Are students being tricked into 'Reporting a Complaint' to the same people who screwed them over?

Recently, I've noticed more essay writing services have been adding a dedicated page to 'Report a Complaint' / 'Submit a Complaint.'

I think it's nothing short of a marketing / reputation-maintenance ploy to trick students into thinking that they report their complaint to some third-party / unaffiliated people.

I assume the complaints are sent to the same people who've just screwed the student over.. so why would a defrauded student want to use the form and 'complain'? :)

It seems that only services that have a lot of complaints have considered implementing such a 'feature' so that their customers don't share their unpleasant comments publicly.

Am I wrong - what do you think?

If you're a freelance writer, have your customers ever sent a formal 'complaint' to you (thinking they don't send it to you :)?

Freelancers do the same thing - they have a few fake email accounts set up under fictional names and they would give them to you as a "reference" (so you contact them hoping to contact their real, former customers, but in fact you contact the freelancer who pretends to be a satisfied student). It's a shady game and you get stung if you choose wrong.

One cannot expect that freelance writers have enough resources to hire outside 'managers' to process their complaints in a fair way (my main point was about academic paper services that may trick their own customers on purpose).

As a freelance writer, I have not had the experience of having a client complain publicly about any problems with my work. That is why I have constant and direct communication with my clients via email and Skype. If they want to complain, I would rather they address it directly to me so that the issue can be resolved before it escalates any further.

Wait a minute, it can't escalate further... I am the writer, QAD, and billing departments all rolled into one! No middleman, no irreconcilable differences with the client. The clients I have are actually satisfied with the direct communication that they receive from me and the fact that they can reach me anytime they need to.

The complaint form is just like a glorified call center. It is just there for the client to vent his anger and frustration on. It does not have an actual purpose, nor does the company pay any attention to the complaints given unless, the complaint lodged means a refund on their part. Then the client has their attention and the complaint form has a purpose for being on the site.

I think there is a bigger issue here -- namely, whether or not complaints are handled in a way that pleases the client (or at least, if it does not please the client, there is at least a reasonable justification on the part of the company).

Personally, I'm not sure that it matters whether or not a given company wants to either send complaints to a third party or else pretend to be that third party. Are the complaints being handled? Are issues being addressed?

If so, then why does it matter? If not -- well, that, of course, is the real issue. I think that if clients are consistently unable to find resolution for their issues, then word will get around -- whether or not the "complaint center" exists as an actual, third-party entity.

The companies I've written for just provided the option to contact Customer Service and writers would simply get an email from one of the reps asking for a response to the issue. Most of the time, the matter would be resolved as soon as we explained why the complaint was invalid. That's because if the complaint was valid, writers just made the fix without involving CS at all. So, if CS was already involved, that usually meant the original complaint sent to the writer was invalid. Typical complaints of that nature included after-the-fact requests to add something never included in the original specs, or to rewrite it at a simpler level, or to use a specific resource never mentioned in the original order. In those cases, the exchange between the writer and CS would be something along the lines of "Client is asking for something that wasn't in the original specs" and we'd get a response along the lines of "Thank you. No problem." Then, we'd either never hear anything else about it or we'd get a newly-paid order from the same client with the requested changes as the specs for the new order.


This is precisely why I explain that "samples" are useless when new prospective clients ask for them. I won't refuse to send a sample (on a totally different subject area) if the client just wants to see my writing style; but I tell clients that they're just taking any new writer's word that the writer actually wrote the samples provided. Samples are really only useful in two situations: (1) when you're already sure that you're dealing with a legitimate provider and you just want to see his or her writing style, or (2) when you encounter a sample on a provider's website and even that sample is full of elementary grammar and other writing mistakes, in which case, you can be sure that whatever product you receive from that provider will be even worse.

Actually, that complaint form is meant to stop the clogging of the Client Care chat with complaints and demands for refunds. While I do not employ such a form on my own site, I do understand why the companies that employ low quality writers have it. From what I have seen, these companies use the forms as evidence of "writer dissatisfaction" so that the writer can be properly fined for the problematic paper. The report is sent directly to the writer, who is then given 3 days to explain why he should still be paid for the paper he wrote considering the client dissatisfaction with his work. The complaint goes into the writer's file. The number of and reasons for the complaints are assessed when it comes time to possibly promote the writer.

Writers hate receiving such forms in their messaging system. They know that their ability to charge more per page, and get that next writer promotion is on the line. Normally, the writers need to wait a year for another promotion when they receive more than 1 complaint during the year. The company uses the form to inspire the writer to improve his work and work on his client relationship with his current and future clients. I don't really find this practice fair, but I can't blame the companies that implement such procedures. It's the best way they know to "motivate" their writers to do better next time.