The Consumer Complaints Blog

In stark contrast to the Highland Farms meat incident a little while back, I found a couple of sites today that were fun and useful. The first is a spoof on the Matrix and has won some awards: The Meatrix. It’s just a quick look into the meat industry and the shitty way in which the large farming corporations are growing our meat and mistreating the animals in the process. No I’m not an animal activists. I fully endorse eating meat but I don’t believe that any creature should be immobilized in pens and made to stand in its own shit just so we can save a buck or two.

Is cheapness just as bad as corporate profits? If we keep sending the message that cheaper is better, won’t the big companies always try to cut costs at the expense of everything else? Maybe we should be saying that better is better.

From that site I came across this one: Eat Well Guide. The really cool thing about that site is that you can enter your postal code (or zip code) and find stores, farms, and restaurants in your area that offer naturally raised and organic foods. I’m in Toronto, Ontario and it seemed to work well for me. At least for the stores. It’s not perfect but what a great find for anyone that’s looking at eating healthier. It’s too bad the media continues to brainwash people into thinking that eating healthy means eating low fat food. Why do all the fat people always eat low fat and diet foods? If they actually worked, shouldn’t they be loosing weight?

Anyway that’s a whole other blog post. If you’re one of the people that has figured out that eating healthy means non poluted and naturally raised food, you can check out the Eat Well Guide. Use it to find a store in your area that offers an alternative to the same old shit from our supermarkets inferiormarkets today.

I’ve decided to start publishing positive experience in order to showcase incidents where companies “get it”. The goal being to reward those that do it right and to show those that don’t, that there is a right way and a wrong way to provide customer service. Maybe something will actually sink into their thick skulls.

Following is an exchange with Dominion. (A supermarket chain run by A&P. That’s for those not in Toronto or Canada.) Upon waiting in line for an insufferable amount of time for the 4th week in a row, I asked the cashier why there weren’t more people working in the evenings. The poor woman’s hands were flying as she was scanning food through. This was not the fault of the employees for once. She explained to me that I’d have to complain to the head office because there was nothing that she could personally do about it. I could find the number on my receipt.

Note for employers: This is an example of a good employee. She dealt with my question, gave no attitude and gave me a viable option. Dominion also got it right by including a customer service number at the bottom of their receipt. I didn’t use this and chose to write to them from their site instead.

This was submitted to them from the Dominion website.

Please add more cashiers at night at the 24hr DOminon located at Wilson and Keele. I go there about 4 times a week, and it’s always understaffed. ALthough most of the cashiers are efficient, there are usually only 2-3 working at night, and the lineups are terrible. It sometimes takes up to 30 minutes to be served! thank you

This was their first response.

Dear Mr. Smith,

Thank you very much for taking the time to write to us concerning your shopping experience at our Dominion store at 1090 Wilson Ave.

I have forwarded your concerns along to the store Manager, Dan Wright, for his review and investigation with his staff. I have asked the Manager to follow up with you regarding your concern.

Mr Smith, you are a valued customer in our store and I sincerely hope you will give Dominion another chance to satisfy you.

Best Regards,

Lucie Gignac

Customer Care Specialist
A&P Canada Co., a subsidiary of METRO INC.
1-877-763-7374

Then the manager from the store actually wrote!

Good Afternoon Mr. Smith

First let me apologise for the experience you had at my location. I would also like to assure you that I have taken corrective actions in order to fix the line up situation with the addition of not only more cashiers, but the timing in which they are scheduled. With the summer months now upon us we are finding our business to be much greater than expected during the evening hours and are working diligently to rectify any line ups over 3 – 5 minutes in length. I find this to be an acceptable number, however I do not find 20 – 30 minutes al all acceptable and will do whatever it takes to make this right. If you find yourself in a line up that exceeds my time frame, outside of extenuating circumstances please feel free to contact myself at the phone number or e-mail address below so I can continue to create an enjoyable shopping experience for you at my location. Also if you are ever in my store during daytime hours or on Saturday evening, please have them page me so that we may talk more in person. I look forward to keeping you as my customer and will do what is necessary to make this right.

Thank You
Dan Wright
Store Manager
Dominion store #493
1090 wilson ave.
North York, ont.
M3K 1G6

Now if they actually improve the situation with the long lines in the evening, I have to say that they certainly understand what customer service is all about. It’s too bad that they use preservatives on their cuts of pork but that’s a post for another day.

Good work on your customer service Dominion.

Lessons learned.

1. Empower the customer and the employee by providing a method for customer feedback and complaints. Putting the number right on the receipt was excellent.
2. Respond to the customers’ complaints right away. The followup from the Manager excellent. Just responding with a generic message and no actual action or followthrough is disingenuous and will actually make the customer fell less like to trust your brand and give valuable feedback in the future.
3. It pays to complain if you don’t like something. I have watched several people leave Dominion and abandon their purchase because of the long lines in the evening. They didn’t complain. The situation didn’t get any better and the store lost business. Not a good proposition for anyone.

If you’re experiencing bad customer service at a larger retailer, pick up the phone or mouse and make your voice heard.

Hi Penciltrick,

I have a complaint I would like to submit for your post. This is concerning a christmas cake company in Texas (specifically Collin Street Bakery, Corsicana, Texas). I wanted to vent my frustration on their mishandling of my customer account.

Different members of my family have been ordering from them in the last 20 years or so. Somewhere along the line, someone apparently (I have no idea who) has a payment dispute with them. This has nothing really to do with me, or so I thought. However, when I decided to order from them (online) they delayed my order and did not even process it. It was not until I inquired about the delay that they told me about a payment that I still owe them. It was the first time I made a purchase with them so I could not have possibly owed them anything. After investigating with one of the customer service people, it was found to be a case of mistaken identity. This person in question apparently has the same last name and the same address, however the first name is different (obviously).

To add insult to the injury, I ended up paying extra postage for express to amend the delayed shipment.

So after that, everything seems fine for the last four years, until last week. I decided that since I have been ordering to give them out as gifts, I will order one for myself. Lo and behold, my order was again delayed and a letter from one of the management concerning a payment that I owe them. I thought maybe my Visa information was wrong, however, I have received my statements and Collin Street has charged my Visa already for the orders I have made. I also manage to go through all the orders in the past (yes I still have all my Visa statements with me, thank gods). Every payment was accounted for and paid in full.

I looked through my old emails (yes I have those too), and found out that it was the same mistake again like four years ago. They thought I was someone else. I have written them but so far no response. And to think that in the last four years, they have been charging my card without question….I think they have to learn to check their records a bit more carefully.

I can forgive the first time it happened and dismiss that as misunderstanding (I mean mistakes do happen). However, this is the second time it happened and all it tells me is that they are pretty sloppy to be mixing up my account with someone else’s. So far I have not recieved an appology. I have, however, filed a report with the Better Business Bureau. I will just have to wait and see what happens.

Thanks for listening.

Lawrence

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

What is wrong with Papa John’s Pizza?
Let’s review:

This began on November 6, 2006…

I “plan ahead” ordered two pizzas, four hours early, yet received two cold pizzas an hour late and no offer of compensation when calling the location to complain.

In a gesture of “good will”, the delivery person showed up to our dimly lighted house at 830pm two hours after the pizzas finally arrived, to drop off 4 Cokes (btw, we only drink Diet Coke), in the process woke up my kids and dogs.

I send an email to Papa John’s to complain and get a format email in response suggesting I take it up on a local level.

I explain that I have done that already with no satisfactory resolution.

Shane Little, a franchisee in Tallahassee, Florida calls me three days later and we exchange several voice mails. When we finally speak on the phone, he explains that he is actually in Florida and was forwarded my complaint in error but understands my frustration, assuring me someone will get in touch with me who can help.

Still waiting. Welcome to my country. This is turning in to “service” economy–good luck! Good news is this is only a $24 meal, nothing more.

Thanks?

Mike Gelman
Silver Spring MD

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

What is wrong with Papa John’s Pizza?
Let’s review:

This began on November 6, 2006…

I “plan ahead” ordered two pizzas, four hours early, yet received two cold pizzas an hour late and no offer of compensation when calling the location to complain.

In a gesture of “good will”, the delivery person showed up to our dimly lighted house at 830pm two hours after the pizzas finally arrived, to drop off 4 Cokes (btw, we only drink Diet Coke), in the process woke up my kids and dogs.

I send an email to Papa John’s to complain and get a format email in response suggesting I take it up on a local level.

I explain that I have done that already with no satisfactory resolution.

Shane Little, a franchisee in Tallahassee, Florida calls me three days later and we exchange several voice mails. When we finally speak on the phone, he explains that he is actually in Florida and was forwarded my complaint in error but understands my frustration, assuring me someone will get in touch with me who can help.

Still waiting. Welcome to my country. This is turning in to “service” economy–good luck! Good news is this is only a $24 meal, nothing more.

Thanks?

Mike Gelman
Silver Spring MD

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.