Got any bad customer service stories?

[tiggger1]

we were at an IHOP that had just opened. It was early afternoon and it was dead. We went and were seated ( there were 2 adults and 5 kids), the waitress said she would be right back to take our drink order.. well 25 minutes later she still hadnt come back. The kids were getting ansy and were acting up when the manager came over to see if wanted coloring books for the kids..before she even finished asking, so noticed that we had no drinks.. she asks how long ago we ordered them... we told her our waitress never came back... she took our drink and food orders and brought them to the kitchen and came back with coloring books and snacks for the kids... the same manager brought out our dinner and refilled the drinks, the first waitress only came by once and that was because I asked for napkins...when we left I personally gave the tip to the manager because I didnt want the MIA waitress to get it.. As we were walking out, the MIA girl was like " Thanks for the tip Before I could say anything, my friends 5 year old looked at her and said..."why should we tip you, you did NOTHING!" ( he heard us 2 adults talking) I was laughing so hard, I almost walking into the door!

 

[mylilnikita]

I took DD8 to the Red Lobster, 2nd time we had been there. It wasn't crowded at all, but the waiter took his sweet time getting to us and taking our order. How hard is Crab legs and a kid's chicken meal? Anyway, 50 minutes later, we were still sitting there, then he says, your order is almost ready. Ok, the people who came in and sat down near us after we got there all ready has their crab legs. So, Dd has to go to the bathroom, we come back, and our drinks had been taken off the table. I was livid, as we saw the waiter on the way to the restroom and he said it was coming up.
Now the waiter had his only few tables,it wasn't crowded at all. He came over and said oh I told the bus boy you left. Then he came and got our drinks again. It is now past an hour, and I told him just give me the check, he gave me the check for the whole meal. OMG I said you haven't given us our food yet, I will just pay for the drinks. He is like, oh no the food is ready. I paid for the drinks and told the manager, no tip for that guy. No I am sorry for you having to wait, etc.I think he was too busy flirting with a waitress.
I haven't been back since.

 

[AprilShowers]

Not bad service but I thought of this post last night and thought this was funny:
Went to Lowe's last night to order shingles for our house. There are three guys behind the counter in the roofing dept. They are either helping us or standing at the computer. An elderly couple comes up and asks for help near the storm doors. The guy pages for help near the storm doors and the couple go over to the doors to wait.

About ten minutes passes by and we're still messing with the shingle order. I glance over to the doors, and the elderly couple are standing there looking REALLY agitated. I casually say, hey that couple are still waiting for help at the doors and they don't look happy!

Guy who's helping us darts over there without saying a word! Leaving us to stand at the counter. DH is now GLARING at me. With a what the heck did you say that for? look on his face. Now there's another guy standing behind the counter working at the computer. So I say "well I didn't think he'd just leave, I figured he'd call for help like last time!"

Computer guy says "That's what you get for opening your mouth!" Now he's being playful, but

You gotta be kidding me!

 

[Joanna71985]

My parents were at a restaurant and had a really, really bad waitress. She took forever, was rude, no drink refills, my mom never did get a knife. So, my dad, who was usually a good tipper, left no tip. The waitress followed them TO THEIR CAR, shouting at how awful it was that they hadn't left a tip.

Number two-a friend's DD and BF were at a swimsuit shop in the mall. No one waited on them, the girl tried on several suits and finally found one she liked. They went to the counter to pay, no one there. They waited and waited and waited. Finally they decided to just leave the money behind the counter and leave. When the BF stepped behind the counter, there was the clerk on the floor. She had DIED there! Freaked them out completely. Not that that is bad customer service, exactly...

Oh man, I would have just passed out with the 2nd one.

we were at an IHOP that had just opened. It was early afternoon and it was dead. We went and were seated ( there were 2 adults and 5 kids), the waitress said she would be right back to take our drink order.. well 25 minutes later she still hadnt come back. The kids were getting ansy and were acting up when the manager came over to see if wanted coloring books for the kids..before she even finished asking, so noticed that we had no drinks.. she asks how long ago we ordered them... we told her our waitress never came back... she took our drink and food orders and brought them to the kitchen and came back with coloring books and snacks for the kids... the same manager brought out our dinner and refilled the drinks, the first waitress only came by once and that was because I asked for napkins...when we left I personally gave the tip to the manager because I didnt want the MIA waitress to get it.. As we were walking out, the MIA girl was like " Thanks for the tip Before I could say anything, my friends 5 year old looked at her and said..."why should we tip you, you did NOTHING!" ( he heard us 2 adults talking) I was laughing so hard, I almost walking into the door!

Kids, you got to love them.

 

[olena]

My parents were at a restaurant and had a really, really bad waitress. She took forever, was rude, no drink refills, my mom never did get a knife. So, my dad, who was usually a good tipper, left no tip. The waitress followed them TO THEIR CAR, shouting at how awful it was that they hadn't left a tip.

Number two-a friend's DD and BF were at a swimsuit shop in the mall. No one waited on them, the girl tried on several suits and finally found one she liked. They went to the counter to pay, no one there. They waited and waited and waited. Finally they decided to just leave the money behind the counter and leave. When the BF stepped behind the counter, there was the clerk on the floor. She had DIED there! Freaked them out completely. Not that that is bad customer service, exactly...

 

[cybrkitn]

we were at an IHOP that had just opened. It was early afternoon and it was dead. We went and were seated ( there were 2 adults and 5 kids), the waitress said she would be right back to take our drink order.. well 25 minutes later she still hadnt come back. The kids were getting ansy and were acting up when the manager came over to see if wanted coloring books for the kids..before she even finished asking, so noticed that we had no drinks.. she asks how long ago we ordered them... we told her our waitress never came back... she took our drink and food orders and brought them to the kitchen and came back with coloring books and snacks for the kids... the same manager brought out our dinner and refilled the drinks, the first waitress only came by once and that was because I asked for napkins...when we left I personally gave the tip to the manager because I didnt want the MIA waitress to get it.. As we were walking out, the MIA girl was like " Thanks for the tip Before I could say anything, my friends 5 year old looked at her and said..."why should we tip you, you did NOTHING!" ( he heard us 2 adults talking) I was laughing so hard, I almost walking into the door!

Leave it to a 5 year old! They fear nothing!

 

[starrzone]

I too have worked in customer service for over 10 years (my first job was as a busgirl, and I now work as an interpreter at a national historic site) and I've been on the receiving end of a couple of incidents:

1) My grandmother is the most resilient, wonderful person in the world. She has a condition called macular degeneration, which basically causes you to slowly go blind. She is blind in one eye and has very poor eyesight in one eye-one of us is usually with her to read things for her. Anyhow, one time she was alone in a large store and was wondering the price about something. She asked a sales associate- the person responded "It's RIGHT THERE", and walked away. It makes me so mad when people are treated like that, especially older people.

2) Like simba928, I also have a Hard Rock Café story. My friend came to visit me when I lived in Montreal (we were both around 19) and we went to eat at the HRC. The service was fine, and the meal was good, so we did leave an average tip (15% or so; I can't remember). Anyhow, as we picked up our bills to go to the front cash to pay, our server saw us and remarked "You do realize that the tip isn't included in the bill, right?". If I had been thinking, I would have gone back and removed the tip from the table, but we were so surprised we just paid and left!

I do, however, have some good stories. One that comes to mind happened at Simons, a store in Quebec and Ontario that sells really neat clothing and housewares. There are some rather expensive things in the store, but I have limited monetary resources and on this particular day only bought 2 dishcloths, for a grand total of about $1.50. The young (early 20s) man at the cash rang in my purchase and was extremely friendly and polite, and when the sale was completed came around the counter and handed me my bag like it was a $10 000 gold necklace. This was a couple of years ago and it's like it just happened yesterday- if I had one of these stores in my hometown I would shop there all the time!

starrzone

 

[starrzone]

I thought that with the Christmas/holiday season upon us, people might have some more "good" customer service stories for us to enjoy! I can't say I've had any negative experiences SO FAR; in general, people seem to be very helpful. I was in WalMart at around 1:30pm yesterday (never again at that time of day at this time of year), and the woman working one side of the electronics department was a SAINT. She had people coming from all directions, but somehow she seemed to keep track of who wanted what and who was next in line.

 

[amybippy]

This experience still grosses me out and makes me mad. My hubby and I decided to go and get pie and coffee at Bob Evans. We were seated pretty quickly, but then we sat there and sat there, waiting for our waitress. When she finally showed up, she acted like she was in a hurry to get somewhere else and barely had our orders taken before she walked away. We waited and waited, and watched other people get their food, even people who came after us. I decided to look around for our waitress, to see if she had gotten lost or something, and I found her at a table in the back, talking to some guy. The guy had his shirt pulled all the way up, to show her his brand new tattoo, which was still red and puffy, and slightly crusty. She was running her hand all over it, exclaiming and giggling. When she saw me she gave me this innocent look and said "Did I forget you??". I walked back to my table, informed my hubby what was going on, and we walked out. The manager followed us out and confronted us at our car, because she could see we were a little put out. We told her what happened, and she apologized profusely, gave us 25 bucks in gift certificates and informed us that the waitress would be terminated immediately, as this was not her first infraction. I didn't necessarily want to see her fired, but come on...30 minutes for pie and coffee?? And a waitress touching some guys crusty backside?? Yuck!!

Amy

 

[ilovedisney1]

Well Michaels is not any better. I asked several people where eye glass holders are and they say that they do not have them. So I contnuily go back to the jewlery aisles and trying to find a person. So finally after 5-6 people later some lady that was caring enough finally went to the aisle with jewlery and looked, but to no suprise she could not find it. By this time she went to get someone else, luckily she knew what we were talking about. I was aggravated that no one knew even what they carried in their own store!!

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

We witnessed an interesting bit of "customer service" at Sams Club the other day. We were in line at the second to the end register. The end register has a sign up that says "Flat Bed Checkout" on it. The cashier at that register finishes up her sale and has nobody else on line during a pretty busy time. A customer with a shopping cart with maybe 5 items in it comes up to that cashier and the cashier says to her "I only ring up things on a flat bed". The customer says "You can't just ring up my 5 items?" The cashier says "Not unless you take them out of the shopping cart and put them on one of the flat beds". So the customer actually does it - she walks over, gets a flat bed, rolls it over and puts her 5 items on the flat bed and the cashier rings her up. The customer then takes everything back off the flat bed, put it back into her cart and left the flat bed behind for the cashier to put away. Then she goes back to standing there. A man comes up holding a DVD and once again she says to him "I can only ring up items on a flat bed"

I'm sure Sam's Club will love to know that they are paying this chick however many dollars an hour to stand there doing nothing and wait until someone with a flat bed finally comes along when they lines of people waiting to check out.

 

[Camicar]

A few years ago on a hot summer day, dd and I were out and about all morning and decided to stop at a Steak and Shake for an early lunch. At S&S they do not give you water unless you request it. We are seated promptly and a waitress comes over quickly. Good. We immediately order our meal and our drinks and I specifically say to her, "I'd like those drinks asap bec we are both dying of thirst. Okay?'

"Okay." She leaves.

Person next to me says, "Good luck getting those drinks. We've been waiting 20 minutes for ours."

So at this point, I turn to look for the girl and I watch her put our order in and then just lean against the wall. We watch and watch and try to catch her attention, but she's avoiding me. Then she takes an up order and delivers, passing by us. I try and catch her attention and get no response. She then goes back to the wall and leans against it. Then she gets out a straw and proceeds to DIG IN HER HAIR for several minutes. At this point, dd and I get up and I tell the manager why we are leaving. She looks back at the hair-digging expedition and shrugs. Did not surprise me when it went out of business a few weeks later. Who wants dandruff as a side order?

 

[apirateslifeforme]

Just this past summer, my mother and I stopped in one of the several Dunkin Donuts that we have here. Stood at the counter, waiting. There were 6 or 7 teenagers working, and one woman who was probably in her 40s or 50s; we'd seen her almost every time prior and we believe she was the day manager. But we stood there...one kid walked by behind the counter, looked at us, turned around and headed back toward the drive-thru window area. Another kid came by and emptied out the coffee pots, right next to the register. And still we were waiting. Another woman walked in, came up behind us, and loudly asked if So-And-So was available. After a few minutes, the manager came sauntering by behind the counter, looking right at us, and kept walking. She came out from behind the counter to talk to the lady that was behind us; apparently that was her friend. My mother and I just looked at each other incredulously and I very loudly said, "Are we invisible?" The manager looked at me out of the corner of her eye, but kept talking to her friend. My mother, also very loudly, said, "Is anyone taking care of the counter?" Still no results. The manager finally said goodbye to her friend and went back behind the counter...walked right by us, again making eye contact but not stopping. Finally my mother yelled, "Hello??? Paying customers at the counter!!!" I said, "No, forget it, let's just go somewhere else." Then we heard the manager say, "Oh, I thought you were being taken care of!" Mum said, "Uh, no, how many times have you walked by? Isn't it obvious?" Instead of helping us, the manager turned to the kids and said, "Guys, come on, there are 7 of us here and no one's helping the counter?" No one made a move to come near us, so I took my mother's arm and said, "Forget it, we're going somewhere else." We left - just as the manager came over to the counter!

 

[Micca]

Thing that strikes me here is that these situations would call for minimal attention to create a positive consumer result. Instead they have no attention, resulting in customers who will not return. This is smart how?

 

[Holly Sox]

21 years ago when I was about 14 months pregnant, my best friend took me to lunch at Red Lobster. I was in nursing school then, and had been certified in CPR. (This will be important to the story later)

We had just received our meals, and there was a table directly across from our booth with an elderly gentleman, his wife and his sister, Eve. I know her name was Eve because the wife kept up a running monologue aimed at Eve. "Eve, honey, don't you want some shrimp?" "Here, Eve, drink some of your water." "Eve, honey, do you want some salad now?" Later, I theorized that Eve was very, very rich and on furlough from the nursing home.

Melanie and I were starting our meals when suddenly, I noticed the man standing behind Eve's chair. Oh my God, he was doing the Heimlich on her.

I sat there, paralyzed, watching this scene unfurl. I wondered if I should step in, but A) in CPR they teach you if the 1st responder appears to know what they are doing, stay back until your help is requested, and B) my enormous girth would prevent me being able to reach around her to do the heimlich.

Shortly thereafter, she became unconscious. The man laid her out on the floor directly between their table and our booth. She's lying there and he's doing stomach thrusts or whatever, and then these 2 people come running up yelling, "We're paramedics!" (Whew. I was absolved from feeling as though I should step in. Even at that tender age, I knew that 2 paramedics trumped a nursing student. )

So they stepped in, and started working on her. The manager of the restaurant came running out of the kitchen with, I kid you not, a WOODEN SPOON. I am not sure what he was intending to do, spank her until she coughed up the shrimp she was choking on?????? At any rate, soon enough, the Heimlich worked. And when I say it worked, I mean she spewed the entire contents of her stomach and intestines onto the floor next to me.

So, Melanie and I were just sitting there, looking back and forth from each other, to Eve, to our completely untouched food. Aside from the manager, we had not seen a single server or Red Lobster employee since just after Eve went down on the floor. We were visually searching the restaurant for someone who could maybe move us to another table or something.

Eve was lying flat on her back on the floor. Dear SIL shoved a glass of water at her and said, "Here, Honey, drink this." (Um, I am pretty sure Eve doesn't need to aspirate on the water just now, thank you.)

The ambulance that someone had mercifully called arrived minutes later. They brought the gurney up to the table and Dear, Dear SIL (who was probably the only person included in Eve's will) said, "Oh, you don't want to go to the hospital, do you, Eve?" (Um, I am pretty sure Eve needs to go to the hospital, if for no other reason than to be somewhere else when you pull out the arsenic)

After the ambulance left, I was still alternating between looking at my still untouched food, my friend and anywhere other than the mess on the floor, and we finally spied our waitress across the way. I waved cheerfully at her. She carefully stepped over the mess and asked if she could get us anything.

Yep, the check would be great. Oh, and could you just box up this food, cuz I REAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLY don't feel like eating anymore. Ever.

I couldn't believe they wouldn't at least offer to move us to another area, or clean up the mess on the floor or something.



I scanned the obituaries for several weeks afterward for old ladies named Eve, but she must have survived at least a month.

Holly

 

[MoniqueU]

Tons from Best Buy, Dell and Pennys. Some of the worst customers ever. After Penneys screwed up my girls christmas dress order one year shipping the wrong size and refusing to ship a new one in time for christmas card pictures and not even apologizing I asked to borrow their scissors and cut up my credit card to them then and there. I didn't shop there for like 10 years after either. I did finally go back in and get a couch because it was a great price on a broyhill. I still remember what they did to me though and it is the dead last place I look for something. The same with bestbuy not honoring a computer warranty I had. The warranty cost a ton and they made every excuse in the book why it wasn't a covered item. I go to circuit city now.

Dell welll if you have ever gotten tech support or had any sort a of a problem with them you already know how bad that is. They honor their warranties but the steps over the phone to go through to get help are enough to fry my brain. And they fix the computers with junk over and over again so you keep having the same problems.

 

[Topper]

21 years ago when I was about 14 months pregnant

Wow!

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

The other day at Michael's I was returning something, it was a cash purchase with receipt, so I was getting cash back. I got the cash then he hands me a form and asks me to fill it out. They wanted my name, address, phone number. I put down my name, po box, and phone number. He gets snippy with me telling me he needs my real address, I asked why, he said so they could send me stuff. Ok, no. Further, I only get mail to the po box, our post office doesn't deliver to our house. This guy keeps on getting angry with me, I told him, that I won't give my street address. So he takes out a sharpie and writes across the receipt, "customer refuses to give information" HELLO?!?! You already have my name, po box, and phone number, what more do you want - my SSN and first born child?!

 

[mirthmaiden]

I was happy to see this thread brought back just in time for holiday shopping. I went to Walmart yesterday afternoon (my first mistake). Super Walmart at 5:00, Thursday afternoon, the week before Christmas. There are 4 lanes open. Each lane has at least 4 people in it, all with loaded-down carts that would put the Grinch's sleigh to shame. Thirty minutes later I get my turn. The girl on the register has two speeds: slow and stop. I had approximately 30 items. It took 10 more minutes to get through the checkout.

Question: Is Walmart not making enough money that they can't afford to hire a couple more cashiers?

 

[Cindy B]

My DH has had tons of poor service anymore... so any decent service is just suprising.

I've had poor service from Victoria's Secret and my DH actually had poor service from LL Bean yesterday. (which was sort of shocking)