We have all seen posts on the forums with people saying they will never buy a product or shop somewhere again after bad service – but how much do you stick to those threats?
I made complaints to two companies in December, one from a company I had sent a compliment to before but I must have bought an item a bad batch. It was a polite email letting them know that there was an issue with the batch number and expiry date so they could look into it. A month later they had not responded at all and after seeing a facebook post from them, I sent the facebook rep a message about my email. They responded to my original email but did not even apologize for the month it took to reply. Just asked for my address so they could send me a coupon to replace the item. We all like coupons but to not apologize for making someone wait a month for a reply and not addressing the wait time?
The other was a store refusing all coupons because ‘they are all fraud’, I got an email back saying they would get in touch with the store and get back to me within 3 business days – that was on Dec 20th. Yesterday I received an auto-generated email from them saying that they were so happy my issue had been resolved and asked me to take a survey on my experience with their customer service which got them a few choice words in the comment box of the survey.
I honestly think that I will buy neither the product nor shop in that store again. I didn’t expect anything but a ‘sorry you experienced this’ no freebies etc, just an apology.
Are you swayed by bad customer service? How many people do you tell about a bad experience and do you wait for them to attempt to fix an issue before you share your experiences?
I will normally complain (for a valid reason) the first time i will go back (unless it was something really bad) if it happens again that is when i do not go back. I truly believe they should have a chance to fix the problem
Absolutely! Some stores companies I have never done business with again AND I warn my friends about them. Others I use on rare occasions only out of neccesity.
It’s one thing to have a bad experience from a mistake or whatever reason but it’s entirely different to get attitude and especially after pointing out the mistake. Lately I’m seeing this a lot from all
The customer is no longer appreciated and they don’t care whether you shop at their store or not, which is sad. I don’t intend to make a generalized statement about ALL stores but I’m seeing quite a lot of it from a wide range of stores in a wide range of my city.
At first I ask to correct the problem, if they don’t or refuse to I will often complain to higher management and if nothing is done then I will warn others and share my experience (whether to people I know, friends, family or through online reviews) and usually not return to the store (or stop buying from the chain entirely)
From the looks of the comments posted here so far it, seems to me the people complaining here are complaining that they did not get their way in the store. My advice is if you don’t like a stores policies don’t shop there. There are a large number of customers that complain about ridiculous things and make incredible demands. The treatment you receive as a customer is related to the way you treat the employee you are talking to. Policies are created in stores to protect stores as there are very many manipulative people out there. This is why there are general policies. It is not a case by case system. Policies are clearly stated on receipts so READ THEM. Stores do not accept washed and worn or used merchandise, so no matter what excuse you think of providing, stores are getting tougher at refusing refunds for such ridiculous complaints. Stores aren’t flea markets or bazaars, you can’t negotiate prices. If a store loses a manipulative customer they don’t care because they still have the frequent respectful customers to keep them afloat. RESPECT IS A TWO WAY STREET.
Blu3skies
In the cases I mentioned, the store was not following their own policies (I used to shop there a lot, it was one cashier) and it was a faulty product – so far all the comments seem like they would give the store a second chance, not customers expecting the world because they messed up themselves
We are perfectly aware of store policies, the funny part is when the staff are not following their OWN policies. I’m not the complaining type but when it’s your right to get something, you should get it and not be cheated out of it because the employees are too lazy to deal with you.
It depends on how bad it is. Not having an email responded to quickly enough wouldn’t keep me from going back. I also wouldn’t necessarilly see one bad interaction with one cashier as a reflection on the entire store. It would take a really horrific experience or repeated bad experiences for me.
Blu3skies
I really do not know where you got the idea we are complaining and upset we didn’t get our way and that we do not respect the employees. None of us stated really what the situation was they we mentioned it to the company. A lot of times i prefer of looking at it as informing the company if something has happened to me as a customer (service wise) it probably has happened to others and i want that company to know what is going on so that they can fix it. I have walked into stores gone up to the counter to get something (this store you need to address the employee to get what you need you cannot take it yourself) and have been completely ignored by the employees who continued to take people behind me. That is something a company needs to know about.
I absolutely have banned places and stuck to it… one place I voiced a complaint and got an incredibly rude response from the customer service rep, googling revealed I was not the only one who had a bad customer service experience, and I just refuse to support that type of business. Blu3skies, it sounds like you have a REALLY negative view of customers…that’s usually the type of attitude that leads to these types of incidents to begin with. I really have to question whether ‘a large number’ of people are really ‘ridiculous’ and making ‘incredible demands’. There is a lot of information posted on the forums and blog here about coupon policies, I would say we often know the policy better than cashiers!! I have had MANY MANY times to correct cashiers and ask to speak to a supervisor or manager because I was told “no, you can’t do that”, but it was in fact stated outright in their coupon policy that I could.
I have never stopped shopping from a certain store, I just avoid the staff that is disrespectful.
I have stopped shopping at the No Frills at Coxwell and Gerrard because of a bad experience on more then one occasion I went back a couple of times before I got fed up but I have gone to other locations but I have found that I don’t go as much as I once did because I can price match at other stores and would rather give my mother.
I have written complaints before and never got replies or got very rude replies this is when I try not to go to that store again.
We had a bad experience with Future Shop. Paid for warrenty on a phone we bought, then when we wanted to use the warrenty, they wouldn’t do it, so basically we gave them free money for a warrenty that wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. From then on we have never gone to that store again.
There are many places and companies I’ve blacklisted because of really bad customer service. From really rude servers/staff to not honoring a warranty it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Yes… any place I go to that I have a problem with the service I usually make a complaint, and if it is not resolved to my liking, I never shop there again and tell others about my experience
.
There are exceptions though, and they include places where you can kinda forgive bad service such as busy hours in a supermarket and walmart during the holidays
I have registered complaints I believe twice. Once was Walmart, where the employee flipped out on me because she incorrectly put in my coupons and the total came out to a significant amount when I was supposed to have zero, as all my coupons were fpcs that included tax. She lost her marbles at me when I mentioned it and was literally vibrating with anger and I could hear her muttering things about me as I walked away to the supervisor with her.
I was upset so I emailed the store and told them very simply what had happened and that I really do not think she is a good fit to cashier, as she seemed to lose it over what was really a trivial thing and I as a cashier would have had no issue with.
The other time was Zellers, an employee again lost it at me when she couldn’t figure out how to put my coupons in the system, and screamed at me and shoved my items at me and told me to just get out. I left crying. In that letter I also commented to head office about how horribly untidy the store was, and made short mention that many of the other cashiers are impolite, often hostile and create an uncomfortable shopping environment.
In both cases, I didn’t ask for anything. I didn’t demand anyone be fired. I just reported the incidents to the head offices of both stores. I think good customer service is a must. I try so hard to give it and screaming at a customer is not okay. Making a customer cry is not okay.
I don’t complain about a person or a situation unless it’s a huge deal.
Absolutely had done complaints. Walmart’s way of handling complaints is the worst. Blacklisted the Walmart at Markville Mall, Markham, Toronto and the Walmart at Agicourt, Toronto. Also will not go to the Old Navy at the Markville Mall. I need to do my shopping if those particular stores did not value me as their customers: gave me shxx over me using one $1 off printable coupon as they denied it as it was a “photocopy”, or claimed they they were not valid as there were newer coupons from the manufacturers but mine were still within the expiration dates, forced me to pay tax on “free product coupons”: provincial law: no tax on free product coupons, I will definitely spend my money somewhere else. Stores don’t really care much about customer service: or some cashiers hate their jobs and have to revenge on the customers.
How about rude customers. Snapping at you when you did nothing wrong, only tried to help them out. It goes both ways. Sometimes, the employee would rather see you go elsewhere when they’re treated poorly so frequently.
I too am disappointed in many companies responses to concerns about their product or service. I had an issue with ‘Lean Cuisine’ that took 6 months to resolve. It took about 8 emails to finally get the gift card I was told I would be receiving, and when they finally agreed to send it, promising it would arrive in a week, a month later I was still waiting. When I emailed them (on a Mon) letting them know that I still hadn’t received it, I was told that they had sent it and had been having problems with Canada Post, and that they would send it out again. I received it on Thurs that week, and the letter was dated Mondays date, so I really don’t believe that the other one was lost. I think it was just an excuse to use because they just didn’t want to send it to me after all. As for my comments about them changing the points program, I was told that they were making it better for ‘us’, and when I replied back questioning how it was becoming better, I was ignored. I am still waiting from another company for a reply to my email that I sent Dec 30th, after being told by a representative on the phone that someone would get back to me in a week or less. I think that some companies just don’t care anymore, because they figure that there will be someone in line behind you to take their place. But that won’t always be the case, so companies should treat all their customers with care and respect.
I’m sure I’ve had bad service over the years at many places but only 1 company was so bad I don’t shop there anymore. I had a terrible experience with a dept. store (who also has a catalogue). It wasn’t the store but the service I received from their customer service dept when I needed my fridge repaired. I’ve avoided them like the plague and won’t look at their flyers either.
I have never made a complaint to head office before but there are stores I avoid like the plague. If I get bad service at a place, I chalk it up to a bad apple employee so I do return and often find better ones. The stores I avoid are the ones who advertise things in their flyer and don’t even carry them on the shelves. That’s the worst kind of customer service: bait and switch.
I don’t know how many times I have gone into Sobeys Urban Fresh with a list of 10 items and they don’t even carry nine of them, even though these items were advertised in their flyer.
Everytime we’ve tried going to No Frills, doesn’t matter which location, it has not had enough stock to cover the Saturday shoppers let alone the rest of the week.
From the sounds of it, guess I should complain to head office! Maybe things will change
There are stores I don’t like because they have been rude (like Toys R Us hanging up on me … And I was being very polite, just asking a question not complaining!) but have to still shop there out of necessity. Sometimes I can find an alternate place to buy the same things, and if i do, they get my business instead.
I will not return to a store where the service is crappy. it doesn’t have to a huge incident that turns me away. just sub-par service in general is enough to turn me away and never return
On the flip side, if I receive excellent customer service I make a point of mentioning it to a supervisor. It’s easy to complain, but can you say you go out of your way to make sure good service is rewarded?
Agreed GuestSpeaker, I once encountered the most cheerful cashier and as I was leaving the store the bag broke and she rushed over with more bags and helped pick the items up. I emailed the manager and he called to thank me as he was trying to decide on a promotion and my compliment made his decision easier
Yes, I have stopped shopping at certain stores or brands due to bad services. I do not reward bad behaviours.
I am a reasonably good customer, I don’t ask for much. I want full attention, polite and knowledgeable staff. I want to be able to return or exchange when it is clearly not my fault. I don’t even get mad when the item is defective. I understand that this kind of thing happens. Don’t treat me like I buy something, break it and return it just to screw with you.
I always try to resolve it with the store first. I’m often more impressed by business who deal with problems in a graceful manner such as Dollarama. They thank me for telling them a problem about a product and sent me a $10 gift card. Even without the GC, I would have been happy that they listened to me.
On the other hand, I stopped shopping at The Bay, Philosophy, Clinique, or eat at Lick’s and Arby’s.
I have problem with banks, however. Is it a Canadian thing or what? The bank tellers are always chatting to each other about lunch and what not while handling my transaction. It is very unprofessional! I can’t stopped using banks… Any suggestions?
I have complained before, but not in a hostile manner. Losing ones temper in an effort to get something free is wrong. Customer service reps are people with feelings too. They are following store protocols. I knew a guy who would start yelling and swearing in an effort to get his way.
I usually will go back to a business to give them another chance. The one exception was, when 15 years ago, I found a long hair in my food at Montana’s. When the server came to ask how our meal was, I quietly explained why I was not eating. Montana’s in no way tried to make up for this. It would not have mattered because finding hair in food is a deal breaker. I would not ever have returned if they offered to pay me to eat there.
Bad service happens all the time, I go to twitter, several stores have their own responders. But since I ride the bus, I am a little limited in places I wont go.
Service in the U.S. is much better
I am definitely swayed by bad customer service and try to avoid shopping at that particular store.. And before buying anything online I will google for reviews and will usually avoid businesses that have received numerous bad customer reviews.
It is not a cashier or employee people should be complaining about but this is what I see in this post it’s always the person not the policy that is being blamed for people’s bad experiences. When customer’s yell at you for no reason, kiss their teeth, snap or whistle at me to get my attention meanwhile I am helping someone out you bet I will have a negative opinion about customers. Don’t get me wrong there are great customers out there who I have served and and will continue to do so. However, you can bet that if you are a repeatedly coming in to complain about one product or another you can bet the managers will remember who you are and will give you a proper schooling about policies and tell you if you don’t like them then don’t return to shop. Plus if you keep getting screwed over at stores you clearly aren’t shopping smartly, READ POLICIES FIRST, it will save you stress. Don’t complain to a store employee about policies they aren’t the owners of the stores so they can’t do anything to change things, talk to head office about policies. However I would never complain about a rude sales associate,that type of behaviour is called snitching and is downright horrible, the employee generally makes only $10.25 an hour and you should be more mindful that they have feeling too and aren’t just sales associates.
Thank you cdngal75 for your post, the way people address their problems to store employees and management makes a huge difference. If people are hostile and yelling to get things free or significantly reduced because so and so or are hurling verbal assaults and profanities than the problem will be dealt differently. Your story about customers hurling insults and displaying belligerent behaviour is quite common and no employee should have to deal with a situation where they are being threatened. The service that you receive in a restaurant or food establishment is about health and safety therefore it is more important than the service you received at for example in a furniture store as where your health isn’t immediately in danger.
Depends on the situation, but I always assume that any unpleasant experience is a one-time thing and give the business another chance (or several more chances, depending on the situation). I have given a business too many chances in the past: I had been taking my vehicle to the dealer’s garage for maintenance, as I preferred to bring it to who knows this model the best. The first mess-up I took to be an oversight. We’re all human, after all. The second mess-up, I thought that maybe it was a new mechanic. The third time, they told me they would give me free oil changes for a year for their mistake, so, um….okay? Maybe? By that point I had had enough and went to an independent mechanic who told me that the issue my car was still having was caused shoddy workmanship by my previous mechanic. AAAARRRRRGGHH! So I either had to go back, or pay AGAIN to have it repaired by someone else. I went back, requesting an oil change at the same time (as I was promised they were free for a year). Then they claimed that there was no note in my file about free oil changes. (*&*(#&^$^(#*&)%&^@*^ They did give that one to me for free, but that was it. GOODBYE. *sigh* there’s my rant.
I would like to add that I was never rude to those I was dealing with, trying to give the the benefit of a doubt. I did not tell them that I wasn’t coming back (I feared having to eat my words based on having to go back already), but they probably knew because I brought the report from my new mechanic…Anyway, people make mistakes sometimes. But there’s a limit to how many mistakes I think is acceptable.
Funny there should be a post about this! I’ve had my fair share of ‘disgruntled’ employees. But there are 2 that stand out the most. One being the most recent. It had to do with Sears. Not the actual store, but the pick up center where I went to retrieve my package. I had ordered an item over the phone, paid with my credit card, and was told of the delivery date. When the item arrived at the store, and I went to pick it up, the employee was very rude!! She told me that I had to pay with my credit card and that this was unacceptable! needless to say that I was blown away with that—I HAD paid for the item with my credit card. What the heck?? (Turns out, the person whom I had placed the order with had entered my card wrong, but still placed my order) Anyhow, once aid, she brought out my package and LITERALLY THREW it int the aisle! i was so taken aback,! But I was irate inside. When I got home, I called sears, spoke to a rep and they took up the situation themselves. Apparently it wasn’t the first complaint about that pick up store. Since then, I have bought other things from Sears, but have never returned to that store since.
The other time was with a bank that I had been dealing for almost 20 years. Had excellent service, until i moved out of the city, and transferred my account. WELL! the branch customer is just awful! They will not even serve me or my husband in our language of choice, which is English. I am perfectly bilingual, but when I want to be served in English, I have the right to be served in English. One particular teller even went as far as to tell e that we are in Quebec, and we are to ONLY speak French! Are you kidding me???? I called the head office, and made a complaint against that woman. Since then I have closed my account and have opened an account with their competitors across the street. It’s a shame as i was really pleased with my account everywhere else, except that branch.
Usually when I have a crabby ass employee, I end up smiling and taking my change, and saying sweetly, ‘Have a nice day!’ just to throw them off! lol
I will wait a bit to return, but I will give them a second chance. If I have another bad experience I will never go back.
What burns my butt is going to stores for flyer items and the same store never has stuff I go for… Haven’t been into my local Home Hardware for 4 years now.. got fed up of them never stocking flyer items.
Won’t go to Montana’s ever again. We bought a coupon book that had Montana’s in it so we went in to use them, at the end of dinner when we went to pay we were told we couldn’t use them (the date was still valid). They said they posted a notice on the door stating that these couldn’t be used on a Sat/Sun. When I said where, the server pointed at the doors, which were propped opened because it was summer, so all that was showing was the back of a piece of paper. I spoke to the manager and she said, sorry. I said sorry, but I was never coming back again (as if the manager cares!!!). I should have written to head office but couldn’t be bothered. We use to go there for birthdays to get pics with the stupid bull horns… we haven’t been in about 8 years now!
It really depends on the situation and the solution or lack of. I can’t say I’ve ever really stopped shopping at a particular company, but one business, I will turn around and leave if a specific cashier is there and return another day. I agree, no cashier should ever reduce someone to crying and in this case she had done so to me. The management resolved it wonderfully, and I was not the only customer who had difficulties with that particular cashier. I just choose to never deal with her again, but will go back to the company. One other business I do tend to avoid based on the employees arguing over coupons with customers and not following their own policy, instead I price match at a local competitor and avoid the confrontation. Occasionally I will go in and buy a few specific items, but that is all.
If i get REALLY bad service then I’ll usually email head office to complain. If they reply with a nice email saying sorry and that they’ll be sure this doesn’t happen again then okay, I will return to the store assuming that they do fix the problem. If they reply with just an automated message then I will assume that they have no intentions of fixing their customer service and I won’t return.
Bad service is enough to drive me away even if they have really good prices.
I am also a person to complement an employee when I have received excellent service. I ask for the manager and then tell them what a pleasant person or how helpful they were. I go out of my way to make sure that the good employees are recognized.
This thread has made me think. When I’m happy and compliment the server/cashier/sales associate, I really need to contact management too!
And yes, there are some places I will not return (both in Canada and the US – let’s not praise one over the other). And some places where I shake my head wondering WHY do I keep going back (can you say “convenience”?). The coupon thing is an on-going battle – one that’s NOT to be fought with the cashier. They’re just trying to keep up with store policy which possibly changes manager to manager and day to day.
And yes, I’ve even been THAT customer. Car dealership installing a $200+ part without phoning for approval. Apparently they’d ordered in in a couple of months earlier because my vehicle needed it. They just forgot to mention it to me and note in on the previous maintenance report.
I definately have a few stores that I refuse to shop at any more because of a terrible customer service experience. And, I definately told others not to shop there too! Now, I’m not talking about a minor issue with a grouchy sales clerk or having to wait in line while a clerk was talking with a co-workers. I’m talking a bigger issue where I went back to the manager to have an issue resolved and there was no reasonable attempt made by the manager to address the issue to both our satisfactions. If a manager at least acknowledges my concerns and tries to address them even partially as a show of goodwill, then I’m ok with that but it’s when I’ve had experiences with either continued bad service or a manager who is totally uninterested in even trying to address a concern that I put the store on my black list. I do stick to it if I say I’m not going back to a store or service also.
I think I am qualified to make a fair comment here, as having worked in Retail/ Customer service for over 25 years, I have been, and seen both sides of the coin. Firstly, I would like to address all the customers out there who have never worked in my field before, you have no idea what we go thru on a daily basis, which is demanding, unreasonable, unfair customers, ridiculous customer/store policys, and huge $ goals to acheive. This adds stress to a low paying, thankless,dissrespected job. ( I often wonder why I stayed soooo long). That having been said, I switched jobs and do not longer have to deal with customers, but work with people who do. I love my job now! I also treat Retail people with respect and kindness as it is a two way street. The only time I lose it is when they treat me badly, and as I would never have done so to any customer in my life, I beg to wonder why they still are employed.
I would love to say yes, but usually no. It is the smaller stores if they have bad service I don’t go back but the big ones with no customer service know that we will be back or at least I will.
I had some serious issues when I was registering for my baby shower at Babies R Us, I tried to speak to the managers but they did not care so I took it to the head office and I got a standard reply thanking me for my input. So frustrating but not many other places to shop for what they have.
Walmart is another one, I have had issues (I am sure everyone has) but I won’t go anywhere else as I feel there really isn’t another choice so they don’t have to treat me well, I am always there regardless.
So I have not read all of the replies, but I need to say a few things. I work in customer service. Because of this, it irks me to no end when I see bad customer service. I understand people getting frustrated. I myself have gotten frustrated when I cannot figure things out on my till, especially when I know there is a way to do what I am trying to do.
Yes, I will make a complaint if there is an issue, and I will give time to resolve the problem. Sometimes it is just that people are uninformed, and other times it is downright rudeness. But I give them time to fix it. If there is a continual problem, I will avoid said cashier, or stop shopping at the store.
However, I get really tired of hearing “the customer is always right”. Because they are NOT. Most complaints/concerns/requests from customers are doable, and not out of line. However, there are people who make ridiculous requests, and then get upset and complain when we cannot do them.
I find that most people will complain about a store, but eventually over time they will go back to that store, me included sometimes. I guess I need to set a certain point of standards and stick to them depending on what the issue was.
On another note, I’m wonder if you’ve tried the app “Checkout 51” and if you have anything thoughts on it??
Yes, I do stop shopping at places or particular product after a bad experience. Depending on how bad the experience, sometimes I’ll give them a second choice.
The one time I was seriously unhappy was at a T&T where it serves chinese rice wrap made at the spot. In the past I get that almost once a week. However, one day I was there in line and there was one lady in front of me wanting to get 5 of them which I was there waiting in line alone for over 5 minutes while the server definitely noticed me waiting. When the lady in front of me was almost done, a man came and stood on the left side of the lady. After the lady left, the server served that man instead and I told her that I’ve been waiting for over 5min! She said the line starts on the LEFT side! I told her, if that was the case, tell me 5min ago when I first started lining up AND there’s NO indication ANYWHERE that the line starts on the left! In the past, people always lines up on the right anyways! She said she doesn’t care and started yelling saying that I wasn’t lining up and now wants to cut in line!! I wanted to make a complaint at the spot but couldn’t find the person in charge. I stopped purchasing hot food from T&T since that day.
Funny thing is that 2 weeks after that incident, they made an arrow to indicate where to line up and surprisingly it’s from the RIGHT side!
“Hi. Could you please help me with this?”
That sentence is the first step for anyone to receive really good customer service. I’ve been in Customer Service for 20+ years now. I’ll go out of my way to help the person who asks me for help for a legitimate issue. I’ll even try my best with angry or frustrated customers – so long as they aren’t attacking me personally. The quickest way to get me to stop caring about you is to call me names, be arrogant, or tell me my job. Feel free to complain about the company I’m working for (I might secretly share your thoughts), the product, the environment or whatever. We all need to blow off steam. But marching up to me and saying aggressively that I need to fix your problem isn’t the way.
Be sure you are being reasonable. Understand that I might not be able or willing to help you if it is outside our policies. Be willing to accept a “No, we can’t do that and this is why…” from customer service. It is fine to be persistent but the best way is to start with, “I’m sorry, I still don’t understand why….”
Set your expectations when presenting the customer service person with unusual situations. A couple of the posts in this thread seem like they were from extreme couponers. Although you are working within the system, you are doing something that is exceptional and rare. Of course the cashier is going to question when your 10 bags of items ring up to 99 cents total. Explain, teach, help them understand rather than argue. Then the next time you can seek out that cashier as one you don’t have to explain it all to again. Even many managers may not have encountered this and need it explained. Doing it this way allows the CS person to think how cool it is you do that rather than, “Oh crap, here comes that pain-in-the-arse customer again.”
I have very high customer service standards. I won’t return to a certain high end steak house because of an incident at one of their North Shore locations. My wife had an accident that was due to the restaurant’s negligence. I mentioned this to the hostess so the problem could be solved for others. The manager did come to our table later and check on my wife. But even though she was teary eyed, the manager seemed much more concerned to tell us information that covered their liability than care that my wife was hurt. I very rarely expect anything free. Yet in this case, a token free drink, appetizer, dessert, etc. was in order. Nope. That was it. There were other issues I saw but essentially it amounts to me not going to that chain anywhere again.
There are places within a very close walk to my home that I won’t go to simply because I don’t get greeted in a friendly way when I’m in the store. If I have to wait more than 5 minutes to be acknowledged by the server when I’ve been seated at a restaurant, I’ll leave. But I’m also willing to accept a service reps’ response showing me I did something wrong or they can’t help me. It works both ways.
Bottom line: You’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar. If you aren’t satisfied with something, let someone who has the power to change it know. If you aren’t satisfied with their response, let them know and shop somewhere else.
Years ago, I heard that customers will complain to at least 4 friends about bad service. But they will tell at least 8 friends about exceptional service.
After repeat cancelled orders from Penningtons online store(not having the item in stock). I will never shop there again. The last took over a week to receive a cancellation notice and was the straw that broke the camels back.