Writing An Effective Letter Of Complaint
Discussion
andygo said:
Here is my work in progress after a strange confrontation I had this afternoon. looks a bit odd here as I have bullet pointed a lot of it in my(unfinished) email
I purchased a pair of DC trainers from xxxxx (a surfing apparel shop)in a town on May 9th 2016 which I have been very pleased with up until a couple of days ago. They fitted well and were comfortable and looked pretty good.
blah ... blah
I still require my shoes replacing immediately and as a matter of principal would appreciate not being given the runaround by your supposed company policy, which according to Kieran, your retail guru with 10 years experience of annoying customers, flies in the face of common sense and good customer relations.
blah
as an FYI, in the above, you need 'principle', not 'principal'. I purchased a pair of DC trainers from xxxxx (a surfing apparel shop)in a town on May 9th 2016 which I have been very pleased with up until a couple of days ago. They fitted well and were comfortable and looked pretty good.
blah ... blah
I still require my shoes replacing immediately and as a matter of principal would appreciate not being given the runaround by your supposed company policy, which according to Kieran, your retail guru with 10 years experience of annoying customers, flies in the face of common sense and good customer relations.
blah
Nanook said:
Disastrous said:
Beats me. Still baffled as to why B&Q never came back to me on this effort:
Because you tried to be funny, and you swore.me said:
Hello,
I'm writing not so much to complain as to share with you my journey through the B and Q 'experience' this afternoon at your Great Western Road store in Glasgow.
Firstly, on requesting help pricing some unmarked tiles, a sales assistant helpfully asked us to wait while he dealt with another couple's request. No problem at all. We waited with the other couple and marvelled as a minor logistics operation unfolded before us. The aisle was taped off rigorously with safety tape and the assistant employed a mechanical platform which enabled him to see on to the top shelves, whereupon after about ten minutes he was able to report that whatever the other couple had been looking for wasn't in fact on the top shelf. I got the distinct impression they had been waiting some time for this bad news as they simply abandoned the rest of their shopping and left without purchasing anything. "Health and Safety - company policy!" Im sure you will respond. But allow me to offer a simple suggestion that might be quicker in future - the humble step ladder. You even sell them (aisle 27 if memory serves) and with a B and Q staff card would qualify for a healthy discount, I'm sure.
During this, I had decided we would be quicker if my partner waited whilst I queued to pay for the rest of our goods, along with a sample of the tile we were tying to price. My theory was that she would have got her answer by the time I had paid and we would be able to leave - a sound plan in theory, I sure you will agree.
It didn't work out quite like that though, sadly. The queue was rather long and unfortunately the poor girl operating the till seemed to have been very poorly trained, as each and every customer before me encountered a snag of some kind with their purchase, each of which needed the intervention of a supervisor to sort out. The man before me was buying a drill and the security tag couldn't be removed for instance, (if only we had been in a tool shop, I feel certain we could have found something able to remove it) whilst the lady before him didn't have the right barcode for her product. This became amusing and before long my fellow queuers and I were sharing knowing looks and rolled eyes.
But ever the optimist, my turn came and I stepped forward, ready to transact. Sadly, the tile sample I had selected (the one we were unable to find a price per box for, remember) didn't have a barcode. The girl was very apologetic and I must stress I don't blame her for any of this - more the general management and standard of training within the store - but I had to wait another 5 minutes whilst someone was summoned to help. Help she did, and returned after 5 more minutes with a bar code. I could see that my partner was now being served by the assistant mentioned at the beginning so it looked as if all was going to work out after all.
I paid for my sample and waited next to the till.
That was when my partner arrived to tell me that the tile I had just paid £1.98 for was from a discontinued range and wasn't actually for sale, despite me being able to buy a sample.
We queried the logic of purchasing a sample tile from a range that wasn't actually for sale and suggested politely that we get our money back. To my utter disbelief, we were told that to return the £1.98 tile (which in case I was unclear before, was from a range not actually for f
king sale!) we would have to queue up AGAIN, at the customer service desk and being a man not prone to exaggeration, I'm sure you will believe me when I tell you that this queue rivalled those once seen outside food banks in Communist Russia.
I'm afraid to say that at that point, my partner had simply had enough and threw the tile on the floor and we left. No doubt the entire store was closed whilst the ensuing health and safety crisis was swept up but I'm sure you'll agree that the whole escapade was nothing short of ridiculous. What should have been a five minute trip into the store turned into a half hour epic.
As mentioned at the start of my letter, I'm not writing to complain about the staff as I appreciate that they are doing the best with what they have been given but I would hope that you take the above comments in the spirit that they are intended and perhaps address the standard of training and management process within store.
It pains me to say that I have seen news reports of Third World riots that appear to operate with more efficiency, possibly even with a better customer experience, and I can assure you that we will most certainly NOT be buying the tiles (because they aren't for sale remember - perhaps we could buy several hundred sample tiles individually??) and will not be hurrying back to the Great Western Road store in the future.
Oh, one more thing: I had hoped to do this via your website but the online complaint form has a 255 character limit which seems remarkably self-confident, given our experience today.
Yours sincerely
Disastrous
I'm writing not so much to complain as to share with you my journey through the B and Q 'experience' this afternoon at your Great Western Road store in Glasgow.
Firstly, on requesting help pricing some unmarked tiles, a sales assistant helpfully asked us to wait while he dealt with another couple's request. No problem at all. We waited with the other couple and marvelled as a minor logistics operation unfolded before us. The aisle was taped off rigorously with safety tape and the assistant employed a mechanical platform which enabled him to see on to the top shelves, whereupon after about ten minutes he was able to report that whatever the other couple had been looking for wasn't in fact on the top shelf. I got the distinct impression they had been waiting some time for this bad news as they simply abandoned the rest of their shopping and left without purchasing anything. "Health and Safety - company policy!" Im sure you will respond. But allow me to offer a simple suggestion that might be quicker in future - the humble step ladder. You even sell them (aisle 27 if memory serves) and with a B and Q staff card would qualify for a healthy discount, I'm sure.
During this, I had decided we would be quicker if my partner waited whilst I queued to pay for the rest of our goods, along with a sample of the tile we were tying to price. My theory was that she would have got her answer by the time I had paid and we would be able to leave - a sound plan in theory, I sure you will agree.
It didn't work out quite like that though, sadly. The queue was rather long and unfortunately the poor girl operating the till seemed to have been very poorly trained, as each and every customer before me encountered a snag of some kind with their purchase, each of which needed the intervention of a supervisor to sort out. The man before me was buying a drill and the security tag couldn't be removed for instance, (if only we had been in a tool shop, I feel certain we could have found something able to remove it) whilst the lady before him didn't have the right barcode for her product. This became amusing and before long my fellow queuers and I were sharing knowing looks and rolled eyes.
But ever the optimist, my turn came and I stepped forward, ready to transact. Sadly, the tile sample I had selected (the one we were unable to find a price per box for, remember) didn't have a barcode. The girl was very apologetic and I must stress I don't blame her for any of this - more the general management and standard of training within the store - but I had to wait another 5 minutes whilst someone was summoned to help. Help she did, and returned after 5 more minutes with a bar code. I could see that my partner was now being served by the assistant mentioned at the beginning so it looked as if all was going to work out after all.
I paid for my sample and waited next to the till.
That was when my partner arrived to tell me that the tile I had just paid £1.98 for was from a discontinued range and wasn't actually for sale, despite me being able to buy a sample.
We queried the logic of purchasing a sample tile from a range that wasn't actually for sale and suggested politely that we get our money back. To my utter disbelief, we were told that to return the £1.98 tile (which in case I was unclear before, was from a range not actually for f
king sale!) we would have to queue up AGAIN, at the customer service desk and being a man not prone to exaggeration, I'm sure you will believe me when I tell you that this queue rivalled those once seen outside food banks in Communist Russia. I'm afraid to say that at that point, my partner had simply had enough and threw the tile on the floor and we left. No doubt the entire store was closed whilst the ensuing health and safety crisis was swept up but I'm sure you'll agree that the whole escapade was nothing short of ridiculous. What should have been a five minute trip into the store turned into a half hour epic.
As mentioned at the start of my letter, I'm not writing to complain about the staff as I appreciate that they are doing the best with what they have been given but I would hope that you take the above comments in the spirit that they are intended and perhaps address the standard of training and management process within store.
It pains me to say that I have seen news reports of Third World riots that appear to operate with more efficiency, possibly even with a better customer experience, and I can assure you that we will most certainly NOT be buying the tiles (because they aren't for sale remember - perhaps we could buy several hundred sample tiles individually??) and will not be hurrying back to the Great Western Road store in the future.
Oh, one more thing: I had hoped to do this via your website but the online complaint form has a 255 character limit which seems remarkably self-confident, given our experience today.
Yours sincerely
Disastrous
Although the word 'tried' is the most important in the above sentence.
Don't try to be funny in a letter.
That can work very well on Facebook, but it always to me looks like a vain attempt to "go viral" whenever someone tries to be funny, with only the very cream of the crop rising up to be shared countless times by people who don't realise the post is dated from 2007.
As others have said, make your point clear, set out what you had expected, and why the product/service didn't meet your expectations, and you feel that because of this you deserve a refund, replacement, compensation, or something else.
Don't make up stories about how it ruined your wedding day/kids birthday/a funeral etc.
be factual, and remember, the company that you are dealing with have (hopefully) not intentionally done something to cause you to complain, as they will always want to know what it is that can be done to improve it to make you a repeat customer etc.
That can work very well on Facebook, but it always to me looks like a vain attempt to "go viral" whenever someone tries to be funny, with only the very cream of the crop rising up to be shared countless times by people who don't realise the post is dated from 2007.
As others have said, make your point clear, set out what you had expected, and why the product/service didn't meet your expectations, and you feel that because of this you deserve a refund, replacement, compensation, or something else.
Don't make up stories about how it ruined your wedding day/kids birthday/a funeral etc.
be factual, and remember, the company that you are dealing with have (hopefully) not intentionally done something to cause you to complain, as they will always want to know what it is that can be done to improve it to make you a repeat customer etc.
EggsBenedict said:
as an FYI, in the above, you need 'principle', not 'principal'.
Thanks for that Eggs. I mentioned it was work in progress, so any constructive comments are welcome.My next problem is finding a responsible adult to send it to. Fast silver (or whatever there name is) appear to be a franchise. I cant find details of either the franchisee or any way of contacting the HQ, which seems to be French based, as are their 2 French Directors according to Companies House. Tried ringing the customer services (haha) number but their answerphone message told they were closed at 11.00am this morning.
I'm getting seriously teed off with these idiots.
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