Where have you had appalling customer service?

[deaddei]

Just reading some posts about Zara- they have my vote for the most uninterested, untrained bunch of duffers you could ever meet. It doesn't matter which branch you go in- Kingston, Sloane Square, wherever- same level of crappy service. I now make it a point to engage one of them in conversation and ask them a question they HAVE to answer- not just yes or no. I only buy trousers there as they're nice and long- otherwise I would shun them altogether.
Anyone equally bad experiences with other High Street stores?

[GetOrfMoiLand]

Have been ignored by make up harridans in House of Fraser. Stood for what seemed like hours at Prescriptives counter trying to catch her eye whilst she talked about tights V stockings V hold ups with her equally boring workmate.

I swanned off to Space NK and have never looked back.

Also alwasy always shocking service and waiting times at Café Rouge. I still go there though, they have a lovely balcony/outside terrace area. But I grit my teeth. Last time I went there had a coffee after my dinner, they bought black coffee on a saucer. I had to ask 3 times for a teaspoon, sugar and milk, bless them.

[Bleh]

The bad service at Cafe Rouge is probably in part due to the fact that they use tips to make up the staff's wages to minimum wage.

[MichKit]

Yeah, Cafe Rouge, was treated like rubbish just becuase I had a 2 for 1 voucher. Why don't these places realise that its not about the first visit but about the repeat custom?

[LadyoftheBathtub]

Whatever I ask for at H&M, I always get a bored-sounding "I don't know" or "If we've got that size it'll be on the shelves". Liars! And I wouldn't have to ask if their shelves weren't such a mess.

I've also had spec-TAC-ularly bad service recently from Royal Bank of Scotland. They really cannot tell their arse from their elbow, can never find our files, and every different staff member we spoke to would give us conflicting information. However I complained and they dealt with it very well.

In my hall of fame, I always get the fabbest service at John Lewis. Mattress expert who helped me there recently was endlessly patient with DS, incredibly helpful and informative but not pushy, and really knowledgeable. And they are always good.

[piratecat]

Toni and Guy after they messed up my hair colour.

head office, yeah right.

[DressageNut]

Debenhams mail order...it took over two months to get a refund on some items I returned. Had all the usual irritants - call centres where you could never speak to the same person twice running; standard-issue letters which were patronising and downright rude; getting cut off when you offer to hold the line and so on. Never again!

Not really "style and beauty" but Oakley horseboxes...salesman ignored us while he conducted a long, rambling personal phone call.

[wonderingwondering]

Just been to Sainsburys and there was not a single trolley at the front of the store - they were all spilling out of the trolley parks around the car park, blocking the road.

I mentioned it to Customer Services, the lady asked what sort of trolley I wanted (one with a chld seat) - I pointed at one nearby that was full of their stock (boxes of glasses for hire), and she said 'yeah OK'. I think she meant I was welcome to unpack it and use it. Which I didn't - I ended up having to take my toddler across the car park to get my own.

When I finished shopping, they still hadn't sent anyone to collect the trollies. I felt irrationally irritated by it, and won't go back to that shop!

[JustAnotherManicMummy]

Next. Was reduced to tears in Kensington high street branch by jumped up little twat assistant branch manager who refused to exchange faulty suit trousers because "you should have tried them on before you bought them and there is no way they could have been damaged in the shop".

They had a tear at hip height like it had snagged on something. I complained to Head office who were useless. I mean spectacularly useless.

I was going to take them to the small claims court but their Covant Garden store (where I'd bought them) exchanged them instantly and politely.

Instead I boycott them. Which considering I used to buy 4 suits a year there they've lost about 2 grand since then just from me.

[GhoulsAreLoud]

Boots were pretty crapola when I returned some dangerous electrical items.

The first was a 6 month old hairdryer which literally exploded in my hand while my newborn baby was a foot away. I was very polite when I took it back and they gave me the third degree about it, got snippy because I hadn't brought the diffuser and box back too then gave me a replacement hairdryer but not the box or any of the other bits. They didn't apologise either.

I also bought a toy in there, gave it to my DD, realised it didn't play music like it was supposed to, turned it over and found one of those cell batteries literally hanging out of it. Again, I was polite and again they didn't apologise.

They did give me £25 in vouchers when I wrote to them about that though.

Maybe you have to be rude to them or in Boots to get them to say sorry?

[30andLurking]

I have just had the most pointless conversation of my life with Oli.

They sent me a letter saying that they had been unable to deliver something to me and had changed my address status to 'gone away', but I hadn't ordered anything. So I phoned them up to ask what they were trying to deliver and the daft woman on the end of the phone asked me 'what was I was expecting?' I'm not expecting anything! Her next helpful comment was that they must've been trying to send me a letter... So they've sent me a letter to tell me they can't deliver a letter to tell me they can't deliver a great big fat parcel of nothing. WTF?!

[Ivykaty44]

John Lewis online - awful awful service, and couldn't care less attitude Throw items over back fence and half of the package was ripped open, the rest got broken with the fall

Consequently I shall never use them again.

[bluebump]

Orange and Carphone Warehouse.

Orange just because I had some free minutes given to me extra on a contract and every time I used them I was charged for them and so every month I had to ring them up - it only got sorted 10 months into the contract and even then I think I came off out of pocket somehow. (I was given them wrongly apparently) I was told to fax them my problem in letter format so I did, rang to check they received it, was told yes...rang to follow it up the next month when i'd been charged and they denied receiving the fax. I cancelled my contract and will never take another one out with them no matter how good it looks.

Carphone Warehouse called me up and offered me a snazzy new phone to try for a week and if I didn't like it all I had to do was take it back to the store and that was it. I fell for it, received it, it was not snazzy at all so I took it back to the store only to be told they couldn't take it and I had to call up Carphone Warehouse and then do it over the phone. Which I did. Only to be told I needed to take it into my local branch. Again I went into the branch to be told I had to call their offices to send it back...at this point I got a bit very cross and insisted they called their offices to see what they said - they did and I arranged for them to cancel the new phone there and then. Problem solved? Oh no of course not, they had cancelled my entire existing contract as well so I had no phone for nearly 2 weeks while they scratched their heads trying to sort it. GRR it makes me mad even thinking about it now and it was years ago!

[bibbitybobbityCAT]

Seattle airport. Can't remember the airline. But, God, the service from the ground staff was shockingly bad. I was rendered speechless by the way I was spoken to, almost in tears. That doesn't happen very often.

[Poledra]

Whoever delivers for Argos online. Ordered a Nintendo DS for DD last Christmas, delivery person arrives while I'm bfeeding DD3. By the time I haul my sorry ass off the sofa out to the door, the delivery person has gone - leaving my parcel on the roof of my porch......

Never mind that no-one could really see it to pinch it, what if it had rained???

[sayanything]

Just about everywhere in Brussels. I read your posts complaining about customer service in the UK and weep in envious frustration.

[bluebump]

[LissyGlitter]

The bloody dole office. Seriously, months and months of them basically treating us like dirt, telling us different things every time we rang, promising to ring back and then not doing (every day for a WEEK!), putting things on our files that were completely made up, then the minute they got a letter from our MP, they suddenly "found" the forms they insisted we hadn't sent and rang us to tell us we could immediately go and pick up a cheque for the over £900 they owed us! It was as if they were trying to put us off claiming benefits by making it as hard as possible. Forms would take three requests before they were sent out, I was told on several occasions that I was at risk of being taken to court (and then later they would admit that I had done nothing at all wrong), stupid questions would be asked again and again (eg are you pregnant? answer: yes, seven months. Next question: have you given birth in the last three months?) people would have to be told their own policies, and general incompetence over and over again.

[TheGashlycrumbTinies]

GetOrf, do you use Cafe Rouge in Cheltenham by any chance?

We were there with DD's for lunch, they ordered sausages with mashed potatoes and vegies. One plate of the sausages looked old and refried and the others were actually raw in the middle. We sent them back and were then thrown 2 new meals. When we presented them a voucher, that they had emailed us, they claimed not to be able to read it, and wouldn't accept it.

[norfolklass]

Debenhams in the town where I live! Went to get some pants (all v exciting!) for DS and they were priced at £5 but with a huge 20% label above them but when the snotty old hag on the till (literally she was about 90!) put them through they came up at £4.80 which is obviously not 20% off £5.00. When I very politely pointed this out to here she said that I obviously couldn't do maths and it was 20% off. She then disappeared and came back with another packet of pants which were completely different and said the ones Id picked where actually £6 and not £5 despite it saying £5 on the lable and thats why they were coming up on the till at £4.80.

I actually work in retail as well so know this is actually illegal-if something is marked as a price you have to sell it at that price regardless of if its only a £1 difference or £100 but I probably won't have bothered making a fuss over 80p if she hadn't have been so so rude. I then pointed out again very politely that I could do maths quite well actually and that the store had a legal obligation to sell them to me at the price advertised (I know,I know its only 80p!) to which she replied that maybe the case but she didn't know how to do that (i presume she meant altering the price!) and she wasn't going to bother! She then called some other women over to explain it all to her very loudly huffing and puffing about me when I was standing about a foot away and this other women told her she'd better alter the price and did it for her.

Needless to say all DS pants are coming from elsewhere in future!

[JustAnotherManicMummy]

norfolklass shops like Debenhams don't have to sell at the price on the ticket as long as they point out the correct price before you buy (and thereby give you the choice to purchase or not).

There are exceptions to that rule, like supermarkets where the price difference wouldn't be spotted you pay (at least I think that's why it's the exception. I'll have a quick google and post back).

[JustAnotherManicMummy]

Had a quick google but nothing concise coming up (can't be doing with wading through lots text).

You are, however, not wrong about the lovely ladies who work in Debenhams. There seem to be a number supplementing a pension (possibly a war one from the Crimean)

[claricebeansmum]

Well after reading a thread on here I wouldn't ever buy anything from LK Bennett.

[Mousey84]

Norfolklass - the store does not have to sell it to you at the lower price if it was a genuine error, but of course, you dont have to pay the higher price.

Knowingly advertising a product at the incorrect price is, however, illegal and depending on how much trouble you want to go to, you can contact trading standards about it.

[JustAnotherManicMummy]

YY what Mousey said. Much better put than me