This reminds me of a time I had the same problem. I had gone on holiday and forgot to make arrangements for a house payment due when I was one. I had at least seven years without missing a payment and regarded the nasty letter I received as a gross overreaction. What I did was go to my local branch of the building society and talk to my very friendly local manger, asking how to contact the Chairman of the board and finding out that an automatic programme had sent the letter. Then I put my writing skills to good use, beginning by telling him how happy I had always been with the building society and praising my local guy. I proceeded to put in all the relevant facts including my previous perfect record, the circumstances of my mistake, and suggesting they could lose some of their best customers if this type of thing became common. The personal apology from the Chairman of the Board came within a week, together with an assurance that they were reprogramming to avoid offending good customers like me. We have agreed before on the importance of respect, Mitch, and this is just one more time respect and carefully worded and targetted writing helped not only me but others.

These are the same companies that place posters stating “lead by example” and “change is good” in employee lunch rooms. If only management believed this. Then there’d be fewer, if any, customers treated like your friend.

Only when profits drop dramatically will there be a management shakeup with the potential to improve service. And even then, it’s not guaranteed.