[Sail to the Moon]

Do you speak up when you are unhappy with customer service from a business?

Yesterday I bought a freshly squeezed juice from a shop (cost nearly $7) and when I picked up the cup to have a drink, the lid came off and the juice went all down my t-shirt and covered one of my brand new shoes (they are fabric and you aren't meant to wash them). The person at the shop had put the wrong size lid on top of my cup, so it wasn't my fault. I had a good amount of my drink end up on the floor and on my top and shoe, and the stains won't come out. There was no offer to make up another juice or refund offered or anything.

Would you have asked for your money back and more if that had happened to you? I tend to avoid confrontation in these kinds of situations.

This post has been edited by Sail to the Moon: 06/02/2013, 08:20 PM

[baking101]

In your situation, yes, I would have asked them to make me another juice.

I am becoming increasingly assertive with poor customer service. I worked in service/retail for a long while and I only really complain when the service is due to poor effort. It's just not that hard to do your best.

I don't complain when it's not the person's fault - eg. At Woolies a couple of days ago, I had to wait because the screen locked and needed a supervisor to unlock it. The employee apologised, called her manager, explained the situation and we waited until the manager had finished serving her customer and came over. The young lady (I would say late high school) was friendly and chatted happily to me while we waited. The manager apologised for the wait. I have NO problem with this situation. But when someone shows they can't be ars*d trying, that gives me the irrits.

I ask assertively, without emotion and with a smile. I have had people bend over backwards to fix up issues.

I hope the juice doesn't wreck your clothes and shoes!

[icekool]

They should have offered some sort of compensation for their mistake but I would probably walk out and never return.

[duck-o-lah]

Yes. As as business owner I would much prefer to be told if something is not satisfactory and have a chance to remedy the situation, rather than have the customer walk out, never to return.

In your situation I would have asked for another juice, this time with the correct sized lid.

[halcyodays]

I always politely explain my problem with their service, and if the response is an eye roll or the equivalent fob off, I don't return and often tell my friends and acquaintances about the experience I had there.
I have no problem with people trying to fix the error to the best of their ability.

If it is a more costly mistake, I ask to speak to the manager.

[katrina24]

I will give feedback about really poor service. Equally, if I receive great service I always give feedback about too - as high up the management chain as I can so that it gets noticed.

[qak]

I had to call a financial institution on Monday about one of their forms, because I wasn't sure how to fill it out for a client. When I spoke to the customer 'service' person she said she could not take responsibility for what she was going to tell me. I was WTF? and said "that doesn't sound very helpful" LOL.

She had to go away and ask someone the answers to my questions I did ask. Given her response I thought I would figure out the rest myself.

15 minutes later I had a call back from (I assume he was) her manager. He said he had listened to the recording of the call and wondered if I would give feedback! He obviously considered her response was not ideal. As I said to him, I don't expect everyone to know the answer to any question, but they would be better to just say so and try to find someone else who can help.

I don't know if she was new or having a bad day. The manager answered the rest of my questions too, so I ended up happy with the overall outcome.

[Genabee]

I always comment on excellent customer service - and equally, when the service is bad, I let it be known.

After spending a long time in the customer service industry, I am acutely sensitive to it. Nothing irritates me more, than poor customer service.

I tend to support small, local businesses over larger chains where possible, largely for this reason. I am happy to pay a littler bit extra and receive decent service.

[littlemissmessy]

No I don't usually say anything, though I will sometimes write a review online. There are some cases where I can't complain anyway, even when I'm really angry about the service, eg, Dodo, Centrelink, the bank, etc

[Loore]

It really depends on the situation and shop. If its a small independent retailer then yes, I know how valuable bad feedback can be in small business. If its a big chain store, generally not - they don't seem to care so much so I normally just don't go back.