Do you write letters of complaint?

[DawnM]

I have started doing this when I am very displeased with restaurant service. I am just simply tired of it.

 

For example:

 

I ordered an avacado salad at Panera. When I picked it up, there were NO avacados on it! I went back and told them and their response was a shrug and a "Oh, we are out of avocados."

 

HUH? Then call me up and ask if I would prefer something else instead of just hoping I don't notice there are no avacados on my avacado salad!

 

I received an apology and a $5 gift card to Panera.

 

Two other places I have written complaints about and have received free meals or gift cards to.

 

I am not doing it merely for the free food, although I don't feel I should have had to pay full price for poor quality anyway, so some compensation is warranted.

[Tess in the Burbs]

Yes I do when I think it's warranted.

 

Once for bones in tuna. Got coupons.

 

Once for no chocolate on a chocolate covered granola bar. Got coupons.

 

Once for a kid program in a church. They encouraged me to find somewhere else to go. ;-)

 

 

Panera messed up my salad last week too. I just ate it. It was good. They tend to offer dessert and I just didn't want one so didn't bother. I Yelp now for food places. Best place to put it out there, good or bad!

[itsheresomewhere]

I write them. I even take to facebook when I am not happy with them or they ignore my letter. I have very little tolerance for bad service. I am talking about things that should have been able to be fixed yet either ignore or have very little training to deal with. I also write letters on services that go above and beyond.

[kewb]

I have written my share of complaint letters. I have also written letters of praise when someone goes above and beyond. I used to love Panera but over the past couple of years, the ones near me at least, have been shrinking the portions. I get that the cost of everything has risen and they are trying to make a profit without raising prices too much but it has impacted their quality.

[SKL]

I never have so far. I would if I felt there was a safety or health issue. Otherwise I would take it up with the servers / management. I have done this and almost always got more satisfaction than a letter would have gotten me. I am often surprised at what young servers expect people to put up with. So I think of it as me educating them, LOL.

[Tammyla]

I wouldn't bother with Panera since they already handled it, but if they hadn't I would most likely call the manager.

[Ameena]

I do sometimes.

 

And that reminds me - I need to write Danskin. Bought a pair of shoes made by them and they fell apart after only a few days!

[Kelly1730]

I always say I'm going to but have never actually done it.

[Joker]

I've never done it for food service. I usually take my problems up with servers or managers at the time. I have done it a few times with bigger things, though. Once with a dentist, an apartment complex, and a few times with food I've purchased from the grocery store (once my yogurt had metal parts mixed in :huh: ). I had good responses from everyone except the dentist.

[*Lulu*]

Occasionally I write, but most of the time I call. I have found that I get results much faster that way; if local manager does not solve my issue to satisfaction I simply move up the food chain until I get to someone high enough in the organization to do something about whatever my issue is. And, unless they are the CEO, there is ALWAYS somebody higher up the food chain. Once you tell them know you are a SAHM and are prepared to spend all day on the issue they move pretty fast to see it your way. :p

(Kidding, sort of. I have only used that line 3x, and they weren't for petty issues. I find petty stuff gets handled fairly well at the local level.)

 

I have only had this method fail twice, once with Chase bank and once with a local doctor whose office manager decided she would play God with my husband's account. At least with the local doctor I was able to properly express my displeasure before we took our business elsewhere. (I do not know what the chick's deal was- we live in an area with a glut of medical professionals and it took all of 10 minutes to find a place that was a better fit for us. It wasn't like they were the only game in town!)

[*Lulu*]

I am acctually prefer to do my praise in writing though because DH's old company would put them in employee records and consult them during raise/promotion considerations.

[Dandelion]

I have on occasion, but I usually try to take care of things on the spot. Writing a letter is just another inconvenience to me, so I prefer to handle any issues right then and there. I've written letters for bigger issues that I was unable to resolve in person, or where I felt that someone higher up needed to be aware of the issue.

 

As for praise, I generally give that on the spot too. I always tell both the individual I'm dealing with (e.g. restaurant server, etc.) as well as a manager about how happy I am with the quality or service I've received.

[mamajudy]

I have written letters of complaint and have usually gotten a positive response. I do much better with writing letters than calling or complaining in person, because I tend to get rather emotional and sometimes nasty when I'm upset. :o If I write a letter, I can express myself more intelligently and thoughfully. I really should write more letters of praise, though. Just this morning I had a very positive experience with an unusually helpful and competent receptionist at a doctor's office and I need to express my thanks for her assistance.

[OH_Homeschooler]

Yes, I complain on occasion. It's not usually just because an order got messed up. If I bring up a problem and I see they are really trying to fix the situation, that's all I need. But if I get bad customer service, that's when I complain.

[NotSoObvious]

I do...but only in my head. ;)

[Lanny]

My wife and I highly recommend Dell Latin America, to anyone contemplating the purchase of a new PC or Laptop. They really have supported their products for us, over the years.

 

Three (3) times, I have sent Faxes to a V.P. of Dell in Round Rock, Texas, complaining. The first time, in 1998, a “technician†came to our house, to replace the Power Supply (PSU) in the first Dell PC we had purchased. I could have done that and I wanted to do that, but he insisted… He came to our house, at night, and physically, completely destroyed our PC. The next morning, I wrote and sent a FAX, to the President of Dell Latin America in Round Rock. The following morning, I wasn’t home, but the lady who was at that time the Regional Service Manager, called from Bogotá. She told my wife (in Spanish), “YOUR HUSBAND SENT A HORRIBLE FAX TO TEXASâ€. My wife told her, “If my husband was out of line, I would be the first person to condemn him, but I was there and I saw that man destroy our PC. My husband could have replaced the Power Supply and our PC would be working nowâ€. The woman said she was coming to Cali 2 or 3 days later, and that she would visit our house. When she took the PC apart, she told us the damage was far worse than what I had described in my FAX. She left a loaner PC with us and she ordered a replacement PC and Monitor for us. Dell Latin America changed the company they had been using, to provide service to their customers in Colombia, because of that issue. From time to time, we still communicate with that woman. She works in Round Rock now. :-)

 

The next time, one of our PCs needed a new “bezelâ€. The Front Panel. I couldn’t turn it on, without that new bezel. The man in Round Rock told me he would need special permission, to export that part from the USA, which I found confusing, since the PC had been assembled in the USA and shipped to us here. I sent a FAX to Round Rock.

 

Then, last October, we wanted to custom order a new PC for DD. They had moved their Sales, to El Salvador, from Round Rock. In the past, getting everything in U.S. English was never a problem, but this time, it was a huge problem. I sent a FAX to the lady who is a very high V.P. of Dell Computer in Round Rock. That night (?), I got an email from someone in Sales in El Salvador. He helped us configure the system the way we wanted it, he gave us a good price, and the PC we custom ordered from him has been trouble free. The next time we want to order a new PC, hopefully he will still be working there!

 

We had two (2) very nice Epson Inkjet printers and it became impossible to find the cartridges for them here. I contacted their regional office in Bogotá and the message was, more or less, “it is an old printer, it’s your problemâ€. Not wanting to buy a new printer, I sent a FAX to Epson HQ in Long Beach, CA. Never got a response from them, so probably we won’t purchase Epson products in the future........

 

And, yes, I do try to write letters of praise, when someone provides service that we consider to be exceptional.

 

We have had problems with Directv Colombia (the service is great, but they call on the phone, we arrange a service at a price with them and then their invoices come in at a much higher price). Their telephone people cannot be trusted. My wife has told them, “My husband will not contact you, he will send a FAX to the President of Directv in the USAâ€. They know that now and they don’t want me to do that. :-)

 

When I was very young, I worked for an airline. One night, I worked with a man who was traveling on government business. I had no idea who he was. His name was Carpenter/S. He sent in a letter praising me. He was Scott Carpenter, the Astronaut. That letter went into my file. So, yes, we should all write more letters of praise, along with the complaint letters. :-)

[BigMamaBird]

I do sometimes.

 

And that reminds me - I need to write Danskin. Bought a pair of shoes made by them and they fell apart after only a few days!

 

Wow, Danskin has such a good reputation. I'm sure they'd WANT to know if their shoes feel apart.

[gardenmom5]

it depends. .

dh most recently complained to the bank where a teller told him she posted something she obviously didn't know how to do because it wasn't posted. instead of finding someone to help her, she lied. dh's background is banking.

[Koerarmoca]

I have , but not often.

[LucyStoner]

Only if it's egregious and serious. Like I firmly believe that someone's job needs to be taken from them. The main example I can think of is when a waitress went bonkers on learning that my brother and his husband were the parents of the baby girl she was coo-ing over. Then she padded her tip by changing the numbers on the receipt. That's worth the hassle. For food mix ups, I just get what I need from them then and there, politely but insistently.

[Marylou]

Yes, but not as often as I would like. If I were not HSing I would write more. I also write praise ones as often as I can.

 

For example, I wrote to CBS during March Madness for running clean, family-friendly ads. Did I get tired of seeing Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Barkley? Sure, but at least the messages were decent and I didn't have to worry about switching the channel quickly at every break..

 

I wrote to State Farm last month to let them know I'm not a customer nor will I become one. If they feel the need to use "phone sex double entendre" (Jake from State Farm) to sell their product, I'm not buying it.

[Parrothead]

I write letters or email when it isn't fixed at the establishment. Generally the manager will make the problem right befor I leave the store. The only exception has been Pizza Hut. The manager blew me off and the complaint letter was never acknowledged. I have a feeling they refer the complaints back to management and since he had already dismissed my complaint he wasn't going to do anything about it.

 

Needless to say I don't frequent Pizza Hut unless it can't be helped.

[zoobie]

I use twitter or Facebook now and have gotten very prompt responses, much more so than long, involved letters. It's kind of fun to condense an issue into 140 characters. :)

[poppy]

Take it to Facebook instead of a letter. It's their discretion to do right by you or not if you send a letter, but if it's on Facebook, they get "credit" from everyone who sees that they handled the situation well.

 

Or, they delete your post, which is an answer of itself. That is when you go to somewhere like Yelp or Tripadvisor.