There is a flaw in your penchant to boycott a place after getting bad service and that is with the current way customer service is handled you will soon run out of places to go in your area. This is especially bad in restaurants where I am constantly paranoid that the waitstaff is going to put something in my food that I may not like. Seriously, if I boycotted every restaurant I had a problem with then I would have to travel 300 miles for a steak. Yes, I suppose I could cook it myself but then you have to deal with the nitwits at the grocery store and you run into the same problems.
For me it depends. If i've been to the company before and just once or twice in all that time i get bad service, i'll just put it down to the individual serving me rather than the organization (cause some people are gone cases).
Though i have to say, if my first visit to any company results in my getting treated like shit i boycott it completely, and tell everyone i know to do so too! wicked
I have written a formal letter of complaint to my local Chinese delivery place after 8 deliveries in a row provided the wrong food, or the wrong drink, or food prepared the wrong way, or missing items of food. But their chicken wings and sesame prawns on toast were to DIE for. I am now officially boycotting them.
I don't think they care, though.
It depends how much I like the product (food/end result of hair cut/etc). I'll put up with bad service for food I get cravings for.
Hell no! I'm with you (minus the letters - who needs to write when you have a big mouth and can yell at CSRs and embarrass them in front of managers, staff and customers?). I tend to be very pointed in my comments so we are all clear on why I'm unhappy with something. And if anyone needs to be soothed, it's not me it's the schmuck I have chewed up and spit out by the time I'm done! 
I don't eat out much so that's not a huge problem. I let my tips speak for how I feel the service was, and I when the waiter/waitress comes around to ask how the food was, I'm honest. Funny thing is, if I'm not prompted to be nasty, the food usually and magically gets compt'd. Luverly!
I too am a boycotter. Not that they care but I usually make a huge scene and literally can't go back there even if I wanted to.
Chris,
I generally don't find restaurants to be the problem. The food place I'm describing is not a sit down restaurant but a take out, where you stand around like an ass, about 3 feet from the apathetic employee who is ignoring you.
C,
If I get a response from the company making an effort to apologize and or a promise to let their employees know what is an acceptable and unacceptable way to treat the public, I'm ok.
I'll go back.
But, if I'm ignored by the company as well, then I'll tell everyone who'll listen about their substandard service.
I once took a marketing course which quoted stats. They said that a negative story about service was repeated on an average of 19 times more often than a positive one. I think from those stats it's clear that people expect good service.
Grismeri,
You know, you reminded me that I did take shit from the local asian mart for over 3 years because I needed their products, with not other place to buy them. Hmmm.
But, there are certain cultures that are quite exclusive and really don't need your business...I just contradicted myself...LOL.
The asian supermarket is someplace where I did tolerate bad service because I needed what they sold.
Their service isn't bad now, though. They know me now and are quite friendly. LOL.
LMD,
I guess I'm not hard and fast on my rules. LOL.
Lilly,
I'm generally not a scene maker.
That's not to say that I haven't. I just try not to.
I've been in the service industry and have taken a lot of shit from customers. But, if I'm pushed too far, I've been known to blow.
Eva,
If I'm pissed off enough, as I've said previously, if I get no response from head office, I'll stick to my boycott. Especially if there are other companies around who offer the same service.
I now use another quick oil changer chain, and when I tell them I have my own mechanic, they actually listen to me and shut the fuck up and just do what I came to them for.
Guess the mister and I have something in common...
Oh I am soooo with you! Piss me off and you get the full strenght of my mighty thesaurus thrown your way! And I happily tell everyone (whether they want to hear it or not!) how I feel if someone has really jerked me around. On the other hand, if I've had great service somewhere I will happily tell them and everyone I know. I believe in being equally bitchy and praiseful when the situation calls for it.
Fortunately, due to my conspicuous lack of almost anything aside from CDs and books, I've not really run into this problem. Waiters can be a problem sometimes, but that's alright, since I'm pretty patient and don't mind waiting for food (unlike everyone else!). Otherwise, I don't need to worry about anything else 
As you well know my mister, he loves it if there's some kind of customer service problem he can sink his little teeth into....and write letters? he's gotta be the master.
I happen to love one magical sentence above all when dealing with asshole CSRs: "I'd like to speak to your manager about this, please."
I've just completed a 7 month battle royal with a certain phone company that required two count em two letters to the president including one snotty threat of legal action and media attention before they coughed up the refund they should have given me in the first place......(ahhh, that's better)
It depends on my mood. Usually I can't be bothered to complain or write a letter, so most often I take a passive-agressive approach to bad service: put up with it, then complain later.
Like Lily and Radmila, I was once in the service industry, so I am mostly compassionate towards the person behind the cash register. Mostly.
I tend to give companies the "three strikes" policy. If after three tries with a particular eatery/store/whatever, I still leave pissed off and unsatisfied, then I boycott and send letters. However, if I go somewhere and get great customer service, I definitely spread the word around to other people.
Boycotter. Definitely. Although I do usually have a two visit rule in case they just happened to be having a bad day the first time.
Personally, as far as the Sister Boob experience, I think that I would have driven my car out and then perhaps driven in again... making sure to run over the snot nosed brat just enough for them to remember that they should be nice to the customers.
Oh. And as far as boycotting is concerned, I make sure to tell as many people as I know about the poor service so that they can change their minds as well...
I'm with Kim: I'm pretty much a 3 strikes person, too.
Though, I tend to boycott places that are shitty companies for one reason or another (like Starbucks, Wal*Mart, and this one shit-hole pub here in town owned by a guy who feels its his right to molest the female staff).
I have ZERO brand loyalty. I don't care if I've been using a product for 20 years; if something better (or cheaper, but still as good) comes along, I'm off like a Girls Gone Wild teeshirt.
I'm a boycotter, too. I doubt you're surprised.
I hate that chain for just that reason, although I seem to have had good luck on one out of my two visits by smiling and saying "no thank you". It depends on the day, and on the employee, obviously.
I'm at times a boycotter, and at times a doormat. I'm having issues right now with the LCBO (the purveyor of fine wines and spirits, for those of you who don't live in Ontario). As a beer store employee, I have "eye contact, engaging conversation and superior customer service at all costs" beaten into me at regular intervals. When I go into the LCBO, I get lazy, silent, speechless, arrogant, "when's my break"? attitude, without fail. I would love to give them all shit and shop somewhere else, but if you want good Australian merlot, you just can't.
If the employees want their cushy little jobs to have a future, they'd be wise to perk up a bit and lose their smugness.
I will boycott places - however - there are places I go to JUST for the surly service.
There used to be this coffee shop in the gay village that I frequented just to snubbed.
I think I kind of liked it.
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