Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with complaint

How to help neighbour with barking dog?

Elfasi — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:06:43 -0800

New neighbour, new dog. Dog was home alone today(indoors), barking and howling, for the first time. Doesn't bother me one bit but I caught another neighbour outside, on the phone to the RSPCA (which seems an insane overreaction), to report this situation. What to do? How to help both neighbours and the dog be happy? Some background:

I live in the UK, own my house and have been there a few months. I'm getting my own dog very soon, you may find a question from me some months ago on that whole process.

My house and 3 others all join up back to back in a big block. New neighbour with dog is beside mine so we share a common wall. Neighbour with complaint is behind neighbour with dog and so shares a common wall with them. I just share a corner with complaint neighbour.

The new neighbour is renting and has permission for pets. She has a 2 year old male lab. They've been there just 3 days, no noise or barking till today, dog wasn't left alone till today.

Now there's plenty of advice around for stopping barking but I'm going to give benefit of the doubt for now and assume doggy needs time to adjust to the new place and will improve. But if a neighbour is calling the RSPCA after just 3 hrs, then suddenly I am quite concerned.

I like this new neighbour. I like her dog. I've already offered to walk and dogsit whenever I can. I want to help. But more than that, I want to foster a mutually beneficial relationship. I get my own dog next month. How wonderful to have a dog owner right next door, so we can help each other out! But, being a renter, just moved in, and already with phonecalls to the RSPCA, I can't help but think her position is suddenly very precarious.

I dont want to see her go, I see a very fruitful future together. But more than that, this could affect me in more direct ways. I get my dog next month. I don't intend to have a dog home alone, howling and barking all day, but what if I'm next on the RSPCA hit list? I'd love to try and fix this and reach an understanding first.

So, what to do? I'm going to give her the heads-up on the situation at least, and impress upon her that I'm home nearly every single lunchtime and I'm more than happy to check in on the guy, maybe even give him a walk. I'll suggest she makes nice with the neighbour if she can. I'll suggest she investigates methods to reduce separation anxiety if this continues beyond the settling in period from moving house. I want to help as much as I can.

Should I call the RSPCA and put my side? Should lady with dog? Should I chat to neighbour who complained? What to say? Assure her I'll be doing a lot to help reduce the noise problem? What do MeFites suggest?

Refunds from UK merchant

NorthCoastCafe — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:14:58 -0800

I mailed $20 cash to a British merchant to pay for an item ordered via email. The merchant refused to accept cash insisting payment only via Paypal. I refuse to use Paypal because of two previous bad experiences. The British merchant said they would return my cash but hasn't and no longer replies to my emails. What recourse do I have to get my money back and or file a complaint against the merchant? I'm in the USA.

Screen printing artwork

Jsn7821 — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:53:04 -0800

I did artwork for a customer, and now he is harassing me to give him his money back. I need advice how to resolve this. I run a small screen printing shop, and a guy came wanting to get artwork done for his car racing team. He provided me with this shirt to use as an example, along with photos of his car from various angles.

After the typical back-and-fourth with the customer, I came up with this and this for him and he was happy with it, and paid. I charged him $160.

He took the artwork to another shop, and they said they couldn't print it.

For those who aren't familiar with screen printing: You can print anything. You just need to separate the artwork into the colors you would like to print. Each shop (as far as I am aware) does this as part of the setup for the job, since "artwork separations" depend on variables in the shop (screens, inks, the press, etc.).

He came back to me complaining that the other shop couldn't print it, so I offered to help with the film separations (I asked how many colors they can print, and what type of ink they use), and told him the contact information for a film-separation guy that could do it for $150 (I don't actually know how to do it, I outsource my jobs to him). At this point I was genuinely trying to help, but he saw it as me trying to take advantage of him.

Fast forward to an e-mail I got today:

No. i brought the photoshop file to the other places and they all said the same thing. what we have can't be used because it's just pictures laid on top of pictures and no artwork was actually done. We have started over from scratch with a new company and now we know not to ever use you or refer anyone to you. It's not just the artwork. It's the fact that it took a month and a half as well to do approximately 3 hours or 3.5 hours of work. The company has a very poor work ethic and quality of product.

Like I said before, We are done with you and your reputation precedes you and the only way to resolve this with the BBB is to give us a refund on the $160.00 we paid for artwork in which no art was done. If this is not resolved the nest step is to buy a one page article in the Olympian and call consumer reports on Kiro 7. We are not the couple to take advantage of. I will not let this go.. I am extremely disappointed and upset about the way you have conducted yourself over this whole endeavor.

I need advice how to go about this. I would feel cheated if I had to give him a full refund. The artwork is good for screen printing, I can print it in my shop no problem. I do art like this all the time. Especially the back print, it's just a 2-color red and black.

And what about the threat to take out an article in the newspaper and call cable news? Can he even do that? I've never run into something like this before.

This gay marriage activist wants to SILENCE opposition, apparently

hermitosis — Thu, 07 May 2009 06:36:33 -0800

How can I quickly and effectively complain to YouTube about ads they're running? Maybe I'm just spoiled by MeFi's ad policy, but it makes my brain boil to have to look at this ad while I watch my YouTube videos, even while signed into my own account.

I want to write or call and voice my opinion, but the phone number on their contact page leads to a labyrinthine menu that ultimately says that customer service is not available. I can't find an email address for a relevant department. And while I have no problem sending them a paper letter, I'd like to be able to share this issue with other people on the internet in a way that offers them a direct method of communication with the site.

What is the most effective way to approach the company on this topic?

Stop the magazines now!

bad grammar — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:47:49 -0800

How do I kill these zombie magazine subscriptions? I know that the problem has been discussed here on AskMe and here in a private context.

As the librarian of a small school facing budget constraints, I'm obliged to take the problem more seriously. We get our magazines from a large and well-known jobber (which does not stop the individual magazines or third-party subscription companies from sending endless renewal notices).

At the last billing I asked the customer rep to discontinue two titles. This was several months ago. The titles are still coming. I have written the rep several times asking why are we still getting these magazines, and she promises that they should stop soon. Then the next issue shows up in the mail.

Do I have to worry about being billed for these unwanted titles at the next invoice? Can my institution refuse to pay, seeing that I made clear at the last invoice that I wanted the titles stopped?

Should I make a complaint direct to the jobber? At what point do I go formal?

What do I do with a querulous neighbor?

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 14:50:00 -0800

My downstairs neighbor seems hypersensitive to noise, and repeatedly complains and threatens to "tell" on me to our building supervisor. Advice? I am very quiet, and rarely have guests over. I rarely play music, but this neighbor, who lives directly downstairs from me, has repeatedly complained about even the noise of me walking across the floor, even barefoot. Ordinary conversation in normal tones of voice is offensive to her, at 8 a.m. in the morning.
I'm hardly a large person, and although the floor is hard wood, I walk quietly and rarely have company over. None of my other neighbors in any direction have ever complained. Nonetheless, this neighbor below has repeatedly come up, rung my doorbell at all hours of day and night, complained about the noise, and then threatened to report me to the manager.

Based on the fact that she has been in the building "15 years" and that I've only been here one, she claims that the management would surely be on her side, should she complain. Of course, I'd rather not take the chance, but I don't see how I could be much quieter than I am already!

I feel extremely harassed by this woman, and limited in my abilities to function in the apartment. I've already laid down a number of rugs to reduce what little noise I do make. Short of moving out and going apartment-hunting (not fun in this city), are there any other things I can do?

This building is relatively old, but has a mix of residents, some with children and some without. There are *clearly* really loud people, including some who party at all hours, and I honestly think I'm quieter than most.

This woman does seem a bit kooky, to put it kindly, and I'm not sure that management would take her complaints seriously, but I'd rather not take the risk. I just want to be able to live in my apartment without being harassed at the door on a frequent basis. Any advice for how to get this woman to stop?

Suggestions, both legal and otherwise, are welcome!

How do I make a formal complaint without being an ass?

sunshinesky — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:05:26 -0800

Food poisoning: How do I deal with the merchant? I ordered some thai/viet food for delivery tonight, from a restaurant I've never been to (I just moved to this city).

As soon as I opened my fresh rice wraps (w/ peanut sauce) I was struck by the 'off' small. I ate a wrap anyway, with the sauce, and quickly lost my previously roaring appetite. It didn't taste bad, but my stomach just stopped wanting more.

I picked at the other food items I got, and within an hour of eating, I ran to the bathroom for a small... explosion. It was nothing horrendous, or painful, but it was quite obvious that I had expelled my dinner, given the.. erm... 'contents'.

Now, I gave that peanut sauce another whiff, and damn, I really think it was the culprit.

Is this the sort of thing I should approach the restaurant about? I'm not really sure what I want done, but I was pretty upset with wasting 30$ in food ordered in for only myself. Naturally, as confident as I am that the peanut sauce is to blame, I am not too keen on 'testing' the other foods, given that I'm not sure. I ended up ordering a pizza to fill the void (yay, another 20$!).

If I do talk to the manager/whatever what do I say? How do I avoid coming off as one of those customers that is always looking to get something for free? I too work in food service, so naturally I would like to approach this tactfully and politely, while still expressing my dissatisfaction properly.

MeFi, help!

Dryer cut clothing. Dryer folk not helpful.

kmennie — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:19:58 -0800

Clothes dryer [new] slashed clothing. "Repaired," dryer snags clothes, makes unsettling noise. Visited store 4x; sent registered mail to manufacturer 2x, nothing. Now what? A bit over a year ago I bought a new high-efficiency Frigidaire front-loader and matching dryer from a small local appliance shop. The washer is lousy, but no mind. The dryer made the same 1cm J-shaped cut in most of our knit clothing.

It took a while to figure out where these cuts were coming from, of course. When we finally did, we contacted the store, who sent out Local Repair Dude. LRD scratched his head and asked if I was using HE detergent. (Yes.) LRD said he'd put in a call to Frigidaire. Came back, gave me a hard time about the detergent despite standing under many bottles marked "HE," and did something to the dryer that he thought would maybe solve my problem, and if it didn't, it was Frigidaire's problem, not his.

The "repaired" dryer started snagging a lot of stuff -- drawstrings and snaps on baby clothes get sucked in to a rim around the door and don't come out without ripping -- and making a "Hi I'm a broken dryer" sort of ka-thump noise, intermittently. One knit top came out with a terrible slash; the status of the J-cuts is unclear because our old clothes are already too cut up for us to notice new cuts, and good knits now get hung to dry.

The local shop is nearby, so I went in person. At this point I went in at least three times. Oh, they'd get right on it. Had nobody called me back? Goodness! Be sure to get right on that, yes'm! Same deal each time; never heard a peep.

I sent Frigidaire a letter, via registered mail, enclosing a onesie covered in the J-cuts and missing a snap and a plastic bib that accidentally got in the dryer for a few minutes and came out looking like it'd been in a fight with an X-acto knife. Nothing. I sent a second letter, summarized: "WTF? No response to this one, and it's court. Just in case, here is a copy of the letter I sent." Nothing.

Is small claims court the appropriate/best place to pursue this? At this point I would be happy to return the washer and dryer pair for a full refund and never think of Frigidaire or the shop again; I'm not sure what's realistic, though.

Is a refund enough?

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:01:29 -0800

Is a refund enough? This is a relatively minor issue but I'm annoyed about it and lack perspective, so I'm turning to you.

Earlier this week I bought a cookie at the local pricy Whole Foods-type grocery store where I am a frequent customer. I was halfway through it when I bit into something hard and sharp. It was a large red thumbtack. It fucking looked like this. (I wasn't hurt, just surprised and spooked.)

I immediately returned to the store and asked for a manager, and because it was late it was just a stoned kid who took down my name and number and made some apology-type noises and probably ate the rest of the cookie once he went back to the office. My main concern was making sure it wasn't a deliberate tampering so that someone else didn't get hurt. (I know that makes me sound like a goober, but it's true.)

The next day a real manager called and said that they figured out what happened: the cookies were made under a bulletin board and one of the tacks must have fallen, etc. They pulled the rest of the batch and moved the prep area and everything is great now, and it's great that I'm ok, and we all find crazy things in food sometimes, huh? Ha ha ha. She offered me a refund for my cookie, and that was that.

I accepted it but the more I think about it the madder I get. They sold me a goddamned thumbtack cookie. Couldn't they have least had the decency to offer a gift certificate -- or hell, just a really contrite apology?

Should I take my cookie refund and go, or should I tell them that I think they are being pretty cavalier about retaining me as a customer? I'm cursing right now but I was calm and polite throughout. I've never been an aggressive or demanding customer, but I feel like I just got fucked in the baked goods aisle. With a giant thumbtack.

How do I stop construction workers from waking me?

Elminster24 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:45:12 -0800

Noisy Neighbors Filter: The construction at the house next door is waking me up every morning and they start before 8am. How early can residential construction in Chicago begin and what can I do to bust them if they violate that start time? The house that is adjacent to my walk-up is having construction done and it is waking me up early every morning. It is driving me absolutely crazy (I'm writing this at 8:30am btw).

I am no lawyer, but someone had told me they could not begin before 8am, so I went over one morning and asked if they had an early start permit and they said no and that they would wait till 8 and were generally very nice about it (of course they didn't really speak english well so not sure if they fully understood). Then their boss came by a little later and I could hear him talking to them out my back window once I went back inside and he was generally upset with the situation and started making calls to find out what the deal was with the start time. It sounded like it was indeed 8am. I also heard the tail end of a comment about how "its not a big deal because this is the only person thats complained so far."

My question is...does anybody know definitively what the earliest residential construction start time is in Chicago? Also, if they are violating this, what steps can I take to resolve the situation with the city? I'm sick of trying to talk to these people and now want to do whatever I can to get them busted for starting early and making my morning hell. Hopefully I can either get their permit revoked or get them fined.

While I don't typically get out of bed till 8:20am and realize I probably won't get them to hold off that long if the start time is indeed 8am, I'd at least like to hassle them and let them know I mean business. And this waking me up before 8am has GOT to stop.

Also, I don't believe talking to the neighbors themselves is an option...I don't think anybody is actually living there now, just some investor who's flipping a house and has people working on it all day.

communal apartment laundries...making you hate laundry even more since 2008

sararah — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:34:19 -0800

The communal washing machines in my apartment building are worthless. They don't remove any sort of stain or spill, regardless of solubility or severity. When I remove the wet clothes from the washer, nasty stripes and splotches of lint cover my clothes (especially obvious on darks). Is there a specific complaint I can make to my landlord, or should I just give up and go to a laundromat? I can't believe I have to pay $1 per wash for these totally worthless machines. I use liquid Tide Coldwater (and wash in cold, always) and currently it is the "old" Tide that is not super concentrated, so I would say I use about 1/3-1/2 cup per wash. I try not to overload the washers, and I usually fill the tub partially before loading. Based on the results below, is there a specific complaint I can make to my landlord? I don't just want to call and say "the washers suck, fix them..." I feel my unresponsive property management might be a little more on the ball if they knew what the problem was. (And no, I don't think I'll be trying to do all my laundry in the bathtub)

Some examples of the laundry awesomeness:

-Just last the other night I attempted to wash a pair of khaki pants with small splotches of whipping cream on them. I poured a little detergent on them and rubbed the pants together near the spots in an attempt to pre-treat...not only did the spots not come out completely, today in the sunshine I noticed a huge spot that was lighter in color where the detergent did not completely rinse out.

-My mom tossed a few of my clothes in the wash when I was home visiting, and had to wash them twice because they had so much soap residue left in them.

-I pretreated a stain with some Stain Stick (the deodorant-like gelly stuff) and the frickin' Stain Stick didn't even wash out. I had to rinse out the garment in the sink.

-Since I line dry ~3/4 of my clothes the white lint crap stays stuck to my shirt and is especially nasty on dark shirts.

-Stupid crazy bizatches that live downstairs complain when I remove their laundry because they left the washer unattended for an hour while they had an "important phone call" and felt the need to be all dramatic and scream and me about it and proceed to re-wash their husband's clothes. (Well, that's probably out of the scope of this question, but it just adds to my LAUNDRY ANGST)

Needless to say, I was quite depressed this weekend when visiting a married friend's new house and seeing her brand spankin' new LG front loading machines....forget the yard, I just want a washer that works!!

"You're such a faggot"

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:09:04 -0800

Is it worth it to file a complaint with the EEOC? My supervisor and some other coworkers at my small company (about 12 employees) think it's funny to call me a faggot. When I have objected to this ("That's real professional") I'm told I need to lighten up and toughen up. I've been at this job about six months and had planned on staying, but obviously I don't fit in with the frat-boy atmosphere, so I'm looking for other work. But it was suggested to me that I may have a case with the EEOC, despite being straight. Is this worth the time and effort? Have you ever filed an EEOC complaint? What sort of documentation would I need? Am I being ridiculous? (This is in Virginia, should it matter.)

How can I resolve a dispute with my orthodontist?

pizzazz — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:47:19 -0800

Do I have any recourse if my orthodontist has been carrying out a bogus treatment plan for the last year? I am a 31 year-old woman with two baby teeth in the front top of my mouth. They are loose, and I have decided to replace them with implants. My dentist recommended pre-implant braces, and referred me to an orthodontist.

The orthodontist gave me a 1-year treatment plan for braces, for the sole purpose of making room for the implants. Towards the end of this year (about a month ago), he referred me to a prosthodontist. The prosthodontist told me that my treatment plan was not ideal, and recommended that the orthodontist move my teeth in the exact opposite direction he had been moving them for the last year! A second prosthodontist agreed.

The orthodontist is willing to defer to the prosthodontists. However, he still wants to charge me $135 per month for the additional 7 months it will take to move my teeth in the opposite direction.

Was it my ortho's responsibility to get a prosthodontic consult beforehand? I have paid $3500 and spent a year in braces and I am farther from my implant goal than when I started. I do not think I should have to shell out any more cash (although the extra time is unavoidable). Do I have any recourse? Any suggestions for how to approach the orthodontist without destroying our relationship, since I will have to see him for the next 7 months?

Will my neighbors hate me for singing?

freem — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:11:31 -0800

Singers--a question about apartment living. Will my neighbors hate me? I will soon be moving into an apartment for the first time in my life--I've heretofore been a house dweller. How much grief am I going to catch from other tenants about singing? I practice everyday for at least a half-hour. I do scales and exercises, then run through some songs. I belt it out. Will the amount of noise complaints I get depend on the building? Or is this sort of thing just par for the course?

Marriott ruined our wedding night!

natness — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:32:59 -0800

Marriott ruined our wedding night! How do we get them to make it right? We got married over Labor Day weekend in North Chicago, Illinois. We did a lot of advance legwork to set up a hotel for our guests that was close to the venue and convenient. Our wedding venue recommended the Marriott Courtyard in Waukegan/Gurnee. It was more expensive then the other hotels in the area and a bit further away, but they offered something irresistible-- a free shuttle to and from the wedding venue for all of our guests staying there. Since we had been contemplating hiring vans to shuttle our guests around so no one would drive drunk, this was a no-brainer. Plus, the Marriott has a good brand name and we felt confident things would go smoothly.

I phoned the sales office and spoke to a lovely, competent sounding woman who told me that yes, the Marriott would provide shuttles to and from the wedding, and not only that, would set up a private meeting room for our "recovery brunch" the next day. She said the Marriott had a brunch buffet (with waffles!) from 9-12, and that we could have the private room from 9-1. In addition, she said our room would be free if 10 rooms were booked, and that the hotel would set us up with champagne and roses for our wedding night. Perfect. We confirmed the details, and reconfirmed several times in the weeks before the wedding. We gleefully urged our guests to stay at the Marriott.

Flash forward to the day of our wedding. I suppose I could have guessed there was a problem with the shuttle when I saw the maid of honor drop off a car full of guests, then turn around to pick up another load. I also might have guessed it at the end of the night when I was urging people to wait for shuttles that were promised to arrive at 11:00 and 11:20, and saw them still waiting at 11:30. Maybe the absence of anything in our room: champagne, flowers or a congratulatory note might have tipped me off. But I was clueless until the next morning when we went to the meeting room that had the sign with our names on it, found it locked, went to the front desk and was informed that they had the brunch and the shuttles for us on Saturday. The day before our wedding. They said these were the dates they had gotten from the sales office, and that their brunch ended at 10:00. The woman at the desk arranged for us to eat at the bar of the restaurant next door-- we scrambled to call everyone we thought might show-- and we descended on the understaffed and unsuspecting waitstaff.

On Thursday, my new husband called the Marriott sales office to let them know all the ways they screwed up. The sales office had all the dates and times correct; they passed the blame to the hotel itself. The sales office called the manager of the hotel and promised we would hear from him. My husband called him directly when we didn't. The manager apologized, asked us what he could do to make things right. We asked for free hotel stays at Marriott hotels anywhere in the US for the rest of our lives. He said he'd get back to us. When he did, he offered us a two-night stay at his Marriott-- the same one that screwed everything up that we will never set foot in again. He basically said we should have asked them to open the room and set up the brunch, that his hotel didn't stock champagne, and that the only thing he'd take responsibility for was the shuttles. We figure this is just the start of our dealings with Marriott, but we am not sure what to do next. We're pretty outraged.

I keep trying not to think about my father in the lobby waiting for a shuttle that never came, or what might have happened to friends and family who decided to drive after drinking because there was no shuttle to the hotel. These thoughts are infringing my memories of our otherwise perfect wedding, and I'm furious! The Marriott wouldn't have had us or ANY of our wedding guests stay there without the promises they made. So my question is, what next? How do we take it to the next level?

Venue in CA

Kimpossible — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 14:26:49 -0800

What venue do I have to file a complaint in in CA if the contract was signed in LA County, the defendant's whereabouts are unknown but his last address was in Claremont, and the contract was supposed to be performed in San Bernardino? Can I file in San Bernardino County since the contract was supposed to be performed there, but was breached by defendant? We do not know where the defendant is - he might have skipped the country. But we have his DMV address in Claremont.

VengeanceFilter: What's the legal status of RPAs on UK trains?

so_necessary — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:18:35 -0800

What is the legal status of Revenue Protection staff on British railways? So, I had an annoyingly painful encounter with a Revenue Protection dude at a train station the other day. I am now indulging in the great British pastime of writing grumpy letters about it.

One of the things that struck me as unusual is (after much interrogation, and general ass-hattery) that he "cautioned" me and "read me my rights" (You have the right to remain blah blah etc...) which I'm pretty sure he doesn't have the power to do. To clarify, he was working for South West Trains and in their uniform (he wasn't a policeman) and as far as I have been able to work out, he could ask me to leave, or ask for my name and address, but that's about it.

So my questions to you are:

1) Do revenue enforcement people on British railways (South West Trains in particular) have the authority to caution and/or detain people - particularly people who've repeatedly offered to pay their fare?

2) Isn't pretending you can do this when you can't a bit wrong? Does it have an associated offence or scary legal term that I can namecheck?

Help me deliver a well-informed and authorative smackdown! Thanks!

How to stop listenin to a street musician?

pantufla — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 17:12:46 -0800

How can I stop listening to an annoying street musician? I work 12 stories up in an office building above one of San Francisco's noisiest intersections. Even though my office is 12 stories about the ground, several days a week, a street musician-across the street-plays his trumpet so that I can hear every note of every cheesy melody he plays for passerby. Even with the blinds down and a fan on, I still hear him. Is there any way to get him to move elsewhere, at least some of the time? How can I file a complaint against him? Is there any permit needed to perform street music in SF? His playing is irritating all 4 people in this office. I'm sick of him interrupting my work on a regular basis.

Nothing "deluxe" or "king" about it.

CMichaelCook — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 09:53:32 -0800

I prepaid for a "Deluxe King Room" but got a standard double. The hotel claimed no DKRs were available, and gave me three days of free valet parking instead. Should I make a stink about this after the fact? The Gory Details: My traveling companion and I were looking forward to spending Memorial Day weekend in a luxury hotel's Deluxe King Room that we prepaid for using one of the big online travel sites.

I immediately returned to the front desk when we saw the double room they assigned us, and was politely told the room we paid for wasn't available. Sorry. No way. We're all booked up. It's really the fault of the travel site anyway, but would three days of free valet parking help?

I accepted the valet parking (which may have been foolish, since street parking was plentiful and free during the holiday weekend). And my companion and I spent the next three nights in separate beds.

During our stay we didn't see too many other guests, and no one but a cleaning lady on our floor. When we returned I called the travel site and they said the hotel should have given us the room we paid for -- that our receipt was a "guarantee" -- and if this ever happens again, call us immediately. Here's a $25 travel voucher for your next trip.

My questions: Did the hotel bump us for someone who paid more for the same room? Was something else going on? Is this worth writing the hotel company -- who makes a big deal about their customer service and satisfaction -- to complain about? Or did I make my bed by accepting the valet parking? Would a $20 tip have greased the wheels?

I don't want to get anyone in trouble. Otherwise the staff was very courteous and attentive. But the whole thing still irks me. Am I going into righteous consumer advocacy mode over nothing? (And yeah, I realize this is a "good" problem to have.)

How do we keep getting people to put society's well-being above their own?

Wilder — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 04:25:53 -0800

Jaded Combatants:-What price the health of our civil servants, army, police, and emergency personnel? As a direct result of some fantastic posts on the Blue about the cost in every sense of Iraq, I would like to read more about how the cultures of complaint and compensation will affect our relationships with the civil servants we put in the front line. Can you direct me to further reading around this?
Please do not derail this into a political free-fight. Whatever our feelings about Iraq, War, terrorism ect., the simple fact is we are asking a group within our society to do a job that can have long term consequences for them and for us.
Are we looking at better methods of recruitment, and is that to benefit them or us?
Service to a society was generally perceived as selfless, what effect have increasing demands for compensation undermined our, and their, status, and how will that develop in the future?
How in the future will we be able to convince men and women to put their lives on the line, when we increasingly need highly skilled and highly intelligent civil servants who can see through much of the posturing that goes on?
Sorry if this sounds vague, but I’m also asking you to help me refine my search even further.

How to keep a dog left at home all day quiet?

pantufla — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:59:49 -0800

I live in an apartment building next to a couple who have a dog. This dog is left alone most of the time, and to express his frustration, repeatedly scratches and runs into the apartment door, which creates a loud, annoying noise which I can hear in most of my small apartment. This regularly happens from about 8 in the morning until 9 pm or later. I work every weekday morning at home, so this is particularily irritating. It sounds like they leave NPR running all day, but either the pooch is reacting negatively to Terry Gross, or maybe he's not into talk radio. I left a note for the neighbors several months ago, which they did not respond to. I recently sent them a longer letter explaining that they were violating the house rules of the building and that I would like to meet with them to discuss the matter. Now I have received a note from them saying that they are ready to talk about it. My question: Is there anything I can sugggest to them to reduce the dog's noise, even if they continue to leave the poor thing alone most of the time? I would like to be able to make a constructive suggestion besides "stay home with the dog" or "get rid of the dog". At any rate, if the noise continues, I will be contacting the building's board of directors and pursuing the matter until the dog's noise stops. It just doesn't seem like there is much they can do besides "take care of it or get rid of it" Any info. appreciated!

A cure for missing newspaper syndrome?

onshi — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 11:36:32 -0800

What's the best way to cure missing newspaper syndrome? I live in a large apartment building and subscribe to a daily paper (Toronto Star), which is delivered by an independent contractor and hung from my unit's front door handle.

The Star has an on-line form to report 'delivery problems' and to request a credit when you don't receive your paper. If you complain early enough, they send a replacement paper; later on, they just credit your account.

Presumably, some heat gets applied to the delivery people when there are too many complaints. I’ve come down with missing paper syndrome 8 or 9 times in the two months I’ve subscribed, and have reported it each time.

When I’m home (and awake) all morning, and am sure the paper never came, I have no qualms about complaining. What worries me, however, is when I sleep in on Saturdays, like today, and find no paper at about 11am. What are the odds that someone is ‘borrowing’ my paper? I don’t want to cause unfair trouble for my delivery person, but I’m concerned that posting a note like this one (albiet less passive-aggressively worded) on my door might give my neighbours the wrong impression of me.

Advice?

What's the best way to complain about rotten customer service and is it worth it?

frenetic — Thu, 05 Aug 2004 07:59:21 -0800

I want to complain to a company about rotten customer support. How do I do it and is it worth doing? [more inside] Here's the sad story. (Skip to the next paragraph if you don't care about the particular details of my issue.) I bought an Apex brand 27" flat screen TV (it was cheap and the nicest looking one at Best Buy.) I had it 43 days and it died on me. I didn't buy the extended warranty thing at Best Buy so I'm dealing with the company because I'm over my 30 day return time. The Apex customer support phone line is constantly either busy or there's an hour+ wait. Sometimes when you wait for 45 minutes and get to #4 in the queue it just hangs up on you. Sometimes when you wait the hour and get through to an annoyed sounding customer support woman, she takes down your name and phone number, listens to your problem, asks to put you on hold and then after waiting for 10 minutes the line drops on you. The closest I've come to an actual solution is being told they're totally going to find me a local service center (I'm in Canada, which I guess complicates things) to drop this TV off at and they're totally going to call me with the location within X number of days, and they just plum don't call. Then, like, today, I have to spend 2-3 hours of my life trying to get through the phone line again just to be told the same thing.

I'm a pretty laid back guy and I'm not much of a "demand to get the manager on the phone" type of person. But I've dealt with customer support with lots of other broken things I've owned and I've never had as annoying and as time consuming an experience as this. I'm not too big on the idea of reaming some poor slob out over the phone (also I'm not sure how good I'd be at it), but right now I'm feeling like I'd be a tremendous wimp if I just suck this up and don't register some sort of complaint to let the company now how crappy one of their customers is being/has been treated. But who do I complain to? Is there a department for serious thoughtful non-crank complaints? And is there any point or are they just gonna chuck it in the garbage? I'd love to hear people's advice and experiences.