joninoxford

Hi there,

I hate complaining and also those frequent complainers who treat it is as a hobby. But on the otherhand when you have received very poor service or poor products I think there is almost a duty to get things put right so the next customers don't suffer the same. On a few occasions I have complained in Australia, I recevied defensiveness and buck passing that I have never before witnessed - but seems quite comical now. One incident I returned a DVD Player whose digital display was flickering and showing garbled digits. The customer service manager assured me that they were all like this, the price is so cheap that that's what I should expect and "nobody has ever complained before". When he eventually agreed to allow me to exchange to a different make of DVD player, but he noticed the returned player did not have the bubble wrap it came in and then refused to take it back. Perserance paid off, but it was stressful trying to swap the thing for a working one.

I also have recently bought a "tinny" a small fishing boat which had plastic seats. The seats started to come apart and were letting in water. The dealer also ensured me that it was quite normal for all boats to have water sloshing around there seats, and "nobody has ever complained before" - (perhaps you're the problem).

I always start very good natured and cheerful when complaining -"Hi mate, how is it going? Brillant little boat but I have a small problem with these seats - could you take a look?" so perhaps there's the problem. But as soon as they start trying to palm me off or patronise then the gloves come off, and that's usually when things get resolved.

So why the big wall of silence and grumpy faces when there is ever a complaint? I know you often get this in the UK too, but least we know the product will usually changed for a working one, and more expensive items put right.

I guess that is why we sometimes get called "Whinging Poms" because they often just grin and bear it. Which is good in a way, but when you have a malfunctioning DVD player or sitting on dripping wet seats in a tiny boat in the middle of the ocean it is not so good!
What do you think?!

bondipom

You are being too nice and English. Say something like "thats as useful as tits on a bull" and watch em jump too it.

Badge

On complaining in general. Not customer service etc.

Aussies can complain like its going out tomorrow.

I suspect the difference is, they "complain"; they don't "whinge" ( I heard this once).

My take of this is that English people do it in a particular fashion which to an Australian sounds particularly negative because 1) they may miss the humour (which may or may not not be there) 2) the accent is interpreted differently.

I'm used to Aussies complaining with a little humour or black humour. It's a kind of "sod this look what happened - stuff it never mind - lets crack on. Maybe I'm even annoyed, but its not going to get to me". It's the mentality of what someone who served in any armed forces will get. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that.

English people are perhaps more "this happened, I'm annoyed, its "out of order", I'm actually upset , I can't handle it... [repeat] " :I've heard English strangers on trams etc complain over here, and to be honest it can really sound bad. If I was Australian, I would have thought "whinging Pom" but as a Pom myself I know there is maybe some humour there.

It's just what you are used to hearing. Different accents and all that.

I'm sure someone will now have a whinge at me, but I feel this is valid and one possible, theory.

BM

DISCLAIMER Note words like suspect, possible, one, interpretation, maybe, theory. This means that the author is just theorising and offering up a idea. It is not set in stone or is legally binding.

jad n rich

In shops customer service is very poor, one dining chair leg was an inch shorter than the others but we were told nobody else would complain, its just a line to fob you.

Dont believe aussies dont complain, I am a builder, have never had a single complaint registered against my Lic, a very rare record.

But daily our lives are plagued by whinging bastards who have put in a crappy tennant and the carpet is now wrecked and they want new carpet under warranty

Or broken the toilet by shagging on it and want it fixed.

Or just "Noticed" the toilet has a broken bowl 7 months after they moved in.

Their door handle is 3mm higher than the one in the next bedroom.

The roof they insisted on installing in tile is now cracked during a hail storm.

The oven door blew up, on its own presumably without the help of the grill going with the door closed.

Nope we aussies whinge just as much as anyone else.

Pom mate of ours came out and after 2 years got all the paperwork to build pools, he lasted 6 months 24/7 phone calls about pool problems, most of them imiginary such as my pool has popped up, despite being full of several thousand gallons of water

Aussies complain but passing the buck is the way to go, trying to get someone else to pay for the problem. Thats what I cant stand.

Badge

customer service:

I've always gone in, said "Sorry mate, its a bit crook, etc etc"
, always got the money back, refund, exchange. Never any quibling - even when the box is knackered, there was mud from my ute all over the items - it had been lying on the floor in the back for weeks..I just handed over all the bits..

Manager wanted to know why I was returning it, and I said it was "a bit knackered". "Righto" she said.

BM

Ceri

What I have found Aussies whinge .. and boy do they whinge!, but don't do anything about it. They don't seem to stand up fr their rights in shops with bad service ( this generalising.. not all Aussies don't stand up for their rights)

Just recently our electrical garage door opener had conked out.. it's still less than a year old and under warrantee.. anyway hubby phones up the manufacturers to say it's not working.. so the bloke the other end say's ok but you can not do anything without your receipt ( receipt is blank , we have receipt but nothing on it .. they fade with heat).. But the door opener has a part number.. so hubby says well check the part number I have , (on the box) you can tell when it was made and distributed , and see that it is less than a year old .. no the guy was cocky .. no receipt - tough.

So hubby told the bloke.. look you are no help what so ever , and there's no need to be so cocky you jumped up little ***** ( the guy was cocky.. his boss the previous week was very helpful when he first phoned about a prob .. but he wasn't there this day) . So hubby says - I'll tell you what I'm going to do , I'm going to go to Bunnings ( where he bought it) and buy a new one . P ut the old one the box and take it back - hence one brand new door opener.. the guy says/' but, but, but .. you can't do that" .. yes I can,, and that's what I'm going to do.you jerk. And that's what he did

I have taken three DVD players back in less than a month, last year ( Brisbane car sound) .. one kept overheating after 30 minutes, another one wouldn't play my copies, and the third had a sticky remote.. no prob what so ever taking it back.. getting to know me now they are...lol.
They are good for exchanging things.. it really depends on the shop

Badge

Why not do this as a point of first call anyhow?!

Good stuff Ceri.

MikeStanton

Badge, let me be the first to complain : what a load of boll****. Aussies complain/whinge/moan (choose any verb to suit) as much as anyone else. But, they don't like being criticised about anything - and especially when it comes from a Pom. Why, in UK I've already heard a few Aussies whinge - starting sentences with "I don't like this, but in Oz..." Whinge, whinge. And while we're not on the subject of customer service in Oz...

I went into an Oz bank to complete a transaction and was told "You need another signature". Even though it was for a piddling amount, I duly returned the next day with the other signature. And was then told, by another teller that "Another signature wasn't required" I then told said teller that she and the other teller should learn what is required, so I don't have to waste my time coming into this bank (the name rhymes with Westpac). She then apologised to the other teller! Crap service; crap bank.

Badge

Mike old bean. you are VERY tiresome. Did you not read what I said

"Aussies can complain like its going out tomorrow""

Some people do NOT listen do they.

I was just trying to outline a theory as to why it is that Poms get it so much. Most of the time Pommy bashing is a joke anyhow. Aussies don't give a stuff about someone they think is a whinging Pom. It bores them shitless. And they get even more bored, or amused, when that Pom gets upset over it. I have personally never seen this "hate it from a Pom thing" you talk about.

MikeStanton

And the point I made, Gareth, is they whinge - big time. Something that you can't accept in your fairytale existence, perhaps?

Badge

I can't accept something being called a load of bollocks when it is perfectly reasoned.

Your "fairy tale" world of books, snobbery and academia. Why not live a bit, push the limits Mike?

I am proud to have done things that many people only read about. I am on TV, in books. Noone knows, I haven't seen the footage recently, but its all very real mate.

Just get on with life, stay flexible. Its why us successful migrants do OK even when we are 10,000 miles from a place we were born in. We just get on with it.

*****, maybe the whole sodding problem is that Australia and the UK are like the UK and the US. 2 countries divided by a common language. (etc). People like to think they are the same and then when there is disparity, they get confused or hurt or whatever.

BM

Ceri

a link for the original poster

http://www.consumer.qld.gov.au/OFT/o...t&L1=Consumers[/url]( office of fair trading for Qld)

I nearly took a camping outlet to them once .. over a pair of hiking boots. They backed down when I started to threaten them with this

Know your rights.. and as for your DVD player.. not being in Bubble wrap.. is a P8ss poor excuse by the shop.. you were within your rights to demand your money back.. not an exchange.. no matter what the stores policy is - they don't make the laws. If something does not work, or does not do the job that it describes, you are entitled to a refund.

The laws here don't differ that much from Britain when it comes to this. Stand your ground when they start giving you cr*p in a shop.

If your boat leaks.. demand it is fixed or money back

Megalania

And, for the umpeenth time, here is the distinction:

whinge ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hwnj, wnj)
intr.v. Chiefly British whinged, whing·ing, whing·es

To complain or protest, especially in an annoying or persistent manner.

v. i. To whine. [Scot.] --Burns

Whinge

Basically, a select set of Poms through insipid childish pleading in an unfortuante whining ex-British Union Leader Accent manage to evoke the conditioned response to whining mosquitos.

chippy

It's not taken me long to figure out that Aussie customer service is poor, very poor. But you have to stand up for yourself, just like anywhere else, including England. Just one example........

When my removal agent in Aus kept palming me off about delivering my stuff, which had been in their warehouse for two weeks I really had to give them some shit to make things happen.

Like any rational person (yes, I am rational sometimes) I started off nicely. But when after a few calls, without a result (ie, my stuff not being delivered) nothing happened and I could tell they were taking the piss....

So I told them, "right, don't bother with this. I'm gonna hire a van, and come and pick my stuff up right now myself. Then I'm going to contact the London removal company and insist they knock it off the bill."

Funny, they delivered my stuff that afternoon, having already told me it will be another two or three days.

Now is this whingeing? Frankly, I don't give a toss if it is, or it isn't. But for the record I consider it standing up for my rights, getting a service I paid good money for. I suppose that is 'complaining'.

Sandy.l

Have a good old gripe to these guys...

http://www.notgoodenough.org/

Sandy