This is my dad too. I thought he was nuts, but it was very effective.

Looking at your name I am going to assume that like me you are from the former USSR.

The explanation my dad said is the following: a lifetime of dealing with soviet bureaucracy informed him that orders always flow down, and each worker tries to prevent complaints from flowing up. Therefore, to get a problem resolved, your request has to come from up high in the bureaucratic hierarchy.

The easiest way to do it? Write to the very top and hope they forward it down with a note saying “fix it”. Then it will get fixed.