Helen Dewdney

Consumer & customer service expert, best-selling author, journalist & broadcaster, conveying visionary messages to captivate, empower & inspire audiences

Helen Dewdney says she is "The Complaining Cow" - a consumer expert who writes the UK’s longest-running and most comprehensive consumer site by an individual.

Completely independent, the site is free from sponsored posts, adverts and paid for reviews, and covers customer service, consumer rights and topical issues.

Helen is a credible and authentic expert in consumer matters, having gained respect for her broad and deep understanding of the field.

With a no-nonsense direct style, and unorthodox attitude to conveying visionary messages, she can often be seen in the media covering the latest topical issues.

Helen works with businesses on how to handle complaints, improve customer service and exceed expectations.

By reducing risk to reputation, finance and impact on vulnerable customers, “superfans” are created, who do the heavy lifting of marketing.

She has advised companies ranging from individual owners through to Lloyds Bank and Tesco, providing consultancy, presentations, interviews and training. Intrinsic to her work is understanding end-user insights and perspectives to improve customer service and increase sales.

Helen has appeared on numerous media outlets regularly appearing regularly on national TV programmes such as Morning Live, BBC Breakfast, BBC Radios 2, 4 and 5, and contributes to various national, regional and local press and radio.

She presents the Complaining Cow Consumer Show on East London Radio and  interviews guests on an eclectic range of topics.

Her books “How to Complain: The Essential Consumer Guide to Getting Refunds, Redress and Results!” (2014, updated ’15, ’17 and ’19) and “101 Habits of an Effective Complainer” (2020) continue to be best-sellers. The books include reviews and forewords by celebrities such as Paul Lewis, Matt Allwright and Rob Rinder.

In 2021, she wrote a short guide “Customer Service: 5 ways to get rave reviews & referrals” to help businesses tweak processes to save money, reduce risks to reputation and turn customers into superfans who in turn increase sales.

As a freelance journalist, Helen has written for various outlets including The Financial Times, The Telegraph, Good Housekeeping, Reader’s Digest, Metro, The Guardian, The Sunday Mail, This is Money and That’s Life.

During her long career in children’s services, Helen spoke regularly at many conferences, particularly for local authorities and charities.

In the last few years her speaking opportunities have focused on consumers and customer service, including numerous presentations at network meetings, summits and various Westminster Business Forum conferences.

She has also spoken at The Law in 60 Seconds Public Legal Education Conference, Retail Week and The Business Revival Show.

Speaking topics include:

• How to increase sales by turning customers into “superfans”
• Business lessons through improvised and interactive presentations
• Customer service lessons through improvised and interactive presentations
• Consumer rights

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