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A couple of days ago, I bought what I thought would be a yummy cake from Whole Foods. It was stale. I was torn between complaining and letting it go.
I had paid $43 for a pumpkin sponge cake with cream cheese frosting that looked delish in the display case. I was splurging for a get-together.
When it was time to cut the cake, I had a hard time getting the knife through it. UGH! I was so disappointed and embarrassed.
So why did I hesitate to complain? I didn’t want to be drag. With the holidays in full swing it seemed like an inopportune time. I was simply too busy with other things and I knew the same was true for the store’s manager.
Then I remembered Bobbi’s post about speaking up when the service was bad. After thinking of the best way to let them know about my discontent, I sent an email to the store’s customer service.
I got all the facts straight. Price. Time. Date.
I was polite, but not in a grossly obsequious way.
I was direct about how I wanted the matter to be resolved. I asked for my money back.
I also asked for a response to my email.
Within an hour from sending the email, I received an apology along with instructions to call the store at a convenient time. The manager I spoke to seemed genuinely concerned and told me to drop by the store’s front desk when ever possible.
Here’s what I wrote:
I frequently shop at this Whole Foods location and I’ve had many good experiences including great customer service and finding quality products. On Friday evening, I bought cake from your bakery that was subpar. I paid $43. I don’t know if it sat on the display for days, but it was stale. Needless to say I am not satisfied with my purchase and would like to get my money back. I know it’s a really busy time for you, but I’d appreciate a response to my email at your earliest convenience.
His response:
I’m really sorry. Please call me. My name is David (I’ve erased his last name and number.) I want to make it up to you.
Almost a week later, I dropped by the store and got my money back plus a $50 gift card. According to the cashier who returned my money, I received the $50 gift card because the manager was impressed by how I handled the situation.
I’m not going to lie, I was astonished by what a simple thought out email got me. Have you ever complained? What happened?
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Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
Over the holidays, I tried multiple times to order an item online at Anthropologie for my little sister (who loves anything and everything there). It was a sale item. Each time I tried to order the item, it said that it was in stock. Then, I would get an email a day later informing me that it was out of stock and that my order was canceled. End of story. Nothing for my time or efforts. I sent a nicely worded email to customer service and let them know that while I understood that it was the holidays and I knew that inventory would turn over quickly, it would be a nice gesture to offer people some coupon or incentive when their order was cancelled due to no fault of their own. Within 24 hours, I had received a 25% off coupon, which I thought was pretty good, considering Anthropologie never offers any coupons!
@Brittany Wow! That is good to know (in case I ever have problems with Anthrolpologie). The most I’ve ever seen is the annual birthday 10% off coupon. Hot stuff!
Over the years I have had to complain about service in quite a few different stores (restaurants, book stores, department stores, etc..). There were quite a few times when nothing was done, nor was I compensated in any way. Then there are the times when the managers/owners go out of their way to make things right. Will give you two of those examples.
The first was over the holiday. I saw the Sprouts was having a great sale on meat, so I spoke to the butcher and pre-ordered a couple of roasts and stew meat. This was on a Friday and I was going to pick it up on Monday at 9. I got to the store only to find out that the order wasn’t even processed. The man I spoke to said that he couldn’t make out the other man’s handwriting. They had my number and I wondered why he didn’t just call me to ask. He said it would take 5 minutes. I was waiting…and waiting…and waiting…15 minutes later he comes out with only half of my order. Tried to tell me that is what I told him, gave me attitude and went back to fulfill the rest of my order.
Finally, I got everything and made my way to the checkout. Turns out that the checkers was the Customer Service manager and heard the exchange and also saw how long I had been waiting. She personally told me that she would be speaking to that mans boss and gave me a free pie for my trouble. It wasn’t a big thing, but it was appreciated.
The other instance was my family and I had gone to a fish restaurant a few months ago. Long story short, I wound up getting a really bad case of food poisoning. I called the restaurant, not once, but twice to talk to the manager. He finally called me back after I had posted a not so nice review on Yelp. Offered to make it up to us and to pick any night that he was there to come back and give them another try. Seems that they were overrun that night with high school kids and the chefs were just slammed. We went back in a week later and were treated like royalty. The comped us a $200 meal and the owner called me two days later to make sure everything went well.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t just complain. If I get really great service I seek out the boss and let them know that they have a great employee.
To quote one of the managers that I have spoken to “If people don’t tell us what went wrong, how can we fix it and do better”. I never hesitate to give them my opinion cause it will not only make their place better, it will keep me coming back.
I agree wholeheartedly. I prefer to take advantage of the toll-free customer service numbers when I do have something to share either bad or good. In fact, just yesterday, it was time to call a tissue company to share my displeasure with them over shrinking their box sizes from over 200 tissues per box down to 185. I made sure my voice was measured, factual and articulate. I shared with them how my husband had shared his shock with me that we had just put out the tissue box and it seemed it was almost immediately empty. I pointed out tot hem that neither of us have colds or any issue that would elevate our usage rate. I shared that there are just the two of us at home. I also was sure to mention how much we like their product and have been long time almost exclusive users of their product but that was likely to change with the smaller, fewer tissues to a box sizes. Because I was articulate, calm and measured in my comments and did include the good as well as the displeasing, the customer service rep was understanding and apologetic and offered to send me some coupons for their products to ease my pain. I actually did not call seeking that but simply to share our surprise and displeasure with their corporate moves but was thankful they responded as they did. The overall policy will not change but I shared my two cents and think I made more of an impact because I was not hostile and over the top angry about the issue. Hope that helps others here.
Really great stories – thank you all for sharing!
Wow, these are great stories. Just as you mentioned, sometimes I am a bit hesitant to complain. Since we are bargainbabes as well, would it be appropriate to complain about a product or service under $20?
That’s great, it really does pay off when you speak up in a polite way, I got to keep a $100 item from red envelope a few days before Christmas because the wrong item was sent to me and they also sent me the item that I requested overnight.
I kindly and respoectfully express or write my dissatisfaction when I have bought or recieved an inferior product, particularly if I have been a long time user/customer. I have found that most business appreciate the effort to make contact with them. We have received full compensation for items i.e. on a book web site the seller refused the return but the web site not wanting to loss our business fully reinbursed us the cost plus s/h. Just recently I was teaching my 11 year old daughter the skill of returning a damaged Christmas gift recieved but we did not have the coveted reciept. She went up ot the counter and expressed the situation and what she would like to have done to complensatel She found another item as close as possible to what she was given, then the employee asked her if she wanted to keep the damaged item (we felt we could repair it), she was thrilled and delighted to have 2 of the same items. We still have yet to repoair the first item. I do follow though with any item though if less than a dollar generally they give a credit on my next purchase. Even Goodwill will take returns with reciept within 7 days-no questions asked. Just ask kindkly and clearly. business only continue to operate if their customers are happty and offer positive words of mouth advertiseing. They are there to serve their customers remember. We have been given everything from coupons, full credit, replacement to additional discounts. It’s also helpful to know who to “complain” to, you’ve need to find who has the authorization to give refunds.
Ugh, I thought I did the spell check properly, please forgive the multitude of spelling errors. Don’t know what I did incorrectly.
Great stories by all! I’ve usually found that being polite and keeping it simple and to the point usually resolves any problem(s) with inferior products/service. It never helps to “shoot the messenger” in the process. Most often the clerks are simply doing what they’re told by management. Going straight to the top is usually the best approach. And it doesn’t hurt to offer positive suggestions about how to improve service and products.
@Pauline ~ We all make spelling errors sometimes, and Spell Check isn’t always accurate, particularly regarding matters of usage and multiple meaning words.
Yazmin – I am pleased that my earlier post on speaking out when something is not right inspired you to let Whole Foods have the opportunity to keep you a happy customer.
Meital – Yes, it IS appropriate to complain about a product under $20. First of all, that $20 product didn’t JUST cost $20. If you ordered it online, there is the additional cost of tax, shipping and handling. If you bought it from a brick and mortar store, then there was the cost of the gas to get there. Plus, your $20 already had taxes taken out of it. So, that $20 item cost around $35. If YOU don’t complain, then the problem is less likely to be fixed for the other people who buy the product.
@Meital and @Bobbi I second Bobbi’s opinion that it is absolutely correct to complain about a product under $20 if something goes wrong. It has less to do with the price than with the principal. You paid for something and you expect it to work (or taste yummy, etc). That said, if a $1 item from a dollar store didn’t perform as expected, I probably wouldn’t spend the time taking it back unless I had a few other errands in the neighborhood.
My husband and I walked out of a movie (about a lady with certain reptilian tattoo…) because of its extreme graphic nature. This movie really should have been NC17. Nonetheless, we paid a tremendous amount for movies with the dinner at AMC. I politely mentioned this to the manager, and asked him if there was any way I could have coupons or a discount, and he very graciously gave me two free ticket coupons. I think with movies if you give a good reason for why you walked out, they (at least AMC at Disney) will give you coupons. Best-H
My daughter had bought a mid ranged priced ring at Kohl’s that had diamond chips in it. A few months later the chips had fallen out. She was looking at other rings to replace it. I approached the jewelery counter and asked if they had any type of warranty on their jewelery as the chips had fallen out. The jewelery manager rang up an even exchage and never questioned it or asked for a receipt. Wonderful service and it never hurts to ask.
Last Christmas I purchased a Rock Band 3 Wii game for my girls from Game Stop. When you purchase a game from Game Stop, you pull the empty game case from the shelf & they place the game disc in the case at checkout. We opened gifts on Christmas Eve & didn’t find out till 10pm that night that the game was empty. The store would not be open till 10am the day after Christmas, but that was the day my girls would leave to spend a week with their dad. I was devastated to say the least. I sent an email through their website because that was the only thing I could do at that late hour. A manager called me at midnight on Christmas Eve & made arrangements to meet me at the store at 9am on Christmas Day to unlock the store & get me my game! I was floored! He saved our Christmas! And he gave us a bag of goodies for my girls too! I honestly didn’t expect to hear anything until the Monday after Christmas at the earliest. I’m a customer for life now!
@Karrisa WOW! That GameStop manager went above and beyond. Glad it all worked out for you and your family.
This summer I went camping for the first time with my then 2 year-old son. About 3 weeks later I scratched at a bump behind my knee next day it was infected. It spread to a bulls eye pattern and was hot to the touch. I thought this would be an open and closed case of Lyme disease. So into the Urgent Care Clinic I went. I paid $130 up front, and after a 5 minute consult with the Dr. on duty, she thought it was only a skin infection due to a spider bite*** no tests were taken. I even asked her if she thought it was Lyme and told her I had been camping. So I received the first 10- day supply of antibiotics. It seemed to clear up, but the following day the rash reappeared! And wouldn’t you know it I got a stomach sickness and was the most intense pain after eating. I had to go to the ER, my family doctor and an eye doctor as a result of too many antibiotics and wrong diagnosis. So I sent Urgent Care an email saying that I would not be recommending their new clinic to anyone and would like to be contacted. Four hours and I received a phone call from the regional director who explained Lyme is very hard to diagnose, but they would waive the prescription fee if my insurance did not cover the cost of the final antibiotics. He was very nice and concerned that I received proper care.
Just last year, my family ate canned soup from Trader Joe’s and we all got food poisoning.
The next day, my husband called in sick and I was still sweating bullets. Since I bought more than 1 soup and I live right across the street, I took the other unopened soups back to them (about 10 of them).
They could clearly see that I was in discomfort and still sweating. I really didn’t want a refund and actually wanted them to pull the remainder of the soups from the shelves to prevent anyone from experiencing what we had gone through.
They refunded our soups and the manager took down my phone number. A few days later, corporate called and took down all the information to the incident.
I felt that they really cared for my well-being and while I didn’t receive anything per say, I really like the high level of customer service from them. For that, I am a super loyal customer, even though I went through such a horrible experience with food poisoning.
@Susan You did the right thing to let TJ’s know about the bad soup, but I doubt a company would report itself to the FDA. I’ve never gone as far as reporting an incident to the FDA, though I’ve often thought about it!
well i have many called many times this holiday to toys r us they said i can buy online and pick up in store they said my items were in stock they weren’t i called for over 3 hours on 3 different phones and they never answered well they canceled my order took over 3 weeks to refund but finely got my item from a different store and gave me them for 50% off but i bought a different game was told would work on my ds well it was only for 3d ds we dident find out till my daughter opened and they would do nothing because we opened it so i gotm a 45 dollar paper weight i finely sold it at a loss on ebay but r us service is crap calling gets nothing stores cant do much but other paces are better bath and body gave me 20 gift cards more than once because of mix up but macys was bad i ordered a ring on sale but got earrings i called nicely said i got the wrong item and they said its 2 days before christmas we cant do anything till after well resend it and it will be done within 7 business days and return the earrings we sent to your local store so i has to wait a extra week and got nothing outta it no partial refund or anything so i wore them wile i waited for my ring you figure they would do something so sometimes it works out good but others nothing
I love your Whole Foods letter. I actually complain if anything goes wrong regardless of the price but I always complain in person. I’m going to try your method.
I don’t even like the word complain because I am always very nice about it. I point out what went wrong and see how they handle it. If I don’t get what I consider to be a fair resolution, I am more specific about what I want.
1. I bought a $65 video game from Game Stop when it came out 6 weeks ago. The game suddenly stopped working through no fault of ours. I took the game to Game Stop and they said there was nothing I could do and I should have purchased the insurance. I said that I had no idea that was even an option (true) and that the cashier should have asked me. The manager sold me a refurbished game for $3 instead of having to pay $65 again. I was very pleased.
2. I took my kids to a jumping place. One hour is $11 per kid. One of the workers told the kids their time was up after 45 minutes so the kids put their shoes on and got ready to go. I had 6 kids with me so I didn’t want to stop the momentum of leaving but it was unfair to end their session when the price is so high. I told the manager and he gave me 3 free 1 hour passes for the future.
It’s a service to yourself AND to the store when you let them know about an issue. They appreciate being able to rectify a customer experience and they often use it to improve service overall.
I hate to complain, but it’s true that if people don’t complain no one will know what needs to be fixed, including in cases that involve not much money. After my husband got soda twice from Chick-fil-a that had no syrup flavoring, I wrote an email suggesting they implement a system to check on the syrup levels. To thank me, I got a coupon for a free drink and sandwich along with a nice note :).