It seems that I have a new hobby. And it's one that I don't want and I don't enjoy. It makes my blood pressure go through the roof, I subject friends and family to an endless tirade and then when I've exhausted their patience, I phone the relevant company and complain bitterly.
Yes, I have become the type of customer that gets wild enough about an issue to create.
The latest upset was with Aeroplan and Air Canada. I recently flew across the Atlantic, returned and check my point balance. No new points. Thinking that that was odd, I waited and in a few weeks checked again. Nothing, so I submitted a missing point form. It returned today. My flight was ineligible. Taken back, I phoned Aeroplan. "There must be some mistake," I said, "I flew Air Canada. This is their program." The girl at the other end looked at my file, "Oh," she said, "you flew class k. That's not eligible. I'm so sorry. I get this all the time. I'll show you." So she showed me deep within the Aeroplan site, a nice little chart explaining that the one flight I managed to pick, doesn't get points. My internal voice went, WHAT! "How was I supposed to know this?" She basically insinuated that I had not done my research, that a lot of people didn't but that neither Aeroplan nor Air Canada made it clear. I took a deep breath, "Who do I need to talk to to point out that this should be made clear?" She paused, "Well, Aeroplan gives out the points but you book on the Air Canada site. So there really is no one to blame." She then helpfully gave me the complaint numbers for both orgainizations. I decided this was Air Canada's fault and have fired off an e-mail. I used the phrases, "I think it is deceitful that . . . . I think Air Canada has an obligation to" In hindsight, this may have been a bit dramatic. However, my blood pressure is still high. I'm convinced they're not following some law on transparency. Ideally, I want my points. However, I want them to change their web site. I'm tempted to become an activist.
I'm still waiting on a response for my complaint to Loblaws. Loblaws has stocking issues. I had trudged through the cold and snow to discover that they didn't have kidney beans and no idea when new ones were coming in. Apparently, they had had no eggs in the store on the previous day. The previous week, I had wanted onions. They had no onions. Well, they had organic onions. I needed onions, I wanted normal ones but I ended up having to get the expensive ones. The produce section is a mess. I've recently started looking into getting a weekly basket of vegetables and fruit from a local store that specializes in organic. My private conviction is that organic food is a new type of classism. The poor can't afford it so the better off demonstrate their higher standard of living by buying more expensive food. This is on top of the rising cost of food caused by other factors. But I digress. I'm looking into alternative means of food because Loblaws is a mess. I pointed out their shoddy supply chain and how for a store that wants to be a one stop shopping experience, they weren't cutting it. Who wants to go to a grocery store three times a week to see if an item has come in? No one has that type of time. I'm still waiting for a response.
Time before that, I had seen a production that turned out to be entirely different than publicized. I was aiming to get my money back. Instead, I got tickets to a production I wanted to see and got an upgrade in ticket. So far this has been the only success story.
I think I have the training to get results. I worked in the fast food industry. I know the type of complaints that are successful and how to spot a scam. I know that the person you can reach isn't the person you should be yelling at. They have no power except to apologize. They would rather you didn't yell at them. So I don't. You can't. Judging by my method of dealing with complaints, they have a sure fire way to make sure you don't yell at them. They will agree with everything you say but point out that the policy is such and such and there is nothing you can do. So I find out to whom I should be presenting my case, and present it in a calm but obviously annoyed manner.
I find e-mail isn't very effective at this. I think this is why most companies use it. Trying to find a company's phone number is like looking for gold - great when you find it but nigh impossible to find.
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