Comments on: Do You Speak Up When Your Experience is Unsatisfactory?

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 02:31:25 +0000

I'm glad to see that you don't think I was wrong to complain.

@Red - I've never been so well compensated for complaining! Good for you.

@Cindy - My dad has been praised for his letters too. There is definitely an art to it.

@Donna - I enjoyed the article you linked to. It's good to know that management does want you to speak up. Now I won't feel so guilty when I do :-)

@Maureen - I bet the management team acted on your letter. They may not have fired the individual you mentioned, but I bet they spoke with him about the issue.

By: Maureen

Maureen — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 05:10:06 +0000

Not so long ago I complained to a large fast food outlet about the rude behaviour of one of there employees, I never heard back from them and he is still working there. Did I waste my time ???

I think you absolutely did the right thing.

By: Donna Freedman

Donna Freedman — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 03:45:53 +0000

I did a column about that for MSN Money, and every customer service specialist I talked to said that yes, they *do* want to hear from you. The fact is that a lot of people won't say anything — they just won't go back. If enough people are treated badly and don't go back, the place goes out of business. But unless management hears about what went wrong, s/he can't correct the problem.
If you're blown off? Well, you won't go back. But unless you speak up, you'll never know whether they would have fixed it.
If it's kosher to post URLs, here's the piece:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/ConsumerActionGuide/complaining-101-make-your-gripe-heard.aspx

By: Cindy Brick

Cindy Brick — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 02:23:43 +0000

It is soooo important to speak up. You paid for that food, that product — you should get what you paid for! I don't complain that often, but have gotten good enough at it that family and friends now say, after a bad experience, "Cindy should write a letter for you about that." I used to be a guest critic for the Traildust restaurant chain, and every time a waitress was rude or rotten to me, I would say nothing, but think, "You are going to be SO sorry you did that." It was immensely freeing.

By: Red

Red — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 16:39:54 +0000

My mom taught us to speak up when there's a problem, but I usually don't. One time, I had ordered chicken nachos to go from a restaurant, but when I got them home, I saw that there was no chicken inside. The next day I got a call from the restaurant manager asking if I was satisfied with my experience. (I thought that was odd in itself. Surely they don't call every person who orders from them?) I told him about the chicken, and he apologized and said my next meal the chicken would be free. I thought that was pretty great so later in the day I ordered from them again, figuring I might as well take advantage of the savings. I got to the restaurant, and the hostess said, "This one is on us." They comped the entire meal! They made a lifelong customer out of me. 🙂