Why it pays (me) to complain!

Wow, that is very good! Well done to you. I wish more people were like you in the UK as we are more than happy to stand by while the companies stand there and rip us off. Good for you, and well done once again, =)

Oh that IS impressive!! Well done to you - and to them ... for once an real example of a good deal for an existing customer!

sounds great! wish that happened to me when i re-newed!

Good for you! I feel we don't complain enough in this country and accept poor customer service as par for the course. Not me and not you either!

Yes v.good example - I use McAfee and find their customer service excellent. However, I haven't had a reason to complain

i never hold back if i feel that i have not had the right service or something i have bought does not match up to my expectations then i complaine and stick to my guns i have never failed to get the result that i was hoping for

I agree with you, we should complain more when we get poor service. I won a years supply of organic fruit/veg and one of the deliveries had two bruised items, a pear and a tomoato. I complained and even though I had not actually paid for it they credited my account with the full value of all my pears and tomatoes and an immediate apology. Makes me want to keep getting their deliveries when the prize fund runs out.

Well done McAfee, not a service I use but I will look more favourably on them.

i used to work in complaints and despite some of the situations we dealt with it was the best job of my career. There was a view that if companies dealt well with a complaint they had retained a customer and probably gained some more but that if they failed to deal with it they lost a customer and 20 more. I cannot remember the exact figures but every company that fails to deal with customers and their complaints properly deserves to lose business.

That's great customer service. It's good to know as I had commented that McAfee's the Antivirus software that I use. If I get any problems (hopefully I won't!) in the future, it's good to know I should be in safe hands.

Excellent result, well done. It does pay to complain as the worst that can happen is that you get ignored, which I always expect. Whenever I get annoyed about something I always intend to complain but don't get round to it and then think it's too late so don't bother. A couple of times I have complained it's worked really well so I will resolve to complain more often!

We've just bought a second, top of the range, stainless steel sink from ebay, new, at less than half the RRP. It said it would have all the fittings with it but the plumbing kit was missing. We emailed them and within 5 minutes they replied apologising profusely and promising to send it. Within half an hour it was showing as having been sent. Great!

I had a problem with my Norton anti-virus recently which involved 'live' chat on-line with their tech people. I was wrongly billed for my anti-virus renewal but as a result of the chat all was sorted and a refund given within hours. Excellent service all round.

I too recently had a minor problem with the renewal of my Norton anti-virus, definitely not enough to warrant a refund, so i emailed them with a suggestion that i thought would improve the service rather than a complaint. Norton not only replied very quickly, but sent me a very useful bit of Norton software free as a thank you. Very impressed.

I would definitely encourage people to complain if they are not happy with the service or goods they receive - if you haven't received value for money (whether in your opinion or through faulty/damaged goods), you have a right to challenge the seller.
If more of us complained, then maybe some companies would start providing better deals all the time?!

They dealt with it very well, having worked as a shop assistant in the past, it is not very nice to be on the receiving end of a full blown rant(rare)but there is always a nice way to complain, if you know what I mean.

I am a usual 'complainer' :) Not sure if I am too demanding or if the services/products offered by companies nowadays aren't just up to scratch. Or both!

The fact is that I tend to be pleasantly surprised on most occassions, and when I am not that company loses me as a customer forever.

The ones that respond favourably and even surpass my expectations gain me as an advocate instead.

It is in their benefit ultimately to handle complaints in the apprpriate manner and ultimately fulfilling the customer expectations.

In any case, the result you got was very good indeed, and you would have had nothing if you hadn't complained. Well done!

Most companies work on the basis that bad news travels fast and with all they spend on advertising etc it is more than worth the cost of a few free products to keep the reputation high and repeat/ recommendation business coming in. I always try to be precise about my complaint and what I think they can do to improve, often the by product of this been a few freebies to keep me happy!

Good news that they gave you the money back and the chance to purchase it at the lower rate. Sometimes it does pay to complain.

Just goes to show that if you take the time to write and are polite but firm, you may get a positive response. I had a similar experience recently and ended up getting all my money refunded and I still got to keep the product.