Are companies trying to avoid leaving a paper trail of promises?

by Christopher Elliott on June 15, 2010

Maybe they don’t want to leave a trail of evidence. Maybe it’s the threat of having the entire exchange posted on a blog like this one.

But for whatever reason, more companies seem to be asking their customers to pick up the phone when they have a grievance — particularly if it’s a serious problem.

For example, here’s the written response Thomas Neil received from a customer service representative at an online travel agency, even after he specifically asked to keep the correspondence by email so he could maintain a record of the exchange.

We understand your concern and have contacted the airline and hotel for the refund and we are awaiting a response from their end. We have also escalated your file to a Customer Relations Supervisors and you would receive a call from one of our manager in 24 to 48 hours time frame.

In other words, the company wanted to communicate with him without leaving a meaningful record of it that might be recognized by a court, at least in his opinion.

The scenario has repeated itself numerous times in the last month, in industries from travel to telecommunications. A disgruntled customer will write to a company, only to have it send a form reply, requesting it to “call us at your convenience” to discuss the matter.

That’s the thing about oral agreements. Unless you can prove a representative said you’d get a refund or replacement, you’re out of luck. Companies know that.

Email is a great tool for handling customer service grievances — except when it’s not.

The savviest corporations have cleverly chosen to limit their exposure on difficult cases by confining their communication to phone calls. It doesn’t make a difference to the companies, since they record all calls and can access a transcript almost instantly.

It does, however, make a difference to consumers. They don’t have any evidence of promises made, and without any evidence, their case against a company is severely weakened.

My advice? Insist on getting everything in writing. If you can’t, try to record an online chat, as this customer did. Failing that, record the calls.

Don’t let corporate America off the hook.

(Phone: samantha celera/Flickr Creative Commons)

Tagged as: Broken, Email, Phone, Promise

  • Forrest

    Last time I looked, my state (Indiana) allowed phone recording as long as one (!) of the parties knew about it. Other states, however, may have different laws about how lawful it is to record conversations without notifying the other party.

  • Ed

    The same thing in Virginia. A phone conversation can be recorded as long as one of the parties in the phone conversation knows about it…

  • MikeZ

    In a dozen states (in the US), both parties must consent to recording a call. Violation is often considered a felony. You can Google this for plenty of straightforward guidance, including lists of states that do or don’t permit one-party consent.

    HOWEVER, if you phone, say, an airline’s customer service line and the greeting includes something like “your call may be recorded to ensure excellent customer service,” that’s considered granting permission to record the call as long as it’s for business purposes.

    Although federal (US) law permits one-party consent, that only applies to interstate calls (i.e., where the parties are in different states), but some courts apply state laws rather than federal. Almost as confusing as the airlines’ contracts of carriage.

    The bottom line: if you’re having a dispute with an airline or other travel provider, you’re “probably” on safe ground if you do record your conversations. Of course, if the airline calls you, it’s easy to ask, “may I record this call?” (And if their answer is no, ask them why not!)

    Disclaimer: “I’m not a lawyer; I only play one on TV.” So when in doubt, ask a real lawyer.

  • noah

    I agree, use caution when recording calls.

    Another good option is to send a letter or email to the company immediately after the call documenting what was said by both sides. It’s not as good as a letter from the company, but at least it’s a contemporaneous record of the conversation. You can even say in the letter, “If you disagree with anything in this letter, let me know.”

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