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?

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.

Maybe there's no other staff to take over, and if it's her break time she has to go at that time otherwise she will miss it. It's like that in the shop I work in.

My last post wasn't meant to give the impression that I took threads like this as a personal attack at all I'm genuinely curious to see if any of the posters on here have experienced it from the other side and if it alters their perception as a customer when things go wrong.
There seems to be the retailer view and the customer view and I get both views having been on both sides. I was curious to know how many on this thread have experienced it from both sides and not just from the customers side.

Still fuming by the absolute tosser in Phones4U when I was 14. I’d just got a new phone and wanted a case for it- chose one I liked but it had no price. Only one salesman visible in the store, talking to a couple. Approached them, waited for a pause in the conversation and said “excuse me, I...” to be (very aggressively) told he was busy and I’d have to wait. I was mortified.

Who in their right mind pays a £250 deposit for a car they've not even seen or test driven yet !!!

Me. I am that twat. In my defence it was a £25k car and I didn’t think it was much, the salesman assured me it was refundable and I also didn’t think my arsehole dh would change his mind, it was lovely.

Deposit is returned when you view the car whether you buy it or not.

It’s been over a week. No acknowledgement and as yet no refund. He promised me three separate times. That’s misleading surely?

My sister ordered a £15.00 fish and chips in a 'gourmet' pub.
The waiter put down the plate and there very clearly was a dead daddy long legs in the fish batter.
The waiter just walked off so she took the plate up to the landlady holding court behind the bar.
She quietly pointed out the large daddy long legs and asked for a fresh meal.
Landlady snatched the plate from her and showed it to those sat around the bar shouting "look she wants another dinner free just because of a fxxxing insect".
My sister was embarrassed at first but became annoyed as the woman continued to ridicule her.
Demanded a refund for both meals and stood her ground until she got it as the other meal had not been touched.
Landlady did a moonlight flit a few weeks later.

@Whatisthisfuckery

1. we went for a walk down to a nice pub by the river one sumers’s evening. There was one of these outside bars, which is basically a wooden hut on decking. DP went up and ordered the drinks, but when she took out her card she accidentally dropped it, right between the slats of the decking. The person behind the bar called out the manager who said they coulddn’t he the card back as it would involve pulling up the decking. Fine, understandable, but then he looked at her and said, ‘how are you going to pay for the drinks?’ It was a couple of pints of cider and an orange juice, so not a massive round with food etc. She didn’t have any cash so he said she couldn’t have the drinks. I paid with my card, but I was a bit pissed off. It was an accident, and it wouldn’t have killed him to just give her the drinks.

You sound very entitled. Pay for your own drinks, don’t expect freebies!

SCS carpets.
They turned up a day late, very bad tempered. I had 2 year old dd at the time so they said to stay in the sitting room as they lugged everything upstairs. All fair enough really. I didn't see it until they had finished, they actually blocked the sitting room door with the old carpet and just kept saying 'give us a minute will you' when I asked them to move it. It was so I couldn't see what they were doing.
They had delivered and fitted the wrong carpet. They also hadn't put the dividers that I had paid for in. And the carpet wasn't fitted properly, it was all wrinkled.
I was furious. They drove off.
Many many phone calls and emails later I still have the wrong carpets as they could only have exchanged them IF I'd seen them before they fitted them, which I wasn't able to do. More so they refused to accept despite screen shots of our receipt they had delivered the wrong one. Even going into the shop and pointing out the carpet sample and the photos of upstairs and our receipt got nowhere.
I will never never buy anything from them ever again.

@Insideimsprinting I get that, I’m sorry I took your comment wrong.

I get what it’s like to be the one dealing with shitty customers, it made me appreciate the polite and friendly ones more. I’m always polite and friendly to anyone who’s in customer service because of it so when I receive crap customer service in return it stings that little bit more too.

But I didn’t have thick enough skin to stay in that position, after three years of it I’m back at college to try and escape it! There was far more shitty, entitled and aggressive customers than there was nice.

I used to send parcels at the post office near me. Twice they got lost and I had to claim a refund using the proof of postage. One day I went and sent a parcel there and the lady at the desk didn't give me the proof of postage so I asked for it and she said 'What, you don't trust us? Why does no one trust us round here??'

The post up thread about the fish and chips reminded me of an incident that happened to me in a cafe a few years ago.

My DM and I went in there at lunchtime and I ordered cod,chips and peas. When it arrived,I cut into the fish and a weird smell wafted out of it. I tasted a small bit of it,and had to spit it out because it tasted vile. Don't know what was wrong with it,but it definitely wasn't right. I took it up to the counter and explained what the problem was. The woman behind the counter (who I think was the manager) snatched the plate up and said rudely 'Well I can assure you that you're the FIRST person who has EVER complained'. She then said 'What do you expect me to do about it then?'. I didn't dare ask for a replacement as I thought she'd do something disgusting to it,so I asked for my money back. Without a word,she took the money out of the till and practically threw it across the counter at me! Fuming and embarrassed,I went and sat back down with my DM,telling to her hurry up and finish as I didn't want to hang around in there any longer than necessary. The manager then started bitching about me in a loud voice to the other staff and customers! Bloody hell,I was ready to land her one by the time we left there.

Needless to say I never went back there,and with hindsight,I wish I'd reported her to the environmental standards office for serving food which was obviously unfit to eat.

Ah, that reminds me of The Ship Inn, Tresaith, where we booked a table one night. It took 90 minutes for the starters to arrive and then we sat there for another 45 minutes waiting for the main course. The teenage waitress was surly as hell and just scowled at us when we asked politely when the food would be ready.

We'd started googling for takeway options and wondering whether to leave when she went over to another table in the restaurant where presumably there were friends or family sitting. A couple of minutes later a furious older woman came over to our table and screamed at us, telling us we were stuck-up English people who should be ashamed of ourselves and flapping our heads with a napkin. Three of us were Welsh born and bred and so our attacker was a surprised when we told her to sit down and behave herself in Welsh.

Of course then we felt obliged to stay for the duration. We'd had our table booked for 7pm. I think our main courses turned up at around 9.30pm and the waitress threw them down – sauce and gravy all over the table and our clothes. We took photos of our gravy-spattered jackets and tops, swapped contact details with other diners who'd witnessed us being yelled at, ate our main courses, paid 25% of the bill and left our business cards with the manager, telling her to take us to the Small Claims Court for the rest. We never heard anything. I hope some of the other diners followed our example.

I just checked it out on Trip Advisor and it looks as if it hasn't improved. It's strange that so many of the positive views are a bit vague and the negative ones are detailed and specific, isn't it? I always judge a place by the negative reviews.

NHS: reception woman refused to take my registration because she pretended I needed some paper proving my rights to be in the country. I had an NHS number and the document she was asking for wasn't required for 10 years. She made comments like I had passed the border illegally (I had came back from holiday less than 2 weeks through airport).
I knew I was within my rights and at the time it didn't bother me more than this, but it stuck with me.

Currys: gave them my laptop to fix keyboard, they absolutely wiped out everything on it. I lost 10+ years worth of photos. Broke in tears at counter and the c* said it was in the T's & C's, no apologies at all.

Still made the mistake to go back to buy an expensive TV and game console. They advised to get some sort of cable as the standard cable wasn't powerful enough. 3 days later, Watchdogs on BBC (which I had watched twice in my life) was doing a piece on how Curry's had already been told off for selling this exact cable under false argument... Took it back and get refund (£40 !) and will never set foot there again.

Car dealer only talking to my partner. I was buying the car, he doesn't even have a licence !
2 weeks after the car broke down in the middle of the motorway... I have been dragged for 3 weeks 'it will be only 2 days', 'only needs a few days' etc. I started losing my calm staying polite but mentioned if I had bought a car it was for a necessity and the guy made it sound like they were doing me a favour by fixing the car... I had expenses from towing the car, they never reimbursed me for that.

Debenhams car insurance. Absolute bastards.

Comet for pulling a bait and switch or at least trying to. DH and I wanted the Xbox 360 with Kinect and had seen an offer advertised at Comet for the XBox, two controllers, Kinect and a certain game, all for £xx. Offer started the following day according to all the advertisements. We drove down the following morning as it opened. The staff member picked up all the items included in said bundle and went on to charge us full price. It was over £100 more. I pointed to the huge sign behind him showing the bundle and it's price and he told me they didn't actually have those. I replied that it was the morning of the sale and that advertisement is everywhere. On Posters, in newspapers and even on the tv as an in-store only offer so why didn't they have the bundles? He told me they never did and won't be doing them. Bait and switches are illegal I'm sure.

Another time at Comet (should have learned my lesson). Went in to buy a £1000 tv reduced to £800. Woman started throwing other things on to the trolley. "You'll need this" she said as she popped a sound bar down. Then she picked up an extension cord thing and said, "you can't buy the tv without this". I asked what it was and she said, "A power lead that with protect the tv from power surges". It was £70!!!!

I told her I didn't want the sound bar and. She tutted at me and argued for ages. I told her that if the tv's speakers didn't work then I sure as hell wasn't paying £800 for it! She removed the sound bar. And the power lead? In my 30 years (then) I have never lost a telly to a power surge. If I did I had insurance anyway. Again, she insisted it was needed. I declined. She tutted and said, "Well when your tv breaks don't come back trying to get a refund!".
As it turns out, all those extension leads you get for a fiver in B&M have surge protection as standard. Finally we got it through to her that we wanted just the tv. That's it.

"That'll be £979.99 please". I reminded her the tv is priced at £800 and she said, "but the 2 year warranty is £179.99". I told her no thanks, £180 for one years worth of warranty is a rip off and she sneered and told me (slowly as if I was dumb) it was for TWO YEARS. That's 24 MONTHS. So I replied in the same manner, "BUT ONE YEAR WARRANTY COMES AS STANDARD FOR FREE. THATS 12 MONTHS. FREE. SO I'D BE PAYING FOR JUST NEXT YEARS WARRANTY." I may also have mentioned that the sale of goods act states that for a big ticket item like that and I've a good 6 years to get a fault dealt with... by law.

It's now been 13 years. The tv is still going too. No power surges yet. I'm happy to say that it has lasted longer than Comet did.

The post upthread about Comet reminded me of when I bought a stereo system from Currys,back in the late 90s. Was served by a guy who was hellbent on trying to get me to take out the extended 5 year warranty,while I was equally hellbent on not,as I'd been reliably informed that they were a waste of money and often useless. When he finally realised that I wasn't budging,he said 'Well don't try bringing it back for a refund if it breaks down in a couple of months!'. I told him that if it broke down in a couple of months,I would most definitely be bringing it back for a refund or a replacement,as it would still be covered by the years guarantee!

Some of these awful people that work in CS act like monexy wik

I was on my way to see a friend dying in a hospice abroad a few months back and booked the flight on eDreams as it was a double leg trip, I had to travel from seeing her on to another country before returning home. The shenanigans I was put through were just absurd. For some reason the second flight booked smoothly but not the first. I couldn't book into the first flight because, according to the website, the flight had been booked under twenty-four hours to boarding. My argument of course with the eDreams support staff was why, if this was a problem, flights were available for sale at under twenty-four hours to boarding in the first place?

It was a merry-go-round of a situation with extreme panic and stress and me terrified I wouldn't get to see my dying friend one last time (I'd been with her the weekend before and this last visit was a last minute decision, that's why the flight was booked so late.) I ended up going on the airlines website and booked the same flight in a panic when I saw there was only one seat left. When I was checking my bags in the airport the airline staff told me I was booked twice on the same flight, which I was of course, the system just hadn't let me check in for the first seat.

In any circumstances this would have been a pain in the arse but considering it involved a dying friend that put a whole new spin on it. In fairness to eDreams they fully refunded the cost of the second flight and also gave me a £200 credit voucher, so they did their best to resolve things. I've been very bloody cautious since about these travel websites though!

Well said. Shame on those that don't understand the basics! Mannerless staff that don't understand customer service is what they're hired, getting paid for and that the customers pay their wages are unemployables and the downfall of businesses. They shut down and the rude staff left jobless which is what they deserve.

It's far too long to type but we had an absolute nightmare in a now closed restaurant which culminated in the chef asking my husband outside for a fight .

Job

just remember you are being paid to provide a service to the customer

My work involves customer service - I'm paid to do my job but I'm not paid to be sworn at, abused or used as an outlet for a customer's bad mood.

We are human, and can only work in the parameters of what our company policy details.

We can't work miracles or cater to wildly unrealistic demands, and we certainly don't have to smile while you are patronising and rude.

I've been called a stupid cunt because I couldn't give a refund due to no reciept, been spat at when I informed a customer that unfortunately the item was out of stock, and had many male customers try to touch me while I'm working.

And SO many customers really are rude, entitled and expect way too much. To them, you're just a slave in a uniform.

Yes I get paid, but trust me, I don't get paid nearly enough to bow down to you you when you're being an arsehole.

Very recently, South West Railways. It was my first morning back commuting after chemo/radiotherapy/hair loss. Pretty stressful. The ticket machines at the railway station weren't working, regular barrier attendant saw me struggling, said 'Your train is coming in, you don't want to miss it', opened the barrier for me and said 'Run, and buy a ticket on the train.' so I went through & caught the train.
Guard didn't come through the train as there were problems with over running engineering works and diverted passengers that morning, so I went to the ticket collector at Waterloo, explained & asked to buy a ticket.
He accused me of lying and issued me with a penalty fare notice.
I appealed, explained, referenced the original barrier attendant and the cctv at the original station and pointed out that I simply did as instructed by their employee. Appeal rejected. Apparently they have a huge number of appeals so don't have time to check evidence.
So now I have the choice of a court case or paying their fine which is completely unfair and basically corporate bullying.

Just what I need right now 🙁

I went to my local library (walthamstow) about 4 weeks after my dad died to collect his death certificate.
They couldn't find it, then Karen ( I'm not kidding that's her name) asked me why I had left it so long? I explained we had been grieving and it was the 1st time I'd felt able to do. She then rolled her eyes and laughed as though what I had said was amusing. Spoke down to me like I was an incompetent , she was a complete witch, then addressed the couple who came in all sweetness and light. They tried to charge me for a copy of a certificate they had lost .
I cried so much when I left there, complained but LBWF didnt want to know. Shes a vile nasty woman and I hope karma gets her.

What a useful post

Passport office hands down.
14 hours in wait time, over 40 calls, over 40 emails, 2 letters and STILL I never get a satisfactory response or help for a simple passport renewal made on April 1st. For which they have lost the documents and they definitely had them as they were used for another passport.

I've had the phone put down on me, been cut off, and been told it's very busy with new applications and to just queue overnight 48 hours before my flight and if they can't do it then I'll just have to miss my travel.

The official complaints team haven't replied either. And neither has my MP!