New column offers relief from scams and awful customer service

Nationally syndicated feature created just for consumers

 

Nationwide (BlackNews.com) — Consumers who feel no one is listening to them – especially the big companies they deal with every day – have a new place to turn. On Aug. 1, a weekly column began its distribution to local newspapers and popular blogs, penned by longtime consumer advocate, author and nationally-syndicated columnist Christopher Elliott.

In his debut columns, Elliott tracks down a lost e-gift card for a Target customer; persuades AT&T to honor a discount from a phone consultation; and negotiates a replacement computer for a Best Buy visitor.

Audiences won’t just appreciate Elliott’s helpful strategies for finding better service; they’ll also become fans of his feature’s irreverent attitude and wholly interactive format, which includes online polls and heavy social media engagement. Editors are sure to like the way the column attracts and retains audiences, both online and offline.

Elliott, who wrote the acclaimed book Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals, promises to go beyond offering tips in his column. Each week, he’ll find a just resolution to a seemingly intractable dispute between company and customer – be it a refund, repair, product replacement, apology, or putting the company out of business.

“Consumers want more than advice, which they can get from their friends,” Elliott explains. “They want action. My book was a manifesto for customer empowerment and the new column, written with the consumer in mind, will demonstrate the way to get the service everyone deserves.”

The concept: elevate reader engagement online and instigate a vibrant discussion about the frustration of customer service, which is no longer an oxymoron in the U.S. Elliott’s blogs are among the favorites of shoppers everywhere because they’re designed to get what is deserved from a heretofore numb corporate American culture.

Elliott is unafraid to name the executives who manage (or mismanage) customer service divisions and will go so far as to give emails and phone number for those getting the runaround.

Elliott writes the nationally syndicated Travel Troubleshooter column for Tribune Media Services. He’s a weekly columnist in the Washington Post and is editor-at-large for National Geographic Traveler. His hard-hitting consumer stories have also run in Newsweek, the Huffington Post and Mint.com.

Publications Interested In Running the Column:

Newspapers, magazines, and blogs interested in running the 600-word column can do so for a free one-month trial by visiting http://bit.ly/MOIPxZ

For more information about Elliott, visit www.elliott.org/about/christopher-elliott-biography/ or email him at chris@elliott.org.