How To Complain For Fun And Profit: The Best Guide Ever To Writing Complaint Letters. [Paperback]

Bruce Silverman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 2008

When you're ready to scream, "I've had it up to here and I'm not going to take it anymore," you're ready for How to Complain for Fun and Profit, the best guide ever to how to write complaint letters to airlines, hotels, merchants, manufacturers and more. Yes, you'll learn how to vent your spleen. But much more importantly, Bruce Silverman will teach you how to get something back for your troubles - everything from free airline tickets, luxury hotel suites and south sea cruises to thousands of dollars in cash! Silverman ingeniously - and sometimes hilariously - shares the techniques he's developed over the past 20 years as the "King of Complainers;" you'll never feel powerless again!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bruce Silverman is one of America's best known and well respected marketing-communication executives. A broad-view strategist, he is probably the only advertising agency executive who ever served as creative director of a top five agency who went on to head one of the largest media planning and buying shops in the world. A long-time board member of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, his 38-year advertising agency career included "C-level" positions at Ogilvy & Mather, Bozell, BBDO/West, Asher/Gould and WongDoody. He was the creative mind behind award winning campaigns for American Express, Merrill Lynch, American Airlines, Pace Picante, Shell, Hershey's, Baskin-Robbins, Coldwell Banker, Sizzler, the California Department of Health Services, SunAmerica, Suzuki, Pabst, Sanyo, Mattel, Greyhound, Armour, and Post cereals. As President/CEO of Partners division of Interpublic's giant Initiative Worldwide, he supervised media planning and buying for Disney, Sega, Carl's Jr., Taco Bell, Albertson's, Acura, Kia, Chevrolet, Bally's Health & Fitness, Six Flags, America Online, the United States Navy and Yahoo! In addition to advising a number of advertising and public relations agencies, media properties, marketing services firms and international advertisers, he is Chairman and CEO of 24/6, Inc., the holding company of Pocket Billboards®, which places advertising on telephone calling cards, as well as a managing partner of Bob Wolf Partners/TPG, a management consulting firm that facilitates media, public relations and interactive agency screening and reviews. He also serves on the board of Triton Marketing as well as on the advisory boards of a number of early stage companies. A graduate of Adelphi University in New York, Bruce is a confirmed theater and arts junkie, a world traveler and a Los Angeles Lakers fan. He was a founding board member of the Los Angeles Children's Museum, and later served as Chairman of the Resource Development Committee of the Starbright Foundation. Bruce is an active member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Dean's Advisory Board of UCLA Extension, and serves as a director of the Forensic Expert Witness Association. He speaks frequently on how consumers can speak up for themselves on radio and television. He also frequently makes time to write complaint letters to companies of all types and sizes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace; 1st edition (July 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1438284330
• ISBN-13: 978-1438284330
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #954,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Find!!!, September 10, 2008

By 

Christy Beck (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How To Complain For Fun And Profit: The Best Guide Ever To Writing Complaint Letters. (Paperback)

"How to Complain for Fun and Profit" is a smart, witty, delightfully entertaining read that keeps you wanting more! Once I picked it up, I could not put it down! Bruce Silverman is a master story-teller...only the stories he is recounting are all true - his own real life experiences dealing with issues we all face from time to time - lousy customer service!

Let's face it...it's getting worse every day! When was the last time you had a pleasurable experience with an airline? When was the last time a hotel had your reservation information and accommodations correct? When was the last time a major retail chain in any industry actually met or exceeded your expectations? What did you do about it?

If you are like most people, you were probably really frustrated and put-out but did little or nothing to seek compensation for your troubles. After you read this book, you will be inspired! You will know exactly what to do and how to do it. This book is a road map for how to complain and actually have someone listen!

We recently stayed at a major hotel chain in Seattle. We were miffed because they refused to put a cot in the room for our son to sleep on...something about it being a fire hazard and there was a couch he could use instead. No problem (afterall, I had just finished reading Bruce's book).

When we got home, I fired off my letter to their General Manager, following every piece of Bruce's instruction from the book...within 48 hours of sending the letter, I had received a $500 credit and apology from them. (it really wasn't even that big of an inconvenience...so $500 was really generous!)

This book will make a great gift to all your friends and families as well! Its fun, articulate, and educational all at the same time! I highly recommend!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complaining as an art form, September 2, 2008

By 

Peter Hochstein "The New York Crank [Http:The... (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How To Complain For Fun And Profit: The Best Guide Ever To Writing Complaint Letters. (Paperback)

Silverman, a former advertising colleague of mine whose many senior titles have included President of Wong-Doody, a West Coast ad agency; President of Asher-Gould, another West Coast ad agency; President of Western International Media and Creative Director at various Ogilvy & Mather offices and of Bozell South, evidently had a cute little sideline all these years - writing complaint letters.

While you and I might write a complaint letter because we're irate to the point of exploding, Silverman complains for what appear to be different reasons. His complaint letter are not only an art form but also a sport. He has saved his winning letters all these years, along with notes tracking his success in getting freebies. And he does keep score.


Silverman recently boasted to me, like the complaint champ he is,"Over the course of the past 20 years, I've written dozens and dozens and dozens (!!!) of complaint letters to airlines, hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines, retailers, banks, credit card companies, car dealers, movie theater chains, theatrical producers... and a huge percentage of those letters resulted in me getting something back from them... and the "something" wasn't just an apology! I've gotten free stays at great hotels, first class airplane tickets, cruises... clothing... MONEY... even bananas!"

Now it may be that Silverman has been writing only to those rare senior executives who still give a damn about anything other than their compensation packages. Or it may be that when Silverman began writing to the top people, 20 years ago, we still had a different breed of corporate manager running things, and this has upped his overall kill rate. Besides, who knows what "huge percentage" means?

Even so, Silverman seems to be on to something. His book reveals some techniques that may help you get some kind of compensation for the misery some miserable company has put you through.

My favorite: "Praise with faint damn," a technique for what I see essentially as getting the CEO to lower his guard by sucking up to him - before you figuratively grab his private parts and twist. I love this stuff. That's why I'm shamelessly endorsing my old colleague's book.

Listen, in a world where even many CEOs have ceased to give a damn about their customers - and everybody who works for them is too scared, too lazy, or too dumb to solve an irate customer's problem - you need Bruce Silverman's book. Who knows, by complaining you might just save corporate America from itself.

--The New York Crank
[...]

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will teach you how to stand up for yourself!, October 28, 2008

By 

J. Fullerton "sbjen" (Santa Barbara, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How To Complain For Fun And Profit: The Best Guide Ever To Writing Complaint Letters. (Paperback)

If you usually just ignore it when you get bad service, and let things slide, this book will teach you how to stand up for yourself and to write effective letters that will get your point heard. It's a very fast, entertaining read, and it works. Just the other day I used the techniques in the book to e-mail a local restaurant about a sub-par meal and terrible service I had- within a day I received a response from the owner with an apology, and an offer of 2 free meals. The owner welcomed the feedback, and I got a dinner for 2, for taking about 5 minutes out of my day, well worth the time. This book describes how to handle everything from small problems to luxury vacations gone wrong.. and it's amazing what you can get if you can complain the right way. A must read, and a fun stocking stuffer/ gift item.