Complaining

Posted on 2003/03/03 13:45:27 (March 2003) by john.

More fun than I thought.

Yesterday at my local supermarket (which shall remain nameless) I purchased, amongst other things, some tomatoes on the vine ("specially selected", and in a box), and some flour tortillas. I had planned, as a bit of a treat for Chie, to get up early and make her a nice packed lunch. Imagine my dismay this morning, on discovering the tomatoes were mouldy on the bottom, and the tortillas were utterly stuck together - no matter how careful I was in prizing them apart they all tore. In the end Chie went to work with a salad in a box, reasonably nice, but not the lovingly prepared wraps with tantalising fillings I was hoping to make for her.

I'd anticipated a bit of an argument when I got to the supermarket to take the goods in question back, but I guess it must be a fairly regular occurence for them, as in fact it went very smoothly. It's the first time I've ever taken anything back to a supermarket as far as I can recall, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. The woman was actually very polite and quite apologetic, and seemed quite prepared to listen to me moan on for a while. She almost immediately offered me twice my money back, and also asked me if I would be satisfied with that (which does slightly beg the question as to whether or not I could have squeezed more out of them), but I thought it was a fair deal. It was an odd sensation to come out of a supermarket with more money than I had when I went in.

I don't want to turn into one of those people for whom complaining is almost an occupation, but once in a while it appears to be actually quite gratifying.

Good for you, John.

"Yes, you're quite right, I'm fed up with being treated like a sheep..."

Posted by Rob lang at 2003/03/03 15:39:52.

Rock on sir. Rock on.

Posted by tom at 2003/03/03 23:01:45.

Getting the right tortillas can be tricky. Never buy generic ones, because they are always crap. Also you get them in things like "Fajita Kits" (bright yellow box etc. complete with a donkey in a silly hat). Again, avoid. Instead go for the ones made by "Discovery Foods", which are much better and also tend not to stick.

Posted by Jimmy at 2003/03/04 17:33:04.

See! See what I told you about supermarkets. They're great things. Take everything back... even if there's nothing wrong with it they just don't bother arguing.

Erm, hello. I'd like to return this partially eaten sandwich because there's a mild threat of war.

Certainly, Sir. Would you like some free money?

Posted by Rusty at 2003/03/05 13:54:24.

"Hello, I'd like to complain about this shopping trolley, it's faulty and I don't like the colour. Yes sir, here have some free money."

Posted by Rob Lang at 2003/03/05 14:24:51.

My local supermarket gave me £20 when I wrote a letter saying that the toy boat that had been purchased for me in their store didn't float correctly when loaded up with the full load of people, lifeboats etc. I did claim that my five year old daughter was having nightmares about the titantic though.

Posted by Scabz at 2003/03/06 15:18:47.

I have to take my hat off to you there Jill, that's quite an achievement!

Posted by John at 2003/03/07 14:17:23.

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