BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter

Subject: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 01:10 PM

Very funny:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/4344890/Virgin-the-worlds-best-passenger-complaint-letter.html

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: gnu
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:03 PM

Hehee... thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:04 PM

Mustard will never look the same to me.

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: jacqui.c
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:09 PM

Nice! I love the use of 'Richard' so often.

I always fly Virgin now - I've tried most of the airlines on my transatlantic trips and they seem to be the best. They can still screw up occasionally though.

I always eat BEFORE boarding - that way I don't have to rely on what passes for food on all the airlines I've used.

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:23 PM

Richard Branson called him personally?!?!?! And thanked him for his constructive(if tongue in cheek)commemts?!?!?!

What a jolly nice guy - NOT!

What about reimbursement? What about a free flight for that poor sod? What about a video of Sir himself being forsed to eat that tripe?

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: open mike
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 03:08 PM

well, before reading that i WAS hungry...

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 05:12 PM

LOL Very funny! I've never had a problem flying virgin but the food on most airlines leaves a lot to be desired for!

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: MartinRyan
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 05:20 PM

No sane person would serve a dessert with a tomato would they?

Brings me back! On my first visit to the Aran Islands, way back in the mid-60's, I was served, as dessert, a slice of apple tart garnished with - tomatoes!

Regards

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 05:20 PM

Virgin should offer him a free flight to India next time if he'll eat the food. If he doesn't, then drop him out over the ocean. He could write another complaint letter on the way down.

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 05:33 PM

It looks like a feeble, airline attempt at "authentic" food for the destination. I think the two strips of sponge next to the tomato are meant to be dhokla. They are doing a passible impression, anyway...as for the rest of it - well, it sounds like there might have been som lassi involved with the cookie. But words fail me at the mustardy mash thingy.

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 06:51 PM

Someone said, and Martin Ryan echoed,

No sane person would serve a dessert with a tomato would they?


Why not? Tomato is a fruit, and though unusual, perfectly appropriate in/with/although may not AS dessert.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 06:56 PM

Looks like a clever marketing ploy to me. Anyone authenticate the writer and his experience?:-)

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 07:00 PM

Whoever wrote it(real customer or marketer) can't spell worth a hoot.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: John Hardly
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 07:05 PM

Thank you very much for that link, SINSULL. SINSULL, I of course found the content very entertaining. If you had more links of similarly humorous content, I would be more than happy to read those as well, SINSULL.

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Amos
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 07:12 PM

The complainant contacted Sir Richard, the chief executive of the airline, after a flight from Mumbai to Heathrow on December 7 last year, to convey his disappointment with the food served on board the airline.
The letter, which also included five photographs of the "offending" dishes, has been circulated around the world and has been almost universally praised for its pointedness and humour.
The London-based passenger has since received a call from Sir Richard inviting him to come to the airline's catering house next month, to help select the food on future Virgin flights. The passenger has not yet confirmed whether he would take up the opportunity.
"While we investigated his complaint seriously, and following Richard Branson's phone call we've invited him to our catering house to select the next range of meals and wines we serve on board," said a spokesman for Virgin Atlantic. "Then we can ensure his personal taste is well and truly catered for."...

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 07:28 PM

The letter struck me as extremely funny. I was laughing out loud at the descriptions of the food. The Christmas present analogy was hilarious.

Many years ago I used to sort through complaint letters from customers - Domino Sugar. One sticks in my mind. It read:

Dear SIRS:
I win! How do I go about collecting my prize? I found the rusty nail in my bag of sugar!


She enclosed the nail with a nice note about how she thought it important that we knew about it.
Needless to say she got enough coupons for free sugar to last her through the year.

Wonder who's paying the airfare for the complainer's trip to the kitchen?

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 08:22 PM

I had an uncle who used to write quite imaginative and clever complaint letters to every company he could think of. He did it not because he had any legitimate reason to complain, but because he wanted free stuff from them. He was scamming them. It almost always paid off, and they would send him some free samples of their product along with an apology for something that had never really happened. I still hope he got his comeuppance for it in the afterlife, but who can say? ;-)

He also stole stuff from hotels, motels, and restaurants. He figured the world was there to serve him. The retail and hospitality trade must lose millions to such people every year.

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Barry Finn
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 08:55 PM

Thanks Sinsul & thanks Little Hawk
I'm going to the UK this summer & I've looked at flights & they're way high.
I think I will try writing a complaint letter before I fly & hope they will fly me for free after they read it & I'll make it up to them with a follow up letter of praise
Virign Alantic says that if I fly now I can get the RT ticket for under $400 if I fly in July it'll cost me over $1100. My question is is the food better at the higher price or not? I need to know these things before I write my letter.

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 12:32 AM

He just sounded ignorant, to me. He didn't even bother tasting the food, so how would he know if was any good or not.? I thought it looked like it might be pretty good. Better than other airline food I've seen (granted, that's not much).

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 01:00 AM

That's sort of how I see it too, Carol. I think the man sounds like a bit of a prat. The food may not have been bad at all, it's clearly Indian food, and that's no crime. He sounds like a man who is so lost in admiration of his own brilliance that he writes these complaint letters just so he can reread them, then read them to others, and bask in the reflected glory of his own clever prose.

He'd make quite a movie reviewer. ;-)

He'd also be dynamite for the more contentious threads on Mudcat.

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 02:29 AM

He also sounds like the kind of person who travels to other countries and then complains because those countries don't do things like they're done at home. People like that ought to just stay home.

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Barry Finn
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 02:35 AM

Could be he was complaining so he'd be invited for a free lunch. He was!
I'm still looking for cheap tickets

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Barry Finn
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 02:35 AM

Could somebody please bump me

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: maeve
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 07:43 AM

Oops, it was I who gave Barry his bump-by-request. Who ate my cookie and was it delicious?

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 09:02 AM

Barry Finn said:

Could somebody please bump me

And GUEST said:

BUMP

There you go, Barry.

What was all THAT about?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: quokka
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 09:28 AM

if you have to ask, Dave...you'll never know :-)

Subject: RE: BS: The Ultimate Complaint Letter
From: Ed T
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 04:36 PM

The process to put an automatic complaint letter in place:
http://www.pakin.org/complaint-info/new-improved.html