Depending on what you're dealing with, I tend to go legal/regulatory. For instance, I was building my own PVR like a billion years ago (had outgrown my hacked

Depending on what you're dealing with, I tend to go legal/regulatory. For instance, I was building my own PVR like a billion years ago (had outgrown my hacked Tivo and cable companies hadn't started offering their own in an attempt to destroy personal recording) and found out that there were federal regulations which required cable companies to provide a cable box with a working Firewire port. Talking to the local cable companies customer service and techs was useless, they either had no idea what I was talking about or insisted that it was not possible. So I found out that cable companies are regulated by the Public Utilities Commission. Placed a call to them. They had no idea what I was talking about either, but I cited the law and they looked it up and agreed. The next day I got a call from the owner of the local cable company franchise, and he was very concerned. I got the impression that getting a call from the office of the public utilities commission is not a great day for a person in his position. Turned out all they needed to do was check a checkbox on my account and the firewire port started working. Had it up and going later that day! If a company screws you properly, it usually means they broke a law. Find out what it is and who is in charge of slamming their hand in the door when they step over the line. Contact those people.