Sounding

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32460, 21 November 1970, Page 7

Sounding

*>y

DENIS McCauley

On the occasions 1 have felt obliged to makt complaints about pool service or shoddy goods I haVe found there is a prevailing attitude oi “pay* up and shut up’ 1 which seems out oi place in this consumerconscious age. There are some people ready to make complaints tc the management at the drop of a-.hat, but most of us just grumble to ourselves or friends. No doubt this is largely a result of the attitude of many in the business worth.' In some cases it is very difficult to make effective complaints. Restaurants are an example. Some time ago my wife and I dined at a new restaurant that promised good food and fine surroundings. After waiting an incredible two hours we were finally served with the wrong dish. Not having another two hours to spend we ate it. With justification we complained to the manager at the cash desk- The response? “You ate it; you pay for it or I’ll call the police.” Even in less extreme cases it is difficult to make effective complaints in restaurants. Obviously, if something is wrong with the fish the management can be informed and if it is a good restaurant the meal will be replaced.

I ■ But what can you do when e you are served for $1.20 a , meal which would be fair r enough in a works canteen s at 50 cents? The only answer 1 is to avoid the place in future f and write off the experience. , But with other types of businesses it is not always f possiole or convenient to go - elsewhere;' the local supermarket for example. My wife recently bought a packet of s junket stamped “Not to be j used after August, 1969." 3 When she noticed the warns ing she took it back and r showed it to the manager. s “Why not try it, any way, - and let us know how it goes,” > he suggested. Understandably she was furious at the idea / that we use our children as > guinea pigs for his out-of- • date junket, and she told him >iso. She was given, very uni graciously, a new packet and 1 told she was making a fuss • over nothing. I was not so lucky when I ’ complained about stale coffee. : Fortunately we can get coffee only a few yards away with--1 out much extra effort and ■ our annual coffee expenditure ■ of about $3O now goes there. ; I Monopolies seem even more difficult to deal with. At one stage nearly all the j local wooden matches we ' bought seemed to break when struck and the flying heads caused a great deal of ’ damage, especially to my wife’s stockings. Obviously we were not the only complainers because the match company had a printed reply to send us, along with a diagrammatic chart de-

signed to teach congenital idiots how to light a. match. I have also complained about weevil - affected nut chocolate. The shopkeeper was very. sympathetic and refunded my money, although all his previous attempts to get the chocolate company to take back affected blocks had failedHe said the company claimed the weevil got into the chocolate in the shops. But the Department of Agriculture had told him there were, no weevils in New Zealand except those in imported nuts.

There have been other examples of courteous reception of complaints. A complaint to a cigarette company about breakages brought a prompt reply that the company had just changed its type of paper and, although I was the first to complain of the breakages, they thought there might be some fault in the new paper. “Until we get the matter sorted out, please use the enclosed two cartons of cigarettes to replace any more breakages you have,” the letter ended. But these are isolated incidents. The usual answer to a complaint is rudeness. Like the note we received last week from our milkman when we complained that his tokens were available in too few shops. It ended: “Tell me your business and I’ll tell you how to run it.”

I dare say he could, but iit would not make the milk token any easier to get.