Ask - and chances are you shall receive. Following up my recent column on shopping around, I encourage you to be assertively proactive when you run into problems.
Along with thousands of other CIBC Visa cardholders, I've been sold to TD Bank. This has been a huge transaction and I'm not surprised there were glitches - one of which was conflicting information about how long the existing cards would continue to operate, what you should do if you were travelling when your CIBC card stopped working and so on.
Because I was abroad on the changeover date, I spent many frustrating hours trying to make sure I had a card that continued to work and accumulate frequent flyer miles.
Those conversations often lasted until 2 a.m. with CIBC, TD and Visa International, whose telecentre I connected with was in the Philippines.The lesson I learned was not to wait for some sort of compensation for all this time and frustration - but to ask.
Everybody was very polite and understanding and apologetic, but nobody offered to provide anything tangible - until I asked.
When I did, I was instantly given 2,500 frequent flyer miles which, if I used them for a first-class ticket, for example, could be worth more than $200.
The worst outcome is you don't get anything, which is what would have happened if you hadn't asked. So there's no downside.
And persist. Whether you ask verbally or in writing, sometimes the first response will be negative. But if you don't take no for an answer, often you will end up with some sort of compensation.
You are most likely to succeed if you ask for something that costs the company or organization little or nothing in monetary terms - like my frequent flyer miles. Or if you had a bad experience at a hotel, rather than a free meal you are more likely to get a complimentary room on your next visit, subject to availability.
Mike Grenby is a columnist and independent personal financial advisor; he'll answer questions in this column as space allows but cannot reply personally. Email [email protected]
