How (not) to complain
The Food Chain
BBC
4.7 • 545 Ratings
🗓️ 8 October 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How confident would you feel about complaining if a restaurant meal was not up to scratch?
Restaurateurs in the UK, South Africa and the United States compare stories of the most outrageous complaints they’ve received, and how they were dealt with.
They tell Ruth Alexander how increasing numbers of customers are "weaponising" the threat of negative online reviews.
And if you’re someone who struggles to complain when things go wrong, there’s advice on how to make your voice heard calmly and assertively.
If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk
Produced by Lexy O'Connor
Image: A young woman is arguing with a waiter in a cafe. She has a pastry on her plate and is holding a cup of coffee. Credit: Getty/Wavebreak Media
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | Hello, I've just nipped in before your BBC podcast starts to tell you all about |
| 0:09.4 | You're Dead to Me. We're the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Also from the BBC |
| 0:13.9 | and presented by me, Greg Jenner. I should have told you that at the beginning. Sorry. |
| 0:17.9 | Anyway, like many other BBC podcasts, such as Desert Island Discs, Evil Genius, or In Our Time, your dead to me is available first on BBC Sounds, |
| 0:26.3 | a whole month earlier than anywhere else, in fact. So if you can't wait another day to hear |
| 0:31.2 | the very latest in history and loads of other good stuff, then listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:38.8 | The soup's cold. the steak's overdone, the wine's corked. Do you make a scene? |
| 0:45.4 | She said she will bring us down. Do we know who she is and you know how much money she's got? |
| 0:51.5 | Or smile politely and later go online to leave a one-star review. |
| 0:56.0 | They weaponise those platforms for their advantage. |
| 1:00.2 | This episode of the food chain from the BBC World Service with me, Ruth Alexander, |
| 1:04.9 | is all about complaining, how to do it and how not to do it. |
| 1:09.1 | I'd like to tell people this. The silver is not your enemy. |
| 1:11.8 | We'll find out how to stop feedback spiraling into a showdown. |
| 1:15.9 | We say the food is not the quality that we needed to be. |
| 1:21.0 | And we were told to leave. |
| 1:23.0 | You were told to leave? |
| 1:23.7 | Yeah, we left, yeah. |
| 1:24.9 | Who told you to leave? |
| 1:25.8 | The manager, they were like already chasing us. |
| 1:28.7 | And hear how a well-handled complaint can turn a mistake into a win for you and the restaurant. |
... |
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