If you do business with a company and they mess something up, do you give them a second chance? Does it make a difference what type of institution it is, i.e. are you more liking to forgive a department store or salon versus a mechanic or bank? Do you consider how the problem is handled in part of your decision? Here’s why I ask:

Earlier this year I had to take my car into the mechanic’s and it turns out the problem was that the company who changed my oil hadn’t replaced the filter correctly. Now it was a little problem when I took it in, but it could have turned into a big problem (destroyed engine). When I contacted the other company, they gave me and my mechanic the run around for months. Since then, I’ve heard from my mechanic that they have had other customers come into their shop with the exact same problem due to the continued negligence of the “Oil Change Shop”. Now the Oil Change Shop has not only lost me as a customer, but I warn everyone I know about them and I believe a letter to the Better Business Bureau is in order.

On the other hand, I had a problem with online access to a online bank account just before New Year’s. The people were really nice but there was no one who could help me get access to my money for over 36 hours. Needless to say, this did not make me happy. On the one hand you would think that online banks would have better tech support, but I hear that many seem to take the help yourself approach. At the same time, they did fix the problem courteously once their little holiday was over and I do like having my money in a separate account. So now I’m trying to decide if I should just stick with it barring no more problems while keeping my eye out for better opportunities or stick the money back in to my main bank’s savings account (which pays quite a bit less interest). I think that part of the problem is that I am so accustomed to outstanding, readily available support from my main bank that I get easily frustrated when dealing with other financial institutions. I guess they just totally have me spoiled!