Do you complain after receiving poor service or unsatisfactory goods? I don’t make it a habit to point out bad service, but this past week I sent letters to two separate companies asking for a refund of my purchases.
One night my family and I ate dinner at a local restaurant and ordered a few wings to go. The next day I opened the takeout box and found tiny chicken nuggets in place of the plump ones I was expecting. The previous night we ate chicken, (at the very same establishment), that was twice the size.
A day after this incident my husband purchased salad mix from the grocery store that was not only old, (the date was four days past the sell by date), but also completely rotten. When I opened the box it smelled of sour pickles.
On both occasions I was really unhappy with the situation. Dinner time is quite rushed at our house as we spend as much time as possible at the playground in the early evenings. It’s been much too hot here to play outside mid-day.
One night I planned to heat up the takeout from the night before, the next night I planned to make salad for dinner. Imagine my frustration when I realized those chicken bites would barely feed my son let alone two of us or that the salad I intended to make was rotten.
I didn’t have a back up plan for dinner in either situation. Yes I should have checked the chicken before we left the restaurant and perhaps I should have inspected the lettuce that morning, but hindsight is always 20/20.
Unfortunately this is not the first time expired lettuce has made its way into our refrigerator. I’ve been burned twice before. Now I always verify the sell by date, but my husband threw the box in the cart and I forgot to check the package on that particular day. The first two times I was willing to let it go, but by the third time I was extremely annoyed. Those boxes of organic lettuce aren’t cheap, you know?
In each situation I snapped a picture and emailed the establishment. I asked for a refund of each purchase and received same-day responses from both companies. The managers could not provide a refund but did offer to compensate me via gift cards, which is just as good.
Do you complain when goods and services are not up to par? Have you received satisfaction from the establishments you contacted?