Tell me your most ridiculous complaints

[Bumbaglina]

I’m fed up today, I work for a solicitors and I’ve got a client who whatever I do it’s not good enough, it’s a perfectly normal file, nothing unusual all going along as most other files do.

First I told her something would take approximately 6 weeks, it came back in four and she complained I’d upset her because she thought it would take 6 weeks, why didn’t I tell her it would be four? I told
her something else would probably take a couple of months but I was very clear I don’t know exactly how long and it was only an estimate and on the 2 month mark she’s on the phone screaming and shouting why hasn’t it come back yet, I said a couple of months and this is 2 months exactly! The she sent something to me in the post and I received it a week later, why didn’t I receive it sooner? As if I have any control over Royal Mail? And so on and so on, it’s at the point that when I see her name pop up on my email I brace myself for what will be her next complaint.

Make me feel better with your ridiculous customers!

"Why the long face?" 🤣🤣🤣

Our hospital has real issues with the car park.and traffic . I try and get there really early but sometimes even leaving insanely early we end up late. Luckily the staff at the two clinics i go to are really understanding and flexible. Normally someone else has got there early and they shuffle things around. Equally sometimes if I get there early I am seen early, which gives them wriggle room to fit in the late patient into my slot

A short appointment is basically a day trip because of working around unpredictable traffic and car parking queues. I am very grateful the clinics I have to go to understand this

Years ago, whilst working in retail, had a woman come to the counter and slam a pair of children's trainers down. They were well worn and had dried blood on the inside.
Apparently she had bought them a couple of weeks earlier but had chosen the wrong size and they were too small for her daughter, who had developed blisters due to them rubbing. She wanted a refund. She wasn't at all happy when it was explained to her that buying trainers that were too small was her responsibility and not ours and considering they were wrecked there was no way we'd be able to accept a return.

Worked at a holiday campsite. People complained to me, in writing, about the weather. They’d mark us all down in customer feedback- « 0/10 rained all week »

WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO ABOUT THAT. I CANT CONTROL THE WEATHER.

Haha I tried that, apparently it made her “angry beyond words” - honestly I get the feeling that were I to turn up at her house with a suitcase full of cash she’d complain the suitcase was the wrong colour 🤣 As a result of this woman I’ve made sure when I get a new client I put in writing first thing that timescales vary and court/third parties/other solicitors firms are out of our control so it may take longer than you think.

I worked for a clothing shop. A customer was very angry that I couldn’t sell him only one shoe (ie not a pair) as he was an amputee and only needed the left one…

I was checking in at a campsite last month when a lady dashed through the door and pushed in front of me.
She wanted to complain that the night before she had seen a mouse in the field she was camped in, then today she cooked a meal on her camp stove, went to wash her hands while it cooled and came back to find a seagul had eaten it.
She asked the receptionist "do you have no control over the wildlife on this park?"

I couldn't stifle my laughter, but it turned out she wasn't joking

A neighbour posted a letter complaining I had parked in front of her holiday cottage which they only use a few times a year. Apparently they had friends come to stay and who were 'deeply upset' they couldnt park directly in front of the cottage as promised. I had actually spoken to the guests, a family with teenagers, no wheelchairs, pushchairs or elderly people.
She wanted to email me in future when they or friends were coming to stay so I could make sure the spot was free.
Its a popular spot during summer and it can be hard to find parking anywhere.
I ignored it and she now ignores me.

No,they didn't do right. They were ignorant.
I wonder if Scottish shops don't take English notes?

My dh used to be a landscape gardener and one of his customers complained that the wind blew on the hedge he trimmed and some longer branches that were within the hedge were now poking out! She used to complain about a lot of things

They weren’t ignorant at all. A lot of English retailers, pubs etc. refuse to take Scottish notes. They shouldn’t, but they do.

As for whether Scottish shops do vice versa, it’s not really relevant, is it?

Worked at a supermarket while I was a student.

So many stupid complaints but my favourites were these:

There was too much water in the car park. Far too many puddles. An apparent disgrace. It was February in north west England.

The store had run out of a type of make up. It was a concession stand so there was no way we could restock. There was a Boots next door - three steps away from the entrance to the supermarket - that had a far better range of that brand and would be a good bet to try. A woman complained that I’d told her to try Boots. She said she’d rather go without. And that she didn’t appreciate my “lack of loyalty”. WTF.

Remembered another:

I wasn’t fully conversant with Imperial measurements. The Imperial equivalent was given on the shelves as well as metric. Not good enough: “most intelligent people only know Imperial and how dare I not know how many ounces are in 100g” (I actually do but she said I was too thick to know and a disgrace). I was born in the late 70s and metric measurements were around before!

A woman called the Head Office of my company one day to complain about the driving of one of my employees. I listened to what she had to say, took her details and said that I would need to speak to our employee when he returned. She was very upset and asked to speak to somebody ‘more senior’. I explained that there wasn’t anybody more senior as it was my company. She then said she wanted to speak to a man 🙄

Hahahaha

We have psycho neighbours who had to be given a warning by police for wasting police time. She kept calling the police on us for things like “They leave their house too often” “They have a ring doorbell” (so do the they!) “They don’t reverse out the street” and “They’re driving out the street”. She was once outside taking pictures of our car, DH came out and asked if there was a problem. She rang 999 and said he was threatening her. Thank god we have CCTV and a ring doorbell

Mine seem tame compared to some of these. I used to work in Environmental Services for a local Council so had lots of "feedback" about the refuse collection staff. My two favourites were a complaint that the customer had been held up behind the collection vehicle whilst a loader stopped to tie a loose bootlace (seriously? It would have been 30 seconds) and another that the customer was having a Tesco delivery at the same time as the bin men were in her street and she thought our staff might steal her groceries. She basically complained about someone that didn't even happen.

Worked on a dive boat in Australia, Bear I’m mind people go diving to see the tropical fish, one customer complained that there were too many fish.

A second customer demanded to see the captain and complained the sea was too salty. The captain, a giant of a man was brilliant. He said “I’m sorry,let me take care of that for you,’ He filled a bucket with desalinated water and chucked it over the side. He then pretended to tell off members of staff who were trying to suppress giggles.

Leicester Royal Infirmary by any chance?

It took my DF an hour and ten minutes to drive a quarter of a mile from the turn off to the main road to enter the car park. Fortunately, we have a bus that goes past the hospital.

This happened on my day off. During a very heavy rain storm, the store flooded and had to close early. A few members of staff stayed for a mix of cleaning up the water and staying by the entrances to say to customers that we were closed.

A customer complained that she was unable to buy a lottery ticket! Erm I can think of about 8 shops within 5 min drive - its now 9.

My DD works in retail. It's a shop that sells clothes for women and girls. Men are not allowed in the fitting rooms but often try, and sometimes get really arsey when challenged. She was telling me last night that one of her colleagues recently had to stop a man trying to squeeze into a changing room with his wife and daughter.

He's complained to their HQ and said it was awful that he'd been refused and misgendered, especially in 2025. This person was in no way attempting to present as a woman.

No,.other end of the country. But similar issues using the car park. And it would take me 3 buses to get to the hospital and I am disabled,.so car is my only choice.

I am glad our medical staff are understanding about the issues and are flexible when needed

I used to work in a shop. I had never seen Scottish money. I wouldnt have had a clue if it was real or not. I would have had to have my manager check it and I know at least one of them would have just said we couldnt validate it so would have refused it. I know its legal tender but Scottish notes are often refused just because people dont know them.

As long as they were polite about it (and you weren't in Scotland) I dont see the issue.

What Scotland does with English notes is irrelevant. However as far as I can remember it was mostly English notes whenever Ive visited.

With regards to Scottish notes. I think it’s because the staff are not aware of what to look for security measures - watermarks etc plus what’s on each one.

There is a Scottish £100 note which if we did ever get one, customer needed to spend at least £70. I had one and he spent £90.

Couple booked the last room that was a twin, arrived and kicked off because they didn't want a twin, was booked as a twin, confirmed as a twin and paid for as a twin. They're not the zip and link you can put together. Determined that they'd booked a double, they'd booked a twin as their confirmation said twin, from the booking they'd done themselves online, and I know that it was the only room available anyway, not even a note to say that they wanted a double so we could have rang and explained.

Apparently it's bad customer service to give someone exactly what they've booked themselves and warrants being called useless because I can't magic up a double room I didn't know I needed immediately in a fully booked hotel. No amount of bullying me or calling me names, shouting and making a scene changed the situation, I didn't have a double room to move them to as they were all occupied. I guess I could have ran out and built an extra room and furnished it with my magic wand, but I just couldn't be arsed.

Our renters complained about the positions of the door handles in our (perfectly normal) Victorian house with standard doors - wanted us to change them all to suit them…

It also adds confusion because they're issued by three different banks!

If somebody in England wasn't aware of this, they could take/find a photo of a Scottish tenner issued by RBS, then have somebody trying to pay them with a (perfectly legitimate) Clydesdale Bank tenner at a later date and quite reasonably (albeit incorrectly) assume that it must be a fake.

I suppose the fact that only the BoE issues one design at a time of each note in England and Wales, along with there being far more of them in circulation to reflect the much higher populations, means that BoE notes in Scotland don't raise a second glance.