At long last!

The day before Easter I had a nasty surprise. The delivery I had
ordered from a well known internet grocery firm arrived one hour
earlier than it was booked, and the moronic driver left it with my
"son", who was standing outside my door with a bunch of keys in his
hands. The problem with that is that I don't have a son.
Yep. The idiot, in his haste to go home, left almost £90 worth of
shopping with the first bloke he saw, because he was standing outside
my door with a bunch of keys (probably on his way to one of the
neighbours either side of me).
Anyway, I kicked up a fuss and spoke to someone from customer service
demanding £50 compensation for the inconvenience caused (it being 7
o'clock on the Saturday night before Easter, I couldn't replace the
groceries and my bank holiday was ruined), the distress caused
initially when I spoke to the driver on the phone, before I got home
(the way he said it, it sounded as if someone had broken into my
flat), and the fact that they put me at risk of identity theft
because the groceries he left with my "son", of course, came with a
delivery note with my full name and address on it.

The man at customer services was very sympathetic and did his best to
help, but his best was only to refund £25 to my credit card and offer
a voucher for the same amount (they never actually took the cost of
the shopping as they only take it after delivery and obviously it
hadn't been delivered... not to me, in any case). He didn't have the
authority to do any more. I said that I wasn't happy with it. I would
either accept £50 to my credit card, or £25 to the card plus a
voucher for £50. He advised me to write directly to the CS manager,
and gave me his name and address. I wrote and posted my letter the
following week, but at the beginning of May, almost 4 weeks later,
I'd had no reply. I emailed a copy of the letter to the generic
address, although I made it very clear it was addressed to one
specific person. A few days later someone answered me to tell me they
couldn't do anything more, although the £25 voucher was waiting for
me if I wanted it. I wrote back saying that if I wanted him to reply
to me I would have addressed my letter to him, but since I hadn't and
it had somebody else's name on it, then he should pass it on as I
wasn't accepting that outcome. I then asked for their complaints
policy and for whom I should contact should I not be happy with the
final outcome.
Today I had a £50 voucher in my mail, for a total of £75 credited
including the money on my card. Result!

The same day the groceries were delivered to "my son", in fact at the
same time it was happening, I was having a little problem with my
mobile phone company. That was also resolved satisfactorily with a
credit to my account for £50. The difference between the two was that
the mobile phone company immediately acknowledged their cock-up and
fell over themselves to repay my inconvenience.

I am currently awaiting a reply from my previous landline company
regarding a damages and compensation payment for £100 (they took
money out of my account 3 months after I stopped being their
customer, and they kept writing threatening letters to me after I had
that money refunded by my bank). I can see that claim going all the
way up to the telecom regulator, but I'm not standing down until I
have the money.

So, moral of the story: it pays to complain for crap service. In
fact, as I'm looking for a job, I wonder if I could become a
professional moaner :)))