Most ridiculous lack of customer service you've encountered?

[Hades]

Talk Talk here. They took over my internet some time ago when they bought out another company. Now they refuse to admit I'm with them> They aren't charging me (which is great) but I know this will lead to problems in the future so I want it sorted.

Every time I try to go to another company they tell me that BT has a marker on my line saying Talk Talk supplied my broadband and I need a leaving code before they can take me on. Yet when I ask Talk Talk for a leaving code they refuse to believe I'm with them.

I've tried writing to them and they still insist I'm not with them.

I think I have no other choice but to terminate my whole BT line and get another as I don't want potential probvlems hanging over my head.

I will never, ever, ever, buy any service from any part of the Talk Talk group because of this.

 

[Tefal]

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before but Santander is my worst customer service experience. They kept sending my bank cards to an old address despite sending my statements to the correct address and I spent a lot of time going into my local branch to explain and ringing up customer services trying to get them to update the address for the bank card - fair enough, it's perhaps not obvious why depending on the system but something is clearly not right. All of this would be somewhat irritating but what finally tipped me over the edge was going into the branch for what seemed like the dozenth time and explaining the problem yet again only for the chap behind the desk to suggest that I was essentially faking it and the card was in fact going to my current address - this despite the letter showing that the card had been delivered to my old address.

At this point I decided Santander weren't worth my time or effort and I started a new bank account the next day. I don't care what you think of the customer but if they're presenting a reasonable story then telling them that you think they're lying is terrible customer service. I still don't have a new bank card from Santander but it's not worth the hassle any more - the only pity for me is that their online banking is probably that bit easier to use than my current bank.

ahhh, Santander "the internet bank" were absolutely anything you want to do must be done on the phone or via mail.....

 

[Tefal]

British Gas who ten years later still don't believe that our gas meter could have possibly hit 999999. I guess we're winning, but still - several recorded letters have been sent to them so there is absolutely no chance we're paying. What is worse is the fact that each time we say "we are willing to pay for the usage since x date" but they just ignore us. I think it has got to the point where we're in the clear. There is nothing we can physically do that will make them believe us.

send them a letter saying "we have informed you of xxxx issue with meter at this point if you do not verify/fix the problem you waive the right to later attempt to charge for the issue in writing"

 

[PardonTheWait]

I'm thinking about buying a Nexus 7 lately, so I looked up a store in the next town that had one in stock thinking they'd have a demo one as well, so I could try one and if I liked it I could buy one.

Went there (purple shirts). They had a demo one with no power adapter, which wasn't working.

One employee literally dodged me, I eventually caught him looking busy at a computer, asked if they had a demo one. "yeah we have but it's got no power adapter". I asked if there was any way I could see one, he pointed me at the manager who just said they had no power adapter (bear in mind it's micro USB so there were probably tons of cables they could have fetched out).

So I went to CPW nearby. No demo unit, one member of staff who was busy and didn't acknowledge me at all.

Went to another one. They did have a demo unit, but it was in a perspex box. Again, one member of staff, didn't acknowledge me. A second bloke came out and busied himself at a computer, I walked right up to him and was ignored until I actually said excuse me. I asked if they had a demo one, he said no. I said but there's one there switched on but it's in a box.

"no, you can't use that one, try the other branch in the shopping centre"

I'm really ****ed off by this point and to be honest I don't even really want to spend my money anymore. But I go there anyway.

I go into the third CPW store that day, there's an empty demo slot with Nexus 7 written next to it. I collar a worker and ask if they have one, he says yes we do but it's got no power. I said that I'd been everywhere and not been able to see one, and he said he'd fetch out the demo one and power it up, so he went and dismantled their whole tablet demo table which was broken and not powering any of the tablets, which were all sitting there out of action.

He powered it up and let me have a play with it, and this guy actually was quite good, friendly, didn't smell and was helpful and knowledgable, but I was so annoyed about traipsing about everywhere I didn't really feel like buying one by that point :/

The second CPW in particular was a joke, they had about 10 demo stations in the store, and ONE of them had a phone on it! The rest were just empty!

I honestly have no idea how any of these stores expect to make any money - I run a retail shop and if one of my bosses came in and it was even remotely in the state that these places were in, I'd probably get sacked.

None of these places wanted my money. Even the last bloke, who turned out to be quite good, only sprang into action when I told him how much trouble I'd had just finding one of the things to look at.

 

[cheechm]

send them a letter saying "we have informed you of xxxx issue with meter at this point if you do not verify/fix the problem you waive the right to later attempt to charge for the issue in writing"

This has been done... Several times! Not just recorded letters but also emails and telephone calls. We're completely covered. However we're also prepared to pay what we owe (if we do we anything).

@ Cheechm SO is it stuck at 999999 or has it clocked and rolled over back to 0? and be careful cos they can and will back bill you if your underpaying

It is indeed stuck at the 999999s. (however many it is). It hasn't rolled over, however they don't seem to care. This is after 10 years of communication. There is nothing further we can do.

 

[Rikki]

Showcase Cinemas...

Went to see Ted with the mrs. Turned up bang on show time as I like to miss the 20+ mins of trailers.

Get to front of queue eventually (15 mins) to be told "cash only" :O

No signs up saying this anywhere.

Say Ok we'll use the cash point across the road ... oh no you cant, its broken ...

Ok. Wheres the nearest one?

Oh its just up the road along there and along there, 5 mins away tops...

So we go to find this ATM - 10 minute drive away! So a round trip of 20 mins and we missed the first 15 mins of the film by the time we got back, paid, we offered no discount or anything and got munchies.

Emailed them about the situation saying a simple sign up like in most places saying "due to tech issues cash only" would have sorted everything out. Got ignored, emailed again, got ignored, emailed National Amusements in USA (parent company) - got ignored.

 

[Rikki]

Given it some thought today, and although not exactly bad service, but complete lack of service in general, I'm going to add another true story to this thread:

In the last 3 months:

Called 10 different builders from yell to get quotes for some garden walls and repointing. Left messages on answering machines and stuff. None of them called back. I thought, maybe it's something about my tone accent or voice, so I emailed 5 of them that had websites/emails and then emailed 5 more. None of them replied back.

Emailed 10 different drain companies from "Trusted Trader" scheme to get quotes for replacing soil stack. Only three replied at all. Only two turned up on scheduled day. After providing valuation one wanted to earn £200 per hour, the other wanted to earn £320 a day.

Emailed 10 different guttering companies from google search to replace all plastics on a semi detached property. Only four replied at all. Only three salesmen turned up on a scheduled day to provide valuation. After providing valuation, it turned out two of them wanted to earn £500 a day excluding hardware.

Emailed 10 different chips and paint repair companies local to my work in London from their websites. Only two called back. Only one arranged free estimation. Then didn't turn up.

For all the fuss around alleged crisis and recession, I have a hard time getting people to take my money in Kent.

Mind boggling this isnt it!

 

[Tefal]

It is indeed stuck at the 999999s. (however many it is). It hasn't rolled over, however they don't seem to care. This is after 10 years of communication. There is nothing further we can do.

so have they just been giving you free gas and refusing to read the meter for 10 years?

 

[Salsa]

Not me who personally experienced this but Admiral Insurance take the biscuit for the most awful customer service I can think of.

My brother was in a pretty horrendous car accident last year. The bloke 1 car in front of my brother was hit head on by a drunk driver and the driver was killed instantly while my brother could not stop in time and piled in underneath both cars.

All involved were taken to hospital but my brother had a very lucky escape and was sent home later that day.

My brother phoned Admiral later that night to give them the police incident number and to resigster the accident. The police had explained that was all he had to give them and that it would promt the insurers to retrive all the relevent information directly from the police.

Admiral grilled my brother for 30 minutes asking him why he had not gotten detailed information on all parties involved and tried to tell him that a police incident number was not sufficient and he would be billed if he could not supply the information as the police charge for supplying information. When my brother explained that the reason that he did not have any of the details was because one bloke was dead and the other on life support while he had been cut out of his car unconcious he was told that was not a valid reason and he had 24 hours to supply the relevent information. The bloke on the phone was very unsympathetic and patronising and refused to accept that my brother had not even been able to ascertain names of the other drivers involved. For 30 minutes they refuded to even take the incident number over the phone insisting that my brother had to supply details before they could proceed. It was even suggested that my brother phone the hospital or get someone to take him there to get the information required!

I had never seen my brother break down until he made that phonecall.

Our whole family, 9 policies in all, have since stopped using them for our insurance. Each one has written a letter explaining the reasons why we have cancelled the policy and not one has had a response.

I dont think I can be as disgusted by any customer service as I am by Admiral's.

/Salsa

 

[cheechm]

so have they just been giving you free gas and refusing to read the meter for 10 years?

Apparently so. It is a second meter on our home (long story) but we use gas from it (we believe). Our plumber says that the gas comes from two different meters. Their loss. Once again - if they ever turn around and ask us to pay, we are prepared and have every intention of paying them what we might owe them.

 

[Tefal]

Maybe not customer service but very poor salesmanship.

I was visiting Edinburgh earlier this year and went into one of the numerous Whisky shops. I said to the guy behind the counter that I know nothing about Single Malt Whisky but I'd like to spend £30 on miniatures to learn a bit about them and could he pick me out a set? He walked me over to the miniatures and went "Here they are". I asked again if he could recommend any of them, he again pointed to the miniatures. I left the shop.

I just couldn't believe I'd walked and gone I'm willing to spend £30 on anything and ended up walking out with spending a penny.

put it this way mate a shop assistant probably doesn't have the money to spend on expensive single malt whiskey...

he could ahve just selected you 30 quids worth of random ones reading the lables for the descriptions or you could ahve done that and chosen the ones you liked the sound of.

 

[Pudney]

put it this way mate a shop assistant probably doesn't have the money to spend on expensive single malt whiskey...

he could ahve just selected you 30 quids worth of random ones reading the lables for the descriptions or you could ahve done that and chosen the ones you liked the sound of.

Or he could be Scottish and recommending them all as they all contain alcohol

 

[Ahleckz]

put it this way mate a shop assistant probably doesn't have the money to spend on expensive single malt whiskey...

he could ahve just selected you 30 quids worth of random ones reading the lables for the descriptions or you could ahve done that and chosen the ones you liked the sound of.

Someone working in a whisky shop really should have rudimentary knowledge of whisky and be able to make some sort of recommendations. It wouldn't be that hard to find someone who had an interest in whisky to work in a whisky shop in Scotland.
Most miniatures don't have descriptions on them because there isn't the space. Hell, the whisky I'm drinking tonight doesn't have any particularly helpful descriptive words on it.
I don't think it's wrong to think that people working in a specialist shop should have some knowledge of the shops main product.
Oh, and £30 is entry level money for single malts.

 

[Tefal]

Someone working in a whisky shop really should have rudimentary knowledge of whisky and be able to make some sort of recommendations

why?

the owner sure, but the till boy not really.

it's be too expensive to train him and lets face it if you've had the money to become an accomplished amateur you're again probably owning the sho pand no longer on the till.

 

[Ahleckz]

why?

the owner sure, but the till boy not really.

it's be too expensive to train him and lets face it if you've had the money to become an accomplished amateur you're again probably owning the sho pand no longer on the till.

Because they are selling a specialist product, in a specialist shop...


When placing the advert the owner says "whisky knowledge/passion/interest essential" and at the interview you ask them a few questions about their favourite whisky, and ask about a few of the well known styles. No training would be involved.
If you walked into Overclockers, then you'd expect seabiscuit to have some knowledge of the products his company is selling. The same is true for any other specialist shop.

 

[Tefal]

Because they are selling a specialist product, in a specialist shop...


When placing the advert the owner says "whisky knowledge/passion/interest essential" and at the interview you ask them a few questions about their favourite whisky, and ask about a few of the well known styles. No training would be involved.

and when no one replies for the minimum wage temp job he goes "**** it" nd grabs the first one who doesn't seem mental.


general rule for life, if you go to a proper tobacconist, wine shop, cheese shop or whiskey shop and the person there doesn't have a silvering beard/hair leave

 

[Ahleckz]

and when no one replies for the minimum wage temp job he goes "**** it" nd grabs the first one who doesn't seem mental.


general rule for life, if you go to a proper tobacconist, wine shop, cheese shop or whiskey shop and the person there doesn't have a silvering beard/hair leave

It seems odd, because I'm sure that there'd be plenty of people with rudimentary knowledge of whisky that would like a job like that. I've never been into a specialist whisky shop and had anyone with such poor knowledge. It seems very odd, but I suppose it being Edinburgh and the lack of Scots in the city may explain that .

That's a stupid rule, and shows how out of touch you are. CAMRA members are the bearded weirdos and they are best ignored!

 

[Nitefly]

Ahleckz you are a whisky shop.

Except you're not because you drank all the whisky, so you're just a building.

 

[Tefal]

It seems odd, because I'm sure that there'd be plenty of people with rudimentary knowledge of whisky that would like a job like that. I've never been into a specialist whisky shop and had anyone with such poor knowledge. It seems very odd, but I suppose it being Edinburgh and the lack of Scots in the city may explain that .

That's a stupid rule, and shows how out of touch you are. CAMRA members are the bearded weirdos and they are best ignored!

nah it'sd a good one cause it usually means you get the owner

has always served me well in such places