Boycott! No wait...

It began almost a month ago...a department store ONE DAY SALE! I needed a suit and purchased one in good faith. Alterations would be finished in a week, the confused sales clerk told me. Two weeks passed. No call. When I inquired, I discovered my suit had been lost. Actually, the store had never sent it for alterations. Another week, the sales clerk said. A week passed.

No call.

I called the store. Apparently something had gone awry. The suit had gone for alternations and come back...unaltered. Another week, the sales clerk said.

My boycott blood began to boil. I was preapred to launch a massive strike...anti-store web sites, letters to the editor, massive negative whisper campaigns around town.

Then, I was inspired by the BrotherHamptons...a husband and wife team of poor customer service complaints. They hold coupons for free bags of Fritos as their trophies. They will not let any form of poor customer service go unanswered. They are Letter-Writers.

I wrote an e-mail to company headquarters. The company wrote back. It said it was sorry. I wrote back and said a better store would not offer an apology as a remedy.

Yesterday, the store manager called. Long story cut mercifully short...I got the suit for free.

I did the right thing. I turned around and bought a sport coat, a pair of slacks, two ties, and three pairs of socks in the same store.

Message: When dealing with a multi-billion dollar company, it sometimes pays to be a whiny bitch.