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Original poster

To ask worst customer service experience

248 replies

wotwududo · 18/05/2022 14:20

What's your worst customer service experience. Mine was with a chain car sales company. Booked to view a newish car. Got a call in the morning asking for my tea/coffee order. When I arrived, test drove the car I wasn't sure so said I'd think about it. The salesman talked me into going through the numbers. Sat down the price had gone up 2k!! I said I wouldn't need any extras. He was so condescending and rude, basically said if i didn't pay the extras they wouldn't tax the car or do any warranty. (The ad said a year free warranty) so to get the car at the advertised price I would have had to have driven it off court with no tax and no warranty. I walked we out? Anyone else?

OP posts:
daimbarsatemydogsbone · 19/05/2022 14:55

Love or hate Disney, you wouldn't get that there.
I took DD to Disneyland Paris we queued for ages to try and get some breakfast - as we got to the front the bloke came out and told all of the remaining queue to leave - no explanation apart from "we are closing". Turned out to be a shift change.
Then queued for ages to get seated in a different restaurant - shown to a table and then ignored - we left after 15 mins.
Absolute shit never going back.

MrsBlaue · 19/05/2022 14:59

You really didn’t.

MrsBlaue · 19/05/2022 15:00

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

yellowsuninthesky · 19/05/2022 15:08

MintyMoocow · 19/05/2022 12:59

Eight people waiting to order In a Chinese Restaurant in Alderley Edge. The Manager came out to the table next to us where two women were having a set menu. She told them that the waitress had accidentally given them a pudding that wasn’t on the set menu, and if they weren’t willing to pay the difference then she would be docking it from the waitress’ wages.
Both women were totally nonplussed and did pay the difference, however we got up and walked out, having told the stupid woman why.

I always hope that she didn’t take that out on the waitress ( who was maybe 16..) as well.

Well done you. My mum told me about a similar-ish incident with a coffee kiosk on the seafront near where she lives. Someone managed to pull a fast one with a fake £50 note. The young girl who worked there had been there for some time. Despite that, the owner didn't even dock her wages, which would have been bad enough, (s)he sacked her.

Livpool · 19/05/2022 15:09

Scottish Power - they were a nightmare when we moved house.
Don't know how many times I had to call them and explain we had moved - must have been at least 10

yellowsuninthesky · 19/05/2022 15:10

Georgeskitchen · 18/05/2022 21:03

Don't let any retailer tell you that you have to contact the manufacturer. That is bulls crap. When you buy an item you are entering a contract with the retailer and if the item is faulty they must give you a refund.

They do it all the time though. We had this discussion on the extended warranty thread earlier this week.

A while ago I had a woman in an 02 shop try to tell me that consumer law didn't apply to 02! She chose the wrong person to argue with :)

yellowsuninthesky · 19/05/2022 15:11

1FootInTheRave · 18/05/2022 20:46

Most recently are:

Nationwide mortgages. Just don't bother.

Talk talk. Still billing me for a service that was cancelled last oct.

Historically were BT and British Gas.

I hope you've cancelled any direct debit you have with Talk Talk!

Wexone · 19/05/2022 15:35

Man united official website - Ordered a personalized baby kit for a friend in November. Got a mail saying it was dispatched with tracking, after a week tracking seemed to have stalled halfway. Emailed no answer. Rang then spoke to a nice women said it was lost and they would send a new one out. Got an email a few days later saying it had been dispatched but this time no tracking. By this stage it was xmas so put it down to xmas rush, By Jan no sign of it. Range and emailed no on could tell me where it was, kept trying to fob me off as it was my fault that address was wrong etc, but my address was right. The emails felt like they were a robot replying with the same people on rotation. Finally cracked end of Feb and demanded my money back was told it was personalized couldn't get a refund but yet still couldn't tell me where it was . Went on like this for about another month. I paid via PayPal so lucky was able to raise a complaint through them in time. They tried to contact Man U aswell, but no answer, so in the end i got a full refund via Paypal. Never come across anything like it. I actually wonder do they even exist

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 19/05/2022 15:36

MrsBlaue · 19/05/2022 14:59

You really didn’t.

?

LiamNeesonIsADerryGirl · 19/05/2022 15:36

@MyBottleOfRibena I never said it was the stores fault.

Sugarplumfairy65 · 19/05/2022 15:48

LiamNeesonIsADerryGirl · 19/05/2022 01:00

In Poundland a few years ago, just before Christmas, I had my purse stolen from my bag whilst in the shop. When I informed the manager he literally told me it was my own fault.

It wasn't the shop's fault though and don't know what you expected them to do about it? Were they supposed to lock the shop doors and search every customer?

DdraigGoch · 19/05/2022 15:56

Sugarplumfairy65 · 19/05/2022 15:48

It wasn't the shop's fault though and don't know what you expected them to do about it? Were they supposed to lock the shop doors and search every customer?

Show quote history

They could at least have been sympathetic. "I'm sorry to hear that" etc.

Then perhaps asking for more details, offering to check the CCTV and so on.

Staffy1 · 19/05/2022 16:03

hamsaladsandwichh · 18/05/2022 15:01

I went in peacocks for a some baby clothes a few years ago.

I'd forgot my purse and only had £40 in cash and but no cards (so I was very careful about what I picked, and added up how much it all cost).

I got some bits including some off a sale rack and made sure everything I had came to no more than £40.

At the till a set I'd picked up scanned at more than double what the sale sticker said (meaning id be well over my £40).

I pointed this error out and the woman shrugged and said "well it's not a sale item".

I said it has a sale sticker on and I got it from the rail containing all sale items. Hmm

She said i should feel lucky she's not calling security as it's attempted theft to put sale stickers on non sale items ShockShockShock

I asked to speak to her manager and insisted they viewed cctv because I didn't appreciate being accused of theft.

They gave me the product at the sticker price plus a gift voucher by way of apology.

I wouldn't have minded at all if she said it wasn't scanning at that price, must be a mistake, sorry, etc. But she was fucking rude and accused me of that! I was heavily pregnant and had a pile of items, I clearly wasn't trying to pull a fast one over a few quid!

This reminds me of an experience in a charity shop. Went to the counter with a couple of toys both for some tiny amount like 25p. The woman at the counter spluttered “This one is 35p!” while ripping off the 25p label and glaring at us. I just said “ok”, but we got the stink eye until we left. I couldn’t believe she thought we had swapped labels to do them out of 10p at a charity and only got annoyed later, wishing I had said something at the time.

Titsflyingsouth · 19/05/2022 16:18

Phone lines at HM Passport Office - nuff said!

JustPlainKnackered · 19/05/2022 16:34

A best western hotel in Cornwall. Jaw droppingly poor service when we arrived to a supposedly wheelchair accessible room ( that you couldn't access from the hotel - you had to leave the hotel and walk round by the street to one of the car parks and in that way). I'd messaged at the time of booking ( weeks before) to check the room was wheelchair accessible and they hadn't said a word about the poor access. The young guy they had 'managing' the hotel that evening couldn't even figure out that we couldn't use the steep, outside steps down to the room with my son's electric wheelchair. He suggested we might want to find another hotel, in mid summer, in Cornwall, with three kids and an electric wheelchair. It was a farce. It might even have been funny had we not just had a seven hour drive to reach the hotel.
When I complained to the general manager via email later that week he was patronising beyond belief. We'll never stay in a best western again.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 19/05/2022 17:43

Good few years ago but still irks me

We placd an order for some double glazing and paid 10% deposit .
The company were covered by GGF ( Glass and Glazing Fedaration)
We found out later that the company had gone out of business and our order was being transferred to another company 150 miles away .
When I phoned the GGF to query about the transfer and the deposit , the GGF representative was extremely rude " We sent you a letter to wait , not just go off and employ someone else , you wil have lost your deposit "

I did point out I lived in an area with at least half a dozen big DG firms , why would I look 150 miles away - this was the firm that was allocated to us ( he gave no answer to that )

And due to the distance it took 2.5 days rather than 1 day if they'd been local .
It took months to get my deposit back as I had to pay in full and reclaim.
Still irked by this Hmm

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 19/05/2022 17:50

If that rather abrupt response earlier was suggesting that PP was making it up about stroppy customer service at Disneyland Paris, I've never been to any of the Disney parks, but I do remember Greg Proops speaking at length about a vast chasm of difference between the politeness and customer treatment from the staff at the US parks and the French one - and the audience making loud 'agreeing' sounds.

TheUnexpectedPickle · 19/05/2022 18:21

muddyford · 18/05/2022 17:56

Elderly PILs called an emergency ambulance as MIL had had a funny turn. On arrival, the paramedics wanted to know if they owned their house. Then whether they had lasting powers of attorney. What possible relevance this had to MILs medical treatment is anyone's guess. Unnecessary, intrusive and insensitive at any time, but mind-boggling in its insensitivity in these circumstances. None of their bloody business.

Wow. Sorry on their behalf!
It's fine to ask about LPA as there is one for health (although its only relevant if the patient is incapacitated)
No idea why they would ask about the house though. I wouldn't!

TheMarmaladeYears · 19/05/2022 19:56

Scottish Power - they were a nightmare when we moved house.

I've been in a pointless, circular dispute with Scottish Power for the last 4 years. They are determined that my meter lives in a field 3 miles from my house because somewhere along the line, the postcode has been entered incorrectly on the account. Who knew that so much time could be spent trying to get this corrected and failing? Kafka, had he ever had the faintest interest in electric meters could have written a whole book around the saga.

Georgeskitchen · 19/05/2022 20:29

OohThatCat · 19/05/2022 14:40

Sainsburys a couple of weeks ago, have since switched to Tesco!

Online delivery never turned up, customer service say they can’t get hold of driver but store manager will call me back. No call back. Day after I call customer service again, they can’t get hold of store manager, he will call me back. Repeat the same for several days.

Eventually customer service change their tune and say my card was declined. I point out it hasn’t, I can see £120 paid out of my bank to Sainsburys on date of booked delivery. Customer service reverts to “can’t get hold of store manager” line. Apparently only he can process a refund?!

Eventually I go through the exact same gubbins with them over Twitter for several more days and only when whoever I have been DMing at Sainsburys Twitter account finally admits for the third time that they also cannot get hold of the store manager, they process the refund. So, they could have done it at any point but instead dragged it out and left me £120 down and with no big shop for nearly two weeks. And I still don’t know why the delivery driver never turned up! 😄

Bullshit excuse that only the store manager can process refunds. They have staff in all stores who are authorised to process refunds, and they will also have an online manager who can do it

Georgeskitchen · 19/05/2022 20:36

In fact I would put money on the sainsburys store manager not even knowing how to process a refund 🤣🤣

Tara336 · 19/05/2022 20:52

Nat West Bank elderly mum was confused by the new paying in process and was so worried about it all.i said I'd go with her. Bank employee who I think was meant to be assisting on the floor started rolling her eyes when my mum was being served at the counter as mum was repeating her worries to the lady on the counter. DM.saw this and said that there was no need for eye rolls she was struggling to understand and the floor walker proceeded to shout about never been complained about before etc which was a very odd thing to say as no one had mentioned complaining. We left the bank both quite stunned at the behaviour and as we were walking away the floor walker had followed us on to the street and started shouting at us! It was the most surreal experience, I can only assume she was having a bad day and we were in the wrong place at the wrong time or she had anger issues! Bank apologised and sent us vouchers to say sorry

sashh · 20/05/2022 04:56

Update.

I emailed the one actual person I have a name for at my landlord, I had an email back in mins that she didn't deal with repairs but would pass it on to someone who did.

10.30 AM I had a call about the repairs, no fixed date yet but a reaction at least.

@WhenDovesFly it might be worth contacting environmental health at your local council.

OohThatCat · 20/05/2022 08:56

@Georgeskitchen See that's what I thought - because what if the store manager was on holiday or ill?! I knew there must be more than one that can do it, but every time I asked over the phone they said only the store manager can do it!

AncientAzalea · 20/05/2022 11:31

ButtockUp · 18/05/2022 22:04

Another Sainsburys one.

My local branch seems reluctant to put staff on tolls for some reason. I was walking towards the tills behind a lady with a full trolley who clearly needed a conveyer belt type till.
None were open. The lady turned to me saying something along the lines of "it's always like this..." I suddenly spotted three assistants chatting at the self scanners.
I pointed them out to the lady and she politely asked if any of the normal tills would be opening.

One of the assistants replied , in a condescending tone,

" if you need a till then you need to ask !"

To be fair one of those would have been allocated to self scan, one was probably a runner who oversees all the tills plus kiosk etc and one may have been till but more likely shop floor or on her way home. I really feel for my local Sainsburys staff as they have less and less people on tills and the big bosses won't let them recruit new staff. I'm in regularly and they are really struggling with it.