You bought a lemon of a car that keeps breaking down. Your dream vacation turned into a nightmare. Or you ordered a product online that wasn't what you expected. You want your money back, but where do you start?

Phil Edmonston is author of The Art of Complaining. He says the first step is to try to settle things informally with a phone call. But he warns to keep your anger in check and maintain a sense of humour.

The next step is to start your paper trail. Make sure to include a record of events, receipts, emails and a log of phone calls.

After that, write a formal written complaint and send it to a customer service manager or the company headquarters. If that fails, get the government involved.

“I found that MP's are afraid of voters, particularly around election time, honestly and they’ve got a staff that cuts through the bureaucratic-ease that you have to deal with. Deal with them on a provincial and federal level," said Edmonston.

If that doesn't work, you can try arbitration offered by places like the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan and the Better Business Bureau.

Or expose your problem using the internet. You can post a complaint to Twitter or Facebook. Many companies monitor these sites and will respond.

Finally, if it comes down to it, take the issue to small claims court.

“The beautiful thing about small claims court is they have a period of mediation between you and one of the people that the courts will choose. You get together with a person you're in opposition with and nine out of 10 times in my experience everything gets settled at that mediation meeting,” said Edmonston.