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What is Your Worst Customer Service Story?

28 April 2012
Posted by Mr. Naron 
I want to know if I'm the only one who gets the pre-recorded robot customer service rep. The first time it happened, it was over the phone. We had B of A at the time (just when I started college) and they lost one of my paychecks. We ended up overdrawn, and they wouldn't own their mistake. My boss cut me another check, but it was already the weekend. Well, all weekend, they kept charging me overdraft fees for checks that went through. i called them up and asked them why they didn't put my check through, but they put all the others through. The guy kept repeating "we don't do electronic transfers on the weekend". I'd point out to him that they do, in fact, do electronic transfers on the weekend and I have the ever growing negative balance to prove it. all he could do is fall back on his insistence that they didn't. Very few things will move me to quit a bank or a service, but this kind of thing usually does.

Now, I thought it had to be the phone people. Maybe this was a dude in India who could only repeat one phrase in a perfect American accent. But then it happened to me live and in person. My wife had ordered us some Christmas ornaments with our pictures on them from Wal Mart. Can't have enough of those. So we waited and waited for them to come in. Since she ordered them on line, we expected the UPS guy to bring them. But they didn't. She emailed the comany and they said we could pick them up at our local Super Wal Mart. We'd pop in there from time to time and it wasn't there either. Finally, Christmas Eve rolled around and I had to head down there for my typical last minute shopping. The ornaments still weren't in, so I cruised over to customer service to cancel the order and perhaps get my money back. The straight C student behind the counter had no idea what to do, so he called the manager over. This guy, the manager of the Super Wal Mart, informed me there was nothing he could do because they were not...wait for it..."affiliated" with WalMart.com. I kinda let it slide and said I'd be fine with store credit or at least a cancellation. I didn't want those stupid things coming in sometime in February. But, he repeated the line "we're not affiliated with Walmart.com. So, I had to give him a vocabulary lesson right there in front of dozens of impatient shoppers on Christmas Eve. I said as loudly as I could muster, in the same voice I use with an indolent student, "Affiliated is the exact word to describe the relationship between this Wal Mart store and the online entity known as Walmart.com." He repeated himself. I expanded, "You are using that word because you think it means the you are not the same as Walmart.com, but that's not what it means. You are not the same, but you are, in fact, affiliated given that you are owned by the same company."

He said, "Okay, we're not the same."

And that's why I still shop at Wal Mart.

My Mind is Clean
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24 Comments On This Entry

It's not our worst, but it is the most current. We recently bought a new Hyndai. There are little things wrong, like we were told we'd get a free car wash whenever we brought it in for service, which we haven't and the fact that every time they "serviced" it--past tense because we're never taking it back there again--the air pressure on all the tires is CRAZY (way too much AND way too little.) But the main problem is that the odometer isn't correct. It is about 3% off. So my husband asked if they could fix it. And they said they can't. That a 3 percent mistake is within perameters of acceptability. Then there's the tire pressure light that comes on all the time, telling us we have a flat. When my husband asked them to fix that they said, "we can't. Just disconnect it." He wrote a letter to the company and we got a call. The person on the other end of the line listened to all his complaints and said, "okay. This is just a courtesy call to inform you we are closing your file." What? So you're not going to do anything about it? Nope.
We will never buy another hyndai.
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Wag-a-Muffin (D), 28 April 2012 - 09:59 PM

wag-a-muffin, on 28 April 2012 - 09:59 PM, said:

It's not our worst, but it is the most current. We recently bought a new Hyndai. There are little things wrong, like we were told we'd get a free car wash whenever we brought it in for service, which we haven't and the fact that every time they "serviced" it--past tense because we're never taking it back there again--the air pressure on all the tires is CRAZY (way too much AND way too little.) But the main problem is that the odometer isn't correct. It is about 3% off. So my husband asked if they could fix it. And they said they can't. That a 3 percent mistake is within perameters of acceptability. Then there's the tire pressure light that comes on all the time, telling us we have a flat. When my husband asked them to fix that they said, "we can't. Just disconnect it." He wrote a letter to the company and we got a call. The person on the other end of the line listened to all his complaints and said, "okay. This is just a courtesy call to inform you we are closing your file." What? So you're not going to do anything about it? Nope.We will never buy another hyndai.

Wow, the economy in S. Korea must be really great to treat customers like that.
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Mr. Naron, 28 April 2012 - 10:19 PM
I can understand and sympathize with the Walmart employees. I was working in the music department and got transferred a phone call from the main desk. The customer was looking for a video game he saw on the BN web site. He did not trust his neighbors so he wanted it sent to the store so he could pick it up. After trying to explain to the guy we were part of the same corporation, but different entities and that I could not order the item he wanted he hung up. A few hours later the guy comes into the store to complain to the manager that one the employees would not place an order for him. He tries to find what the guy is looking for, and when he can't he brings him into the music department. He asks me if I know about it, and asks me to find what the guy is looking for. I bring up bn.com and find the item. My boss then asks why can't I order it. I tell him that it is a video game. The manager looks at the guy and tells him we can't order video games.
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Joe the Pagan, 28 April 2012 - 10:39 PM

Joe the Pagan, on 28 April 2012 - 10:39 PM, said:

I can understand and sympathize with the Walmart employees. I was working in the music department and got transferred a phone call from the main desk. The customer was looking for a video game he saw on the BN web site. He did not trust his neighbors so he wanted it sent to the store so he could pick it up. After trying to explain to the guy we were part of the same corporation, but different entities and that I could not order the item he wanted he hung up. A few hours later the guy comes into the store to complain to the manager that one the employees would not place an order for him. He tries to find what the guy is looking for, and when he can't he brings him into the music department. He asks me if I know about it, and asks me to find what the guy is looking for. I bring up bn.com and find the item. My boss then asks why can't I order it. I tell him that it is a video game. The manager looks at the guy and tells him we can't order video games.

And I was fine with that. But for him to ignorantly repeat the same phrase over and over, that's just poor customer service. At least he finally admitted it.

Why can't B&N stores order video games?
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Mr. Naron, 28 April 2012 - 10:49 PM
This has happened several times to me, I'll be at some store ready to spend money. I'm talking to the sales rep. The phone rings and, without breaking stride, the sales rep answers the call, totally ignoring me, and has a conversation with the guy on the phone. Note I did not say they said, "hold on, I gotta take this" or "excuse me" or when they answered, "can you hold on, I've got a guy in front of me".

Loudly I tell the guy to put the caller on hold and I get looked at like I'm a flat worm.

In every instance I've gone directly to the store manager and haranged on them telling them their training sucks. I tell them that they need to impress on their sales reps that I'm a lot more important than the guy on the phone because I'm standing in front of them with money in my pocket ready to spend it, I'm not on the phone wanting the price of a box of something.
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Wyn, 28 April 2012 - 11:15 PM
I am not sure, but the only things I can order are items that the store would normally carry. If I was to guess it might be that when you order a video game, or other BN.com exclusive items, you might not actually be dealing with a B&N warehouse. It could be a third party warehouse that sticks the item into a B&N box with a B&N invoice and sends it to you. When I order something to be sent to the store it is coming from a B&N warehouse.
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Joe the Pagan, 28 April 2012 - 11:42 PM

Wyn, on 28 April 2012 - 11:15 PM, said:

This has happened several times to me, I'll be at some store ready to spend money. I'm talking to the sales rep. The phone rings and, without breaking stride, the sales rep answers the call, totally ignoring me, and has a conversation with the guy on the phone. Note I did not say they said, "hold on, I gotta take this" or "excuse me" or when they answered, "can you hold on, I've got a guy in front of me". Loudly I tell the guy to put the caller on hold and I get looked at like I'm a flat worm.In every instance I've gone directly to the store manager and haranged on them telling them their training sucks. I tell them that they need to impress on their sales reps that I'm a lot more important than the guy on the phone because I'm standing in front of them with money in my pocket ready to spend it, I'm not on the phone wanting the price of a box of something.


So true. I'll walk out on anyone who does that. It happened to me at an optometrist in our local mall. I walked up to the desk to see when i could get in, and she took a phone call right in the middle of my question. And it sounded like a personal call. I just turned around and split. They just lost five people forever.
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Mr. Naron, 28 April 2012 - 11:43 PM
I have the opposite problem. I work in a retail store and it just drives me bats when someone I'm helping takes a call on their cell and just keeps on yacking. I'll give them a minute or so to finish the call then I'll walk away and find someone else to help. And sometimes they get upset that I wouldn't stand there forever waiting for them, or look at me like I'm listening in to their call. The worst is folks who are already at the counter checking out and just have to talk on the phone making the people behind them wait. For the record, I do ask people who call when I'm with a customer if they can hold until I'm done.
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searcher, 29 April 2012 - 12:00 AM

searcher, on 29 April 2012 - 12:00 AM, said:

I have the opposite problem. I work in a retail store and it just drives me bats when someone I'm helping takes a call on their cell and just keeps on yacking. I'll give them a minute or so to finish the call then I'll walk away and find someone else to help. And sometimes they get upset that I wouldn't stand there forever waiting for them, or look at me like I'm listening in to their call. The worst is folks who are already at the counter checking out and just have to talk on the phone making the people behind them wait. For the record, I do ask people who call when I'm with a customer if they can hold until I'm done.

I feel you. I never do that if it's any consolation.
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Mr. Naron, 29 April 2012 - 12:08 AM

searcher, on 29 April 2012 - 12:00 AM, said:

I have the opposite problem. I work in a retail store and it just drives me bats when someone I'm helping takes a call on their cell and just keeps on yacking. I'll give them a minute or so to finish the call then I'll walk away and find someone else to help. And sometimes they get upset that I wouldn't stand there forever waiting for them, or look at me like I'm listening in to their call. The worst is folks who are already at the counter checking out and just have to talk on the phone making the people behind them wait. For the record, I do ask people who call when I'm with a customer if they can hold until I'm done.



I was putting books away when I had a guy in the same aisle talking loudly on his cell phone. As I am walking away I hear him say I'm in a book store I'm looking for a book. Then I hear him yell EXCUSE ME I SAID I WAS LOOKING FOR A BOOK. I turn around and he is staring at me with his cell phone cradled against his shoulder so the person on the other end would not have to hear him yell.
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Joe the Pagan, 29 April 2012 - 12:48 AM

Joe the Pagan, on 29 April 2012 - 12:48 AM, said:

searcher, on 29 April 2012 - 12:00 AM, said:

I have the opposite problem. I work in a retail store and it just drives me bats when someone I'm helping takes a call on their cell and just keeps on yacking. I'll give them a minute or so to finish the call then I'll walk away and find someone else to help. And sometimes they get upset that I wouldn't stand there forever waiting for them, or look at me like I'm listening in to their call. The worst is folks who are already at the counter checking out and just have to talk on the phone making the people behind them wait. For the record, I do ask people who call when I'm with a customer if they can hold until I'm done.
I was putting books away when I had a guy in the same aisle talking loudly on his cell phone. As I am walking away I hear him say I'm in a book store I'm looking for a book. Then I hear him yell EXCUSE ME I SAID I WAS LOOKING FOR A BOOK. I turn around and he is staring at me with his cell phone cradled against his shoulder so the person on the other end would not have to hear him yell.

I asked for customer service stories. :lol:
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Mr. Naron, 29 April 2012 - 12:58 AM
Here's a strange one: I was getting threatening letters and "robo-calls" from a collection agency because I was late paying - (now pay careful attention) - exactly $0.00, LOL. You see, I had bought a bunch of furniture on a time-payment plan. I paid the same amount every month except for one particular month, when I had more money than usual and decided to make a double-payment (i.e. paid twice as much as I had to.) So at the end of the contract when I had paid the whole thing off, their computer still registered "one more payment due". I kept getting "overdue" notices for the amount of $0.00, which kept getting more and more threatening. Then they turned the account over to a collection agency, and they were even less friendly. I kept trying to call somebody and straighten it out, but just kept getting recordings: "For assistance in English, press one...." I finally figured out what to do: I bought a money order for $0.00 (you shoulda seen the look on the face of the poor guy at the bank, LOL), and sent it to them. Never heard from them again.
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MontyPython, 29 April 2012 - 04:23 AM
Went to a Denny's once. Got in around midnight. Had some paper reading to do for a class. The waitress got my order relatively quickly. I think I got my food relatively quickly... but after that, she was a no show. I had ordered a drink as well, hoping to get a few refills. But no one ever came by. I waited, thinking "how long can they go without servicing someone?"... the answer to that question is 3 hours, if you are wondering.
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moocow, 29 April 2012 - 04:24 AM
I worked at a Best Buy and in the MP3 player and phone department.

Got called, and I quote, "Blue eyed, blonde-haired (untrue, red) white-devil cracker" by an irate Indian customer because I 1. Wouldn't let him haggle on a cellphone and 2. Wouldn't give him the employee discount on a cellphone as he wasn't an employee.

Or got chided by a fat white-trasher for telling her kids to quit having sword-fights with the cellphones we had on display.
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The Beef, 29 April 2012 - 04:43 AM

wag-a-muffin, on 28 April 2012 - 09:59 PM, said:

It's not our worst, but it is the most current. We recently bought a new Hyndai. There are little things wrong, like we were told we'd get a free car wash whenever we brought it in for service, which we haven't and the fact that every time they "serviced" it--past tense because we're never taking it back there again--the air pressure on all the tires is CRAZY (way too much AND way too little.) But the main problem is that the odometer isn't correct. It is about 3% off. So my husband asked if they could fix it. And they said they can't. That a 3 percent mistake is within perameters of acceptability. Then there's the tire pressure light that comes on all the time, telling us we have a flat. When my husband asked them to fix that they said, "we can't. Just disconnect it." He wrote a letter to the company and we got a call. The person on the other end of the line listened to all his complaints and said, "okay. This is just a courtesy call to inform you we are closing your file." What? So you're not going to do anything about it? Nope.We will never buy another hyndai.


I have had two Hyundai Santa Fes and have never had a problem with service. The first, a 2003, never had a problem except while on a trip the tape deck ate a tape. I took the car in and the dealer removed the deck and replaced it. Two weeks later, I got the tape back.
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d2lv, 29 April 2012 - 07:30 AM
I was at Whole Foods in Henderson, Nv. There were two check out stands open and at least 15 people in lines that were moving extremely slow. Next to the line I was in was a young man doing busy work, restocking the lip balm. His name tag stated he was a manager. I asked him if he had the authority to get more check out stand open. He said he did and I asked him if might think it would be a good idea to do so. He thought about it for a minute or two and decided to get more help on the stands. I believe that if I did not say something, no action would have been taken to speed up the check out.
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d2lv, 29 April 2012 - 07:44 AM
When we moved into our new house, I set up an appointment with Comcast to hook up our phone and internet service. I called A MONTH before the move, and made the apointment for the Thursday before the move, so we wouldn't be without phone and internet once we were in the house. It was a morning appointment. Waited with a toddler in the empty house all day, no one showed. Called, was told they could be there any minute. Called again as it neared 9 pm, was told they'd probably show up the next day. No one showed on Friday. Repeted calls and they kept telling me they'd probably show up. On Saturday, the representative finally explained to me that 1. the installation techs weren't exactly connected to Comcast, they were subcontractors, and Comcast had no way to contact them. 2. We were installing cable, and everyone liked installing satellite internet better, so they probably just didn't want to come. 3. I was welcome to make another appointment, but no one could get to our house for 3 weeks.

We're now AT&T customers. Family and friends know not to say Comcast in my presence.
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Gertie Keddle, 29 April 2012 - 08:04 AM

searcher, on 29 April 2012 - 12:00 AM, said:

I have the opposite problem. I work in a retail store and it just drives me bats when someone I'm helping takes a call on their cell and just keeps on yacking. I'll give them a minute or so to finish the call then I'll walk away and find someone else to help. And sometimes they get upset that I wouldn't stand there forever waiting for them, or look at me like I'm listening in to their call. The worst is folks who are already at the counter checking out and just have to talk on the phone making the people behind them wait. For the record, I do ask people who call when I'm with a customer if they can hold until I'm done.


I fully understand and don't blame you one bit for walking away. What they did is just plain rude and they have no clue they're being rude.
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Wyn, 29 April 2012 - 08:07 AM
We decided to switch from comcast to Fios because we would lose our internet and cable tv every stinking day, and the comcast HighDef was crappy. The appointment was made with Fios and they gave us a block of time they would be here, I believe it was 10:00 to 2:00pm. By 2 pm they still were not here so we called and were assured that they would be coming. We called again at 3pm and 4pm and were still being told that they were coming. Called again at 5pm and they were still saying "they'll be there". By six pm I finally got a hold of someone who said "they ain't coming", and that's when the screaming started and we asked to speak to a supervisor, who we were told would call us back. The next day we got a call from a supervisor who was very nice, but really couldn't do anything for us so they gave us another supervisor's number to call. This was now saturday, so we didn't get a call back until monday. Long story short, she gave us $40 bucks off a month for 2 years and an extra DVR for free. We really like the Fios too. The high def is great, no pixilation and we have no cable or internet outages.
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horseman, 29 April 2012 - 08:28 AM

Wyn, on 28 April 2012 - 11:15 PM, said:

This has happened several times to me, I'll be at some store ready to spend money. I'm talking to the sales rep. The phone rings and, without breaking stride, the sales rep answers the call, totally ignoring me, and has a conversation with the guy on the phone. Note I did not say they said, "hold on, I gotta take this" or "excuse me" or when they answered, "can you hold on, I've got a guy in front of me". Loudly I tell the guy to put the caller on hold and I get looked at like I'm a flat worm.In every instance I've gone directly to the store manager and haranged on them telling them their training sucks. I tell them that they need to impress on their sales reps that I'm a lot more important than the guy on the phone because I'm standing in front of them with money in my pocket ready to spend it, I'm not on the phone wanting the price of a box of something.


I was at Lowes recently buying a floor drain. There was a plumber/contractor buying a bunch of stuff and a lowes plumbing guy writing it all down. Over the loud speaker they announce for someone in plumbing to take a call and the lowes guy just turned and starting walking away. The plumber/contracted yelled "hey, where the f#ck are you going? I'm here spending money", the lowes guy never even slowed down, he just kept on going.
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horseman, 29 April 2012 - 08:35 AM
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