Consumer bites back (From Stroud News and Journal)

Consumer bites back

WHEN it comes to shopping I am well known for being a wimp; the service or product has to be truly dreadful or unusable before I will summon up the courage to complain.

But I am becoming bolder and just before Christmas I decided to complain, twice.

The first occasion was to the man from whom I had ordered three blinds in the middle of September.

"They will be three to four weeks," the blind man said. (Yes, I could make some awful puns about blind men but I am going to resist the temptation.)

Eight weeks later I had not seen hide nor hair of my new blinds. I rang the shop to find out why.

A week later two lovely new blinds were fitted and made a huge difference to the windows they adorned. The final one would be about a month at the latest, I was assured. It had been worth complaining.

Well that was six weeks ago and not only is my daughter's bedroom still without a covering for her skylight but no-one from the shop has rung me to explain what the delay is.

I am on the point of complaining again. Contrast the blind saga with that of the waste bin in my kitchen.

When I moved house almost three years ago just about the most extravagant purchase I made was a gleaming chrome Brabantia bin, the price of which I am too ashamed to reveal here but suffice it to say it made my children gasp and tell their friends in hushed tones about their mother's mad extravagance.

It was worth the money, however. One touch and up glided the lid, slowly and silently, making a satisfactory clicking sound when it was pressed effortlessly down again.

On its first day in my house I spent far too many moments pressing the lid each time I passed, despite the fact that I had nothing to put in the bin.

Shortly before Christmas the bin lid broke and had to be prised open with the help of my, fortunately, long and strong fingernails.

I looked up the paperwork and discovered that the bin was unconditionally guaranteed for ten years so I rang Brabantia and in seconds was through to the correct department (dealing with real people, not with an irritating electronic switchboard).

The very helpful Brabantia customer service man took down all my bin's details.

"We will send you a new lid, madam," he said. "It might take up to 28 days." Two days later my new lid arrived, complete with spare parts.

Now which company's products will I buy again in the future and which will I take a lengthy detour in order to avoid, do you think?