A professional complainer has revealed what she says to companies to help customers recuperate their money.
Helen Dewdney has made arguing with tech firms and retail companies her life's work, even earning the title 'The Complaining Cow' - which she now has a company in the same name.
To sum up exactly what she does, I'll the the bio explain.
"She empowers consumers to gain the redress to which they are entitled," her website reads.
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"As the 'go to' consumer expert to talk about how to complain effectively, consumer rights and topical consumer issues, she regularly appears in the media to advise on how to complain effectively, taking up cases and give opinion and information about topical consumer issues and consumer rights."
The Brit is a trusted consumer champion - and one such person that trusted her was a man called 'Matty'.
Explaining how she fought for his money back, she wrote for The Metro: "A few weeks ago, Matty emailed about his faulty, two-year-old TV.
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"He was frustrated and increasingly worried about being out of pocket as the store had reportedly told him they wouldn’t do anything as he hadn’t bought a warranty. He was facing the loss of nearly £2,000 [$2,700]."
A consumer rights expert with 13 years of experience, Matty to hit back by quoting the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) - a UK law that protects customers from shoddy goods and services.
“The CRA entitles all customers to a full refund within 30 days of purchase and repair or replacement after that,” she explained. “You only need to give a trader one chance at repair. If that fails, they must replace or refund.”
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Matty fired off a complaint using her wording. Within hours, the store agreed to collect his faulty TV and replace it.
In 2008, after leaving her job in children’s services to have her son, she turned her hobby into a blog: The Complaining Cow. It grew into a full-time career - and she's even shared her knowledge in the form of books.
As for her golden rules for complaining... keep it polite, objective, and always in writing.
Quote the relevant law, state clearly what you want and explain what you’ll do if the company doesn’t play ball - whether that’s getting the ombudsman involved or the small claims court.
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“Too often, companies rely on people not knowing their rights,” she said. “But when individuals stand up for themselves, it not only helps them, it pushes businesses to do better for everyone.”
Joe Yates