Just wanted to have a moan......

[emsiewill]

Started a new thread for this, as the original "getting it off my chest" one is sooo long.
I lost my purse last week - completely my own fault, but necessitated cancelling all cards and ordering new ones. I have 2 accounts with my bank, both come with a "multifunction card". Yesterday I received my "e-banking" passcodes - 2 identical pieces of paper, with different numbers on them, but no way to tell which goes with which account. Today I received both cards, both pin numbers and the second part of the e-banking codes. Again, there was no way to tell which PIN goes with which card, and which code goes with which account.
I called to bank to ask a) how do I tell which is which, and b)why did my pin numbers arrive in the same post as my cards?
The response to a) was "it's a problem when you've got 2 accounts and you order a card on each" No solution was offered. I pressed the lady a little further, and she said "you'll just have to try one number with one card, and if that's the wrong one, then you know it's the other" Obvious, I know, but surely they must be able to think of an easier (less time-consuming)way round this. And surely she should offer a solution, rather than just agreeing it's a problem.
In answer to point b) she said "we don't send cards and PINs out at the same time." As though I was just making it up for fun. I reiterated that they had all arrived together, and she just repeated, "We send pin numbers out 3 days after ordering and cards out after 5 days".
When I again said that I wasn't happy about this, she said in a completely insincere way "well, I will make a note for you". Like that's going to make a difference!
Maybe it's just me, but it really gets up my nose when people who are meant to be giving customer service act as if they couldn't give a s**t. Been there, done that job, and I had enough pride in myself to try and offer the best service to everyone.
I think I'm getting old.
Sorry to go on, reading this back, it all sounds a bit petty, but it bugged me (enough to swear when I came off the phone).

[Bozza]

I think you had a right to be miffed. Customer service these days is one of my bugbears. I just can't believe how poor it can be. And also the lack of initiative shown by so many employees is incredible. And I work in IT support which is basically customer service of a sort so, like you, I think I understand what its like to be at the other end of the phone.

[SueDonim]

Oh, I'll join in Emsiewill! I want to slag off Bol. I gave them a large order, including important GCSE papers, over a month ago, to be sent to our current abode in Indonesia. I emailed them recently to ask where it was and today they told me they had cancelled my order as they don't ship to Indonesia.

"Well, THANK YOU BOL for telling me that TODAY and not a month ago, and if you don't ship to Indonesia, why does your website say you DO????"

After I complained about their service I got a message back saying they are grateful for my comments and look forward to satisfying my needs(!!) in the future and are looking forward to welcoming me to Bol again. Like heck.

[slug]

Oooh, lovely, a slagging off thread. Customer service in the UK is complete s**t. Tried to buy the Guardian at the supermarket last Saturday, but it was missing half it's bits. The customer service just said "thats how they came, thats how we sell them". What about all those people who weren't as observant as me and got home to find they's wasted a quid on less than half of the paper? And as for the DLR who have just changed their peak hours timetable. Their new and improved service means I no longer get a seat on the way home, having to change trains and squeeze a pushchair onto a crammed train of city workers who won't give up a seat if their life depended on it. My trip now takes twice as long and is bloody uncomfortable. Thank you London Transport!

Don't get me started on banks, I'll be here all night.

[aloha]

NEVER JOIN QPD! And if you do, don't say you weren't warned...

[jenny2998]

...or any of the other book clubs...I've found two good ones...why don't I just learn my lesson and stick to those?

[jenny2998]

Oh, and can I add Studio Cards to the 'avoid-at-all-costs' list. I have never come across anyone who's not had problems with them

[jenny2998]

Sorry for hijacking your thread Emsiewill.

[emsiewill]

Don't worry, jenny, although I needed a moan, it's good to hear I'm not the only person who finds customer service an oxymoron (Erm, well, I think I do, maybe I shouldn't use these big words).
Anyway, I really only started a new thread because the last moany one was so long that I wanted to moan about waiting for it all to load!

[WideWebWitch]

Agree about newspapers and half the sections missing, SO ANNOYING. Especially if it's the bit with the article I wanted or the crossword grrrrr.

A tip I read somewhere to get through to a real person as opposed to voicemail hell is to ring the sales line for a company instead of the customer service no. The idea being that it's often staffed by real people when they want you to buy something and voicemail when you have a problem. Or sometimes I just don't let them know I have a touchtone phone which means their system can't cope and I have to be transferred to an operator. It is v. irritating though. Glad we have a new moaning thread, great for letting off steam

[aloha]

Anyone ever tried to talk to a real person at IKEA? I nearly had a nervous breakdown.

[sister]

aloha, you've got to remember it's not the staff of Ikeas fault, it's the managements for not training the staff.

[Willow2]

Sister - not sure if training has anything to do with it, think it's just they lack any social graces or manners that no amount of training would change. The last time I was there I waited for five minutes while a group of three women had a conversation about someone they didn't and their sex lives that included swear words that even I don't know - and I have an A level in swearology.
And even that doesn't compare with the horror of having to take an item back (which you invariably do as you always end up with the wrong bit or a missing bit). You have to stand behind a line and heaven help you if you so much as move 1cm over it before it's your turn. That I wasn't taken out and shot was surely only down to the fact that there were witnesses present. Frankly, getting past American passport control is preferable.

[Willow2]

that should read ... someone they didn't like.
Also, avoid Britannia music unless you want to be sent stuff for the rest of your lives. This comes not from personal experience but from my former life as a consumer journalist. There is a rather good way of getting your own back if they refuse to stop sending you items on spec. Invariably you either pay up or return the item by freepost. Simply add a house brick to the freepost package. It costs the other end a fortune. Keep doing it until they get the message.

[sis]

ks, I once returned an item to that Ikea store - NEVER, EVER Ever again!!!!

[sister]

Sis, if I have a bad time at a store then I make sure that the management are made aware of how cross I am, usually results in some form of discount

[SoupDragon]

And what about the Full Serve hand out bit of Ikea?? I don't buy anything with a red tag any more. Mind you, they seem to have started offering free delivery if you have to wait over 30 minutes now.

As for returns - I was 8 months pregnant when I went in and I thought I was going to give birth there I had to wait so long

[lou33]

I must be the only deluded person to actually like Ikea! The only bit that bugs me is the terrible check out service, it seems to take longer than going round the store, but everyone/everything else there has always been really good. And the fact I can feed my children for a pound each is an added bonus.

But... Britannia! Oh my God the thought of them still send shivers up my spine, and we finally got rid of them 10 years ago. Never ever be tempted to use any service from Britannia, they are difficult beyond belief - wish I had thought of the housebrick thing tho!

[helenmc]

lou33 - me too I love IKEA..juts got their new catalogue and not impressed full of rooms but not enough information on the stuff in them., but my sis and I almost started a riot in the Bristol one, when we emptied our trolley into yellow bags rather than wait for 3 hours at the checkout. The poor chap was having aheart attack, especailly when his manager eventually came down stairs and said it was OK...still took 40 mins to get out (ok we did but quite a few items.......)

[aloha]

Ikea's Ok if you just go round, grab stuff and get out, but we ordered our kitchen from there. We got a delivery date, got the builders in... and they only delivered half of it (and the other half was full of mistakes - wrong doors etc). I tried to call to complain but they only let you speak to central switchboard, not the store or dept you ordered from, so you are always talking to someone new who has no idea what you are on about and you have to start your explanations from scratch every time....aaaaarrgh! Also, they won't put you through to anyone. They just pass on a message and the person is supposed to call you back. Which they don't. And when, after 10 heart-attack inducing conversations, they do, you are out. I have never felt so stressed over something that should have been so simple. And as for taking things back. We had half a kitchen to return. And I was pregnant. I think I'll go for a lie-down now...

[Rara]

Trouble with Ikea is that they know full well that they're s at customer service and they trade on it! All their adverts before the current freaky Live Unlimited ones were about the fact that they KNEW they had long queues which pd people off, they KNEW their staff weren't at the customers' beck and call, and they KNEW their returns policy was lacking to say the least. I call it bloody clever-dick PR: admit you're s*t before-hand and then no-one can accuse them of it after! It's like: "Hey, we know we're crap, but we're cheap, so what do you expect?!"