Your worst customer service experiences?

[SpottySausageDog]

I found a thread on this from last hear but didn’t want to resurrect it with my own stories. I’ve worked in customer service myself a few times so know the standards that are expected which makes me more shocked when I have awful experiences! Name changed as some are local independent places.

1. In a local pub a few years back enjoying a pint with a friend. Two of our old friends came stumbling in and insisted on buying us more drinks even though ours were pretty much full. They ordered £20 worth of drinks. Funnily enough when it came to paying their card was declined and when asked what they were going to do about payment they legged it. Pints were already pulled so the arse of a landlady looked to us for payment. Threatened to call the police on us if we didn’t pay so I ended up footing the bill. It was 30 minutes before closing time so we couldn’t even drink them. Looking back I should have just told her to get a grip! We weren’t even at the bar when the drinks were being ordered. She should have called the police and shown them the cctv of the guys actually ordering the drinks. Still makes me seethe to this day! Never stepped foot in that place again.

2. KFC - well renowned for being painfully slow and always fucking orders up. My partner and I ordered a ‘boneless dipping banquet’. I like the dips it comes with, especially the buttermilk garlic mayo. When we got the food we checked it and asked about the dips. The woman behind the till said ‘we’ve not got the holders for them’. Meaning the cardboard strip with holes in for the dips. I said ‘well have you got the dips’. She said yes and looked at me completely gone out. I asked ‘can we just have the dips then please’ and she responded with ‘no sorry they come in the holder and we don’t have any of those’. I gave up and walked out as it was late at night and I would have lost my shit😂

3. NHS and LA - particularly midwifery services. Pregnant with my second child. Self referral by phone call in my area. Phone line always in use when I was free to call so tried for a whole week to book when I found out at 11 weeks (irregular periods, heavily documented on my medical records). I had to resort to emailing the leisure centre in which they’re based to get them to put me through to the midwives over email. I got an email from an ‘@midwifebasename.com’ address and I responded giving them my info. Never got a response so I went for a private scan and saw a private midwife for my first appointment. I finally managed to get an NHS appointment for 20 weeks (thought I was 23 because of irregular periods and incorrect dating on private scan). Midwife denied all knowledge of there even being an email system at their base and pretended as if the woman I spoke to didn’t exist. I showed her the email, my private scan and that data from my private midwife appointment. She still referred me to social services straight away (they are instructed to do so if you come in after 23 weeks as it’s seen as ‘concealing the pregnancy’) and I’m still currently going through the legal complaints side as they have put me through so much stress. So glad I have plenty of evidence against them. Funnily enough I’ve been having 3 weekly growth scans at the hospital so they can cover their own arses if anything goes wrong. Baby is growing perfectly and there are no obvious issues but they’re still insisting on them. SS have also messed me around in the process. Woman who came out to see me arranged a second home visit which my partner had to take unpaid time off work for as he couldn’t be present the first time. Luckily it was done over text. She never turned up, no reason or apology given. We have CCTV so it can be easily proved. I got an unannounced visit the other week because it had been passed on. She didn’t even log the appointment or any of the info I gave her at her first visit and she is on long term sick. It was escalated to child protection because they thought I was refusing visits. Absolute fucking shambles. Luckily there is no child in danger! Will be taking it up with my MP soon so he can address any failures in their system.

What’s everyone else’s worst/most bizarre experiences?

BT, a few years ago now. We had moved into a new build house without a phone line set up, so called BT to sort this. They said it would cost us £125 and an engineer would come out one morning the next week. Fair enough so I took that morning off work.

On the agreed morning, no engineer turned up. So I called BT and eventually spoke to someone after 20 mins on hold (not great as I had to call from my mobile which was PAYG back then). I was reassured that the engineer was on his way, he was just running late. So I took the afternoon off as well but no-one turned up. After another phone call to BT (and another long wait on hold), they admitted the engineer was actually off that day...

We weren't connected for another month; every time we contacted them, they fobbed us off saying vaguely there was a problem with the line. When we were finally connected, they were able to do so without accessing our property, so there was never any need for an engineer to come to our house.

They never apologised and insisted we still paid the full £125 charge. Our complaint had to be escalated several times until someone admitted they actually owed us a token payment given my lost earnings, our mobile phone costs and the shoddy service.

A few years ago we spent £1500 on a macbook from the Apple Store.

Wind forward 15 months and it's faulty. We went in, explained the fault and the assistant came back with a new one.

DP thinks it's great service, but I was apoplectic.

Had they listened, tested it and found the fault, then replaced, I would have been ecstatic. However, the way they handled it confirmed that it was a known, common fault and they were just replacing as soon as the fault was mentioned and they were happy to keep supplying faulty equipment.

That's what happens when you buy expensive, nicely designed, poor quality tech.

Have you ever worked behind a bar, OP? I'd guess not from your post. 🙄

Being an Audi driver doesn’t eliminate you from the realms of shoplifting.
Carrying a Audi key fob only makes you feel superior.

Indeed. There's actually nothing to be superior about drving a Skoda with a nice frock.

Re BT...

I've just moved house. Into a house with a BT line fitted (I know the ex owners and the line comes right into the living room. He'd even left me the old hub). So I asked BT about just changing my old BT account over to the new house. 'Oh, there's no line to your new place,' said the person the phone (plain fib, I was standing right here, I can SEE IT) 'and we need to send out an engineer to connect you up'.

So they were going to charge me £125 for a man to come, plug in a new hub and flick a switch.... I didn't even need a new hub, and they could have switched the line back on remotely, the same way as they disconnected it when the ex owner moved out!

I bought a mobile hub. £22 a month for unlimited data, and far far better than the £55 a month that BT wanted for the same service.

@Zaphodsotherhead

Which firm is the mobile hub with?

Sainsburys, I was shopping on the last Friday before Christmas, did my shop, queued for the checkouts, put everything on the conveyor, I had picked up some crockery, when it was my turn to be served I asked for something to protect the crockery as it wasn't boxed, the assistant refused to give me anything, said if I wanted extra packing I could buy extra carrier bags, I had picked up 6 mugs, 6 glasses, 6 plates & 6 bowls, in the end I told her to keep the crockery. When I came to pay for the remainder of the shopping, I asked for £50 cashback & could I have it in £10 notes, she refused saying they weren't a bank, I got what I was given. By this time the queue was nearly the length of the shop, I picked up my shopping & went to find the manager who was next to useless. When I got home I used the power of social media, put my experience on Sainsburys pages on Twitter & Facebook, I got a message from their head office asking for my nectar card number & the checkout number I had used, they gave me £50 worth of nectar points & I imagine the checkout assistant got a bollocking because if ever she sees me in her queue now she asks to come off the checkout until I have been served.

John Lewis, Oxford Street, carpet department, 1992-3. The carpet department was staffed entirely by retired sergeant-major types. I chose a pale cream coloured pure wool carpet to go in the living room and bedroom of the flat where I lived alone – no pets, no children. It was very expensive and utterly lovely. The salesman did everything he could to put me off, finally saying that he wouldn't sell it to me unless I brought my husband in to give his permission! I told him I had no husband and that my money was as good as anyone else's. Eventually he placed the order – but insisted on warning me again, in front of two other salesmen as witnesses, that I would regret it and couldn't return it once delivered. It looked fabulous and lasted more than 20 years with out a mark.

Also slightly dodgy was the dapper elderly salesman in John Lewis's bed department, also in the 90s, who insisted on lying next to me as I tried out double mattresses to give me an idea of what it would feel like when my husband turned over in bed. Were it not for the other shoppers watching and walking past it would have felt very pervy!

I've no doubt you have, but that isn't an excuse for staff to badly treat the majority of customers who aren't awkward/arrogant etc.

I don't treat anyone badly but having to smile and be polite to every single person who comes in, no matter how they speak to you, is not always easy. Then there are the ones who don't even bother to acknowledge your presence in any way throughout their interaction with you, something I personally find hurtful but try to ignore.

Alongside this as seen on this thread, there are customers who expect you to not take breaks or to not finish your shift on time because they're ready to pay right now, even though you're on minimum wage and have been on your feet all day long. It says a lot about a person how they treat shop staff I think. There are people who give bad customer service, but there are a lot of bad customers who think they're above you because you work as a shop.

Blimey OP,your NHS midwifery services one sounds ghastly. My adult Dd daughter got pissed off with the ENT department at our local hospital a couple of years ago. Nothing like as bad as your experience though. She was given an appointment for an MRI scan to try to find out what was causing her partial deafness. Two weeks before the appointment was due,the hospital phoned and cancelled it. They booked her a new appointment,then again two weeks before,they cancelled it. She was given a third appointment which thankfully wasn't cancelled. When she went to it,the receptionist said to her 'You're lucky you were given a third appointment, seeing as you cancelled the first two'. My Dd was and said 'Excuse me,but if you check the records,you'll see that it wasn't ME who cancelled,it was the ENT department!'. What a nerve.

I was queueing at the Customer Services counter in a Tesco's Extra a few years ago,and as usual the queue was mega long, with only one member of staff on it. After about 20 minutes,I was next but one to be served. The woman behind the counter dissappeared for a minute,then came back and plonked a 'Closed' sign on the counter. Myself and the customer in front started to protest. Her response was 'This counter is out of order'.

70isaLimitNotaTarget Was this shop in a town that begins with the letter 'H' by any chance?! If it is,I think I know the one you mean. I went in there a few times and was persistently followed around by members of staff as if I was a shoplifter,so I stopped going in there. Thankfully it closed down after a couple of years;and is now a 'Next' and an 'H and M' store.

Alongside this as seen on this thread, there are customers who expect you to not take breaks or to not finish your shift on time because they're ready to pay right now, even though you're on minimum wage and have been on your feet all day long.

How do you know the customer hasn't been on their feet all day, and is also on minimum wage? I've worked in customer service for years, and would never take a break, or leave customers without help, until someone arrives to take over from me. Believe me, I know customers can be arses, but that doesn't mean you treat them any differently to the nice ones.

@TheMemoryLinger I didn't say she wasn't entitled to a break, but you don't go on a break leaving a long line of customers waiting at your till. You wait until someone takes over from you. For goodness sake, I've worked in customer services for years, and I've been a customer for longer and I have NEVER witnessed that before.

Arnold Clark.
Lied to me throughout the sales process and then the after sales people treat you like shit.

Usually if someone shift ends or it's there break time someone takes over on the till or they stick a sign up saying tills closed. I have turned customers away who couldn't be bothered to read the sign and start putting all there stuff on the belt.

20 years ago, my then bf (now dh) went to Pizza Hut in Surrey Quays, SE London (I have no problem naming and shaming because we still talk about this now) and ordered a starter each, and two pizzas. It was busy. It took half an hour for the starters to show up. Our pizzas came five minutes later, and five minutes after that we were given the bill. We were still eating the starters. We never darkened their door again.

Frankie and Benny's on the outskirts of Banbury, about 13 years ago. Out with parents, Db, DSiL, Dneice and Dnephew. My family hadn't had an F&B experience prior, this was a brand new branch. The kids were in pre-school at the time. Essentially, their food didn't turn up. They were very hungry, and irritable. The server claimed it will be along in a minute. My SiL was apoplectic. We started sharing our food with the kids. Eventually it turned up, but cold. It had been waiting to be taken to the table for 30 minutes but had been forgotten about. DM and DSiL found the manager and complained. He didn't see what the problem was. They demanded the kids food be taken off the bill. The rest of us had donated a portion of our food anyway. The manager took the kids meals off the bill (My SiL is fierce when provoked). DM complained to head office and got a £10 voucher. We have never returned.

John Lewis was good though. Despite our telly being out of warranty, when it broke they gave us a temporary one, fixed the old one, and didn't charge us.

@TowandaForever

It's a Huawei. Size of a credit card, so I can use it out and about with my laptop or in the house. No more bloody line rental charges!

I also found out (but it was partially my fault because I just paid my bill every month and didn't log in to check) that BT were charging me £3.50 a month for a call screening service. I didn't even have a house phone and only needed the line for my hub. Okay, I probably took out the service originally (like fifteen years ago) when I DID have a landline, but in the last six years, when I haven't had one, surely BT must have picked up on the fact that there were no call charges and, I dunno, maybe asked me if I still wanted it?

But, like I said, that's not really 100% their fault.

Lush , the other day . I have a friend who loves their stuff so decided to buy her some products as she hadn’t been well. I didn’t have my full body in the store when an assistant appeared . I smiled and said that I wanted to browse but would ask her if I needed help . She continued to follow me around . Eventually I had had enough and left just in time to hear her saying to a colleague “ another fucking time waster “.
Also recently had a car salesman suggest I return with my DH before I decided on a car which I would be the only one driving !
Oh and I have worked in shops , bars and a Job Centre so I know how tricky some customers can be !

iamjustlurking wasn't Westway in Manchester was it?

they stick a sign up saying tills closed

So you would do this in a fast food place, on a very busy day, to people who have been waiting in front of that till for around 15 minutes? You would expect them to move to the back of another very long line to start the wait time again? If I were the customer in that case I would walk out and never go back - and tell everyone what a bad experience I've had - really good for business!!. There is nothing wrong with putting up a closed sign when you have served the last customer in line, you don't expect people who have been waiting ages to wait even longer!

When DH and I were buying our first house, we went through the mortgage options with the in-house advisor in the estate agents. He advised an endowment to be the best option and how he explained, it did seem likely that we would opt for that but we went away to go over things. Later, we decided actually a repayment type seemed right for us. I phoned the financial advisor (and I was probably far too apologetic and not at all assertive) who was quite unhappy that we had changed our minds and said he wouldn't agree to change it over unless he spoke with my dad! (we were 29!) My dad basically said their money, their choice.

@conduitoffortune I have something similar where I was clearly judged for being a young single mother and this was in 2005 and it still bugs me to this day because I didn’t complain about this woman in Sommerfields supermarket.

My daughter was 2.5 years old and I had her in one of those light buggies that fold up easy and I had went into my local Sommerfields supermarket and I spotted these gorgeous dummies that were pink and glittery, at this point my DD was only using them to go to bed and she didn’t need them but I’m a sucker for pretty things regardless of what they are, anyway I gets to the till and I had another few things as well and I was buying 10 fags, back when you could get them, and when she rang everything up then I realised that I didn’t have enough so I said to her that I would please like to put the dummies back, well the woman serving me looked disgusted and shouted over the shop to her colleague “oh look young mum puts fags before dummies” and I was LIVID, but I started justifying myself to her and telling her that the dummies weren’t actually needed when really I should’ve complained to her supervisor and got her into trouble, it angers me to this day that I didn’t do anything and it’s why I would never let something like this slip again!

The guy in Argos who told me it was illegal to buy a new mobile without also buying a SIM or SD card to go in it, and clutched the phone to his chest refusing to hand it over until a supervisor came over and told him to stop being ridiculous.

Oh Argos again actually, DS1 was buying a PS4 game and they were really trying to push him to buy the Switch version as it was 'newer' (and £20 more expensive...) despite us pointing out that we didn't actually own a Switch console!