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Induction's guide to finding important company contacts.

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Anonymous
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Induction's guide to finding important company contacts.

So you've drafted your GW letter, you've proof read it, you've made your husband, sister, aunt, and the family dog all check it for accuracy, you've posted on the many forums asking for advice, and now finally, you have your letter all ready to go. You send it to the address the credit card company has for "Cardmember servcies" and happily wait for a reply. 1...2...3 weeks pass by now you either have gotten no reply, or even better, have gotten a generic letter sent back telling you that A. They can't do it, B. They can't do it, and C. They can't do it. Why did this happen? The first mistake was sending it to "Cardmember services", this set group of employees (and sometimes computers) sole purpose is to help with common everyday problems, I've lost my card, My payment wasn't received, I'm done with this $%# card cancel it, and other mundane problems that arise in the business. You have to get your letter into the right hands and read by the right people. These people are typically senior agents, not front line customer service agents and their supervisors. How do you get to these senior officials? Glad you asked.

 

  1. Investigate the company website.
  • Typically, you can find pertinent company contact information right in front of you. 
  • You want to look for their corporate website not their consumer website.
  • For example, Kohls maintains ther main consumer website (www.kohls.com), but, they also have a corporate website. ( www.kohlscorporation.com).
  • If you can't find a corporate website then maybe the company is a subsidary of a larger company.
  • For example, Midland credit management (www.midlandcreditonline.com) is a subsidiary of Encore Capital group. (www.encorecapital.com).
  • Other company sections to look into are: Investor Relations, About us, Contact us (look for executive office), and Corporate information.

2. Google it:

  • I have found that one of the best ways to find an executive contact is just a simple google seach worded correctly.
  • For example, "Who is the CEO of Macy's?" or "Macy's CEO email address"

3. Use a coporate directory:

4. Email guessing

  • This is my least favorite yet still effective way of finding company contacts.
  • This method typically works best when you already know the full name of the person you are attempting to contact.
  • The process works like this:
  • Name: John doe.
  • Company: xxcorp.net
  • Try sending your GW email to these emails:
  • Jdoe@xxcorp.net
  • John.doe@xxcorp.net
  • doe.john@xxcorp.net
  • johndoe@xxcorp.net
  • doejohn@xxcorp.net
  • and any other combonations you can think of.
  • In my experience the first 3 are the most popular choices for a company.

5. Other means:

  • Try asking forum members through private messages (try not to burden them though!)
  • Try sending a letter to the executive offices with an Attn to the contact.
  • If all else fails, call the main number and attempt to climb up the customer service ladder.

I wish you the best of luck on your journeys through credit repair. Look out for my other guides based on other topics of credit repair.

If you have any tips, comments, corrections, or improvements don't hesitate to post in thread of PM me on Myfico.

 

Cheers! Induction.

Message 1 of 6
5 REPLIES 5
Booner72
Senior Contributor

Re: Induction's guide to finding important company contacts.

Great Post!  Good information.  I'm going to bookmark it and refer this post to others needing to get their bearings in the world of GW'sI.

 

Hey so, what's your advice on GW'ing a local CA?  I have 2 local CA's reporting medical collections that are paid.  I've begged, pleaded, cried.  Both of them REFUSE to budge using the ol "We must protect the integrity of the report" line.  I have written GW letter after GW letter.  One GW letter was SO AMAZING I had the City Manager call the CA to tell them to remove the account, and the CA told them NO!  You'd think the CA would want to continue good business with the City.   The City manager was pretty PO'd that they wouldn't help me.  The other CA says they are continuing to report because "their clients" want them to.

 

  There is no one else for me to write to.  Any ideas?  Thanks in advance.

STARTING: 11/24/10 EQ-584 EXP-648 TU04-595
CLOSED FIRST HOME 8/19/11 EQ-630 EXP-691 TU04-653
CURRENT: EQ-701 EXP-??? TU08-720
Message 2 of 6
BungalowMo
Senior Contributor

Re: Induction's guide to finding important company contacts.

Greetings Induction & GREAT post!  That is exactly the advice I give people...go for the top when you are sending GW's I usually go for the CFO.  Just a couple things to add to your list:

 

  • Another site that has bee extremely helpful in finding these names...Lead411.
  • When sending an email, just as you mentioned, you don't know the format of their email system as far as how the first & last names go, so what I did was send the email TO myself, and then put that whole list of first & last possibilities in the BCC line.  Several will bounce back as undeliverable, but one goes through. 

Over the last few years, I have researched names for many many companies & here on my home laptop, I have a special folder for just these names.  You just never know when one might come in handy.  I think I have a current list of about 30 names.

BK 7 discharge 06.24.2020 No Fico score at all. Smiley Sad
Message 3 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Induction's guide to finding important company contacts.


@Booner72 wrote:

Great Post!  Good information.  I'm going to bookmark it and refer this post to others needing to get their bearings in the world of GW'sI.

 

Hey so, what's your advice on GW'ing a local CA?  I have 2 local CA's reporting medical collections that are paid.  I've begged, pleaded, cried.  Both of them REFUSE to budge using the ol "We must protect the integrity of the report" line.  I have written GW letter after GW letter.  One GW letter was SO AMAZING I had the City Manager call the CA to tell them to remove the account, and the CA told them NO!  You'd think the CA would want to continue good business with the City.   The City manager was pretty PO'd that they wouldn't help me.  The other CA says they are continuing to report because "their clients" want them to.

 

  There is no one else for me to write to.  Any ideas?  Thanks in advance.


I have had the several CA's pull the "moral integrity" bit. I usually turned that around and made them verify each and every charge, provide statements, use the FCRA and the FACT act bringing up many clauses in the card holder agreement and important notices and procedures that needed to be done. Most CA's thought I was crazy, gave up, and removed it from my report. Basically, make them eat their words by insuring that the tradeline is being reported completely correct and they that they have the paperwork to prove it, which is the "morally" correct thing to do. Good luck!

Message 4 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Induction's guide to finding important company contacts.

UPDATED as of 9/11/2011.

Message 5 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Induction's guide to finding important company contacts.

Re-Updated

Message 6 of 6
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