We love a good old moan here at Which? Conversation, but only when it’s constructive. That’s why today’s National Complaints Day could be a useful addition to the calendar…
When was the last time you had to complain about a holiday? Fortunately, for me it was nearly 10 years ago, when I went on a package to a hotel in a French ski resort and could touch nearly all four bedroom walls at the same time.
The rep gently fobbed me off and told me that it would be difficult – or nearly impossible -to move because it was peak season. This was clearly in my pre-Which? days and I naively put up with his feeble excuse and stayed put, albeit angrily.
Unfortunately, I’m not alone in my experience of making an unsuccessful complaint. Research for Which? Legal Service has just found that half of people who made a complaint about their holiday in the last three years were left feeling disgruntled about the outcome. This was often because they felt, as I did, fobbed off by the person they complained to.
My experience of one complaint in nearly 10 years of holidays is pretty good going though. I feel quite lucky. Especially since the research found that one in ten holidaymakers made a complaint about a trip in the last three years.
Today is National Complaints Day – perhaps not the most celebratory of national days. Still, if it means that more people learn how to write the most effective complaint, or get support to make a complaint in the first place, then it’s probably a day worth having.