Over the years, I’ve tried to accept that customer service is a very foreign concept here in Spain. Unless I’m shelling out hundreds, if not thousands, of Euros for a service, the likelihood of my getting someone to greet me with a smile (even if it’s hokey and completely disingenuous), listen to my concerns without being defensive, use problem solving skills, work in a quick and efficient manner, and generally place my needs as a customer before theirs as a provider, is as likely as my being able to recreate Michaelangelo in my apartment. And if you’ve seen my stick figures, you’ll know how improbable this truly is. So you’d think I’d be used to this, but unfortunately, I’m not.

Why can’t I let go? Why can’t I abide by the AA principle of learning to accept the things I cannot change? In short, because I feel like I can change the situation, even if that means a simple post on what good customer service means to me.

I bring this issue up today, because I had the unfortunate experience yesterday of talking to a representative of Castillo de Perelada, a large Cava producer in Villafranca de Penedes. While planning a visit to the area last week, not only to meet with the Denominacion de Origen, but to also visit wineries that we could potentially recommend to you, I made an effort to contact them.

So what did I do? I sent a few emails over the course of two weeks, giving them a full report as to who we are and why December is such an important month for Cava producers at Catavino. What did I receive from them…nothing! Plan 2: I jumped on their website and tried to search for a working telephone number. …