The complain or not to complain dilemma.

[crispy1978]

I must admit, if I pay for a product or service, I expect a standard which relates to what I've paid for, especially if I'm paying extra for it. Typical example being next day delivery premium charges, or delivery/collection/installation charges on bully items that I've ordered. If this falls short of my expectations I will put in a complaint, and think I'm valid in doing so. I'd be surprised if I was alone in this circumstance.

This then made me think of a funnier situation. My first wife and I got married in 2002, and had a honeymoon in Cape Town, South Africa. We flew Manchester-Paris-Johannesburg-Cape Town and had three great flights. I particularly remember how good the in-flight meals were from Johannesburg to Cape Town!

We booked our hotel in the UK - 3 star, for the ridiculous price of about £12 per night, I think for 7 nights, wasn't expecting much despite the website and pictures looking good and family in Cape Town said it was a decent hotel. We were treated like royalty for that week! Breakfasts - wow, if you wanted it, it was there - talk about 101 different items! Ate out a few times - three courses and a bottle of wine for about 130rand (£10) and a free shuttle bus to the hotel when we wanted it. Perfection!

Ordered room service a few times, bottle of wine on an evening, put afternoon tea on the 4th floor balcony on the room, etc! One afternoon we'd drunk our daily 'tea and coffee' ration you get when housekeeping call, so I rang reception and they sent another packet up; superb! This was the only thing they charged for during the whole week that I was expecting to be complimentary! A whole 45 cents (about 6 pence!) though really wasn't kicking up a stink about. Never paid for extra tea and coffee sachets before or after mind you!

So - definitely a time to complain, and a time to just let it ride and say it's not worth it I reckon!

 

[LordCreed]

I wonder if tea is more expensive over there? Although 6p does seem like a why bother charge!

Personally I find that I'm more likely to complain to big companies than a small company. Maybe because smaller companies generally have better customer service and don't try and fob you off!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I wonder if tea is more expensive over there? Although 6p does seem like a why bother charge!

Probably a cultural thing. In Germany it is fairly usual to charge for things like this, or like ketchup sachets in McD's and the likes, as well as carrier bags even where not mandated to do so. It's a fairly ingrained principle of "if you use something it's right that you pay for it", even if in practice the cost of collecting such a small fee outweighs the fee itself.

 

[WestCoast]

Probably a cultural thing. In Germany it is fairly usual to charge for things like this, or like ketchup sachets in McD's and the likes, as well as carrier bags even where not mandated to do so. It's a fairly ingrained principle of "if you use something it's right that you pay for it", even if in practice the cost of collecting such a small fee outweighs the fee itself.

Absolutely, I can't imagine the outrage if we in Britain were charged for some of the daily necessities that are part of daily life in most mainland European countries. Everything from using public toilets to printing a bank statement to using the ticket counter at a railway station attracts a 1-3 euro fee. The upside is that public toilets are often spotless, the bank never uses foreign call centres and that rail ticket machines function well. The downside is that it feels like penny pinching and that your custom simply isn't wanted.

The best way is to assess the overall value for money and decide if its worth it. I think that's where people go wrong with budget airlines too, they see the fees and feel overcharged when in fact the airline is offering a more a-la-carte type of proposition where you pay for what you need (and they make their money from providing those extra services that are in fact optional!). From the hotel experience, it seems like it was good value even if you were charged extra for something you'd normally expect to be without charge at home. Put it down to cultural difference and move on...