The missus and I recently reserved a room at a what we thought would be a quaint little B&B - Kosterbaden - on the most northern island off the swedish west coast. Once we arrived we realized that this was the dump of the century (lacked service attitude, really worned down, likely stolen bed linnen, broken windows et cetera).
I explained to the jaded owner that this establishment was neither up to code nor up to our humble expectations. His response was: Then please leave. I know a number of friends who would have pulled out their inflatable titanium baseball bat and gone midevil on his sorry Norweigan ass. I, on the other hand, took it rather calmly, threw him the key and said: Hasta la vista, baby!.
The more I thought about it the more I realized that this would never happen in a real market economy, where the customer is God and not seen as the necessary Evil. But I was bathered by the fact that he didn't feel obligatated to live up to his business commitments of providing us a decent stay.
We later learned that the B&B will be torn down after this season to be replaced by a fancy condo / island hotel. So I guess he was just milking it for what it was worth.
Sadly, but even more so: I doubt that he will ever get punished for his subpar business values. The market economy relies on strong, critical consumers that are ready to fight for quality and their rights. In a culture that is too non-confrontational and has delegated most of the decision making to the government officials, this is never going to happen.
But for what it's worth we won't be staying there again!
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