Do you ever complain?

[Mark]

I was at a Tesco in York the other day, and it the place was moderately busy, but the tills were totally rammed. Queues of 20+ at the self service checkouts and took me over 20 minutes to get through the normal checkouts. But I counted, and only half the available tills were open.

I would normally just forget about this and not shop there again but this time I decided to complain to head office and they replied to say that the situation was unacceptable and they were going to fix it to make sure it doesn't happen again - a bit of a result, and I bet I was the only one to complain.

Any similar success stories?

[BDunnell]

I complain loads, often in extremely pompous terms. Rail companies are the main subject of my ire. I think I once succeeded in getting an especially rude staff member at a UK rail operator disciplined, but sadly the company refused to tell me what they had actually done; only that some action had been taken 'in respect of him'.

[Hazell B]

Complaining is taken pretty seriously at companies that are concerned about their products / services.

Not often here in the UK these days. They just assume you're moaning to take advantage of our old 'give them a freebe' methods of handling complaints.

I've kicked off at Tesco in every way possible and it got me nowhere. We bought a TV there and it didn't work, then it's replacement didn't even have a screen (broken LCD isn't pretty) and finally the third one was rubbish spec at the same money - so I smashed it myself and got my cash back. Serves them right! That was after writing, email, calling, speaking to managers and anything else I could think of. I don't shop there now unless forced by hunger and geography.


Yes, I complain. If they deserve it, of course!

[Bob Riebe]

I was at a Tesco in York the other day, and it the place was moderately busy, but the tills were totally rammed. Queues of 20+ at the self service checkouts and took me over 20 minutes to get through the normal checkouts. But I counted, and only half the available tills were open.

I would normally just forget about this and not shop there again but this time I decided to complain to head office and they replied to say that the situation was unacceptable and they were going to fix it to make sure it doesn't happen again - a bit of a result, and I bet I was the only one to complain.

Any similar success stories?
I will sometimes say " what are the rest of the check-outs for?"

Works on occasion.

[rjbetty]

I was at a Tesco in York the other day, and it the place was moderately busy, but the tills were totally rammed. Queues of 20+ at the self service checkouts and took me over 20 minutes to get through the normal checkouts. But I counted, and only half the available tills were open.

I would normally just forget about this and not shop there again but this time I decided to complain to head office and they replied to say that the situation was unacceptable and they were going to fix it to make sure it doesn't happen again - a bit of a result, and I bet I was the only one to complain.

Any similar success stories?

I used to work at a Tesco, doing a lot of work on the tills. I shouldn't moan, but I guess Tesco don't make £Billions of profit by hiring enough workers!!! The staff are often really stretched! The worst thing is, there is absolutely no incentive and motivation for them to work hard. The amazing thing was there was hardly any tills at all that didn't have something broken or wrong with them! Then there are always team leaders around to look after the checkout staff. They make sure we all get our breaks, sort out our problems when we put the green light on etc... But often, there were just a skeleton crew with lots of tills needing help! At some points, there were NO team leaders at all, and we were on the tills left defenceless - sitting ducks!!!

The best thing was though, was I felt that most of the time I worked hard, but because they hire much less staff than they should (for profit), they expect you to give up youtr weekend as well and work lots of overtime. I was single and living on my own. It was work, sleep, eat, work, sleep, eat etc. I could just about keep my head above water, but was managing. But it was the overtime that killed me! If you say no, the team leaders put a silent guilt trip on you, and make you feel like your letting the whole side down - when you've worked your socks off all week. Then they are funny with you for the rest of the shift!

Looking back, it was all a good laugh...

[gadjo_dilo]

To complain in Romania is like fighting with wind mills. However I keep making complaints to different companies ( the one that gathers garbage is my fav. ) and the City Hall. My colleagues use to laugh at me but sometimes I manage to solve problems.

[dunes]

Me,A truck driver ever complain. You bet, But Ialso know it almost allways falls on deaf ears. Its ok Its out of my system,

[Alexamateo]

Me,A truck driver ever complain. You bet, But Ialso know it almost allways falls on deaf ears. Its ok Its out of my system,



Swoop, my only complaints are about truck drivers. :p :

For example, don't complain to me if there's no one there to unload you when you didn't call and set the appointment first like you were instructed to. I'm sorry the guy's crews are an hour and a half away. It's like pulling teeth trying to get a truck driver to call in advance.

Also, It's not my fault if you try to deliver to the bill to, and not the ship to address. :crazy:

Also, I'll tell you what, I'll pay detention if you let me pay at a discount if you're late. :hmh:

Of course, some drivers like swoop are 100% professionals, and they are on time and/or keep you informed every step of the way. When you find drivers like that, it's enough to make you want to give them a big 'ol kiss!

Of course Swoop will tell you I'm a cheap SOB who doesn't want to pay for dedicated trucks and only wants to use backhauls, so I get what I pay for. :arrows: :laugh:

[Mark in Oshawa]

Swoop, my only complaints are about truck drivers. :p :

For example, don't complain to me if there's no one there to unload you when you didn't call and set the appointment first like you were instructed to. I'm sorry the guy's crews are an hour and a half away. It's like pulling teeth trying to get a truck driver to call in advance.

Also, It's not my fault if you try to deliver to the bill to, and not the ship to address. :crazy:

Also, I'll tell you what, I'll pay detention if you let me pay at a discount if you're late. :hmh:

Of course, some drivers like swoop are 100% professionals, and they are on time and/or keep you informed every step of the way. When you find drivers like that, it's enough to make you want to give them a big 'ol kiss!

Of course Swoop will tell you I'm a cheap SOB who doesn't want to pay for dedicated trucks and only wants to use backhauls, so I get what I pay for. :arrows: :laugh:

Often we are given an appointment time by our dispatch and then we arrive and realize no one cleared it with you, the consignee. Oh well, I gave that business up, so I wont be into your place any time soon Alex. It is a Shame, I was down that way once last fall and I hoped to get a pickup at your place but it didn't happen.

AS for complaining, (the topic of hand), hear that companies want to hear it, but I somehow think it all comes down to how proactive the manager is. If he is on the ball, he will take the complaint and investigate, or take a look and admit that he screwed up. If he is like a lot of them, you are sluffed off with some vague promise of looking into it.

I find that complaints sometimes work, and it doesn't hurt to do it, but don't expect much and don't do it because you think you will get a freebie out of it.

I think in the case of Tesco, based on what Hazell and Mark have pointed out, they are run by a management that is purely caring about their numbers..and in about 10 years will have a corporate blood letting because the numbers are down and they cant get back their market share. No one will ever really think about what they are doing now...but they will spend millions with consultants and marketing experts to get attention back. Somehow treating people right the first time is just not on their radar.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

It isn't very British to complain. Unless we see a queue for the complaints desk, and then I would feel obliged to join it.

[dunes]

Swoop, my only complaints are about truck drivers. :p :

For example, don't complain to me if there's no one there to unload you when you didn't call and set the appointment first like you were instructed to. I'm sorry the guy's crews are an hour and a half away. It's like pulling teeth trying to get a truck driver to call in advance.

I cxall all the time only to find out my dispatcher alreasdy set up a time that was three hundred miles away, and cant be changed. Then she wants to know why i can't reload for 5 hours.



Also, It's not my fault if you try to deliver to the bill to, and not the ship to address. :crazy:


Bill to-shipto......
I don't believe ive EVER delivered to the wrong address.lol


Also, I'll tell you what, I'll pay detention if you let me pay at a discount if you're late. :hmh:

Thjis one youd lose on with me.


Of course, some drivers like swoop are 100% professionals, and they are on time and/or keep you informed every step of the way. When you find drivers like that, it's enough to make you want to give them a big 'ol kiss!

I know a kiss with the boot right in my hienny,Me 100% anything is a good fish story.


Of course Swoop will tell you I'm a cheap SOB who doesn't want to pay for dedicated trucks and only wants to use backhauls, so I get what I pay for. :arrows: :laugh:


If you load my truck you buy the whole trailer and i'm still fitting someones something else on it.So whos the bigger cheapskate.







Truckins fun and adventerous,But its certainly a special mindset.I guess my opinion is as long as the checks keep getting cashed its worth it to me to get it there and wait for youre break to be over.

[Alexamateo]

Aw you know I'm just funnin'. I have a lot of respect for what you all do. I will say that I do spend time with vendors and customers complaining about trucking, mainly because it's the part we least control. We actually complain to the truck lines very little. We know what you go through.

I do wish drivers would communicate their progress a little better though. Most of my trucks are multi-drop and I do spend a lot of time trying to track trucks down. My customers need to know whether to hold crews, send them out, etc., etc.

As far as complaints, I want to hear them. If I hear them, I can do something about it. There's nothing worse than someone who doesn't say a word, pays his bill in full and never does business with you again. It's only three months later you hear there was a problem.

Of course, the flip side to that are the complaints you get only when you call trying to collect. There's no real complaint you're just trying to stall.

[Mark]

Much of it is to do with the attitude of the staff and lower managers in large companies. If you have staff that have been there for years and expect to be spending all day drinking tea and treating customers as an inconvenience, you aren't going to get them to change just because of a memo from higher management!

[GridGirl]

I complained to Wembley a couple of years ago. Basically we went to the Race of Champions and had Club Wembley seats. Part way through the day the other half decided that he wanted a drink so I went with him to buy one. He was at the food place ordering and I noticed my shoelace was undone and moved to the side of the counter to tie it. On the floor right next to me was a big wadge of £20 notes in a bundle. I picked it up, finished tieing my shoelace and was then stood facing my other half with all this money in my hand. I hadn't said a word and I hadn't counted the money but I'm guessing there was at least £200 in my hand when a member of Wembley staff came up to me ripped the money out of my hand a ran away. Before I knew it he had gone through a staff only door and was never to be seen again. Now I know this wasn't my money but I certainly didn't expect a member of staff grab it and run. I complained to Wembley and all I got was a standard response from them. Thats the last time I pay extra for a padded seat and cup holder at Wembley!

[Dave B]

I complain when it's justified, but after a decade or so in retail management I do tend to see the other side of the story sometimes. We've had poor service in restaurants, wrong or missing online grocery deliveries, cock-ups by banks... all sorts, and in every case we've received proper apologies and recompense.

I don't bother complaining to the poor worker who is simply doing their job, but either ask for a manager or put my complaint in writing/email later. It annoys me when some moron is shouting at a minimum-wage checkout girl becuase a supermaket had run out of something, or taking delight in telling me how they abused a call-centre worker because their gas bill was screwed up.

[schmenke]

... It annoys me when some moron is shouting at a minimum-wage checkout girl becuase a supermaket had run out of something, or taking delight in telling me how they abused a call-centre worker because their gas bill was screwed up.

Or the classic error of complaining to a restaurant waiter/waitress about the quality of the food :mark:

[Mark]

But of course the problem with the likes of British Gas is that it's impossible to actually talk to someone who can take responsibility for the problem! Story of Watchdog about someone being incorrectly billed by British Gas for 7 years!

[Alexamateo]

For swoop and others, today's truck complaint update. :p

Well, I had to pay detention charges yesterday (Friday) on a truck in Little Rock because a customer only had one guy to unload or something like that and one stop took 3 & 1/2 hours on: what should have been one hour max. That's ok and it happens. My customer knows and it was actually cheaper for him to pay some extra charges than to pull a crew off a jobsite in order to come back and unload.

Here's the kicker though. I had a separate 3-stop truck in Mississippi. That truck got two stops off yesterday and was supposed to final this morning at a new rest area/welcome center they are building in Tremont, MS for the future I-22 corridor. (Yes siree Bob, picking me up some stimulus money :D ) The driver had talked with the customer directly and was set up to deliver at 8 this morning.

Well, the customer called me at 8:45 asking if I had heard from the truck, so I started calling and looking. Around 9:30 or so, the freight company said that gps indicated the trailer was in Pontotoc, MS an hour away but not moving, nor could they contact the driver. They said they would see it they could get another driver over there, but we told them to forget it and crews would be on the job, Monday AM. The driver finally called me at 3:30 this afternoon saying he couldn't get a hold of anybody. He mumbled some excuses, but I know what happened. He's from Pontotoc, (surprise, surprise) and I am sure he ended up shacked up with his old lady and forgot all about his load.

Now, do you think I can get the freight company to credit me the $150-200 credit that my customers going to want to pay his guys for 3 hours and a wasted day. Of course not!!! :angryfire

To make matters worse, my customer sacrificed the first day of deer gun season in Mississippi to take this delivery. He was not real happy about it.

OH well, Never a dull moment! :)

[fandango]

I complain when it's justified, but after a decade or so in retail management I do tend to see the other side of the story sometimes. We've had poor service in restaurants, wrong or missing online grocery deliveries, cock-ups by banks... all sorts, and in every case we've received proper apologies and recompense.

I don't bother complaining to the poor worker who is simply doing their job, but either ask for a manager or put my complaint in writing/email later. It annoys me when some moron is shouting at a minimum-wage checkout girl becuase a supermaket had run out of something, or taking delight in telling me how they abused a call-centre worker because their gas bill was screwed up.

Good post :up:

One of the curious things about living here, though, is that people are easily drawn into arguments, so you get this weird situation where a minimum-wage worker will start to stick up for the company for no real reason, instead of just calling the manager.

So nowadays I gauge my chances of success before I complain. Even though I may be completely in the right, sometimes I let stuff pass for the relative ease of forgetting about it sooner. Once I start a complaint I don't give up till I'm satisfied, so it's important to pick the right battles.

[motetarip]

The Brits tend to moan rather than complain!

[Dave B]

But of course the problem with the likes of British Gas is that it's impossible to actually talk to someone who can take responsibility for the problem! Story of Watchdog about someone being incorrectly billed by British Gas for 7 years!
Aye, but rather than waste time and energy (see what I did there?) on fruitless phone calls, a carefully written letter to their legal department would be far more useful. That's my preferred course of action: no rambling and moaning, no empty threats, just a summary of facts and what remedy I expect, sent recorded delivery to the registered address.

[motetarip]

...no rambling and moaning, no empty threats, just a summary of facts and what remedy I expect..

:up:

State the problem, state a reasonable solution. Works for me.