Please note - I am not saying that you should make complaints up here. All I am saying is that if there is something that is not right with the way that you have been treated, you should always let the company know, because there is a chance that they would want to give you a voucher by means of trying to make up whatever has gone wrong. Do you bother to complain when things happen to you? I always do. I will report on things that I have picked up from the shelves that are out of date, or damaged, or if a member of staff is rude to me I will report them, too. I estimate that certain companies have given me several hundred pounds in the past because of things that have gone wrong. But the way I see it, if I have spent money in their store, and they do not give me what I have paid for, I am well within my rights to complain. I don't do it to get a voucher, I do it so that the mistake will not happen again, but the voucher is often something that they will automatically send out as a goodwill gesture, which is fantastic.
I definitely don't remain quiet when it comes to old, spoilt or faulty products. Most of the time there is no problem, and the staff usually apologises and offers either an exchange or refund of the item. But I usually don't report on staff members that are rude to me, as I figure that we all have out bad days. I only complain about incidents where the sales person's behaviour was way out of order and caused me stress or loss of money.
I don't usually complain about bad service. I have complained about my food on a couple rare occasions and had my meal partially comped because of it. I probably could've done that more frequently, but I just don't like complaining like that usually.
There was a time I used to do a lot of complaining. Any little thing and it would push right over the edge. Just this week a check-out clerk was rude to me but I let it go and said thank you on my way out. Sometimes we need to lead by example. For the stuff I buy, should I get any that is expired or damaged then I'll return it but won't make much of a fuss about it.
LOL OP. I AM saying that you should make complaints. I've worked at several retail places and corporate chains and they don't respond to anything else. Trust me 99% of them do not care about their jobs and complaints need to be made. It's just how it is. And yes almost every time you complain they will just give you a gift card or coupon or something so you will have a better liking of the store or restaurant.
Flight companies use this as a normal part of their business. They use this to free up space on flights, when sometimes they know they are overselling a flight. I try to avoid flying in general because I've had issues in the past with flights being messed up and empty promises from the airliner. That being said, I have a sister who gets the majority of her flights free. She volunteers to sit out every flight and has a gathering of vouchers now from haggling with the airliner. "Free 200 dollar voucher. I'll do it for 400" she says. Eventually she somehow gets what she wants or some sort of deal in the middle.
I only complain if the service was below what was expected and there was an opportunity to rectify it and it was not taken up. I was on an adventure holiday where we paid the guide a kitty for our food while trekking. Instead he bought vodka each night with our kitty money and treated some of the porters really badly so I complained on the spot and when he did nothing, I complained to the head office. They offered my a voucher which I said I would never use and I have always advised people against using them. I think if we give the company a chance to make thing right and then they choose not to, then we should complain.
I've only complained once because a food product was really bad and the company sent me a voucher. I tried these new cold cuts that were supposed to be sliced Sriracha chicken. I love Sriracha so I was excited to try these cold cuts. It turns out that these cold cuts had no Sriracha in them, no heat, no taste, just salt and red food coloring. I complained to Hormel because I felt ripped off and lied to and they sent me a free item coupon, which I used to buy their bacon. Don't mess with my Asian hot sauce. If you're going to sell Sriracha chicken cold cuts, there should be Sriracha in them.
I wouldn't recommend getting into the habit of complaining about every little thing, and making a mountain out of a molehill over little problems, just with the mindset that you are on a mission to get freebies. I would only complain within reason. You could potentially cost someone their job just because you were trying to score a free coupon or voucher on something, which is not cool at all. Stores have gotten so huge these days and employees are paid so little to do so much, that it's inevitable something may stay on the shelf too long from time to time or get overlooked. Simply let a staff member know, don't get them in trouble with management over something like that. If it was something like, I saw a rat running through the produce section, then I would definitely get a manager (this has happened to me, lol). If too many people complain too often, and too many freebies are given out, they are either going to simply raise prices and/or stop giving out so many vouchers.
I'm not the usual complainer and have only done so 3-4 times in cases of exceptionally bad service. The last time I did this was back in April at a costa coffee branch. As a result of this I ended up getting a costa reward card loaded up with £7 worth of discounts, which I was very pleased with.
If I am to be completely honest, I did have troubles with certain products from certain companies but not with specific services though. I do remember though being at a local restaurant some time ago and I ordered a big sandwhich with bacon and olives and mushrooms, it was a local specialty and I had that before at their place and it was awesome. But this time they served it luke warm to cold almost, and the taste is nowhere near the same, so all I did was go to the counter to tell them that my sandwhich was cold, the serving lady gave me a snide look and response, like "yeah whatever, we'll get you another one" almost like abstaining from outright insulting me. I wanted to get a bag for the second one and they were like "what do you want now?". Very rude and I never went there again.
I complain if it's worth the time and effort. Sometimes I'd just let it go if I thought the service or product I got was close enough to what I was expecting or if I didn't think that it. Would be worth it even if they gave me a voucher such as if I didn't plan on returning to their establishment anyway. Sometimes I think getting a voucher would just force you back in there and I sometimes don't want to deal with having to feel like I need to just to make use of it. Though, I do try to voice my opinion as much as possible, not just when the service is bad but when it's good as well. I once got excellent customer service via phone and made a real effort to write to the company to note this.
I will complain if ever the item that I bought was defective, but if it's one of those little complaints, then I will usually just let it go. For example, it has happened many times that when I order food from home, I get served the smaller sized softdrink, I think it's just the regular one when I specifically told them to upsize it. I usually don't complain along those trivial levels of inconvenience.
