It pays to complain.

[Mottie]

I've been complaining lately with various companies and I’ve had a good result with all of 'em.

Bought a Karcher one day after the £50 cashback offer expired. Moaned, got my voucher.

Booked a 3 day break in a 5* hotel in Barcelona for our anniversary. Was due to be going on the 5th - 8th July. Booked it in January through Hotels.com and paid up front @£700 instead of at the hotel@£850. Non cancellable and non refundable. The wife is adamant we're not going even if restrictions are lifted as all the sites and attractions will be crowded. I see on the website the hotel has been closed since March 16th. I contacted them and they said basically, tough luck. Contacted Hotels.com and they also said tough luck, non cancellable. I told them I’m not cancelling but they can’t provide what I’ve paid for. They said they could perhaps change the dates or give me a credit. I said **** off, I want a refund. They’re now refunding me.

Finally, my son bought me some socks for Christmas. Three pairs @15 a pair from The London Sock Company. I don’t wear them for work so they’ve probably been worn a dozen/fifteen times at most. They fit and feel superb but I noticed that one pair (coincidentally my least favourite pair so had been worn less than the others) had completely worn through. They looked like I’d run a marathon in just a pair of socks!

I complained. This morning I received three new pairs in the post!

Now, with time on my hands, I'm wondering what I can complain about next. Hmmm, those flowers I bought my wife 6 days ago that were guaranteed to keep for 7 days are looking a bit droopy.......

 

[motorbiking]

were they a silk blend?

 

[Mottie]

were they a silk blend?

No. But looking at the labels, they are a different composition to the other two.

 

[johnny2007]

Once, as a bet, i complained about 3 large Heineken bottled beers being not of usual taste.
To my surprise I got a £15 voucher which tesco accepted without batting an eyelid.

 

[securespark]

I bet you walk around in socks indoors. My lads all do & the socks wear out ever so quick.
Especially if you catch it on a threshold strip screw or similar protrusion.

I remember in the 80's, my Gran bought a pack of cakes from M&S (slices) and on one was a crinkly piece of metal.

Wrote a letter of complaint to M&S and a week later there was a ring on the bell. I opened the door to find a bloke from Fox's (who made the cakes) on the doorstep carrying a huge basket stuffed with cakes and biscuits!

 

[Mottie]

Once, when we were in holiday in the Peak District I bought a packet of McVities choc digestive biscuits. They were much better than the ones we got dahn sarf. I wrote and told them so and asked whether they gave priority to their Northern customers. They wrote back and told me I wasn’t ‘Oop North’ as the Peak District was in the Midlands.

 

[Mottie]

I bet you walk around in socks indoors. My lads all do & the socks wear out ever so quick.

I do - you could have a point there. I’ll try going barefoot.

 

[bernardgreen]

Back in the 1960's my aunt found a metal nut in a can of soup. My uncle insisted on telling the manufacturers about the nut in case one of their machines was falling apart. ( He was an engineer ).

I think it was two or three boxes that were delivered, either way it was many tins of soup, but all the same flavour. My aunt never forgave him for not suggesting they sent a variety of flavours

 

[conny]

I got to the last biscuit in a packet of Macvities digestive and noticed there was something wrong with the surface texture.
Duly wrote a letter and sent with it the biscuit not expecting to hear anything. A few eeks later in work I get called to reception to take a phone call, (very frowned upon in those days), and it turned out to be from a sales rep of Macvities. He was in the area and wanted to call in and see me about my complaint. Turned out a piece of wheat hadn't been processed properly and he was very apologetic. Left me with a massive cardboard box, (you know the size cornflake boxes were delivered to the shops in and they were big enough for moving house!) which was packed with every variety of biscuits that they made.

 

[Mottie]

Booked a 3 day break in a 5* hotel in Barcelona for our anniversary. Was due to be going on the 5th - 8th July. Booked it in January through Hotels.com and paid up front @£700 instead of at the hotel@£850. Non cancellable and non refundable. The wife is adamant we're not going even if restrictions are lifted as all the sites and attractions will be crowded. I see on the website the hotel has been closed since March 16th. I contacted them and they said basically, tough luck. Contacted Hotels.com and they also said tough luck, non cancellable. I told them I’m not cancelling but they can’t provide what I’ve paid for. They said they could perhaps change the dates or give me a credit. I said **** off, I want a refund. They’re now refunding me.

Coincidentally, I’ve just received an email from EasyJet about the flights for this trip. According to them, they have not cancelled the flight but they are kindly allowing me to cancel and they will give a voucher for the full value plus a tenner bonus but I only have until 16th June to decide. One of the conditions is that anyone who accepts the voucher will not be eligible for a refund if the flight is cancelled. I think they’re trying it on and I’m betting they are going to cancel it. I’m going to call their bluff and wait it out.

 

[EddieM]

Many years ago I came up with the brainwave of writing (it was a long time ago) glowing letters of praise to companies whose products I liked.

Wow, the amount of freebies I got.




F.A.

 

[JohnD]

voucher

if they go bust, your voucher would become worthless.

 

[crystal ball]

Friend of the wifes, when asked at Premier Inn checkout if there was anything she did not like "The towels weren't very fluffy" full refund on the spot, we got a refund after being woken by a gaggle of "ladies" departing at 3am shouting at each other on the car park "Deirdre wheres me effing keys"

 

[Mottie]

There’s an independent department store near us https://www.roomes.co.uk/ where we buy quite a bit from. They genuinely do have good stuff in there. We once ordered an oak dresser from them and when they delivered it, they carefully unpacked it and left. When my wife came home she wanted it moving 6’ to the left. It was on a laminate floor so I heaved it across. They hadn’t removed a staple that had held a protective batten on the foot and it gouges a great mark in the floor. Luckily it was on the leading foot so the mark was underneath. I complained and they gave us a substantial cash settlement. Another time we bought a sofa from them and after about 6 months one of the seats became a bit saggy. They sent a specialist upholsterer round to examine it, he recommended denser foam and restrapping but they ordered new cushion inserts from Italy. They lasted another six months, the upholster came back again and thus time they allowed him to make the inserts himself. They lasted years until we got rid of it. Another time we bought a mirror from them. It was about £400. When I got it home and fitted to the wall, I noticed some slight delaminating in the cut glass which I thought would get worse as time went on. I phoned them up. No problem they said, and ordered us another one. That was the same when it arrived. They ordered another one. When it came in they phoned me up to to come up and inspect it. When I asked whether it was the same they said yes. I told them I was getting ****ed off with all this. They offered me a refund, I told them that because of the size of it, it have holes in my wall where it was mounted unless I could find one as big as that. They then said "How about a full refund and you keep the mirror". I agreed to that and the delamination has never got any worse. It’s been up about 10 years now. They must dread it when we walk in there!

 

[HERTS P&D]

One of your kids has drawn on that mirror with a red pen.

Andy