Your Worst Customer Service Experience

[MoniqueU]

Dell, nough said.

 

[pigletliz]

Dell, nough said.

Hands Down.

 

[ntsammy5]

A vein popped out on his forehead.

That sounds painful!

I hate hospitals!

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Oh man, how did they let you leave at a 17?!

I bled to below a 15 (they couldn't tell for sure because I still had too much fluid but when they got that reading they knew I needed the transfusion)

 

[Northstar]

I was getting fitted for bras in Victoria's Secret, and the girl fitting me goes "Oh, the only way you are going to get a bra to fit correctly is if you have some surgical enhancements done."

To this day those comments have haunted me if I didn't want an augmentation before, that definitley made me want one.

Surely it would be easier to do surgery on the BRA to make it fit?

I can't believe this made you want to get an augmentation instead of making you want to do a little surgery on the sales assistant!

 

[Camicar]

Oh....hospitals...

We returned from vacation 12 days ago and pick up our mail. To our shock, we have a 'last notice' from a hospital for an ER bill for our dd. Now the shock is that it's last notice. We never got a FIRST notice! Further, the letter goes on to state that 'after repeated attempts at calling you, after written communications failed to elicit a response, we are sending this bill to a collection agency..."

We never got one letter. We never got one phone call. Not ONE. And now to get this nasty gram?

Ohhhh! So we immediately pay the bill, enclosing a letter from us detailing that we had never received any communications before, etc etc.
Yesterday, we got a letter from a collections agency dunning us for the $60. So dh calls hospital -- did you get our payment? Yes, we did. But you still us for the collection agency fees. I don't think so.

And nurses: Lemme tell you, the nurses at a certain hospital in Madison, WI.... Laziest pieces of junk I ever met. My mother who was a nurse was incensed at their behavior which included throwing three ziploc bags of pain pills at me and telling me to take them 'as I wanted'. That was the extent of their pain management techniques. And the nurse who went against my wishes and tried to insert an iv needle in my forearm -- four times -- causing my arm to balloon up to three times its normal size and turn black? Because she knew better than me about my veins and I was just being 'melodramatic' about how hard it is to get an iv into my veins so to for the love of god, use my hand! And when after having dd, I asked for a new box of pads being told I must be stealing them bec 'no one uses that many pads!'

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

My friend was told TO steal them. The nurse was like "Hey you're paying for them, take whatever isn't glued/stapled down"

I had the collection deal for a 60 dollar bill too. It worked out becaue sI never got a notice, didn't know it had been sent to collections..checked my credit and flipped. They removed it nicely tho.

 

[BellvilleDad]

Thank you!!!

I never understood the draw to Starbucks. Their coffee does taste burnt.

That's why we call it "CharBucks".

 

[winnapooh]

I have one, and at Target no less!

A few weeks back Joe and I stopped by Target to pick up a few items, which of course lead to several in a full cart. Go figure. It was about 9pm and I spotted a pair of shorts, handed them to Joe and told him to try them on. When he strolled over to the fitting rooms in the men's department, the young woman immediately stepped in front him, barred his way and gruffly told him, "I'm CLOSED."

We were baffled because the store wasn't closing for another hour. Joe is usually pretty non-confrontational and was ready to walk away. I asked her why she was closed if there was still an hour left to shop. She refused to say another word and just shrugged, turned her back and went back to folding shirts. I asked for the manager, she still didn't say a thing so I repeated the question. Another salesperson overheard what I was asking and he nicely lead us to customer service.

At this point, I was absolutely pissed off at this chick's attitude. Joe and I both told the manager what had happened, explained that the salesgirl was incredibly rude, wouldn't speak to us, and so on. The manager's response? "Sorry she was rude but what would you like me to do for you?"

I then asked what store policy about their fitting rooms and when they close. The manager told me that they close an hour before store closing so that the salespeople could put everything away. I then asked, "If that's the case, do you really think that when a customer is rudely told 'I'm CLOSED' that we're just going to nicely take what we wanted to try on back to the rack? You seriously think that? Everyone is going to just dump the clothes they wanted right there and then and you're going to have to put it away anyway. How is that going to save time?"

Manager just stared blankly at me, almost as if she never thought of that before. I then asked if this policy was this specific Target store policy or if it was corporate. She wouldn't answer me. I repeated the question. She just shrugged her shoulders and said "It's the way it is."

I then asked her, as a manager, was she seriously going to let a customer with a fully packed cart leave without buying a thing just because she refused to let us spend 5 minutes trying on one pair of shorts. Again, she shrugged and said "Fitting room is closed. I can't help you."

So we left her standing there with a full cart. I wished her luck putting away everything.

Next day I called Target corporate and asked what their policy was on fitting room closing times. I was told that they stay open until the store closes. NICE. I gave them the manager's name, store location, etc... and suggest they retrain her on corporate policty.

I worked in retail years ago when in college. I know it's a thankless job but it's a job nonetheless. I know you have to deal with rude customers. I know putting away clothes takes a ton of time. I know folding t-shirts suck. I know all of that but did it anyway because I needed the money. I hated it but did it with a smile, even if my smile was completely disengenuous. There's no reason to be nasty, rude and apathetic to customers.

I'm waiting to go back at 9pm on a Saturday and I'm going to try on a pair of shorts. Would that be bad?

I Had to respond to this, because something similar happened to us with a useless manager and rude employee being left with a Truck load of stuff to return at Home Depot. We had a Ton of stuff (we're talking $1000's for a deck we were building). I wasn't allowed to lift anything at the time so we needed help loading the truck we rented from HD. Well, despite the truck sitting in the parking lot, they wouldn't let us take it because it needed gas and noone was available to go get gas. After an hour, we finally got the truck and had asked for help loading it (we had asked before we got the truck). The guy took his good ole time getting to us (like 30-45 min). Finally, the guy started walking toward us to help, and his manager called him away...so he could go move carts. This, after waiting almost 2 hours to load up the stuff!!!! We confronted the manager and she basically told us too bad. Well, she finally condescended to get him to help us. By this point, my husband had already loaded what he could himself, and the HD guy finally helped with the last bit. After over 2 hours, the truck was almost loaded (with probably 50 pieces of lumber, concrete block, concrete, etc). The manager proceeded to give us a hard time, then finally agreed to give us a % off our order. She handed us a card with 10% off our Next order, where the order could only be up to $200. So she offered us $20 for what was, at this point, over 2 1/2 hours of them ignoring us! And to top it off, at this point, there was no way we'd get the truck back in time for the store to close, and would have to pay a ton extra to keep it overnight.

We went inside, returned the entire reciept worth of stuff, and walked away. The kid that didn't want to help, and the useless manager had to unload the entire truck.

 

[Ember]

My worst experience with customer service just happened. I rented a car through PAYLESS CAR RENTALS and it was, hands down, the worst experience ever.

Let me outline the rental process.

1) I reserve my car on-line, through their website. The "estimated total" comes out to $87.40.

2) We arrive at the rental site, at the airport, to rent the car. The man working behind the counter is a slime bag. Think greasy, slicked back hair, shirt unbuttoned, mafia looking type. He obviously can't be bothered with us.

3) He runs a manual imprint of my VISA card, doesn't fill anything in, and wants me to sign it. When I question what it's for, he ignores me and tells me again to sign it. I calmly explain and I am not signing an imprint of my VISA when no information is filled in. That's like leaving a signed blank check laying about. He could fill it in for anything once I've gone. He finally tells me it's for any parking tickets I might get. I ask why other rental companies don't need do do this and he starts to yell at me to "just sign it!"

I do, but only after making a note on it that it is to be used ONLY for incurred parking tickets, date it for the 3 days of the rental, and sign it again below these instructions. He takes it and makes a big production of rolling his eyes.

4) After the first hassle with my VISA now he take my card and has me sign a pre-authorization for $500. I don't worry too much about this, as I understand it covers them if the car isn't returned on time or what have you. I'm reading over the contract and ask what the final total is. Get this: HE WON'T TELL ME. He says, "you don't need to know." We get into a literal shouting match over it and he finally looks at his screen and says, "$150."

5) Now, when I made the reservation I called to ask about adding an extra driver. I was told it was $6/day. That would be an extra $18 for three days. After I finally got the price of the rental out of this man I ask why it's so much higher than the estimate. He goes through a list of $9/day fee for this and a $6/day fee for something else, etc., etc.. The ACTUAL cost of renting the car was $150.18. That is a 70% increase over the "estimated price."

6) I send a letter outlining my entire experience to Payless Car Rental customer service. This was their reply (I got it this afternoon):

"Good Afternoon

Thank you for renting with Payless Carrentals in Montreal. By voicing your concerns you have given us an opportunity to address your issues.

Please find below details for your charges and an attached copy of your rental contract.

Thanks,
Sarah"​

They also helpfully included a scanned copy of my receipt.

Right now I am considering taking it further, but I may just give it up as a lost cause.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Reading these hospital horror stories reminded me of one that happened last Christmas.

DW's Mother was staying with us for a few days so Lauri could help her with her Christmas shopping. I believe it was 3 days before Christmas. DMIL is 79 and has Parkinsons and is pretty frail.

She was fine while eating breakfast but suddenly she went into a zombie state. She was unresponsive so we called 911 and the EMTs showed up 5 minutes later. By then she was responsive again and quite enjoying the fact that she had 8 handsome firemen tending to her every need.

Anyway the lead EMT said that her blood pressure was extremely low and that might have caused what happened and recommended that she go to the ER to be checked out.

When we got the the ER, we sat there forever for someone to help us. The doctor recommended getting a CAT scan (I think, or an MRI) just to be safe. When they finally pulled her chart (DMIL used to live with us so she had been to this hospital in the past) it said that Lauri's mom had a history of heart attacks, was diabetic and had a pacemaker - all false! Apparently some lazy data entry person entered someone else's history on her chart.

If that was where it ended it would be bad enough, but they refused to do any testing on her OR release her until a cardiologist could confirm that her did in fact not have a pacemaker. The ER doctor himself said it was plain to see that DMIL didn't have a pacemaker as she is very thin and it would show beneath the skin.

They admitted her into the hospital and told her that she couldn't be cleared until the cardiologist visited. Because it was a few days before Christmas, it would have been easier to get Santa Claus to come and give her an all clear. In fact, she was in the hospital until CHRISTMAS DAY before a cardiologist came in, and within 5 minutes came out and said "nope, the patient doesn't have a pacemaker".

Three days in the hospital, a missed holiday and family time for my DMIL just because some idiot screwed up her chart. Scary isn't it? Wonder what kind of disaster could happen if a mistake wasn't caught. And this hospital boasts it's one of the Top 100 Hospitals in America. Yeah.

 

[winnapooh]

I have a bad customer service story from my teens too. I made a deposit at my bank. The next day something came up and I needed some extra cash. Went to make a withdrawal and the teller told me I couldn't. I asked why and she told me something about a waiting period. Then she added, "You should've thought about that yesterday.". I gave her a stare down and told her that is my business. She said yes it is. Asked for the manager. I told him what was said & I didn't appreciate the way I was spoken to. He was full of hot air and none of it was customer friendly. I told him I was going to make a small withdrawal, but now I was withdrawing it all. Funny thing, they didn't have any problem closing my accounts on the spot and giving me all of it.

I still can't believe the gall of that woman.

I have a story similar to this as well. I was a grad student making grad student pay (i.e., not much). I had paid two bills with checks, and in the meantime, something happend with the banks (HSBC) computer and they either froze part of the money in my account or something similar (I don't remember all the details). Either way, the money was in my account. Because of their mistake, I ended up bouncing the two checks...except that they paid them out in the end. They still charged me a huge fee for bouncing the checks. So I went to the bank and asked the manager for a refund since it wasn't my fault. Of course she refused. So I asked again, nicely. She still refused. Since this wasn't the first issue I'd had with this bank, I mentioned that I would be closing my account and going to a different bank. Her response? "You don't have enough money in your account for us to care!"

Seriously??? I had a Student account in a college town. What did she expect!

 

[Kies99]

One hyphenated word: U-Haul. I was moving out of a house I'd just sold. Had to move out that day, the next day the house was no longer mine. I rented a U-Haul truck that was overheating. I took it back and asked for another truck. No big deal, right? Not so fast. The manager, who we figured was a real tool after observing the way he treated his employees, refused to replace the truck. I pointed out that there were plenty of equivalent trucks on the lot, he told me that they were slated for other customers. WTH? I was a customer too and had a gimp truck. When I pointed this out, he literally tore up the rental contract and refused to rent a truck to me. The guy had a real evil aura about him. Great, I had to move in one day and had no truck. Never fear, I rented a truck from Penske, no problems at all, and did the job.

U-Haul: Bad! U-Haul: Bad!
Penske: Gooooood!

Similar situation with Budget trucks. I flew down from Pittsburgh to Florida to visit my parents. They had some furniture they were getting rid of and I reserved a truck at Budget and was going to drive it back. I kept confirming the reservation, even up to the day before. Drove out to get the truck and NOTHING! There was a line of people waiting to get trucks and Budget had nothing for any of them. It was UNBELIEVABLE! Called the Budget Corporate Office and got authorization to go to any other rental place and they'd pay the difference between my Budget price and the other rental. Needless to say I went to Penske. They were EXTREMELY nice, Had PLENTY of trucks available and they were BRAND NEW!! Less than 200 miles on them. So even though it was pain, it worked out in the end.

 

[agnes!]

Reading these hospital horror stories reminded me of one that happened last Christmas.

DW's Mother was staying with us for a few days so Lauri could help her with her Christmas shopping. I believe it was 3 days before Christmas. DMIL is 79 and has Parkinsons and is pretty frail.

She was fine while eating breakfast but suddenly she went into a zombie state. She was unresponsive so we called 911 and the EMTs showed up 5 minutes later. By then she was responsive again and quite enjoying the fact that she had 8 handsome firemen tending to her every need.

Anyway the lead EMT said that her blood pressure was extremely low and that might have caused what happened and recommended that she go to the ER to be checked out.

When we got the the ER, we sat there forever for someone to help us. The doctor recommended getting a CAT scan (I think, or an MRI) just to be safe. When they finally pulled her chart (DMIL used to live with us so she had been to this hospital in the past) it said that Lauri's mom had a history of heart attacks, was diabetic and had a pacemaker - all false! Apparently some lazy data entry person entered someone else's history on her chart.

If that was where it ended it would be bad enough, but they refused to do any testing on her OR release her until a cardiologist could confirm that her did in fact not have a pacemaker. The ER doctor himself said it was plain to see that DMIL didn't have a pacemaker as she is very thin and it would show beneath the skin.

They admitted her into the hospital and told her that she couldn't be cleared until the cardiologist visited. Because it was a few days before Christmas, it would have been easier to get Santa Claus to come and give her an all clear. In fact, she was in the hospital until CHRISTMAS DAY before a cardiologist came in, and within 5 minutes came out and said "nope, the patient doesn't have a pacemaker".

Three days in the hospital, a missed holiday and family time for my DMIL just because some idiot screwed up her chart. Scary isn't it? Wonder what kind of disaster could happen if a mistake wasn't caught. And this hospital boasts it's one of the Top 100 Hospitals in America. Yeah.

I would have walked out of there and DARED them to stop me. What, were they running a hospital or a jail? I hope that the hospital costs were not charged to your MIL or her insurance or to Medicare - the hospital should pay every stinkin' penny and be glad they aren't getting sued for more.

agnes!

 

[Amlee]

Oh man, how did they let you leave at a 17?!

I bled to below a 15 (they couldn't tell for sure because I still had too much fluid but when they got that reading they knew I needed the transfusion)

The doctor was an idiot! He told me, if I wasn't as big as I was, that I wouldn't bleeding like I was. I'm almost 6ft and at that time was around 200lbs. The nurse that was in the room with me, met me outside and told me to quickly find another doctor.

I should have been admitted into the hospital that day. I didn't even have enough blood in my system for my heart to beat correctly. My body would jerk with every heart beat. They had to get a nicu nurse to come in and find a blood vein to start the iv.

I did the blood tranfusions and made arrangements for a different doctor.

 

[Kath2003]

Three days in the hospital, a missed holiday and family time for my DMIL just because some idiot screwed up her chart. Scary isn't it? Wonder what kind of disaster could happen if a mistake wasn't caught. And this hospital boasts it's one of the Top 100 Hospitals in America. Yeah.

You know what's worse? The person whose information got entered on your MIL's chart clearly doesn't have that information about their heart problems and diabetes on their own chart because of that clerical mistake, and that could literally be life and death for that person if they were emitted to the ER. I'd be thanking your lucky stars all that you had to deal with was an extended stay in hospital

 

[Amlee]

I would have walked out of there and DARED them to stop me. What, were they running a hospital or a jail? I hope that the hospital costs were not charged to your MIL or her insurance or to Medicare - the hospital should pay every stinkin' penny and be glad they aren't getting sued for more.

agnes!

I was thinking the same thing. I would have walked out their heads would have been spinning!

 

[Amlee]

I have a story similar to this as well. I was a grad student making grad student pay (i.e., not much). I had paid two bills with checks, and in the meantime, something happend with the banks (HSBC) computer and they either froze part of the money in my account or something similar (I don't remember all the details). Either way, the money was in my account. Because of their mistake, I ended up bouncing the two checks...except that they paid them out in the end. They still charged me a huge fee for bouncing the checks. So I went to the bank and asked the manager for a refund since it wasn't my fault. Of course she refused. So I asked again, nicely. She still refused. Since this wasn't the first issue I'd had with this bank, I mentioned that I would be closing my account and going to a different bank. Her response? "You don't have enough money in your account for us to care!"

Seriously??? I had a Student account in a college town. What did she expect!

My dad went to make a deposit and to get some money back. He pulled out from the teller and checked his money. He realized there had been a mistake and circled to go back through the drive thru. When it was his turn again, he got to the window and told the teller that she had made a mistake with his with draw. She went off on him, letting him know once a driver drives off there is nothing they could do. She wouldn't let my dad get a word in to try to explain. He finally said, ok he understood, but he thought they might want to know that they paid him $200 to much and for them to have a nice day. He then drove off.

 

[ntsammy5]

but he thought they might want to know that they paid him $200 to much and for them to have a nice day. He then drove off.

That's priceless!

 

[winnapooh]

My dad went to make a deposit and to get some money back. He pulled out from the teller and checked his money. He realized there had been a mistake and circled to go back through the drive thru. When it was his turn again, he got to the window and told the teller that she had made a mistake with his with draw. She went off on him, letting him know once a driver drives off there is nothing they could do. She wouldn't let my dad get a word in to try to explain. He finally said, ok he understood, but he thought they might want to know that they paid him $200 to much and for them to have a nice day. He then drove off.

Oh, that's classic!