We complain badly, as a community. We either say nothing — too tired, too embarrassed, just want to get home — or we explode on social media, feel briefly better, and change nothing. After years of practice we have landed on a method that actually gets results, and it is boring, which is why it works.
At the time: collect, don’t argue
When the assistance doesn’t come or the “accessible” room has a bath in it, the person in front of you is almost never the person who caused it, and arguing with them costs energy you need for the actual journey. Instead, collect:
- Names. First names are fine. “Craig at the assistance desk” is worth a paragraph of description.
- Times, to the minute. Your phone’s photo timestamps do this for you.
- Photographs — the steps, the blocked bay, the room as you found it.
- What was promised, in writing, from the booking confirmation.
Then, and this matters, ask one calm question: “What can you do for us right now?” Sometimes the answer fixes the day. Either way, their answer goes in the complaint too.
Afterwards: one page, three parts
Written complaints get read when they are short. Ours are one page: what was promised (with the booking reference), what happened (times, names, facts, no adjectives), and what we want. That last part is the one people skip, and it is the whole point. “A refund of the assistance-failed leg, and confirmation of what has changed so it doesn’t happen to the next person” gives them something to say yes to. “This was disgraceful” gives them something to apologise for, and apologies are free.
Where to escalate
If the company’s answer is inadequate, there is usually a next rung, and companies respond differently once you are on it. For trains it is the Rail Ombudsman; for flights, the airline’s ADR scheme or the Civil Aviation Authority; for hotels and restaurants, the credit card chargeback route can concentrate minds; and failures of a promised reasonable adjustment can be an Equality Act matter, which is worth naming, calmly, in exactly one sentence. You will rarely need the rung after that. Mostly, naming the rung is enough.
And say it here
The complaint fixes it for you. The write-up fixes it for the next family. It is half of why this site exists — the other half being the places that got it right, who deserve the custom the bad ones lose.
Your turn: if you have experiences of your own — the places that got it right, and the ones that got it badly wrong — tell us in the comments below. Every report helps the next traveller.
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