The worst complaint you have ever received

[planetclom]

I’ll start.
Someone complained they when they arrived early for an appointment I saw them early, they did not want to be seen early ...
Someone complained that I was only interested in box ticking and in the next sentence complained I spend to long trying to sort out their issue...

Work in the NHS if that is relevant, I suspect it is.

Best friend was given two weeks to live, aged 24. I took 2 days off work to travel back to the UK to see her one last time. She died two weeks later. When I asked for a day off to go to the funeral, my boss looked at me and said "Why? You went to see her before she died?"

I recently "ruined" a colleague's birthday, by sending him to a client 15 minutes early. Colleague had heard that the meeting might be 9:15, but as I couldn't get confirmation from the client, I had to send him at the requested time of 9am (I explained all of this). He wrote to my manager and my manager's manager saying how his whole birthday had been ruined by this and that at that time of the morning, 15 minutes was everything. I start at 7:30

Am agog at a grownup in his working day whining that his birthdaaaaay was ruined.

One lady complained I refused to give her first aid. I'd called an ambulance. (Who later said there was not a thing wrong with her!)

I'm trained in CPR and bandaging etc. The normal minor first aid stuff. She wasn't bleeding and clearly not having an issue with breathing as she was shouting and screaming at me. Perhaps she wanted me to lay her out on the dirty platform floor and jump on her chest? To this day I 've no idea what her problem was. Apart from the fact she took an instant dislike to me

A child where I worked fell off a climbing frame. His mum was with him. But I took them in to give First Aid. TBH the child had just had a fright, but was fine, but the mum was incredibly anxious about her child. So I was talking calmly to the child as I got some ice and got a clean cloth to wrap it in. Mother shouted that I was taking too long, physically grabbed the ice and held it against her sons leg. I advised her that was likely to give him an ice burn and that is why I was going to wrap it in a cloth. She reluctantly took the ice away as I did the correct procedure.
She complained about me and had to go to a manager with my meeting to explain my actions.

I used to work for majestic wine, and we got a fair few complaints for faulty wine when people had headache/were sick the next morning following two bottles the previous night.

I used to work in a well known clothing chain on the Customers Services desk and you wouldn't believe the things people would try and return; underwear, stuff from other shops, stuff with different tags sewn in, stuff that was years old, etc etc.

Underwear (like packs of knickers/boxers etc) was the most common and people were always incredulous they couldn't return despite there being signs next to every till that we don't accept earings or underwear for hygiene reasons and we also had to tell every customer this who purchased any. But they still tried to argue every time.

One woman also weed in the changing room. And people left gross stuff like dirty nappies in there all the time.

Worse was a women visiting the hospital bed next to mine complained I was miscarrying too loudly and keep poking her head around my curtain to shhh my five year old who was quietly chattering into the book she was reading.

Someone complained today that I didn’t call her back 3 weeks ago. I only went back to work yesterday!

Another book shop one. I once had a woman complain to my manager (who was standing next to me) that I had behaved in a ´common´fashion because I had offered to call the book distributor we used.

I had said, ´call,´ instead of telephone.

I have never worked in a ‘proper’ customer facing job (thank Christ, reading some of these), but I have faced crazy complaints from insane colleagues.

Colleague 1, at Big Four accountancy practice, complained that I “walked around the office too quickly, unnerving him” and “stood over him in a threatening way when I was at his desk”.

He was two inches shorter than me, had an inexplicably massive ego and thought that women should be quiet and submissive. He was two years ahead of me, so I should do as he wanted, apparently. Twat.

Another time we were going out to see a client, and he was cursing another driver for preventing him from going at 100 mph in the fast lane of the M62. I said, “why not just dodge round the inside, ha ha”, clearly joking, because who would suggest undertaking at high speed? Later that week I discovered that he’d made a formal complaint to HR, on the grounds that I had “encouraged him to behave in a dangerous and unprofessional way”.

Colleague 2, at a different employer: complained that I was “too cheerful” (said ‘good morning!’ when entering the office, which wasn’t on, apparently) and “overdressed for work, which is unprofessional and designed to make me feel inferior”.

Not the worst by any means, but one that seemed unreasonable at the time.

I joined a high street bank when it was pretty much impossible to do anything over the phone. Some years later, the bank started introducing telephone services, and application forms would capture the customer’s mother’s maiden name.

By this time, I’m working in Head Office Customer Relations, and we received a very cross letter from a prominent television person complaining that this was entirely unreasonable and insensitive because some people don’t have a mother. .

Recently in Debenhams, DP saw a customer returning, and complaining about, some Levi’s that were faulty. Apparently, the jeans were filthy, looked years old, and the guy had no receipt.

He got a refund.

If this thread has shown me nothing else it's that being a completely cheeky fucker when complaining often gets you what you want.

Colours That sounds like the Henry Root letters. Hysterically funny.

Coloursthewere That one made me choke on my cup of tea FGS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's special !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pavlovian, my money is on Esther Rantzen. Am I right!

A former manager tried to give me a 'failing to meet targets' mark on my annual appraisal. When I'd been on secondment to another department for 7 months. The conversation went something like this:

'But I've checked the records and you've not done X amount of cases this year'.

'Yes, but I've not been doing that job for 7 months'.

'That's not the point. You should have done it before you left'.

'You want me to have done a year's work - that's allocated on a month by month basis - in five months?'

'Why are you being so defensive? Is it because you're not up to the job?'

Head of Department read her recommendation and tore it up, giving me 'exceeds expectations' instead. I moved to the other department permanently and she left not long afterwards.

I've had a client's father on the phone today complaining that when his son (a first time buyer) bought a property two months ago, I didn't tell him that the Chancellor was going to change the SDLT rules yesterday.

He wanted me to get a refund for his son and was very angry to be told that that just wasn't going to be possible.

You've ruined Christmas? That's nothing - I've ruined peoples LIVES! They're whole LIVES!

(sorry that you are 17 and your driving test was cancelled due to bad weather (not my decision) and the next one was the following week (Because it was likely the rest of the week would be cancelled as well))

@TheFirstMrsDV and @SD1978 I am with you on that. My lb was admitted twice with febrile convulsions and I had the staff apologisefor cutting his amber necklace of and his vest. My response it’s absolutely fine one it’s only a cheapo vest but even if it was haute couture I couldn’t give a shit. You do what you need to, to ensure he stays alive. Things are replaceable he isn’t.

Nettle, you’re not right but It was somebody in a similar journalistic vein.

iklboo I had a similar thing many, many years ago. I worked for 2 related scientific departments in central government, and had to have a break report as I was leaving on promotion. One of my line managers marked me as "unfit to progress beyond the current grade" - this was eventually changed when the other manager pointed out that I'd already progressed beyond that grade, as I was being promoted out of the role the report was on.

Giving people hot food for their children, warning them it is hot...they take spoon shovel into child's mouth, child screams, adult complains. Always went above and beyond to explain it was hot too.
Yes to people refusing g to leave restaurant when fire alarms screaming.
Regular customer complaining someone is sat in 'their' seat, demanding I move the other customer (I didn't).
Used to work on an emotional helpline...people would call thinking we were parcel force and be outraged that we weren't and they had the wrong number.