Who do you complain to?

I buy from small stores [Ma and Pa shops]. If I'm not satisfied with the service I get then I'll speak to the owner and warn about the possibility of losing a customers owing to . . .

If I bought something from a bigger store then I'd talk to the clerk at the customer service desk. It's more of a matter of form because I know the clerk apart from trying to placate me won't change anything.

 

I go straight to the Manager or owner. It does very little to complain to a random employee. If it seems like the manager doesn't want to hear my complaint then yes I will just email them later when I'm home. The key is to do it professionally and not just get up in their face about what you have an issue with.

 

I usually just find the first manager available. What I've learned in customer service is that as a manager, you never want an issue to get to your superior, so managers that are punctual 9 times outta 10 will at least try to resolve whatever the issue is.

 

I usually go to customer service first if I have a problem with a product that I have purchased. If they cannot help me with my problem, then I ask to speak to the manager about any situation that I have. Most of the time customer service solves my problems, so I barely have to report to the manager. Only if there is a situation where I know that the manager nor customer service cannot handle, I contact the main office of the store. I have never had to contact them before but I am sure that eventually I will have to.

 

At times, I try to deal directly with the person who is the problem. If it is a very lazy worker, I try to engage them in conversation to see if there is any possibility of sparking life into them so they will wake up and actually do their job. Then if they refuse to help me after patience, I at times leave and never return to the store again! Now that I have written that down, I realize how defeatist that is. The comments above are a much better scenario. I have emailed companies via their websites before to let them know the problem. You need to save your receipt that has the store number on it. Many stores offer some sort of contest for surveys on the receipts and they ask about the customer service there. I figure at least when they get their yearly reviews or visits from District Managers they'll be informed of the problem.

 

Complaining really isn't something I'm into very much. Figuring out the system will do you better in my opinion. You get away with a couple of good deals when you complain, but figuring out the system will get you much further.

Part of these might be a big purchase that's on sale and putting it on Lay Away until you have the cash for it. You can save a couple hundred without the need for a credit card and pick it up a few weeks later still on that red hot sale.

Another thing is that people are just working a job and there are those who are going to be very very good and those who are not going to care. You find someone who doesn't care about the policy and treat them like a human and you're going to get off with a lot more than just an item or two.

For real complaints though, I grew up in a military family, chain of command. Manager to manager to manager. I don't often complain but when I do, I follow that chain.

 

I email the head office also. Nobody is more worried about the bottom line than a suit.

 

Its rare for me to out and out make a formal complaint about service probably because I don't find it major enough to bother. If I find some service unacceptable enough I usually just grumble about it without notifying any one. If there was a situation that was REALLY major I would probably call the manager of the store where I had the negative experience but it would have to be really bad for me to do that.

 

I usually talk to the manager on duty first. If that does not resolve the issue, I will write an email I the corporate office. I used to work retail and getting a complaint through home office was a big deal. You would immediately be written up and sometimes fired on the spot without them listening to your side of the story.

 

I don't usually complain to people anymore. I used to go tell the manager if they were in sight, but managers don't really do anything most of the time, they know what's going on but still do nothing, cause it's easier that way. So I have gotten to publish complaints on social media, so that they actually get seen. Most big companies that have customer service have a special division that deals only with social media and online complaints, because those are seen by a lot of people so they have priority.

 

I did think of one situation where I actually did complain to someone and it didn't work out for me at all.

I went to a hardware store to get some bushes for my house. There was suppose to be some sales there so we picked up a couple of bushes and then went to go check out. When we arrived at checkout the price was wrong. It was 10 dollars more per bush than what it should have been. So, I told them that its wrong. The manager went and looked at where I got the bushes from. It took awhile and when the manager returned she said that her people put it under the wrong price and on the wrong palet of sales items. I expected to get the price that it was advertised under but in the end that didn't happen. My wife liked those bushes a lot so I took them anyway. A heat wave later they died and the warranty was not honored.

Gotta be careful out there.

 

Depends on what is wrong. Bad customer service should be reported to the headquarters if its a large company. Bad products should be reported to the manufacturer with details and copy of receipt. When a person has details about the problem, that helps their case more. Manufacturers often give great incentives for faulty products. However, this can depend on the severity.

 

I write an email too, because the workers at my local Walmart are rude and don't care, but the customer service reps on the website are super polite and do their best to help.
I've had better luck with getting problems resolved by emailing versus just talking to an associate at the store.

 

I figure it's usually best to talk to corporate when you have a concern or complaint. Managers at the store are sometimes the sleaziest and will sweep you under the rug if they can, whereas corporate will do their best to accommodate you and crash the gavel down on the individual store. Personally, I'm a little shaky laying into customer service or a specific employee as I figure they're everyday people like me and they just follow the rules. Whereas I always see corporate as just a store name or brand and less human-like.

 

These days I usually just voice my questions and opinions via social sites, particularly twitter as much as possible. I don't really complain that often nowadays, though, fortunately, since companies around here seem to have been stepping up their game, but whenever I have some concerns I just use twitter and I always get a very swift response.

 

I echo those who say you should speak to the manager first. To be fair give then a chance to rectify the situation and then tell them that you would like contact details for Head Office as you are not satisfied. That usually gets them wanting to resolve things, because going straight to Head Office means they will have to contact the store and they will say, that you never attempted to speak to them and if you had they would have resolved it.
Only go to Head Office as a last resort, because they will side with the employee if you look like you want to complain with out trying to find a solution.

Also remember you are toying with someones job. I was called up when I was younger working in retail. It wasn't on my department and I was doing my stock take and someone wanted me to do a transaction which I did, but they complained I didn't smile and wrote in to complain.

I have had people refuse to give me their name when I have asked. I don't complain that much, but will if I need to and get results.

 

If the customer service overall is poor and slow, it's really a bigger problem with the store and not worth taking it out on the individual employees. They are likely being paid minimum wage and being treated like crap. It's the managers responsibility to set the tone and keep their employees motivated and trained properly. If they are failing to do this, the blame falls on them as far as I'm concerned, and it shows in their employees' apathy. I prefer to speak with a manager, after all they are the ones getting paid to put up with customers complaints, not the cashiers. I can't stand it when managers just lock themselves in their offices all day and let the underpaid minimum wage workers deal with all the complaints themselves.

If it appears to be an isolated incident with one employee, and the store otherwise provides good service, I will usually just ditch them and go to another employee for help, instead of escalating it. They would have to do something particularly insulting or wasting my money/time for me to get a manager involved. For the most part I try to empathize with them, they probably don't want to be there - I wouldn't want to be in their shoes either.

 

I mostly buy all my software (games) online, so if I ever had to complain about it, I directly go to their website and contact them through whichever means possible. On the other hand, if I have to return something I didn't like, I make sure that I contact the store manger as soon as possible. I try to get in touch with the pickup man as well.

 

You can always try the angry letter route. Or you can phone the headquarters and most likely they will work with you if it is a large company like Walmart or Costco. They may ask for some proof of purchase if you have a complaint about an item purchased. If it is something like a cashier acting badly because he/she had a bad day then most likely I would write that off.