4| Enlist a referee. Some groups make it their mission to broker an agreement between you and a business, although you may have to accept a compromise. "We do not go into a situation with the attitude that the business is wrong," says Shirley Rooker, of Call for Action, a consortium of telephone help lines. "Sometimes the consumer is wrong. Our goal is to be the mediator." Other go-betweens include the Better Business Bureau and professional groups, such as the Direct Marketing Association and the National Funeral Directors Association.

If mediation fails, your contract or warranty may specify that you submit your dispute to arbitration. In that case, you and the company must abide by the arbitrator's decision. Check the fine print before you proceed to see how the process works.

5| Bring in the big guns. Make a call to the appropriate licensing bureau, consumer agency or state attorney general's office. "Nobody wants to be investigated by a law-enforcement agency," says Barbara Petito, of the Pennsylvania attorney general's office, which handles 40,000 complaints a year. "It's not good for business."

Not every customer should expect to get satisfaction. "Sometimes consumers are told that their complaint is not enforceable," says Petito. But in other cases, just notifying a business that an agency is looking into a situation is sufficient to make the company take notice and respond. In some situations, the attorney general can file a lawsuit and seek restitution.

6| Plead your own case. Small claims court, which is restricted to claims involving a few thousand dollars or less, is still "the best mechanism" for resolving minor disputes, says Hood. Be mindful of one caveat: Reputable companies will honor judgments against them, says Hood, but if you win your case against a guy in a pickup truck who took off before finishing your roof, "you'll have to find him before you can get him to pay up."

7| File a civil lawsuit. A lawyer who has experience with your situation should be able to tell you whether your case has any chance of succeeding. If it does, and the potential damages are significant, the lawyer may offer to work for you on a contingency basis -- you pay a percentage of the award if you win and nothing if you lose.

Karen Love didn't back down. Frustrated that the auto body shop was dragging its feet on fixing her car, she filed a complaint with the small claims court in her area and sent a copy to the shop. Within a day she received several phone messages telling her the air-conditioning vent was in.

But after waiting for two months, Love wasn't about to be mollified that easily. "I told them they'd have to replace the steering wheel, too." When she picked up her car, both parts had been installed. What's more, the foreman -- "my new best friend" -- pointed out an innovation: a protective sleeve on the steering wheel. "He said, 'Because of you, we now have a policy to use this so we don't damage the car,' " says Love.

Now that's satisfaction.

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