Complaint E-mail produces not a reply, but a visit....

I do love writing complaint letters. You may have guessed from reading Friday's offering. I relish constructing them from start to finish. With complaint letters, it's important to bundle up all the rage you feel and channel it into articulate, clear sentences. Explain what happened, why it was inconvenient, state the facts and highlight how the service you received differs from what you'd expect. Don't ham it up with feelings and personal sob stories, they're see through. Don't eff and blind your way to a response. There's no need to insult anybody, swear, or be rude, about the company or the person you're writing to. Last year I worked somewhere that involved sifting through boxes and boxes of complaint letters, and the ones we took notice of were clear, concise, well written and spell checked. Complaint letters aren't about letting rip with how pissed off you are, they're about expressing your dissatisfaction, explaining what went wrong and eliciting a co-operative response from the person you're writing to.

If you write a good complaint letter, you won't get fobbed off with just an automated apology or standard response. You'll get a reply from someone who genuinely understands that you're angry and wants to resolve the problem so they don't lose business.

(Unless it's BT, in which case...you'll probably just get ignored.)

My complaint e-mail from Friday was a good one. That's not me being big headed. I know it was good because bad complaint letters don't result in the office-based Company Manager standing on your door step, personally delivering your late package as a good will gesture.

As we talked on our driveway, Charlie lay sleepy eyed, stretched out with his paws hanging over the doorstep and doing his best impression of a Non-Dangerous Dog. I explained the situation, he listened. I suggested that customers should be given at least 30 seconds to answer the door and the Manager agreed. He acknowledged that on Friday, I'd had to stay in all day for a delivery that wasn't even attempted. He reassured me that he'll speak to the delivery driver concerned and that there won't be a problem again.

Job done. Customer satisfied.

My new external hard drive is backing up my laptop contents as I type, and my Edward Cullen fix is waiting to be read.

My frustrated mood has almost lifted...