What’s the worst customer service you’ve ever received?

[SuperMeerkat]

This is actually laughable as it was so bad. Today I was in NatWest as my husband is doing a Masters through his work and wanted to change his account to a student account. Anyway, we were told a 10 minute wait and after 40 we were still waiting. I enquires why this was and was told ‘they were busy’. I asked why the man couldn’t have kept us (and all the other customers) informed of the waiting time and he then put his hand up to my face, walked off and started talking to someone else. I said I hadn’t finished my query and he said ‘he didn’t have time to update people on waiting times’ despite sitting 6 feet away from everyone. Anyhow, he then yelled at me and my husband that we weren’t welcome at the branch and he was going to shut our account 😂😂 Crazy.

He sounds like he is totally unsuitable for the job. I hope you complained

PayPal customer service. I still can't talk about it. 2 weeks of hell trying to get my account unblocked

That's awful. I think the worst customer service I had was probably at our local supermarket. I had just bought a bag of mandarins and turned them over and they were all mouldy. I asked to change them and the shop assistant said "No, you've already paid. You should have checked more carefully".

BT.
First of all they warm you that if they come out and the fault is not theirs they will charge you a couple of hundred quid. They aren't very helpful, I feel like they try to put you off calling them out by keep on going on about the money you will pay if the fault is not theirs (something to do with the junction box and where exactly the fault is).
I took a day of previous annual leave (they can only give you a 6 hr window, not an accurate time slot) and they didn't show. They don't let you know they aren't coming, they just don't show up. I rang them and after a lot of hassle got through to someone who could help. They told me they overbook sometimes for efficiency reasons.
I took another day off for their rearranged appointment and they bloody well didn't show again. Again they don't let me know they aren't coming, they just don't show up. Again I have to make multiple phone calls to an overseas call centre to rearrange.
Third time (I have. now wasted THREE days of precious annual leave) they show up. Fixed the problem sort of (has since come back).
I have tried to complain about their no-show but they don't care. Ofcom aren't interested - they say i have to sort it with BT (who don't care as it is them investigating themselves so it's not in their interests to say they were wrong).

PS I am no longer with BT!

NowTv!!! I cancelled a subscription that they continued to charge me for. It was using a bank account I rarely use so I didn't notice for a while. Live chat told me that if I had noticed their mistake earlier, they would offer better customer service (their actual words) but as I hadn't, they could only refund half the amount. Obviously it's all online with no call centres so I had to wait 8 weeks! For an email from a manager, whose grammar was appalling, saying the same, whilst they still charged me!

@Witchofzog Yes, i’ve complained. I heard several other customers in there asking him about the ‘10 minute’ wait too and he was telling them bullshit. Plus, customers coming after us were still being told ‘10 minutes’ when it was clear it wouldn’t be. He had an iPad which was giving him estimated wait times and he told my DH that it had never been wrong before and DH pointed out that it was wrong today 😂

My two children (2&5) wanted to go on a double decker bus during the summer holidays. We went into town, caught the bus and when we got back to the station the driver locked us on the bus. I assuming he wanted to go on his break but hadn't bothered waiting for us to come down the steps. (We were pretty quick doing this as my DS needed the toilet). Anyway that was August and I complained by phone. Today I have received an email response offering me a £10 travel card
I'm not happy AIBU?

All of these are shocking.

My worse was in New Look. I had bought some boots but not worn them for a month after I bought them. The first time I wore them they developed a hole in the sole. I liked them so took them back and asked to exchange for a non faulty pair. I didn't have the receipt but it was obvious from the rest of the boot that they hadn't really been worn. The sales assistant was very helpful but after looking she said they didn't have them in store so she would check with her manager if I could have a different pair of the same value.

Well the manager was awful. He said I was trying it on. They had sold the boots for months so I had obviously worn them out. He would not listen that I had only worn them once.

I stood my ground and made him get his manager out who said the same thing but agreed to call head office. 10 mins later he came back looking sheepish. While waiting to get through on the phone he had been absent mindedly playing with the boots and had accidentally put his finger through the other sole showing they were indeed faulty. And customer services confirmed a high return on that particular boot.

I got my money back but the way that second manager made me feel was shocking

Whirlpool with their tumble dryer saga

By far the worst.

Asda. They charged me twice for my online grocery shopping and it took 6 weeks of frustrating phone calls to their crappy customer service line to get the money refunded. They then promised me a "generous" £10 voucher for my inconvenience which they never credited. Bunch of clowns!

Second worst actually for me was British Gas. For 18 months insisted they were supplying me to an old, defunct, meter and kept sending threatening letters which said bailiffs and locksmiths May come round. Soooo stressful.

D

Utility salesman knocked at my door (one of the reasons now why I won't answer it to people I don't know) and asked about my current tariff. When I couldn't articulate exactly what it was, he started on me as if I was really stupid. I slammed the door in his face and wrote a stinking email to his company about his conduct.

For 3 months, I've been waiting for a new router from Vodafone. I have phoned dozens of times. SEVEN times, they've promised it's been dispatched. Four times, they've promised to ring to check its been delivered. We have no router and nobody has telephoned.

We set up a new provider 4 days ago and Vodafone have telephoned 5 times to beg us to stay, offering us the moon on a stick. No chance.

This may out me to anyone who knows me as i have told everybody possible to avoid the shop in question at all times... one day in my local NEXT store i was enquiring about a jacket for my daughter if they had it in a bigger size. The man behind the desk was very rude and said no go away i am busy then suddenly and without warning just threw the jacket into my face catching my eye with the zip. I complained and got offered a £10 voucher and for the member of staff to recive more customer service training i told them to shoce it and i have never been back..

Centerparcs! Arrived for a weekend with family from Oz. When we arrived there was no bed base in one room. 12 hours later one of the children in our group started vomiting. Unfortunately they never made it to a bathroom and vomited all over the landing carpet. Called customer service first thing and asked nicely if we could have clean bedding and the carpet cleaned. They point blank refused to send anyone in to clean the carpet on the auspice of infection control. Fast forward 24 hours, 6 of the 9 of us start with the same vomiting bug. There was only 2 adults in the group, both struck down. 6 people in one villa vomiting. It was like Armageddon. Called customer services in sheer desperation again to ask for clean bedding and cleaning materials. We were told there were no cleaners on site and no one had access to any cleaning stuff, it was 9pm on a Sunday and both adults were struck down. We had to sluice all bedding and leave it outside. Eventually managed to shame the company via twitter to miraculously find some cleaning products to help us clean the room. The next day we contacted customer service to explain them of the dilemma. They confirmed one other villa on site was experiencing the same symptoms. Asked for an extension on our stay given the state of the villa and the sickness. They refused, stating they needed to clean the villa ready for next party arriving that day. They offered us the opportunity to sit in the health centre and spread all our germs which we politely declined. I truly believe our missing bed base was due to someone vomiting in the room before us. In my complaint afterwards I asked for a company policy on infection control they refused me access to it. In addition, they told me they had a miracle piece of machinery that could clean the room and kill all the bugs within a short period of time. It wasn’t offered to us on our first day of vomiting. Shoddy service!

So many... the ones that stand out from the last couple of years are BT, Scottish Power, John Lewis.

RAC. Told me I would have to wait 2-3 hours for a recovery vehicle in the cold and dark, alone, in a lay-by in the middle of nowhere. Then when the recovery guy arrived he refused to take the car either home or to a garage because (a) by now it was 8.30 pm and (b) he didn’t think he would get the recovery vehicle down our driveway, so he dumped me at the top of the drive and took the car to his depot 30 miles away.

Seeing Ed Sheeran in Leeds and the coaches put on to take us to Roundhay were just a shambles and the company who organised basically didn’t give a fuck and refused to refund even though we’d missed parts of it.

Booked a table at a restaurant for Sunday on the preceding Wednesday. Asked for a high chair for 10 month old dd. On arrival we were offered their ‘emergency’ high chair which was a clip-over-the chair affair with only a waist strap. I said it wasn’t suitable. There were 2 normal high chairs sitting empty by an empty table. I asked if we could have one of them. Apparently not. They were ‘booked’. I explained that ours was booked, on Wednesday. They offered us a cushion. I explained that a 10 monther couldn’t sit on a cushion on a chair. We said we’d wait and have a drink until a suitable chair became available. Waited 45 minutes. The 2 previously empty high chairs remained empty. Original waitress is avoiding us. Told another waitress we were leaving and I wasn’t expecting a bill for the drinks. She said she’d have to checked. 20 minutes later told a 3rd waitress we were going regardless. High chairs had remained empty for the whole sorry saga, in which time we would easily have eaten and gone home.Met original waitress on the way out. Told her I thought her customer service was dreadful. She said “would you like to punch me”!!!! We’ve never been back.

Very are awful.
4 months before DD was born I ordered a nursery furniture set for £600, paid in full and delivery date was set for 21st September (3 weeks away)
Anyway on 20th September I got a call from the company who were supposed to deliver the next day, they said Very had not given them the item and they were unsure about why.

I called very, they said the item was now out of stock (it 100% wasn’t when I purchased it) they admitted that they forgot to update it on the site (which still said in stock)
I asked what to do next, could I be refunded so I can buy furniture elsewhere?

They said no, order is processed now so id need to turn delivery away at the door, wait for it to get back to warehouse and then get a refund in 10 days.

I said fine when will it be delivered, they said we don’t know as it’s out of stock and we need more making. It could be a few months.

I exploded at that point, saying I had 3 months left the get this furniture etc

They basically said it wasn’t their problem and hung up.

I called them daily and after 2 weeks of this they said they’d refund me, although that took 3 weeks

TrustFord have appalling customer service. Never, ever buy a car from them.

Talk talk had me literally sobbing down the phone on several ocasions with frustration. Very 'computer says no', couldn't get my address right, service cut off because of said wrong address. I could go on. Breaking up with them was like breaking up with a boyfriend to anyone who overheard that conversation. Never again.

About 35 years ago I bought a pair of trousers from Miss Selfridge in Manchester. I tried them at home and they really weren't my style. I had them on for less then two minutes. By chance I was going back to Manchester a couple of days later so I took them back. They still had the label on. The cashier said, 'You've worn them on a night out' and as good as threw them back at me. I asked to speak to the manager and they backed the cashier up. I was really mad and humiliated.

I'm still angry at the way I was spoken to and called a liar in front of a queue.