What kind of customer are you?

I always think of myself as a really easy going person, however I really get peeved when companies screw me around and I tend to hold grudges for long times.

For example, last year sometime I went to get some take aways from our local Nando's and ended up waiting for about 10-15 minutes longer than I had to because they don't call the orders out when they are finished, they just leave the food there and you have to guess when your food is ready and go ask the whole time. For some reason this made me really angry, maybe it was just a bad day but since then I have not ordered Nando's again and don't intend to (at that specific branch anyway).

I was wondering if I am a minority of people that are so anal about service, or do you also feel this way?

Grr. Just thinking about that again makes me angry all over again :twisted:

Yea I'm much the same. I do however always make a point informing the manager of bad service, as it at least gives them a chance to correct it.

I've got a spar 400m from my house, haven't been there once in the last 6months. I'd rather drive 3km to the Woolies or the other Spar to do my shopping.

Eek! Went to a Nando's close to our home about 20 years ago. They gave me the wrong change - R100 short - and when I complained, I was treated like a criminal. They closed the till and cashed up, after having me stand there for half an hour they saw I was not lying. I received no apology from them after my public humiliation. Of course I have never supported that branch again and the company maybe once after that. But lately, if I stop supporting a place with bad customer service, I will never shop nowhere!!

I also try the "nice until you give me reason to be otherwise".
I've had a few cases at filling stations when the attendants just stand around, or when they attend other people first with flashy cars or "racial reasons" (yes, it happens ). If a garage does that I drive off and ignore that filling station for a year or so - there's enough filling stations that are too glad to take my money.

Uhm, sorry, there's that very expensive panelbeaters close to us BUT their customer service is excellent and their work is outstanding. Not tempting fate now, but if I ever have to, I will take any vehicle to them for repairs.

I'm very accommodating and don't expect massive apologies for slip-ups. I do get angry if they start to engage in avoidance tactics or don't bother to keep me informed of progress in resolving a problem.

If I receive poor service, I will complain. If the complaint is not attended to, I boycott.

I have watched three restaurants in Centurion that I have boycotted go out of business, so that suggests that I was not alone.

There is also nothing worse than giving them a second chance only to watch them screw the pooch again.

I also hold lifelong grudges. It would take me a heck of a lot to ever switch back. They would really have to do a lot of convincing and begging for me to ever use their service again.

Once when I was a teen my Mom send me into a corner cafe for a loaf of bread on the way home from school. There was nobody else in the store except for the owner and another person behind the till. I grabbed the bread and paid for it, then ran out of the store leaving the bread on the counter. When I got to the car my Mom asked where the bread was. I ran back into the store expecting it to still be on the counter, but it was gone (under the counter I suspect as it had only been a few seconds). I asked the manager where the bread was that I had just bought and he said he didn't know. I said to him unless you give me the bread I paid for I will never set foot in this store again for the rest of my life. He just shrugged his shoulders and gave me a blank look. That was about thirty years ago. That store finally went bankrupt last year... and true to my word I have never been back in there even though it is the closest store to my house now. The owner saved a few rand by ripping me off, but lost possibly thousands of rands of business over thirty years.

DrJohnZoidberg said:

I always think of myself as a really easy going person, however I really get peeved when companies screw me around and I tend to hold grudges for long times.

For example, last year sometime I went to get some take aways from our local Nando's and ended up waiting for about 10-15 minutes longer than I had to because they don't call the orders out when they are finished, they just leave the food there and you have to guess when your food is ready and go ask the whole time. For some reason this made me really angry, maybe it was just a bad day but since then I have not ordered Nando's again and don't intend to (at that specific branch anyway).

I was wondering if I am a minority of people that are so anal about service, or do you also feel this way?

Grr. Just thinking about that again makes me angry all over again :twisted:

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I am the same, its only natural a customer has such high expectations, considering the high charges we have to pay.

Today I waited with decreasing patience at Debonairs for my single standard Hawaiian, it took them 50 minutes to make my pizza. They only remembered at the 40 minute mark and did a rush job with me ending up with a sloppy pizza. Never going back there till I forget that happened, which isn't happening in this lifetime.