The fruits of complaining

A few years ago our DC clubbed together to buy us a swish weekend hotel break. Our first choice in Suffolk contacted us the day before to say the person currently in our room had been taken ill and was too sick to be moved! The hotel break company very sulkily found us alternative accommodation at the Angel in Bury St Edmunds. On arrival they had no record of the booking but eventually the deputy manager sorted it and we were shown to a small pokey room at the back. Apparently this room was a luxury room. If the DC hadn't paid for it we probably wouldn't have complained - but we did - loudly! The manager appeared and we were moved - to a wonderful suite at the front of the hotel looking out on the Abbey!

Recently stayed 2 nights in a Best Western in Aberdeen, having stayed there on 2 previous occasions. We were given what was probably the smallest double room I've ever been in. There were various other problems and on checking out stated my list of complaints. The receptionist noted them all and the outcome is that we have been offered a complementary 2 night stay with breakfast.

I also had complained to Santander about many things after having been with Alliance and Leicester for nearly 30 years and managed to negotiate compensation from them of £200. After receiving this the accounts were immediately closed!

It can pay to complain if you do it in a polite and structured way.

A disappointed customer who feels badly treated and feel they have been given 'the brush off' can be bad publicity. Sometimes we give in too easily why should they get away with it? Best of luck Caz.

Ana

I recently dealt with EON as to the amount of credit I had with them due to the amount I was paying by direct debit.
My direct debit has been at a rate taken from my former residence , where it was all electric and with the 2 previous winters the storage heaters built up the usage.
I rang them and was told they would reimburse my bank account with the figure I had told them to within 10 days.
And at the same time lower my DD from the previous figure I was paying, this after a pause with music the reply was yes to the figure, and also have received a letter to confirm it.
This was a EON -Age UK account.
Mick

Katy K

Yes, along with Aunt Bellie's Yorkshire puddings she could explode

Ana

It could be worse you could be getting your L's and your S's mixed up whilst we were disgussing Allo Allo on the t.v forum.

- just noticed my typo, KatyK!

Hi Sara4 I complained via email, but at your suggestion I will have another go and write to the customer relations officer, who's address I have found... maybe I will get a better result!

Has Aunt Bellie been eating too many of her own chips Ana?

I had to throw away nearly a third of a bag of Aunt Bellie's oven chips the other day because they were just little bits and offcuts and would have gone hard and burnt in the oven.

It's happening more and more often - I think I'll have to start complaining about their standards, too.

I rarely eat crisps but every now and then, I really fancy a bag of crisps and so I buy a multi-pack (GDs and son love crisps) and I have noticed over the last couple of years, the quality of them has really fallen and so many bad ones (showing signs of fried mold or whatever the black stuff is). Given that I don't often eat them, this has to be a regular occurrence. I wrote and complained to, probably the most well-known crisp makers!, and told them how I'm having to throw away around a third of the bag and that they need to get their quality control staff to up their game.

I received some very glitzy looking vouchers for free bags of crisps - I sent them back saying I would no more eat free rotten crisps than I would those that I'd paid for and that I prefer them to up their standards to what they used to be.

I rarely eat chips but I've noticed that McCain's are now just as bad - haven't bothered complaining as I'd no doubt get the same placatory vouchers.

To those who kindly suggested that I try and get the £13 taxi fare back from the bus company, unfortunately I didn't think to ask the taxi driver for a receipt and so didn't think I had much chance of recouping it. Since I've already thanked them for their prompt attention to the matter, I would feel a bit silly writing back again and asking for reimbursement. But you're right, when replying I should at least have tried to get the money back - what a twit!

The soft brown rolls I have been buying from our local shop for the last few years suddenly had changed and become rather dry. I rang customer services and was told they had changed the recipe, which I had suspected, and had had several complaints. I was thanked for my call and told they were going back to the old recipe and several days later I received vouchers for £8.
It is always worth a try. I wish now that we had tackled the insurance company who turned down our travel claim and the airline whose business class service I thought very disappointing. But that is another story and harder nuts to crack than the bakery. Caz, is it too late to have another 'go' at the coach company, what an unpleasant experience.

I have just complained to a well know Scottish coach company with a good reputation for customer care, concerning the fact that I was obliged to spend the 5 day coach tour seated next to an elderly man who wore identical dirty clothes every day, and who smelt disgusting. It spoilt my holiday having to tolerate this and as there were no spare seats, I was unable to move. The response was to offer commiserations but no offer of compensation, as they felt this was a delicate situation of which they were unable to do anything about. I did feel an offer of goodwill would not have gone amiss, perhaps I should have addressed my complaint to the CEO!!

A travelling companion can make or break a holiday, and if you are lucky, new friendships can flourish. Sadly, not this in this case, hopefully better luck next time, but not with this company.

I've had quite a few. Some years back I had a major problem with Nationwide. I have been with them for years and have never had a problem before or since I hasten to add. On this occasion they put me through a lot
of stress, lost time from work etc. My DD worked in a bank at the time and she said that banks have a lot of money put aside to compensate customers for poor service. I contacted them re this and they offered me £50. DD said no, you deserve more. Eventually they gave me £100. I have also received my money back from the Birmingham Hippodrome after I took my GD (who was 3 at the time) to a panto and was assured that the seats I bought did not have a restricted view, when in fact they did have.

EON have been my energy provider now for the last 3 years. I am absolutely delighted with them and their latest improvement is that you can alter you dd yourself just by going on line. They aim to have you with a zero balance by May every year and write to you saying they are putting your dd down if your balance looks as though you are overpaying. Now with this new facility, it is even better.

Didn't complain but I received a letter from EON last week as I am the executor to my father who died last year.

In brief it asked about his provider prior to going with EON. I rang EON on Friday to say all paperwork has been destroyed and they said that as my father was unable to give details of any possible misselling on the doorstep would I accept a cheque for £79 as possible compensation. The cheque arrived this morning!!! No complaints from me.

The last good service I received was from VAX. I had purchased a VAX cleaner from Argos which broke down and there was no quibble a replacement was distributed by VAX, the old one didn't need returning. Good service, yes, especially as the replacement cleaner was a top of the range model compared to the one that had broken down.

I recently bought a 1p book on Amazon (£2.80 postage) and it took three weeks to arrive, or rather the wrong book arrived. I emailed them and said I was disappointed that a) the wrong book had been sent, and b) communication had been poor when I asked where my book was. They apologised and asked me to keep the wrong book with their compliments. Another book arrived four days later - right book, poor condition. This time I emailed, added a photo of the book's dog-eared cover, and asked what comments and actions they would offer before I left a review. They immediately refunded me, and this morning a new copy of my book has arrived in the post. Two decent books for nothing, but I would have just preferred the right book.

I was trying to arrange a money transfer for deposit on a rent apartment in Turkey.

Bank did not get it right, money did not go through, and owner was a bit rude to me.

Went to bank and complained at the branch, so called manager said she would enquire into it and give me a ring...... I said no ,please email me.

Nothing.

Wrote by email to CEO stating the facts and said I wanted £100compensation, the deposit was about that amount. Paid to my a/c.

The bottle of wine was derisory, as was no refund of taxi fares.

I am agahast when I read in some newspaper a and qs regarding sloppy dealings with large amounts of money.

They get a paltry amount, flowers, £50.00.

In the end found a super place , lovely owner, lovely food, so in the end I was the winner

I think you should always say ( after describing what went wrong)
1) what you want them to do about it - apology, reimbursement, retrain/ remind staff
2) what time frame you are talking about

I only say what I will do next if I'm not happy with their first response. Then I write again ( I always try and email - better audit trail) repeat what I want and by when and say what I'll do next - I always make sure I've got the correct info about the next stage so they know I am serious

There is an art to complaining, and a few good key phrases that seem to work well!

Eloethan You should ask them for a reimbursement. They have admitted it was their companies error and you have their Email. Do not let them get away with this.

Just as a general complaining point, there is a website that gives you the email addresses of CEOs - that's how I got my Gatwick complaint dealt with after so-called customer services were rubbish

www.busappealsbody.co.uk/contact-us/

Nonu you are so right! Eleo - email again and say you want your taxi fare refunded at once. Tell them that if they do not do this you will be complaining to the Bus Appeals Body - see link above. They deal with unresolved complaints. One of the things mentioned that you can complain about is buses running early. Go Eleo go!!

Eloe, How about contacting them again and cheekily asking for a refund!

If you don"t ask you don"t get !!