apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

my grandmother and her nice little old lady friends wrote a letter to get a clorox commercial taken off the air because it was basically a cruel joke against senior citizens. it worked, too!

but this was in the early 80s, when offending people might actually be grounds for pulling an ad or stopping whatever it is you're doing.

nowadays, it's a free for all!

my other grandmother would constantly send things back or complain to managers...and it embarassed me to no end.

so now...i never complain! i suck it up and deal.

I absolutely complain if a service was paid for and not carried out or if I am clearly being ripped off. I try to be as gracious as possible, but a call to corporate offices usually solves all my problem.

BUT I do not issue complaints if I know I am responsible/at fault for what happened...

airlines have sent me over the edge more than once! i have milked many a mile from them for all kinds of poor service. my most lucrative (12,500 miles) was when klm left us in amsterdam overnite with frustratingly little information... i can deal *if* i know what's going on!

of course, that was at least 7 years ago. these days, the bar is so low i could make a career of airline complaints and still get nothing... they just don't care anymore!!!

when i was kid ('70s-80s), flying was fun... those were the days :)

When we re-did our bathroom, we didn't install the cabinet correctly, and when the granite guy got there to measure he said it was no problem and that the slab would be cut to make everything look okay. Well, it didn't. The outside corner of the counter was clearly less than a 90 degree angle, and it was noticeable. I lived with it for two weeks (because the initial error was truly ours) and then I called to ask for a different slab. My argument was that the guy who did the measuring was the expert and he should have said "this will look like crap if you don't fix it." I also explained that I knew it would be a cost to their business, but felt that 1) we'd given them lots of business already and planned to give them more and 2) I knew they'd take the bad slab back and use it for practice. I remember saying, "This is your decision, but I just want you to think about it overnight before you tell me no." And voila. They took off the slab, we fixed the cabinet, and they gave us a new slab for free. (Although I did offer to pay for the second installation's labor - $70, I think.) Ultimately, complaints work, but lots of sugar and some kind of rationale help. And yes, I will make a point to go back to them for our current renovation - 2.5 baths including countertops, shower surrounds and floors.

I'm a big believer in writing letters to companies ... Either complaint or thanks for an awesome product or service. I have written several thanks letters, but only two complaint letters that I can think of over the years ... Both for electronics. One was to Target.com for errantly describing a home theater system (that I would not have picked from the ones I was debating over had it been described accurately). They offered my money back PLUS let me pick out an electronic of my choice - I think up to $50.

The second letter was to apple after they released a new version of the imac (with new operating system and new design) one day after I called and ordered one with all the bells and whistles. (The new version was cheaper and had all that stuff included.) They first gave me $300 back and a free copy of the new OS to add to my computer when it arrived. After I got the computer though, I got a random call saying if I wanted to send back the computer I just got, I could get one of the new ones instead, which of course I did!

I think it pays to say something! An old coworker of mine once told me her dad wrote to Revere(?) to tell them he was happy that his pots and pans he bought back when he was first married were still working great. They responded by sending him one of every single item in their line as a thanks.

On the other end of the spectrum, I love getting a letter FROM a company. Con Ed mistakenly disconnected my electricity last fall and not only did I come home to a dark apartment, but the customer service person I spoke to was SO RUDE and I had to fight to get them to send someone out that night to turn the power back on. Two weeks later I got a very very nice (not form) letter from his supervisor saying it was inexcusable that I had been treated that way after already being inconvenienced by the outage mistake and they cleared the balance on my bill, which was about $75.

When I worked at Barnes & Noble HQ, our CEO often got complaint letters from customers pointing out typos in our stores ;-)

I'm usually very patient and deal with those kinds of situation in a polite tone. I never had to write a letter though.

When we moved to our current apartment, the landlord took his sweet time to clean the apartment. In fact, he took almost a week. As we were in no rush in moving it did not matter at the time, but I calculated the monthly rent in days, and pointed out that we did pay for those 6 days. The landlord gave us free parking for a couple months so that was great!

And sometimes letter-writing works...

http://consumerist.com/5141006/virgin-atlantic-asks-complaint-writer-to-be-taste-tester

I always dream of writing letters - I rarely have the follow through.

Which reminds me, I need to write the cable company because although my bill is on auto-pay, it never pays itself and then I get thretening overdue letters. Inevitably, I log on to my account assuming something is wrong with autopay and it shows up as being activated. Sooo frustrating.

I am a complainer!!!!

My best results have been.

Toyota Corporate - here is a VERY useful thing to know - when you take a car in for multiple repairs, they look at a book an add what is called SHOP time as listed for the repair, some people's repairs take longer, some takes less..
My sister left a car 1 day 8 hrs, yet the shop time added for all her 3 repairs were listed at 18 hrs. now that is IMPOSSIBLE, so I told her to complain to the dealer, when they would not reduce the hrs, I told her to write to Toyota Corporate, she got a 800 dollar refund!! WATCH SHOP TIMES!!!

I have gotten free airline tickets and even a free tent at my wedding, when they brought the wrong size for my caterer, and had to hope the smaller 2 with the space would be o.k and that it would not rain and get them drenched. refund of $400

I definitely complain if the situation warrants it. In fact, I have a template saved on my computer that I call my "Patented Angry Letter".

Lately, I have been really surprised at the lack of response one of these gets. (Adam @ Chase Bank; I am talking about you!!)

caw261, that's how my coned was disconnected too. The autopay did not withdraw the correct amount and I was disconnected for the difference. The worst part was it was only a couple of weeks overdue (which I didn't even know about) and I never received a bill for the balance or a disconnect notice.

I don't have a problem writing a letter when service has been poor (airlines, mostly) but I have a really hard time talking to a manager face to face when service has been poor (restaurants, mostly).

I do think reporting poor service, if done courteously, can be very effective in improving service and in providing constructive feedback and insight for others.

I send thank you notes for great service and complain when I get bad service. Nothing makes me feel better (about service issues in general) than hearing the gratitude for a sincere thank you. And it's sort of sad that people will go out of their way to bitch, but not report superior service.

I have written to the MBTA a couple times. I try to be upbeat and reasonable, but they are almost in business to purposely infuriate people. There's really no result in doing this.

I used to work (temp) for a guy who would have me type out the most ridiculous complaint letters. I mean, the formatting was something else. He'd send it back to me for a re-do, because I didn't double-underline something that he had written, make this next word bold and then uppercase and bold and double-underline for pages. His actual grievances were kind of weak (airlines, rental cars - he went on vacation twice while I was there), the kind of mediocre service most people expect to put up with now and then. Although working in his office was the kind of misery you cry about on the way home, he himself was normally a friendly dude, he'd run for public office in that city, but the things he complained about were just petty. I think he thinks he's rather too important and it probably does get him free stuff. He was extremely displeased at me the day he found out, after 8 weeks, I'd told the temp agency that I'd had enough and it was going to have to be my last day. I've never felt so calm when someone was so angry with me.

I'll write a letter when I'm really disappointed, or I think there has been an ethical violation, but never with the expectation of receiving anything. Not because I don't want to set my hopes too high, but because I want to avoid sounding self-entitled. I find people are generally more responsive to rational, informative comments about their service, and are more likely to offer some form of remedy if you don't request it or act like you deserve it. And, as ratita mentioned, if done courteously, the company will look at it as a reasonable opportunity for improvement instead of a wack-o customer.

One night I was working late -- it had been a REALLY long day as I had come in very early -- I was starving, everything was closed, I had no real money to order something -- so I just trooped up to the vending machine and grabbed some M&M's.

I immediately noticed they tasted funny -- in fact, they were awful -- and I threw away the bag. I used my last 50 cents on it, so I was now cranky, tired, and hungry.

So off I went to the M&Ms/Mars web site and typed off an angry e-mail to their customer service.

A month or so later, I got a nice letter in the mail, apologizing for the quality of their product and explaining that this can sometimes be a problem with vending machine candy since the chocolate isn't always kept at that right temperature.

And they sent me a bunch of coupons for free candy. I was very pleased ;o)

I save the complaints for serious problems, not minor grievances. Companies log incoming complaints now, and if you're tagged in the system as a chronic complainer from past quibbles, you won't get any satisfaction if something major goes wrong.

Complain, sadly no, I'd rather seethe in silence. Perhaps I should start writing - even if it didn't do any good, at least it could be therapeutic...

I have only ever formally complained twice in my life: once to Air Canada, when my flight to Philadelphia left Heathrow three hours late and left me stranded overnight, alone, in the airport in Toronto as I had missed my connecting flight to Philadelphia. Although I had travel insurance and the travel agent wrote a letter of complaint on my behalf, Air Canada basically said 'fuck you' and told me that it hoped that my next experience with them would be better. Hahaha. Like there was going to be a second time.

My second time was recently when the BBC refused to broadcast an appeal sponsored by the Disasters Emergency Committee to help the Palestinians who needed shelter, food and medical care after the war in Gaza.

Several times, I have written letters complimenting companies, like to Virgin when they cancelled my ISP contract on the spot when there connection problems.

I complain all the time-usually by emailing letters or calling the corporate offices. If I have a problem with a service or item, I try to deal with it the standard way, but if it doesn't work and they are clearly in the wrong or if someone was very rude, I have no problem complaining.

Just today I had to call UPS because they charged my company for an envelope deliver that was supposed to be over night, but arrived 4 days AFTER multiple calls from me. And, this was the second week in a row they had done this to an envelope going to the same location. They had launched an investigation and told me I couldn't get a credit until after the package was found (yeah, they lost it), so I assumed they'd set it up for the credit. I even called afterwards and they said there was no charge showing up for that date, so I figured it had been taken care of. So when I called today and spoke to a supervisor, she had the nerve to tell me it was my responsibility to call them for a credit before 15 days after delivery (isn't it their job to get the packages delivered on time). So I called back and spoke to a different supervisor and told him I wanted an email or # for corporate because I wanted to file a formal complaint, and he made an exception for me and credited the account. I have the names of everyone I dealt with, and I'm planning to write to corporate and berate them for the poor job they did handling this, but also put in a good word for the guy who finally helped.

Like ridge_van_winkle, I also send lots of emails or talk to managers in thanks for a great service or item. I think people should be commended when they do something well, because I'm sure people mostly hear complaints.

oops, messed up that first sentence in 2nd paragraph *delivery...arrived 4 days LATE...*

Usually I just grumble about it to my girlfriend but I do write a letter or say something somewhat often I guess. My two latest were:

1. A sushi restaurant that me and my g/f have gone to many times but hadn't been there recently. It was obvious that their menu quality had gone down considerably since the last time we had been there(about a year or so) but the prices were the same. After trying to eat about half the food I just was disgusted and brought it up to the waitress and eventually the manager who was very apologetic and comped the meal. I might give it one more try because of this

2. I was on a business trip and staying at a hampton inn it rained that night and the ceiling started drippin directly above my bed quite a lot. enough to soak 75% of my bed and ruin my sleep. When this issue was brought up to the people at the counter in the morning they simply laughed it off and said that they new that room had had those problems before. Sending a letter to corporate got me a refund for the room, unfortunately it was under company credit so I didn't get anything for the ordeal :(

I wrote an e-mail to a restaurant once - Eleven Madison Park, only after the manager responded to my perfunctory survey on Opentable.com. If they hadn't responded I probably would have not bothered to give so much detail, but when the floodgates were opened... Anyway, it felt good to express what I wrote, and they wrote a very nice apology filled letter and even offered to comp our next meal. I did not take them up on the offer though, since that isn't really my style.

"I have the names of everyone I dealt with, and I'm planning to write to corporate and berate them for the poor job they did handling this, but also put in a good word for the guy who finally helped."

TrueTex - he will probably be fired when you bring his action to the corporate's attention.

I write letters whenever I think Someone needs to know about something, or if my reasonable expectations for something are not met. I think every consumer should!

I used to be embarrassed when my mother, back in the day, would complain in restaurants. But now I do it too -- when the wait staff says "how is everything", I tell them! If it's too salty or undercooked or (recently) soupy with excess sauce, I say so. And usually (in GOOD restaurants) the manager stops by to investigate, apologize, and make it right. (My soupy entre -- which I really couldn't eat much of-- was free.) I've been given coupons, free desserts, replacement food, and so on. They want you to come back, so they don't want you to leave unhappy and tell everyone how bad the experience was. This is part of good customer service -- I don't abuse it and I don't complain if there is no reason just to score. And I have refused the offer of compensation (especially desserts, sadly) when I didn't feel that step was needed. So I don't feel bad about accepting them when something really is wrong.

When I was 8, someone had wrapped a box of See's candies and put it under the Christmas tree where it later became infested with ants. I wrote an angry letter (as angry as an 8 year old girl can be for ruined chocolate, on light blue paper with a cartoon panda on it, in big awkward handwriting) to the company. They sent us coupons for a free pound of chocolate.

As an adult, I cannot and will not complain in person (like at restaurants) but I will occasionally write thoughtful letters if the situation warrants it.

I have complained in writing just a few times.

Once I wrote a letter expecting (and getting) nothing out of it. When I was rear-ended on the freeway (in an accident that totaled my car), my own insurance adjuster impeded the process and acted shockingly lazy, rude, mean, and condescending - to me. I sent both her supervisor and the supervisor's supervisor a letter to let them know why I wasn't going to be with their company anymore. I've never had anyone be so crazy to me - and especially someone who was supposed to be on my side.

The other time I wrote a letter to the power company due to procedural troubles I was having with a lower-level employee, and the customer service people were very polite in response. They took care of the problem and contacted me by both phone and email, and followed up again after it was over. I wrote them to thank them after it was over.

For me, I guess it all comes down more to how I am treated. Accidents happen, but when people are rude, I just can't bear it.

I also try not to complain to the people at gate desk or the flight attendants at the airport, because delays and how they are officially handled aren't in their hands. They're just following their protocol (however dreadful it can be). Also, I've found that if you're nice and work with them, you get more bonuses out of being inconvenienced.

Unethical behavior, misleading information, rude and unprofessional employees, and really bad service all get complaints from me.

I am a reasonable human being. I am not a chronic whiner (and have zero respect for people who are), but I do expect certain minimum standards to be met.

I sent a particularly scathing letter to an evil corporation a few months ago because when I called to request removal from their mailing list, SIX of their employees behaved badly (i.e. bold-faced lying, refusing to help, and even hanging up on me).

Building on ejbrammer's point: go straight to the top. The people helping you are likely to be bottom-of-the-barrel employees with little control over the situation, so if they're at least being polite and doing what they can, be nice. (But if they're not, the gloves are off.)

I don't hesitate to speak up when something isn't right. I briefly owned a Scion in 2006-07, and I had a LOT of trouble with the dealership (one of the many reasons I sold it). I firmly but politely complained every single time, and I got nearly every servicing free, as well as a couple of car rentals.

The last complaint letter I wrote was to my former insurance company about six months ago -- I'd been with them for more than twenty years, but got tired of inadequate coverage, insane premiums and rude agents. After I transferred both my car and homeowner policies to other companies, HQ pelted me with mail asking me to come back, and I finally sat down and spelled out exactly why I had left (including damning company-generated documentation). Not only did I get an apologetic letter from HQ, but learned that local heads had rolled as a result. IMO, it was about time.

i used to be a shipper/receiver for an import company, and, like truetex, had the WORST experiences with ups. they're fine if the package arrives when and where it should. if. but heaven forbid the package didn't arrive. which it frequently didn't. i now know their 'customer service' department was so named as a cynical and cruel joke. we almost hired a lawyer to sue them once. now when i see ups ads end with the tagline 'what can brown do for you?', my invariable response 'crap on your day'.
ups blows.

I write to both my senators and congresss woman on a biweekly basis and have for over a year now. These are some of the most important letters I have writeen and that I will continue to write. It is frightening how the powers that be have forgotten who it ios they work for and where the money they spend and squander comes from.

If anything, please write to your reps and make your voice heard. If we do it for companies that could stand to improve customer service and or be commended on a job well done, please take a few minutes to do the same with your elected officials.

I have written a couple of complaint letters--usually when the service or goods I've received are just completely unacceptable.

what I have found is that the brands that you expect to be good (luxury hotels or nice salons or good stores, etc) are more receptive to letters. you expect them to be good and they expect you to be happy.

the key in writing the letters is to be specific about exactly what went wrong. there are of course people who may just be making something out of nothing in hopes of getting free things, prove that you have real concerns. also, copy the letter to the store manager and to corporate.

A tale from the other side of the hate letter (not that I don't write them myself):

When I was in college in the '90s I worked as a server at a casual dining chain restaurant. Sure, the food was what you'd expect, but my coworkers and the work environment were great, mainly due to a couple of great managers.

One summer Sunday night we were closing (the bar hours extended 30 minutes past the restaurant hours) and a woman with her kids tried to open the locked door. Alone in the dining room (as a closer), I opened the door and spoke with the woman, explaining that we really were closed and that the kitchen had closed 40 minutes prior -- they couldn't make food if they wanted to b/c it was all broken down and they were cleaning. I tried to be nice and helpful, suggesting Taco Bell down the street in response to her saying, "We've been at Sea World all day and my kids are tired and hungry!"

She was pissed, but she went away. But then she wrote a letter...

In the letter she accused me of saying, "Honey, look at your watch -- I've been here all day and I want to go home!" and "Why don't you take your brats to Taco Bell?" I'd never say such things. I am gay, but at the time I was regarded as the "stealth bomber" since I never triggered anyone's gaydar ('cept hers, I guess -- I did have pierced ears with captured bead hoops. It was the '90s, remember).

Long story not so short, I was fired (on my first day back from a hard-earned vacation, no less) b/c corporate didn't care what really happened.

The lesson I learned from this experience is that right and wrong don't matter, just how a customer feels about an experience. That has helped me in life since that incident.

That, and don't piss off the ex-wife of a former NFL player.

Sure, I was a good, hard worker (once awarded Most Valuable Employee and just about to become a trainer), but someone good at customer service will turn a bad situation into a bad situation that feels good.

My employer, a certain "neighborhood bar and grill," told us that it takes 12 "apostles" (people who think you're great) to compensate for just one "terrorist" (customer with such a bad experience they spread the word). I get it now, and it's been a great help in my current work doing nonprofit fundraising.

Oh, and my awesome manager hired me back a few weeks later to work in the kitchen as an expeditor (the person who makes sure the food gets to you during busy times) -- and I got to be a trainer for the position. Thanks, Scooter!

The takeaway: in the grand scheme of things legitimate complaints can teach a valuable life lesson. Also, don't be that nasty ex-wife of a former NFL player -- keep it reasonable and truthful. And, maybe, watch out for homophobia from a corporate franchiser of a chain. I've never since worked for anyone where seeming gay holds a risk of firing.

I wrote a letter to George Bush about the torture at Abu Ghraib. I got a gross letter back about 'my feelings.' Geh.

I rarely write complaint letters as I generally try to get things resolved on the spot (and because I've been lucky enough to not have many major issues).

I do, however, write or call in compliments for great customer service. A lot of my friends have told me that no one cares, but I've actually had a few managers thank me for the feedback and tell me that they have a system that tracks such things, which is tied to their employee bonus and advancement program, but didn't get many compliments to log.

Maybe it's b/c I've had some jobs that required customer service and remember my manager showing me a really nice letter from a customer who was originally difficult. It made my day *and* got me bumped up to the next position on a permanent basis.

For all you note jotters and letter writers out there...

www.passiveaggressivenotes.com

I can't say that I've written a lot of angry, complaint letters, but I have, however, had the chance to read a lot of them in my years of retail management.

While some are honestly of due concern, a lot of people out there spend too much time putting energy in the wrong things.

I was was once verbally harassed over the phone (called a worthless piece of shit faggot" for starters) over a handbag. My company failed to support my side of the issue and sided with the customer. I was fired two weeks later.

We wonder why there is so much angry energy in the world, yet we find ourselves bringing each other down for petty reasons.

If you've been seriously wronged or feel that you've been compromised, speak out.

If not.

Let.

It.

Go.

I once wrote Maxwell House and told them their instant coffee that I had just purchased tasted "like butt". They sent me a coupon (good for any of their products).

I placed an order online and after a couple days, recieved a confirmation that part of my order had been shipped. Curious as to why only part of it would have been shipped (instead of all together), I went to their website and to my shock, the main part of the order had been canceled! I had not recieved a notification that it was being canceled, and since it was a sale, I thought to look if the item was no longer available - but it was still showing as available on their website.

I sent an email to the company asking for an explanation, and they apologized saying that it was out of stock. I wrote back saying they should update their website to the correct information - and surprisingly, got a response back saying it was all a miscommunication, and that I would receive my order free of charge!

I am much more likely to visit this store in the future because of this.

I'm naturally inclined to let things slide, depending on how much money is involved, of course. My daughter is teaching me to complain (and I use the term loosely) about anything and everything that isn't precisely the way I want it. Not to rant but to make my displeasure known. Some excuses are good enough to cut the offender some slack. Most are crap, and even if nothing is done, I have the satisfaction of knowing I tried.

I complain, and compliment, all the time.

Most things we pay for are, essentially, clear contracts between two parties. If one of the parties fails to fulfill their part of the contract then you should most definitely complain. Simply stating what the contract was (e.g. something as simple as the food someone provides being edible) and where the supplied service failed should be enough to get at least an apology and any decent company should give at least something as a token gesture for anything above a minor inconvenience.

Also if someone has given product or service over and above what you have paid for that should be complimented - theres nothing nicer than someone saying thanks.

I also ask for free samples all the time especially from skincare companies - I'm not going to drop a load of cash on a bottle of something that might bring me out in a rash if I can get a sample for free - I've had huge amounts of freebies just from asking politely.

Ruthless, I had a somewhat similar situation, and although I've never been able to return to the place of purchase (the Biltmore Estates winery), I've tried to be one of the "12 apostles" jeffzelli referred to. I've probably told my story to 100 people in the 16 years since the episode, and I hope Biltmore has gotten some business as a result of their fabulous outreach to one customer.