Our Christmas ham was particularly good this year, a new brand for us. I wrote a complimentary e-mail telling the company how much we enjoyed their ham, and would be buying it in the future. I didn't tell them I had contacted the home office of our local grocery and tap danced all over them for stocking crummy hams--and then this new brand showed up! Yes, I am taking credit for saving the Christmas dinner of countless people! Do you contact businesses/corporations with opinions, compliments or complaints? Do you get any response?
What a great idea MG ... I'm sure companies would love to hear positive feedback! I complained once to one of the big box stores about the way I was treated in one of their stores, and they sent me a free gift card. I didn't complain to get anything free ... I just wanted them to know how one of their stores was operated. I've been back to that store twice since and it seems to be better now. I didn't think it was right to treat people they way they treated me that day ...
I have complimented some companies and received thank you n0tes in return and I do complain if I receive defective merchandise. Sometimes I get an apology, a replacement, or a refund, and sometimes I'm ignored.
I have written several companies in the past, sometimes I get a nice, but pre-written form letter from them, sometimes it is a response written specifically about my comments, sometimes I get a 'blow-off' letter (one that says they don't give a flyin fig what my opinion is but without using any bad language) and some times I do get coupons along with the thank you letter from them. And I write some stores when they quit stocking an item that they have had and that we like....sometimes they have returned the item to the shelves and sometimes I never hear another word from them. We use Yelp a lot.....you can report problems with service, quality, etc but we use it mostly for compliments. The companies read their reviews and so do other potential customers. It's great when we are wandering the state on our junque trips and find neat, privately owned shops, cafes or diners that might not get the recognition they should. And you can enter the name and location of a place if it isn't already entered then leave your review....it really helps small businesses increase their business or makes them aware that they need to clean up their act. And they will either respond in private or publicly on the site too. We have only left a couple of complaints...one about the woman in one shop in a city in east Texas who didn't like Randy's longish hair (he was letting it grow at my request) and followed us around with a pair of long shears in her hand, waving them around and threatening to give him the haircut she had decided he needed.
I feel like I am being cheated on when their product is terrible. I have told people and nothing ever gets done. I will no longer buy food from a deli, it is a waste of money. It is usually over priced to begin with. One time I was making my husband a pie for Valentines and one can of the cherries was just juice, hardly any cherries. They did send me coupons but it was too late for the pie. toni...what an ordeal Randy went through...did the lady think it was funny? a joke? We have quite a few long haired men around our area so I have never heard of anything like that before....some people are very weird and outrageous...
She was dead serious and denied everything when we registered a complaint. But one of the other employees saw her with the shears so the owner apologized for her behavior. His hair wasn't very long, just longer than she apparently thought a decent man's hair should be. We learned from a grocery store employee years ago that when a canned (or jar) food item is on sale it's probably because the product is 2nd quality.. Usually something happened during the cooking process to make it lower quality....i.e. not enough sugar, too much water, etc. So cartons are coded to tell the stores which products to put on sale....like 3 for $1 or other deep discounts. The food is still safe to eat, just not 1st quality. And some grocery stores purposely buy 2nd quality food items from suppliers, they still sell it at the higher prices to raise their profits.
