Appealing Decisions

[livingdeb]

One important financial skill is the proper use of complaining and going over people's heads to get what you want. If you have kids, you work hard to train them that they won't get different answers from Mom and Dad, but in the real world, trying for different answers a valuable skill.

Today I read the article Whites more likely to seek state help in insurance disputes after Katrina
by the Associated Press. The first few paragraphs really struck me.

NEW ORLEANS - The Littles and the Kitchens watched helplessly as Hurricane Katrina battered their homes. Both families waited patiently for an insurance adjuster to settle their losses. And both were sorely disappointed with the outcome.

Then, their paths diverged.

Richard and Cindy Little, a white couple living in a predominantly white neighborhood, filed a complaint with the Louisiana Department of Insurance. Eventually, they won full reimbursement for their repairs.

Doretha and Roy Kitchens, a black couple living in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward, simply gave up and took what their insurer gave them. They didn't know they could appeal to the state.

It bugs me that in order to get proper service, you sometimes have to go over people's heads and complain. It's not enough to deal reasonably with the person who's job it is to serve you.

I am the type of person who is more likely to use this method too little than too much. Like the black couple in the story, I am less likely to have it even occur to me to protest something than I should be. And I am more likely to feel that appealing a decision is whining, complaining, or asking for special treatment, and thus I am biased against using this method.

However, I have used it once that I recall. I went over my supervisor's head to get vacation time. My supervisor had rejected me first because it wasn't a very good time and then again later at the better time she had previously proposed because it wasn't a very good time. It turns out she had a bias that people should not use their vacation time until they had saved up the maximum. She also had a bias that people should never take vacation time.

Oddly, after I went over her head, she had new respect for me. (So sad, because I had less respect for her.) She hadn't known that the vacation was important to me, and she respected that I was willing to fight for what I wanted. And here I'd always thought it was more respectable to negotiate with your supervisor about these things than to complain behind her back.

I guess any industry with regulators is ripe for this strategy. There's a big list of these in the Florida Regulated Industries Guide. That includes the obvious such as insurance, utilities, and contractors, but also odd areas like aerobics, ballroom dance studios, and native plants. Actually, clicking on some of those links is not only informative but also sickening. There are a lot of dumb-sounding regulations out there.

Any stories you'd like to share about appealing decisions?

Comments

[p-j-cleary.livejournal.com]

I don't have any personal stories about appealing decisions, but I think it's pretty ingrained in our culture right now. Companies/agencies are more likely to give you the minimum if you're willing to settle for that, but are more willing to give some ground if you make a case for it.

I think it's like haggling in marketplaces in some other countries. Sellers don't have any respect for you if you agree to the stated price; they'd rather you argue for a lower price, so you're both happy.

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

The article you cited also appeared in the Daily Texan, which is where I came across it.

In general, I think there's a fine line between over-complaining and taking what you're given... I think we *should* question what we're told, but it's not always well-received, and those who don't like confrontation will tend not to press on; that will be perceived as a lack of confidence, not standing up for ourselves, whereas overindulgence in this method can be (mis?)understood as a sense of entitlement, making an exception of oneself, and cockiness.

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Only here it's more like a secret.

We actually have haggling here, too, and it's not even secret if you're buying a car. I accidentally haggled for my refrigerator. I had decided not to get it at once place, and when the salesperson asked me why not, I told him I could get it cheaper someplace else. So he offered it for the cheaper price plus free delivery. I took it. I later realized that the cheaper price had been for a smaller fridge. Oops.

Later I read that haggling is acceptable behavior on all kinds of high-priced things.