Bad customer service is something that we all seem to put up with in disgruntled silence writes shopping blogger Emma Iannarilli.

At a time when our money has to go that little bit further, we should expect to be treated with some respect and understanding by the companies we choose to spend it with.

Good customer service should be something that is an expectation rather than a bonus. But that is far from the case, as illustrated to me this weekend by two well-known brands.

Exhibit A – The travel company

I recently returned from a family holiday and had booked onboard meals in advance, mainly because I am diabetic so I need to eat at regular intervals, but also because I was travelling with a two year old, who demands to eat at mealtimes.

To cut a very long story short, the plane was 40 meals short. But rather than announce this to the cabin, so that children and those with medical conditions could be catered for first, they simply gave out the meals until they ran out and then told everyone else to have a micro-meal or a drink from the bar.

The stewardess in charge was very rude and handled the whole situation badly, so I made a complaint through the airline’s website.

Fast forward four weeks and I find that they have sent a reply via the travel agent that I booked the holiday with.

This was annoying as I had made my complaint directly, so I expected the reply to come to me directly. Instead, I had to go to the travel agents to collect the response, which amounted to a cheque for £15, and a letter saying that due to outside catering, meals couldn’t be guaranteed.

Which begs the question, why do some airlines still sell meals in advance and not tell people that the food isn’t guaranteed when they take your money?

People pre-book their meal to do exactly that – to guarantee their meal.

It isn’t in the small print that your meal may be left on the runway or that you may only have a tiny pot of congealed all-day-breakfast to look forward to.

To add insult to injury, they hadn’t even bothered to spell my name correctly!

Exhibit 2 – The mobile phone shop

I bought a new phone from a high street shop last week and explained that I wanted it primarily to use Twitter.

I was given advice about the best phone to buy from the assistant – who seemed to know his stuff – although he did rather rush through how to use it.

Still, it all seemed fairly straightforward until I got the phone home and found that it had a content lock on it – so I couldn’t access Twitter.

It needed a credit card to take off the content lock. I gritted my teeth at this point as I only use a debit card – would that work?

‘Sorry, you need to take the phone to the shop to remove the content lock.’

Aaaah! I had to take a trip back into town in order to get content lock removed. Why had it not been removed when I bought the phone and said I needed it for Twitter?

Why rush me out of the shop rather than providing the customer service that I, and indeed all customers, deserve?

It would be great if these were isolated incidences, but they’re not. The Mary Portas website echoes lots of stories of bad service from customers who just want to be treated fairly when spending their money.

It is a two way transaction of course, I have witnessed many shop assistants being talked to in an appalling manner by customers, but I feel that companies need to take the lead in making customer service a top priority for all their customers.

It’s the least we deserve.

Emma Iannarilli writes a fashion and shopping blog at www.fashion-mommy.com