Send a letter to TSC coporate office?

[thinkxingu]

Ed,
You may wish to provide a quick summary and attach the whole story--then those who are truly involved can read it while those on the fringe get the gist. As was said above, TSC is like any other chain--some stores will have sharp, friendly, and dedicated workers while others, well, you've figured it out. What's sad here is that there are a few stores with the latter. In my area, we have the same issue with HD--there are three within 25 minutes, and only one is good.

S

 

[mayhem]

Do I as a customer matter to the TSC coporation…probably not.

Wrong. You do matter. You're their ideal sticky customer. You go there regularly despite the long drive to buy supplies on a consistent basis. $125 a month just for dog food is a big deal customer and the boys upstairs will know it. You may very well be ignored, but no matter what, send your letter as it was posted here originally. Speak your peace and get it out...you may very well be in for a pleasant surprise and they might actually try to make it right.

Good luck.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Remember that brevity is the soul of wit; I would shorten it to about 3 paragraphs. I do a lot of technical writing, however, so I'm a "tell me what you want to say" sort of dude.

Put complaints in bullet format- one line each. That is a powerful way to get the points across. Take out all of the conversational stuff: politeness about language, your history and family circumstance, anything else unrelated to the complaints. More language will often just get the whole thing ignored.

Well, that's my $0.02. Good luck.

 

[ramonbow]

You have gone through the trouble of writing it, looking up addresses, and even addressing envelopes. It is time to make a final edit and send it off. This is the type of thing TSC and Speeco need to hear because people like you are solid customers that they need. Take out or replace the items where you apologize (grammar, wall street, letting off steam, etc) and take out the passive agressive response requests. Simply say that you would appreciate a response. Also take out the (CC thingy) - simply cc on the bottom with a list of the other recipients. Take up the english teacher's request to edit it and send it off already.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

1. You definitely need to send some letters, but that one is too long, IMO. Cut the personal bio stuff and just go through the chronology of the issue at hand--maybe even use a bulleted list.


2. "Dear Mr. Wright, Mr. Crudele, and Board of Directors"

Select one person as the addressee and CC the others with their own copies, or send individualized letters. This will make it so that three letters are received at TSC instead of one. One letter can easily be ignored or thrown away by an underling, but three letters gives you more of a chance of getting to someone who cares and can make a difference.


3. Also send a letter(s) to SpeeCo (makers of Huskee). The final assembly of their equipment at TSC stores is a concern to them because, rightly or wrongly, affects their reputation.

ASIDE: Many others and I have spoken with Kevin Greer at SpeeCo. He's a customer service rep, is very nice, and gets things done.

+10 - Shorten the letter, leave out some of the fluff, and cc a copy to each store as well. Good letter, just leave out the stuff that doesn't pertain to TSC/Speedco

 

[moosetrek]

You have gone through the trouble of writing it, looking up addresses, and even addressing envelopes. It is time to make a final edit and send it off. This is the type of thing TSC and Speeco need to hear because people like you are solid customers that they need. Take out or replace the items where you apologize (grammar, wall street, letting off steam, etc) and take out the passive agressive response requests. Simply say that you would appreciate a response. Also take out the (CC thingy) - simply cc on the bottom with a list of the other recipients. Take up the english teacher's request to edit it and send it off already.

+1 - you could even CC the local paper or the CPSC... But that'd be going a bit far until you give them a chance to make it right. Sounds like you're just a consumer trying to support TSC, despite rather than because of, their poor attitude. I think it's a good thing to let them know what happened, and I would't belittle yourself, you're a customer whether for $1 or $1000, and it's not the loss of just $1 but the loss of the three neighbors that might decide they don't want to deal with that attitude and go somewhere else to shop. Despite today's rampant CEO-bashing, many of them didn't get there by being idiots (not all, at least), and realize that in small towns there are factors that affect the bottom line like attitude, word-of-mouth, etc. - I'd be sure to mention that it's a small town, and although it's a hassle to go elsewhere there are other options nearby. Most people like to contribute to the local community, and stores are no different.

I'd also make CC a copy to their official complaint forum - online, comment card, whatever it is. Many managers get rated based on these comments, and they can be taken seriously.