OOh.. I love complaining!

[Tess]

Whenever I get service that I think is bad (ie, I wouldnt give to my customers at my shop), I have a habit of complaining! Past recent complaints have included

 

Waiting half an hour with lane light on in Hollywood Bowl to get a drink, before approaching staff to be told they were "training". I recieved 8 free game vouchers as compensation from area manager.

 

lol but why would you queue for half an hour for a drink ?! surely you would go and get one from burger king or the other places? not having a go lol idid you think if u waited long enough you could use it to your advantage? cause thats what i would have done

[AtticusFinch]

Complaining doesn't always make a difference though. I've recently had an incident where somebody stole two cheques of mine from the middle of a fresh chequebook and cashed one of them for almost a month of my wages. I'm still not completely sure how they managed to get hold of them, but the police are looking into it.

 

The bank refunded all of the money but I still made a complaint afterwards. My argument was that in 2007 a multi-billion pound bank should have a pattern recognition system for cheques where if the signature doesn't match with an electronically-stored version of my own signature, the cheque won't get cashed. I think that's a reasonable case. Upon receiving a copy of the stolen cheque, the signature looked nothing like mine.

 

I asked for the bank to cover one monthly mortgage repayment of mine as compensation (I also have my mortgage with them), which I thought was reasonable given the circumstances. They wrote to me yesterday though saying that they weren't going to give me anything. I'll be setting up a savings account in the next few months, so now that'll probably be with another bank instead.

[Bago]

Oh get a life! Stop making other people's life such a misery over such pointless little things. The people you complain to probably have a hard enough time in their job without petty compensation grabbers seeing what they can get by shouting and moaning.

Hear hear ! This is going to sound mean and controversial after all that's been written here.

 

I mean, I complain too, and I'm still kinda fed up with some stuff done to my house here and there, but I don't let it get to me so, and push that boundary so I get freebies.

 

I work with customers a lot, whether that is in an office, on an IT helpdesk, or whatever. I just feel proud, if I've done a good job. I don't try and push for freebies or anything.

 

My family have been in their own businesses for a long time, and we do get a lot of cheats too. So procedures are put into place to stop that from happening. It's one thing if someone has done something wrong, but it is another to be a mean customer and be bolshy over it. Sometimes people are seriously taking the mick.

 

I remember one demanding customer who said that an ordered item was missing. So we went to check out our own records, and because it was busy, I noted down his details and said to ring him back etc. Another staff went to check the records and realised that the customer was in the wrong. However, at the time of the demanding phone call, he said that the item should be delivered to his door asap, otherwise his meal would be spoilt. (When the business has no delivery service? ) I'm thinking, if everybody do as he said, right now, right then, the business would go down. Should everyone forget the other customers, abide by his rule, find a vehicle and drive to his place so that he gets the bestest of service while the other customers' meals are spoilt? I can sense that he wanted some kind of compensation or other. All I can say is that he may be refunded, and there is nothing I can do about it right at that moment in time, when everyone is fire-fighting. (Well, I didn't tell him that we were firefighting, and he didn;t need to know such things, but asking a business to do something out of their way so that it makes someone happy is taking the mick.) Customer services is there to inform customers of how the business works or to apologise when the service is bad due to mis-calculated circumstances. It is not a personal lifestyle service.

 

I was so glad when I found out that he himself made the wrong mistake on the order, and not us. Victory! Honesty is best policy. If you wanted to rob, at least tell us.

[Bago]

Complaining doesn't always make a difference though. I've recently had an incident where somebody stole two cheques of mine from the middle of a fresh chequebook and cashed one of them for almost a month of my wages. I'm still not completely sure how they managed to get hold of them, but the police are looking into it.

 

The bank refunded all of the money but I still made a complaint afterwards. My argument was that in 2007 a multi-billion pound bank should have a pattern recognition system for cheques where if the signature doesn't match with an electronically-stored version of my own signature, the cheque won't get cashed. I think that's a reasonable case. Upon receiving a copy of the stolen cheque, the signature looked nothing like mine.

 

I asked for the bank to cover one monthly mortgage repayment of mine as compensation (I also have my mortgage with them), which I thought was reasonable given the circumstances. They wrote to me yesterday though saying that they weren't going to give me anything. I'll be setting up a savings account in the next few months, so now that'll probably be with another bank instead.

Sorry to sound mean, but that is a ridiculous demand! The best you can do is ask for a formal apology. Which they should give, cos it is their system at fault and everything, but asking someone to pay your mortgage is overstepping that line to be honest. I don't know what you know about security systems, or financial processing and all the rest of it, but that is taking the mick.

 

Asking for vouchers. Asking for apologies. It's all very plausible and acceptable. If I was the customer service handler, I wouldn't bow to your request either. It's a business. Not a charity.

 

It does not matter how much the money the bank makes as a profit, but giving you free money is NOT how ANY business works. Neither do I think that they can get away from it as a company process. You're off your rockers.

[AtticusFinch]

Sorry to sound mean, but that is a ridiculous demand! The best you can do is ask for a formal apology. Which they should give, cos it is their system at fault and everything, but asking someone to pay your mortgage is overstepping that line to be honest. I don't know what you know about security systems, or financial processing and all the rest of it, but that is taking the mick.

 

Asking for vouchers. Asking for apologies. It's all very plausible and acceptable. If I was the customer service handler, I wouldn't bow to your request either. It's a business. Not a charity.

 

It does not matter how much the money the bank makes as a profit, but giving you free money is NOT how ANY business works. Neither do I think that they can get away from it as a company process. You're off your rockers.

 

I disagree. This isn't some corner shop who has to think carefully about every new piece of equipment they buy. It's one of the biggest banks in the world with millions of customers worldwide and a turnover of billions.

 

Banks exist by gambling our money on the stock exchange, futures markets etc and making large amounts of money in the process. If I'm prepared to store my money with them and enable them to do this, the least they can do is look after it properly.

 

If I'd bought something through an online site such as Play.com, some "master hacker" had broken through the site encryption, stolen my card details along with many others then stole money from my card, I wouldn't have expected the bank to stop this. I'd still have expected them to refund the money, but I'd have accepted that the theft wasn't their fault.

 

This case is their fault though IMO. A cheque with a signature completely different to mine should never have been cashed and it's a failure of their security system. Otherwise, what's to stop someone stealing one of your cheques, signing it as "Mickey Mouse" and taking your money?

 

One monthly mortgage repayment (less than £600) isn't excessive IMO. In fact it's a drop in the ocean to these people who only exist because we choose to place our money in their care.

[jenniflower]

Feedback is always good for a business to receive.

 

It's nice when companies offer you things so that they don't get bad press, but they don't have to.

If you really don't get what you want out of a company you can always use someone else can't you? Vote with your feet?

Never any point in phoning up and ranting, because - as dramadiva so hilariously points out - you are unlikely to be speaking to the correct person. A well written and reasonable letter will do the job, if you get something free, excellent, if not tough luck.

[Bago]

I disagree. This isn't some corner shop who has to think carefully about every new piece of equipment they buy. It's one of the biggest banks in the world with millions of customers worldwide and a turnover of billions.

 

Banks exist by gambling our money on the stock exchange, futures markets etc and making large amounts of money in the process. If I'm prepared to store my money with them and enable them to do this, the least they can do is look after it properly.

 

If I'd bought something through an online site such as Play.com, some "master hacker" had broken through the site encryption, stolen my card details along with many others then stole money from my card, I wouldn't have expected the bank to stop this. I'd still have expected them to refund the money, but I'd have accepted that the theft wasn't their fault.

 

This case is their fault though IMO. A cheque with a signature completely different to mine should never have been cashed and it's a failure of their security system. Otherwise, what's to stop someone stealing one of your cheques, signing it as "Mickey Mouse" and taking your money?

 

One monthly mortgage repayment (less than £600) isn't excessive IMO. In fact it's a drop in the ocean to these people who only exist because we choose to place our money in their care.

Okay, setting aside the point about how much a bank makes and how they run their business. Since you're not a stakeholder and have shares with them. What is your right?

 

Going back to your case. So you had two cheque frauds, and someone took money out of that account. Did you get the full amount back, with reimbursement from the bank and any occurred charges or whatever from other companies which hang on any direct debits etc?

 

[Added] I just read your post again from above. So your money has been refunded. What is the problem?

 

To me, it's clear, and how ever much people rant and rave about things. Business is business, and even businesses follow legal rules:

 

- Bank makes money by reinvestments on markets, that's their business method. What rights do individuals have with regards to this unless they are either

1) shareholders or

2) management?

 

- Bank fraud, and systems in place to eliminate frauds. Surely this takes time to implement, and it takes time for technologies to reach a certain foolproof stage before this is implemented? Even chip and PIN have taken a long time to be introduced into the UK. It's been used in countries like Switzerland for a long time. Swiss accounts have higher security methods. It takes money and resources for any blue chip to rollout to ALL countries.

 

- Customer services is for people to get the answer that they are looking for. Not for them to get free things as much as they can just because someone made a mistake. It's not a charity. It's a business.

 

- When we give money to a bank, I'm sure we needed to sign some form of documents and legal forms, which nobody reads or take time to read. Well, that is contractual. I don't think there will be anything in small prints which says "you will be reimbursed your money AND MORE".

 

 

Saying all the above Daley, I think that you have every right to be mad, cross or angry. However, even if I was the bank, I wouldn't give you free money. I cannot see that happening. Even if you write to entities like Watchdog, I doubt that they will endorse such demands.

 

If I was the manager, I probably sack the clerk who didn't check the cheque first before banking it. Or the fact that it was cashed with no other card as evidence at the time. I don't know which bank this is...and but I myself bank with HSBC, and I would've thought that most banking situation will need my switch card along with my cheque.

 

Someone told me that, they needed to give their NI number now to get money directly from the bank. So there you go, systems are being improved all of the time. I should've asked which bank they were on about.

[relost]

lol but why would you queue for half an hour for a drink ?! surely you would go and get one from burger king or the other places? not having a go lol idid you think if u waited long enough you could use it to your advantage? cause thats what i would have done

 

no the lane lights. as in you light you rlight when you ar eplaying, and we kept going to the bar and there as no one there or any staff around

 

sorry this seemed a bit abrupt. i was in a rush. we were mid game and had paid for 2 games, there was nobody on bar, or serving lanes, and no staff available at desk. sowe couldnt really leave to get a drink from elsewhere. also you arent allowed to bring other places food in. no not to our advantage, i would never complain just for the sake of complaining!

[bananapie]

Oh get a life! Stop making other people's life such a misery over such pointless little things. The people you complain to probably have a hard enough time in their job without petty compensation grabbers seeing what they can get by shouting and moaning.

I agree really. But it really depends on how much money is involved of course.

[relost]

Oh get a life! Stop making other people's life such a misery over such pointless little things. The people you complain to probably have a hard enough time in their job without petty compensation grabbers seeing what they can get by shouting and moaning.

 

who said anything about shouting? you assumed that i did this. I am a manager myself and we alway got taught on courses that people complain for a reason. I welcome complaints with open arms, as do most companies as it helps them to see what they can do better, and after all we do pay their wages!

 

I agree that everyone is entitled to their opinion, however I would never tell someone to get a life, I'm not here to argue!

When I pay over £12.00 for bowling, and can't get something as simple as a drink, then I have a reason to write a complaint. I never complain just to complain!

 

When I pay £13.00+ for a film I miss at least 15 minutes of the film at key scenes, then I'm entitled to complain. If you buy a DVD and get black screens at regular intervals, you wouldn't take it back? I think the majority of people would.

 

I complained to the O2 store as we were quite blatantly ripped off as the item we were told was out of stock was clearly in stock and I was lied to.

 

These complaints have happened over a year. The title of my thread may have mislead you to the fact that I look to complain wherever I go. This isn't the case. I used that title simply to draw attention to it, to get people's opinions.

 

I believe that people working in such industries should give good customer services. If I moaned just for the sake of moaning, because someone doesnt smile, or say please or thankyou then I would complain every day.

I receive what I class as not up to standard service most days, but I don't make a comment, I only do this when I believe it is to the extreme!

 

Being a person who uses leisure facilities around 5/6 times a week- eating at work, restaurants, cinema bowling etc etc then I think I'm entitled to complain 4 times out of 260 visits in a year!

 

Another thing I was taught was that for every customer that complains, 10 more suffer the same experience, but are "BRITISH" and don't complain.

I hope this clarifies things for you.