Are You A Vocal Customer?

[Bini]

After shopping somewhere (online or at a store), do you ever take the time to give feedback to that business or company? If you do, have you found that your voice is heard and changes are made? If you don't, do you have a right to complain about products or customer service?

Just wondering. I'm just now filling out a survey for Pizza Hut. I never do this. That applies to filling out surveys and ordering from Pizza Hut too.

[bytebear]

I don't. but I have friends who use Yelp! fairly regularly, and in fact, we got to know the owner of our favorite Greek restaurant through those comments.

[pam]

I always fill out a comments section whenI get a delivery from Dominos. It's on their tracker that tracks your order. I especially give comments if their delivery driver was friendly.

I have filled out some complaint forms too from some companies such as Pizza Hut and have never heard a word.

Wow in reading this..sounds like all I do is order pizza. Which is really not true. It's rare. I am not really a fan of pizza. But I do love hotwings and that is what I usually order with a pizza for my kids.

Before I started my weight loss program for this year of course. :)

[Bini]

I always fill out a comments section whenI get a delivery from Dominos. It's on their tracker that tracks your order. I especially give comments if their delivery driver was friendly.

I have filled out some complaint forms too from some companies such as Pizza Hut and have never heard a word.

Wow in reading this..sounds like all I do is order pizza. Which is really not true. It's rare. I am not really a fan of pizza. But I do love hotwings and that is what I usually order with a pizza for my kids.

Before I started my weight loss program for this year of course. :)

Pizza is a heavy food but sometimes it's the ONLY thing that sounds good! I admit, I was the one craving it this time around. So I can't shift the blame on hubby. But typically, when pizza is ordered, we'll pop over to Costco and grab one. Get more for your money. And, it's pretty tasty too.

I think the last time I filled out a survey thingamabob was at the hospital.. Honestly, I didn't have a lot of great things to say about the nurses and aides but having worked in the medical field myself, I know how strenuous and stressful these jobs can be. So I ended up letting go of any issues I had with individual caretakers and highlighted one or two employees we (hubby and I) felt did a fantastic job. Not sure how far our comments and concerns go but hopefully someone with some degree of authority will read them and maybe give kudos to those individuals.

[miztrniceguy]

I regularly fill out feedback forms. Some when it is on my receipt, some I will pro-actively go to a company website and contact them that way. I do this for both good and bad feedback. I am always mindful if the rep/waitress/customer service person was the issue or not. I work in a call center, and it is very frustrating when a customer gets a survey about their phone experience and the rag on the company, say I was helpful, but in the numerical rating rate me low. It is rare tho. Sometimes I get good responses from companies. When I don't it affects me dealing with them again.

[mightynancy]

I call the management or send a note if service is especially good. I have emailed the contractor that provides the busing service for our school district - my daughter has had the NICEST bus drivers!

I also mailed a note to our JCPenney - on the day before Easter, the shoe department was a madhouse. The woman who waited on me and my toddler was unflappable, cheerful and competent.

It's more fun to report excellence...that said, I can't recall any customer service experiences that were truly atrocious.

[miztrniceguy]

When I visit businesses and the service is outstanding I take down the person's name so I can use it for feedback.

[john doe]

I usually put off the 'please fill out this survey' emails because they really don't mean anything unless you put your contact info down. I think they all go into a very large bucket and are generally meaningless when they do that. However, I have gone to restaurants' websites and filled out forms when they have failed to meet my expectations.

I have to say I was very pleased that when In-n-Out Burger put onions on a burger that I had requested not to have onions, they bent over backwards to contact me multiple times, fell over themselves apologizing, and sent me coupons for free meals to convince me to come back and try them again. I was shocked that they responded the very next business day. The store manager even called me twice to make sure I knew that he was going to address the problem. I had a total of 5 calls from them plus emails, all wanting to make sure I was happy with them.

McDonald's on the other hand, gravely disappointed me when I got home to find that the bottom half of my burger was not in the box. Someone had to have known that something was amiss when they laid the top half of the burger in the box and the patty was sitting directly on the cardboard. It's not rocket science, it's a burger. I went to McDonald's website and filled out a form, and heard nothing from anybody. No call, no email, nothing. A couple weeks later I got an email survey asking me to rate their response to my complaint. I told them I was very unhappy that no one had contacted me. I never heard from them again. Apparently McDonald's doesn't feel the need to make their customers happy.

[Mahone]

McDonald's on the other hand, gravely disappointed me when I got home to find that the bottom half of my burger was not in the box. Someone had to have known that something was amiss when they laid the top half of the burger in the box and the patty was sitting directly on the cardboard. It's not rocket science, it's a burger. I went to McDonald's website and filled out a form, and heard nothing from anybody. No call, no email, nothing. A couple weeks later I got an email survey asking me to rate their response to my complaint. I told them I was very unhappy that no one had contacted me. I never heard from them again. Apparently McDonald's doesn't feel the need to make their customers happy.

The one thing I usually notice in mcdonalds is that they are rushing around like mad men - clearly understaffed or under equipped to deal with the load at that time. Even when it feels empty, they are generally making preparations for when it'll be busy, and it's easy to make mistakes, even simple ones (have you never put your bread in the fridge and cheese in the cupboard?). They also have to deal with unreasonable members of the public, without straying from the "customer is always right" motto. I saw another instance of this last night, and I felt myself getting frustrated with her, and I wasn't even the target of her ventings.

So I do try and avoid making official complaints where possible (I may make unofficial complaints providing their manager never gets to hear it), and if I do, avoid naming individuals unless it explicitly has to be about them - I get worried that anyone named will end up a scape goat for what is a management failing. I would not want a mcjob, or a job like it, in a million years.

[pam]

McDonald's on the other hand, gravely disappointed me when I got home to find that the bottom half of my burger was not in the box. Someone had to have known that something was amiss when they laid the top half of the burger in the box and the patty was sitting directly on the cardboard. It's not rocket science, it's a burger. I went to McDonald's website and filled out a form, and heard nothing from anybody. No call, no email, nothing. A couple weeks later I got an email survey asking me to rate their response to my complaint. I told them I was very unhappy that no one had contacted me. I never heard from them again. Apparently McDonald's doesn't feel the need to make their customers happy.

Yet I have gotten quick responses from them. I filed a complaint about one McDonalds in particular. I got coupons for 4 free combo meals of my choice within 2 weeks.

[pam]

I recently went to lunch at Applebees with my mom. I ordered a chicken paradise salad. It was strange because the menu didn't mention anything about the chicken being seasoned with cajun seasoning. It was very spicy. I mentioned it to the manager as he came around. He asked me if they could make me another salad to take home more to my liking. I declined. But I thought the manager awesome that he even was willing to do something like that.

[Dravin]

Yet I have gotten quick responses from them. I filed a complaint about one McDonalds in particular. I got coupons for 4 free combo meals of my choice within 2 weeks.

Sounds like they don't like John Doe then. Maybe he banned one of their executives?

[Backroads]

I don't think I go out of my way to give compliments/complaints unless there is a customer survey--in which case I love filling those out. I rejoice everytime I get them at Petco because it gives me a coupon.

I don't like going out to eat with people who are extremely vocal about stuff. I have a friend who I avoid eating out with because she immediately starts looking for things that are wrong and it's just plain embarrassing.

[Bini]

Backroads, I don't mind when someone is extremely vocal when they have clearly been wronged by a business or company. I think it's important that something is said in hopes that improvements can be made and the same kind of poor treatment is not repeated. That said, I agree, it's wrong for customers to make false accusations or be purposefully difficult just to get a free meal ticket or freebie.

Yesterday I was out and about with hubby running errands and we needed to drop by "Ghetto-Mart", as we like to call it. Now, we don't call all Wal-Marts this, only this particular one that is located in downtown Salt Lake City. It's just filthy, the service is generally poor and you get a lot of shady characters in there. So as we're busily searching for some Italian Ice in the frozen food section, we're passed by a couple that are walking a dog on a leash. Don't get me wrong—I'm a huge animal lover BUT animals don't belong in stores where there is food UNLESS they are service pets. I've worked in the food industry at one point in my life and I know that this directly violates food safety codes. I almost said something to the people but from the looks of them, they didn't seem the type to care much of what I would have to say. By the time we were done grabbing all the miscellaneous stuff we needed, we just wanted to be out of there, and I never made a complaint. I regret it because this isn't the first time I've seen people bring in animals around their food department. Anyway, we usually try to avoid this place but there was no getting around it that day. But next time, I'm going to voice my opinion on it. Maybe someone will listen? Wow..

[miztrniceguy]

Bini, you can do it on wal-marts website.

[Backroads]

Backroads, I don't mind when someone is extremely vocal when they have clearly been wronged by a business or company. I think it's important that something is said in hopes that improvements can be made and the same kind of poor treatment is not repeated. That said, I agree, it's wrong for customers to make false accusations or be purposefully difficult just to get a free meal ticket or freebie.

Oh, I definitely agree that there are some things worth complaining about. For example, my brother and I went to lunch (at a very nice place) and there was glass in his food. I think that's a dangerous thing, and we mentioned it so no one else would wind up with glass in his food.

However, this friend of mine makes a habit of coming in with the intent of finding things wrong.

We went to Applebee's during a very crowded lunch hour. Even at that, the service was quite speedy. But not speedy enough for her, and she spoke very loudly about it and when she glimpsed the manager she demanded he come over and explain why it was taking so long (when it wasn't). At another place she also told us to start looking for hairs in the food.

I wanted to crawl underneath the table and pretend I wasn't with her.

[john doe]

Sounds like they don't like John Doe then. Maybe he banned one of their executives?

Yeah, you remember the guy. His sig was 'you want fries with that?'.

[Dravin]

Yeah, you remember the guy. His sig was 'you want fries with that?'.

Oh him. I just figured he was a Liberal Arts major.