It pays to complain

[disneysteve]

It never hurts to register a complaint when you get less than adequate service somewhere. Saturday morning, my wife and I went to the casino. While there, we had a snack at their coffee shop. My wife ordered an egg and cheese sandwich and was told it would take about 5 minutes. More than 15 minutes later, she finally got the sandwich without a word from the clerk. No apology for the long wait. Just handed it over to her.

We didn't complain at the time but when I got home I shot off a polite e-mail to customer service saying that we were very disappointed with the incident and that we expect better service from them. I got a reply this morning apologizing for what happened and letting me know that they are sending me a $10 gift certificate for our next visit. Problem resolution is so important in customer service. I realize service can't always be perfect but what makes a good company stand out is how they deal with the times when service is less than acceptable. This is one example of how it should be done.

[Broken Arrow]

A friend of mine and I went to a steak joint recently. Decadent, yeah, I know. However, his steak wasn't cooked right (it really wasn't), and he complained (surisingly polite for once) and got a free meal that night.

But yeah, I agree that complaining politely is perfectly acceptable when you pay for a certain level of service or quality and you don't get it. His was a $20 steak, and for that price, at a steak house, I most certainly agree that it needed to be cooked right.

Mine turned out just fine, so no free meal for me.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Broken Arrow

I agree that complaining politely is perfectly acceptable when you pay for a certain level of service or quality and you don't get it.

This can't be emphasized enough. If you go in screaming and cursing and insulting people, you will likely get nothing. If you go in calm and courteous and explain what happened and why you felt it was unacceptable and ask for some compensation, you are much likely to be treated well and taken care of. If you are complaining in writing, give details such as the time of day, employee name if you got it, and exactly what happened. Leave out the emotions - just the facts.

[DebbieL]

Actually, I have an ex boyfriend who was of the scream and threaten/domineer the person on the other end to get what you want type of complainer. I was always amazed that he ALWAYS got what he wanted. I think most people don't want to deal with these blustering jerks, so will just give in to them. He got free flights, you name it by bitching about whatever thing bothered him. I could NEVER be like that (and was thoroughly mortified when he did it in front of me - I would sort of walk in the other direction in shame), but it worked for him every time.

PS - Yes, his temperament is a big part of why he's an "ex" boyfriend.

[disneysteve]

I guess the other way can work, too, but I don't recommend it, especially if it is at a place of business that you frequent. What do you think they all think the next time they see that guy come in?

[GREENBACK]

I should have put this in the thread about prepaid phones but didn't. Anyway, I had a Tracfone that I let the minutes expire on. I waited too long and when I called to renew I was informed that I would lose the minutes I had previously paid for. Yes, it's in the contract but I expected they would make an exception to keep a customer. No one at any level would budge on this. I told them in a somewhat polite but firm way that I was done as a customer with them if they took my minutes away. They took them and I'm done with them. Poor customer service if you ask me. Point is, some companies don't look at the big picture. It only makes good sense to please an unhappy customer (not a jerk) to keep their buisness. I wonder if T-fone does this with all their customers.

[Cassandra]

I remember several years ago my parents, brother, and myself went to the movies. The previews were VERY loud and after the movie my parents complained to the manager about it. They were polite about it and the manager refunded our tickets and gave us 4 free tickets to any movie.

I've noticed that people who work in customer service are more likely to go out of their way for a customer who is polite rather than one who is yelling or being rude. At least that's been my experience.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Writing a complaining letter also works! I find that I get irate, and usually in a really bad mood after waiting 30 minutes to talk to someone. So instead a letter/email works best for me.

And I've gotten a free dog leash from it, etc.

[cooliemae]

This past summer my wife, her three sisters and myself found ourselves on a flight from Houston to Chicago. As we were changing terminals in Houston we noticed a large group of young teenie boppers all wearing the same clothing (church youth group), and go figure they booked every seat on our flight to chicago except for about 20 seats.

Ok so the group had "adult" chaperones to control the kids, and I wasn't worried because my wife and I work with young adults in our jobs, so we've dealt with kids before.

The poor stewardesses were overwhelmed, kids moving the whole time the plane was in the air, things being thrown around the plane. The capitan even got on the intercom and told everyone they needed to sit down. Still nothing, the chaperones seemed like nothing was going on.

Now to put this flight into even better context, the five of us, were coming from Mexico, where we had buried my wife's father. So we were exhausted from traveling, had been up since 4AM and were emotionally exhausted. I was surprised that my wife didn't just start yelling at the kids, especially when a piece of gum almost ended up in her hair.

The stewardesses were very friendly and worked for their money that day. I emailed Contential and praised their staff for their patience when working with the kids. The only complait that I had, was that when they have booking like that, they should either give those of us joining the group a discount, or at least let us know that the flight is filled with a youth group.

The airline was thankful for the praise of the staff, but never made mention of the idea of keeping passengers informed about large groups.

I emailed the church that the group was from and discribed what I wrote here, very politely. Go figure, no response...

[amarowsky]

I guess it's just how I am, but I can NOT complain at any place about service or food to the people or company who serve it to me. I know it's stupid. I also feel stupid when I every give less than a 20% tip (I also was a waiter like 3 years ago so I kinda sympathize). But sometimes the service, food, and everything is crappy and I still don't make a fuss, I thank, act overly polite, and tip well.

It really bug's me that I do this. I think half of the reason is I care too much about what the people think about me, as if I'm going to be hanging out with them later that day, like everyone I meet should be my friend. Or on the slight chance that I mite wind up meeting the waitress later or somehow running into her and it possibly stopping me from her being my friend or something more.(which probably sounds more stupid than I felt while just writing that, but it's the truth I believe).

I'm going to try my best to try Steve and Livinglarge's method and write a polite email or letter to a company next time I kinda get screwed and still be nice and not say anything. Injustices need to be fixed, and service should be adjusted if it is unsatasfactory.
I guess the reason I went on this whole rant is that, Currently I feel powerless to fix bad service, but I want others to "bitch" a bit more for me. I'm going to write a letter soon damnit, and you'll all hear about how it goes.

[Johansen8]

I know of a store manager that doesn't pay tax. I complained to the IRS and get him busted

mean but necessary

[ScrimpAndSave]

Disneysteve, can you please let us know what casino it was? Thanks!

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cooliemae

This past summer my wife, her three sisters and myself found ourselves on a flight from Houston to Chicago. As we were changing terminals in Houston we noticed a large group of young teenie boppers all wearing the same clothing (church youth group), and go figure they booked every seat on our flight to chicago except for about 20 seats.

Ok so the group had "adult" chaperones to control the kids, and I wasn't worried because my wife and I work with young adults in our jobs, so we've dealt with kids before.

The poor stewardesses were overwhelmed, kids moving the whole time the plane was in the air, things being thrown around the plane. The capitan even got on the intercom and told everyone they needed to sit down. Still nothing, the chaperones seemed like nothing was going on.

We encountered something similar at a hotel once. Most of the floor we were staying on was occupied by a traveling teen sports team. They were up all night, running up and down the hall, screaming back and forth to each other, banging on doors (including our own thinking we were part of their group) and more. The hotel had no business putting regular guests in the midst of that mess. They should have closed off that floor to anyone not with the group. I called the front desk and complained a couple of times during the nite (and early morning) though nothing was accomplished. I then complained at checkout to the manager and had my full bill refunded.