Complaining about Raspberry Pavlova

Last Christmas we found a hair in the base of an English strawberry merringe, (called Raspberry Pavlova), which was supposed to be the finale of our Christmas dinner. Rich complained in January to Marks & Spencer, where we bought the sweet from after the Christmas holiday. At that time we were horrified and felt sick by this little curled golden hair, as we both have black hair, but now it sounds quite funny. Since his complaint, we hadn't heard from Marks & Spencer at all and thought we were being ignored, so we started to think about disposing of the hair. The day before yesterday, Rich finally got a reply email from the customer services (see below) it sounds really funny to read. At last we can send off the hair!

I wonder how many of my friends know that the English love complaining and in my experience you can really benefit from it. When we joined cable TV and their broadband internet service, we had a few problems over the first few months with them. The modem stopped providing service several times, as soon as the internet had connected we had had a virus and the PC was broken, then they even didn't bother to turn up to fix it. When I called their help line they made me to buy a PC accessorry that I didn't really need to buy, then Rich complained and we got a sincerely apology, plus a whole free internet service for a month. MamaG and PapaG also love to complain, for example, MamaG complained about the train service she once used, as a result she came to London by a 1st class free ticket - I was really impressed. Not only the Greatrex family but generally English love to complain, which is pretty funny to me. I wonder if it is because the complaints are treated more generously in this country or if the English are just quite good at it? One day, I hope I can be good at it too, aswell as being native in English.

゜・。・゜・。・゜・。・゜・。・゜・。・゜・。・゜・。゜・。

From: Retail Customer Services RetailCustomer.Services@marks-and-spencer.com]
Sent: 09 June 2004 14:25
To: Richard Greatrex
Subject: RE: Food Complaint

Dear Richard

I was extremely sorry to learn about the unpleasant problem with our Raspberry Pavlova. Thank you very much for letting us know about it.
We set the most stringent hygiene standards for all our food, as you can imagine. So this is of great concern. I realise that you have thrown the pavlova away, but if you can return everything else to your local store they will be able to fill in a complaint form with you and send the hair to the head office on your behalf. If this is inconvenient for you, you can send it directly to the following address.

Food Department
Retail Customer Services
Chester Business Park, Wrexham Road
Chester, CH4 9GA

My sincere apologies for letting you down in this way. I realise how upsetting it must have been.

Regards

Marks & Spencer, Retail Customer Service
Telephone: 0845 302 1234
E-mail: RetailCustomer.services@marks-and-spencer.com