Reply From HearX President

Please read the cordial reply from Dr. Paul A. Brown, Chairman of HEARx

Let me reprint the second paragraph of this letter for you:

"That is why we are particularly pleased to receive such kind words as yours. We join you, by copy of this letter, in praising Robert who truly exemplifies the HEARx commitment to quality patient care and satisfaction"

A copy of his letter was sent to Robert Rosengarten the individual I was impressed with and wrote about and his regional manager.

Now you understand how important it is to send a letter to a company president when one of his employees impresses you or extends himself and shows he has exceeded your expectations of what you would expect him to do.

I feel as strongly about writing a nice letter as I do a complaint. Both have their place and both alert a company to the good and bad individuals in their employ. It also doesn't hurt your chances of getting exceptional VIP treatment the next time you have to go into the store or use their services.

A few important points in writing a complimentary letter

1. When an employee extends themselves to you and you want to show your appreciation let them know you would like to write a letter to their employer and find out who the president or senior executive is of their company.
   
   
2. Ask them to supply the proper name and address for you to write to. In some cases they may offer you a comment card. Make sure you copy the information from the card and write a letter which has more weight then completing the card.
   
   
3. Make a note of the particulars of the incident...flight number, date, time and other specifics. This will be important when writing your letter.
   
   
4. Once again stick to the facts and keep the story as short as you can but still tell your story.
   
   
5. By all means compliment the company and the executive you are writing to to let them know that you understand that having such a wonderful employee is a a direct result of their efforts in hiring and training their employees.
   
   I have also found that certain companies care about their customers and their employees show it, while others are owned or run by executives that are arrogant and believe the customer is never right and it shows when dealing with their employees.
   
   You can see from Dr. Browns reply that he is a gentleman as was his employee and it is his ultimate direction to his staff that helps them hire the type of individuals that can help them run a successful business and keep their company strong.

I hope this helps my readers in composing their own letters. I can tell you that I get a proud feeling when I know that in some small way I was able to put a smile on a good guy or gals face at the end of the day. By letting them know that some of us, do appreciate their hard work it can make their day. Wouldn't you smile too if someone you dealt with told you how good you are or how they appreciated working with you? How often do you tell a waiter or waitress how you appreciated their good service (aside from a good tip, which they might not even look at).

Try this simple experiment...the next time anyone in a store, on a plane in a restaurant or even someone performing a service for you, impresses you, verbally let them know it. Watch their face and see how good you will feel doing it.

Watch for information and links to my "Bad Boys" web site. You won't believe what I did to expose some of the worst on the net.

Len

How To Write A Complimentary Letter

Read a letter sent to the President of one of the largest hearing aid retail companies in the US.
This letter was written on my company stationary. As president of IPA, I felt sending a letter from one corporate head to another would be the correct approach.

November 28, 2005

Dr. Paul A. Brown
President
HearUSA
1250 Northpoint Parkway
West Palm Beach, FL 33407-1912

Dear Dr. Brown;

I wanted to write to you to let you know about your exceptional audiologist Mr. Robert Rosengarten who helped my 91 year old father correct some issues with a new pair of Siemens digital hearing aids we purchased at another one of your locations. Mr. Rosengarten who is located at your Monmouth Mall location in Eatontown, New Jersey did more for us in the one visit then a number of visits at two of your other locations.

My dad originally resided in Deerfield Beach, Florida and was moved north to stay with my family in Long Island, New York. The first set of hearing aids we purchased had to be returned to the Florida store because we just couldn’t get them to fit or work correctly. Part of the problem, I am sure, was the limited time he still had in Florida before the move to New York and not having family in Florida to help him with the hearing aids and the problems.

We ended up returning these hearing aids purchased in Florida (that didn’t seem to do the job) and purchased a more expensive and supposedly more powerful set of Siemens Prisma 2 P BTE in the Glen Cove, Long Island store. We also had issues with these, regarding the fit and the correct adjustment for optimum hearing and were tempted to simply return these for a refund as well.

My father came to visit me for the Holiday week (I live in New Jersey) and I decided to take one more shot and scheduled an appointment at your Eatontown store where, Mr. Rosengarten works. Mr. Rosengarten is a warm and friendly gentleman with a great deal of patience. This and his professional expertise helped my father (who was not able to hear a thing) with these Siemen hearing aids. Through a number of tweaks on the computer and verbal tests, he helped my father gain some of this lost hearing. Although, we know it will never be back to what it was and we still might have to go back for some more adjustments, for now my father can take part in conversations and will not feel as desolate and isolated as he had been before.

I would like to thank you and your staff at this time for employing staff like Mr. Rosengarten and wish your company continued success and a happy holiday season.

Sincerely,



Leonard Rapoport
President

International Press Association

See his answer to this letter in my next post...

6 Tips To Writing A Winning Complaint Letter

Many years ago I read a book that was a tutorial on how to write letters to corporate executives and actually get them to read them. The trick was to order and use the engraved stationary from Tiffany because, their stationary was watermarked with the Tiffany name and was quite impressive to the recipient. Remember, 20-30 years ago Tiffany was known for their beautiful engraved personal stationary items and usually purchased by those that had good taste and a good bank account. Today, I believe you can only purchase their over-the-counter stationary items because they no longer print this custom stationary.

The concept of using their stationary is quite ingenious. You see most key executives receive tons of mail and have their staff sort through it for them. Only those letters that appear to be important or of a personal nature written by the execs wealthy friends, would ever make it to the executives desk. When you address the envelope, you always address it to the executive, c/o of the company and mark "Personal" on the outside. Because the envelopes have your engraved name and address on them and the quality of the paper is of course Tiffany quality, the secretary will put this on the executives desk "unopened" thinking you are a personal friend of their boss. Once the exec opens your letter and looks and feels the impressive and expensive stationary, they will read it and in all my cases using this stationary, I have received replies.


I can tell you the last time I wrote a letter on my engraved stationary it was to report a manager of a local movie theater to the head of his company...Shari Redstone. Shari is Sumner Redstone's (CEO and controlling shareholder in Viacom and the man that fired Tom Cruise) daughter and a key executive who's day-to-day task is to guide their National Amusements theater chain. With some 1,500 screens and more than $500 million in revenues Shari is guiding them through the toughest patch in the industry's recent memory.

But with all she has to do each day, this intelligent and caring woman took the time to cordially answer my letter and then took the necessary action to correct the problems I had described in my letter.

Without getting into too much detail here is the story...

The manager of our local NA Multiplex theater was acting in a rude and unprofessional manner and was in fact a bully. One evening I had decided to venture out with my wife to see a movie. I had a torn Achilles tendon and in a cast and on crutches. We were waiting on line outside the theater, in the lobby area, while they cleaned it for the next showing. As we and about 80 other patrons waited to go in, I asked if I could get a head start to the seat before the crowd trampled me. After all the theater seats around 300 and it wasn't as if I wanted a special seat.

He actually refused my request and explained it wouldn't be fair to the others. Now you know that folks that are handicapped, elderly or in need of additional time to reach a seat are always afforded this simple courtesy. The people around me that heard him, couldn't believe it and were in shock, yet he still refused. This was only one of the poor decision's we witnessed this man making.

There was no question in my mind that a letter was due and who else should receive my letter then Shari Redstone.

I knew from my own experience as a marketing executive that companies want to know what they are doing wrong so they can make adjustments when necessary. Companies spend tons of money running focus groups to determine what we think about them...so I was sure a well written letter on my fancy stationary would receive an answer.

A couple of weeks later I did receive a reply directly from Ms. Redstone and it couldn't have been more cordial. I was told this matter would be reported to the local Regional Manager for action and he would contact me within a couple of weeks. Shari even invited me to write back to her to inform her of the resolution to this problem.

The regional manager had not contacted me as promised by Ms. Redstone and after waiting almost two months I wrote a follow-up letter to Ms. Redstone to thank her for her letter and concern and to inform her that I was never contacted by her regional manager.

In less then one week after my follow-up letter, the regional manager's secretary contacted me to let me know he was on the road and would call me soon. He contacted me a day or so later, apologized profusely and explained what course of action would be taken regarding the manager.

He offered me a number of free passes to the National Amusement theaters, which I refused. You see it wasn't about compensation, I explained, it was about letting people know that they are accountable for their actions. He insisted I accept the free passes and I did and a few days later received about 20 or so which we used over the next few months.

The manager was ordered to attend a course in "People Skills" and is a born again gentleman who now takes great steps to endear himself with his patrons. Each time we go to this theater, the manager gets up at the front of the audience with his megaphone to welcome and thank us for attending his theater. He even explains a bit about the making of the movies or runs trivia contests to keep us entertained until the movie begins.

I think my letter of complaint in this case has had a very positive effect on all of the customers that attend the movies shown in this Multiplex theater and a positive effect on the manager who is now a better person and one that does his job the way it should have been done.

Here are six key tips on writing an effective complaint:

1. Purchase that expensive, engraved stationary, from any upscale company that watermarks the paper with their name.
   
   
2. Do your research on the net and find out who the top person is at the company you want to write and address the letter to them.
   
   
3. Keep the letter as short as you can, but do explain the facts, accurately to them in your letter.
   
   
4. If you can, give them your recommended solution to the problem. In this case I clearly explained that this manager needed to improve his "People Skills". I did not ask them to fire him or demote him, just to send him for training.
   
   
5. Don't get angry in the letter or you will lose their interest and they will simply think you are another nut case writing one of these letters.
   
   
6. Be clear, accurate and professional...do not become emotional in your letter.

I have used my Tiffany Stationary now over the past 25 years about 2 dozen times and each time I have had amazing results. At the time I paid about $100 or so for a few hundreds sheets and matching envelopes, but that was 20 years ago or longer. I figured it cost me around $1-$3 or so for each letter I had to send, but I can assure you it was well worth it. Over the years I have received thousands of dollars in compensation and free gifts from companies and all of this was deserved, but would never have happened if I didn't take the time to write my letters on my engraved stationary.

Watch for more success stories, coming soon.

Len

Don't get angry, get even...

My name is Len Rapoport and I am a photographer - journalist - corporate communications and marketing consultant and past sales executive and business owner.

I work from my home office in New Jersey and own and run a web member based global organization called International Press Association. As the president and founder of IPA with hundreds of photographers, journalists and videographers from all parts of the world as members, it is my job to set the example for our members and show them how to write commercial reviews and articles and how to take commercial quality photos.

I actually don't know much about blogs, which is quite funny considering and spend most of my days online. I suppose I just don't have time to do any personal surfing unless I am gathering information for an article I am writing for my site or doing searches for items I may want to purchase. I also think that I am not the type to read other peoples personal thoughts about their lives and opinions on just about everything that happens in their lives...and yet here I am starting a new blog. I decided this blog would be one that would share my thoughts on things that get me mad and would probably get you mad too. It will also be a place to acknowledge those that do the right thing and deserve to be recognized and applauded.

You know so many of us have had good and bad experiences. There are times however that you just can't take it anymore. Maybe you would love to just publish these experiences to either expose those that are truly "Bad Boys & Girls". Maybe you are not sure how to write a letter to a company that needs to be told about a negative experience you had. On the other side, you may want to write them because you were so pleased with their company, product or employee and you really want to compliment them in a public or private way. For all of you, this blog will show you how to do both.

So what you will see on this blog will be the things I can't or just don't think is appropriate (good and bad) to post on my companies web site. If you visit the IPA web site at: http://internationalpress.com

you will see some articles and reviews I have written. Some deal with the importance of being an advocate for the elderly, while others might simply be a review of a travel destination, trade or consumer show or product. You can read my latest review on the wonderful Vallarta Palace Hotel in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico by clicking here.

This blog will be a place for me to unwind and do some personal writing and hopefully be an enlightening place for you to come to learn how to fight for your rights too.

One friend told me that I was great to have as a friend, but he would hate to have me as an enemy. I suppose it is because I am the kind of guy that will take the time to write the letter to a company to compliment them when they deserve it. I am also the guy, to write the letter to a company, to complain about something they are just not getting right.

Hopefully, my successes being an advocate for my friends and family and in some cases others will help you deal a bit more effectively with corporate America or government and will find a way to take back control of your lives. Over the many years of successful letter writing and aggressive action both in the courts and through the articles that have written, I have discovered certain techniques that work and I will share them with you.

Yesterday my sister-in-law suggested I start a business to help others seek justice and possibly become their advocates. At this stage of my life, I would rather teach others how to do-it-themselves. Thanks Cathy for the idea for this new blog, hope it helps others.

Thank you all for visiting and come back often.

Len