23:00:00 EDT Chris Walters http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=316524&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ How To Launch An Executive Email Carpet Bomb ]]> Here's a classic tactic for rattling the corporate monkey tree to make sure your complaint gets shoved under the nose of someone with decision-making powers. Let's call it the "EECB," or Executive Email Carpet Bomb...


1. Exhaust normal channels
Have you called customer service? Asked for a supervisor? Hung up and tried again? Give regular customer service a chance to fix the problem before you go nuclear.

2. Write a really good complaint letter.
Be clear, concise, polite, and professional. State exactly what you want. See this post for complaint letter writing tips. Pitch your issue in a way that affects their bottom line. Spellcheck and include contact information.

3. Determine the corporate email address format.
Look through their website or Google for press releases. Examine the PR flack's email address. What's the format? Is it firstname.lastname@company.com? FirstletteroffirstnameLastname@companyname.com? Figure it out and write it down.

4. Compile a list of the company's top executives
This is often available on the company website, under sections like "corporate officers" or "corporate governance." You can also look the company up on Google Finance and look under management, although this list tends to only be partial.

5. Combine the names from step 4 with the format from step 3 to create an email list

6. Send your complaint to the list from step 5.

7. Sit back and wait.

Reader Marc has launched EECBs to great effect. He writes, "In every instance that I've put together a big list of email addresses and sent it out, I've received some sort of immediate reply and eventual resolution."

Have you ever launched an EECB? Did you get a direct hit or was it a dud? Let us know in the comments. — BEN POPKEN

(Photo: Getty Images)

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Consumerist-259713 Fri, 11 May 2007 13:08:59 EDT Ben Popken http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=259713&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Be a Customer Service Ninja ]]> Inspired to by Mike D's Vonage story, Austin writes in a hot tip for all of looking to pole vault low-level CSR and reach the Valhalla of customer service.

"Most all large companies have some sort of executive customer service staff, made up of individuals who have the power to cut through all sorts of red tape," he writes. "The key is knowing how to access these wonderful people who can make things right when everything else has gone wrong."

• For public companies, put the stock ticker symbol in Google Finance and pull up the profile page. The corporate office should be listed under Company Facts.

• Call the corporate office.

• Ask for a transfer to the office of the CEO.

• You will likely get an exec. assistant but that's good. Voice mail is ok, too.

• Give succinct summary, including identifying details like order numbers and confirmation numbers.

• Remain nice.

"Within a day, you should get the phone call equivalent to the holy grail—a call back by someone on the executive service team."

Using this method, Austin says he got Verizon to do in three days what it hadn't in three months: install his DSL.

His full letter, after the jump...

Austin writes:

"In his email about Vonage, Mike D. actually mentions a very useful entity for those of us who do battle with various companies that attempt to screw us over. Most all large companies have some sort of executive customer service staff, made up of individuals who have the power to cut through all sorts of red tape. The key is knowing how to access these wonderful people who can make things right when everything else has gone wrong.

I find the easiest way to get your issue heard is to call the corporate offices and ask to be transferred to the office of the CEO, the assistant to the CEO, or some similar entity (reference the executive by name if you want to sound like you really know what you're doing). To find the corporate phone number, a little basic sleuthing in Google is necessary, since the normal customer service number will likely either not know the phone number or not be willing to give it out. For publicly traded companies, just plug the ticker symbol into Google and pull up the Google Finance profile page—the phone number will usually be listed under "Company Facts." Even if the company is not publicly traded, it usually isn't difficult to find the phone number using Google—it may even be listed in some obscure corner of the company's web site. Alternatively, you can also attempt to find the email address of the CEO or other executive, but I find that calling is often faster, because that makes them realize that you are so upset about something that you took the effort to find out who to call.

The operator will likely transfer you to an executive assistant, but this is exactly what we want. Sometimes it will be voice mail, but occasionally you'll get a real live person. Either way, remember that you are dealing with busy people, so don't bother rambling on about your problem, but rather try to give a succinct summary, including any identifying details that may be helpful (order numbers, confirmation numbers, etc.). As with many other things in life, remaining civil and calm will do wonders, particularly since all you need to do is get your foot in the door.

Within a day, you should get the phone call equivalent to the holy grail—a call back by someone on the executive service team. At this point, they may or may not have been able to access the complete details of what has already transpired, but now is a good time to fill them in. This person will be the one who will work with you until your problem is resolved, so if they don't immediately offer it, be sure to get their phone number so you can contact them again should any other problems come up.

On a personal note, just a couple of months ago I had to make use of this strategy when Verizon decided that the DSL line I had ordered for my new apartment was clearly something I didn't want, and customer service kept pushing back the scheduled installation date until it was over three months from when my lease started. Heck, once when I was on the phone with a normal customer service supervisor trying to see what was holding up my order, he rolled back my installation date by two weeks on the spot, but couldn't give a reason why he needed to do so! At that point, I was so frustrated that I found the corporate switchboard phone number for Verizon, did exactly what I describe above, and am happy to say that within two and a half days I had a fully functioning DSL line in my new apartments, something that probably would have not happened for at least a month or two had I not contacted the CEO's office directly.

I hope this tip proves helpful to everyone out there who may run into a brick wall known affectionately as customer service.

Austin H."
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Consumerist-177811 Thu, 01 Jun 2006 17:59:32 EDT popkin http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=177811&view=rss&microfeed=true