Complaining does work…

Quite a lot of what I write on here is left open and may leave you with a few unanswered questions. None more so than my post back in February about the issue I faced when visiting my local VUE cinema (http://theadventuresofwheelchairboy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/cinema.html). No one had replied to my original letter two weeks after the incident took place and they still hadn’t five months on, hence the lack of news that I had. I couldn’t be bothered to pursue it but after explaining to my aunt and uncle why I was boycotting VUE cinemas (nice to know my family read the blog), they encouraged me to contact head office because I might get a response.

I gave in eventually, sending the original complaint to the customer relations department at VUE accompanied by a second letter reiterating the various points I had made and the fact that the Watford branch had seemingly ignored it. I thought, “here goes nothing” but it was worth a try as you don’t get anywhere in life by putting in no effort. As it was, the response was pretty uninspiring and fobbed me off about not receiving the initial letter (eventhough I handed it in). They also said my comments/suggestions had been noted for consideration.

However, the second letter of complaint wasn’t a complete waste of time because as a gesture of good will and to obviously entice me to start using VUE again, the person responding attached a £20 gift card. I was more than happy with that bit of compensation and it certainly made typing up two letters worthwhile. I have already used up the voucher on two sequels, The Purge: Anarchy (as good if not better than the first) and Inbetweeners 2 (quite apparent that the writers had run out of ideas). I still prefer Odeon though as the wheelchair spaces are positioned at the back, which is better for my eyes and neck.

The moral of this story is that a letter of complaint will probably not resolve an issue but you might get something in return from the company. This is the second time ‘Wheelchair Boy’ has been rewarded for complaining (http://theadventuresofwheelchairboy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/i-get-what-i-want.html) so it clearly works. Even if it is only to maintain good PR, I couldn’t care less because the outcome is positive for me.

Bye for now!