Don't you just love to walk into a place where people are nice and friendly, willing to help, maybe even remember who you are from a previous visit? This page is dedicated to my list of FAMES (good), LAMES (stupid), and SHAMES (bad) All are based on my personal experience. Your experiences may differ. I hope you have more fames than lames.
FAME:	NBD (National Bank of Detroit) - now Bank One. Treated me like I was important when I was in school and my balance averaged about $12 at any given time.
FAME:	Holiday Market in Canton Michigan. Great customer service, excellent selection. John (the owner) is usually always around in the store, helping with whatever needs to be done. They have a fantastic meat counter, huge deli area with every imaginable cheese and cold cut, a brick oven for bread and pizza, a coffee house, and much more. They are affiliated with Spartan Stores, and have the competition beat - hands down!
FAME:	Amazon.com. You can get anything here. And the price is right!
FAME:	Geocities. Free web sites! (www.geocities.com) Thank you!
FAME:	Bangkok 96 Thai food restaurant. They are located just south of Michigan Avenue on Telegraph road in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. Their food is consistent and out-of-this-world! The staff is very friendly, and I've never had a bad meal there. Great if you have a cold setting in - get the spicy stuff, but beware, Thai spices can be extremely hot. Anything beyond medium hot is at your own risk.
LAME:	The Wagon Wheel restaurant in Troy, Michigan. I ordered a corned beef sandwich. The description on the menu said "stacked high". When it came, there were two thin slices. I asked the waitress for some more. She sent the manager over, and he informed me that he had "taken care of it on my bill". I told him that was not what I was asking for, that I would like some more meat. He said they could not do that, because the portions were pre-measured, and re-stated that it was free for me. Then I asked if I could buy a second sandwich, and get only the meat; no bread, cheese, cold slaw, fries. He refused. Said then I would be getting two sandwiches for the price of one. He was convinced that they were better off if I got one sandwich for the price of none... I told him politely that he was missing the most important piece of customer service: Find out what the customer wants. I then told him we were disappointed, and would not come back. His solution: gave me a $20 gift certificate. Never did get what I wanted. I wanted a sandwich with meat on it for $7. Instead I got a sandwich with hardly any meat for free, and a $20 gift certificate. Pretty lame.
LAME:	Borders Books. Maybe it's only the Dearborn, MI location - cannot get any help there, reluctant to special order anything. (Get it through Amazon.com instead)
SHAME:	(High shame) KMart Photo Processing. They lost a roll of film (taken when all of the family was gathered for my Grandfather's funeral), and told me, "We're going to give you a new roll of film. Don't worry." Gee. Thanks for the compassion!
SHAME:	(High shame and downright disgusting...) Champion House Chinese/Japanese Restaurant in Ann Arbor, MI. A Casual dinner led to this listing... Pam got the Almond Chicken, I the General Tso's. Mind you, these are two entirely different dishes, would have been cooked separately. About two bites into her meal, Pam gagged, pushed her food away and told me she was done. There was a fly in it (cooked). I took it to the manager and politely explained that we would not pay for the dish (or the fly). I was then eating carefully when I found a fly in mine (very cooked!). I called over the manager and not as politely explained that we were not going to pay for anything at this point. His response, 'So sorry sir. To find TWO flies, highly unusual!' Put the emphasis wherever you want. It's gross. On the way out, two ladies stopeed us to tell us how cute Amanda and Joshua were, and Amanda shrugged her shoulders and said, 'Bugs in the food. We're not eating here!' The ladies did not enter the restaurant.
SHAME:	(MAXIMUM Shame!) Choice Hotels 800 reservation Center. These morons booked me in two rooms for the same night in Macinaw City, Michigan (at $135 each), and said that the rep I talked to had a good record, so they would believe him over me. The customer service (yeah, right) manager I talked to did not call me back when requested, hung up on me once, and told me, "I don't care if you scream it from the rooftops, we are not going to do anything for you!" Nice. In not quite silent protest, every time we go on vacation or have the occasion for an overnight stay in a hotel, we use someone else, and when I return I send Choice 800's "customer service" a note letting them know how much revenue went to a cometitor. I've never gotten a response, so I guess they don't care!
SHAME:	(High shame) Domino's Pizza - Ford Road and Sheldon - Canton, MI. Three wrong orders. One of which they tried to correct by picking off the offending toppings. Three strikes and you're out!
SHAME:	(High shame) Domino's Pizza On-line customer service. Several notes - all tactful, all asking for some kind of a response - none received. They do not care about the customer.
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