How much abuse do you take to buy local?

I am sorry but I need to vent. And wondered what the rest of the world would do.
In the last few days it seems that I have ran into the worst customer service on the face of the earth and guess what it was all local.
First of all I have had two doctors鈥?offices that really ticked me off. The first one told me before Christmas that they had dropped me from there case load because I had not paid a bill. Well I had paid them and OOPS they just made a mistake. Okay forgive and forget is my motto, well I called again today and guess what they had not fixed the problem. OOPS! I asked to speak to the office manager and I decided they were using the tactic if we leave her on hold long enough she will just get tired of it. Well guess what I did. I wrote a letter to the doctor because I can almost guess that she has no idea of the incompetence. Then it was a local furniture store. Then I go online to bizzy lizzy bakery and get great service. Maybe I should stick to online buying.

I love my local businesses. We have good local doctors, the vet's been very helpful, I like my local grocery store, we have a very nice green-grocer who's only been here about a year, he has good products and good service (the previous one however was not very good, that's true). I also quite like the delicatessen store & the fish store, they're both family businesses and have been around since I was little. I'm sorry your local businesses are so bad :-(

I've also had good experiences buying online but it just so happens my very last online purchase, a couple months ago, went totally wrong, total lack of communication, took weeks and several mails to get the total with overseas shipping, finally got the total so I paid and weeks later they still hadn't shipped my order claiming I had not paid! I finally had to open a dispute with PayPal to get my money back (WhimsicAlly -not recommended :P).

Stick to online-ness!

We're pretty far from civilization (okay, maybe it just feels that way) so we don't have a lot of options and the businesses do seem to take advantage of the situation. My husband does a lot of on-line shopping, but I don't care for it myself, so I just suffer through dealing with these local yokels........

Stick to online-ness!

No you are not alone. Many times I have asked myself if i have a sign on my forehead that says please be rude to me, overlook me, and treat me like crap. Although I do not purchase online. I make it a point anymore to let the place I have been to know about how I've been treated and let them know that they will never have my business again, and that I will tell anyone I can just how horrible they are. Strangely enough, with the economy the way it is, a lot of people don't really seem to take things like customer service as seriously as they should. I have never been the kind who expects to be pampered or catered to. I try to be polite as possible, all I've ever looked for in return is to be treated with a reasonable amount of respect, as anyone would. In this day and age, it's a miracle to find service like that! I always go where the service is good, even if it's way out of my way to do so. I am right there with ya on that one!