.... that you want to reach down the phone and rip their head off! Raa!

I'm planning a trip to London in July. Found a hotel in kensington, 4*, not a big chain, full of character, perfect.

Then I see a guarantee on the site that says that if you find the hotel cheaper anywhere else on price comparison sites, they will match the price & take off another 10%.

That instantly makes me think that they're on all the other price comparison sites, so I decide to have a look to see how their price compares....

And on price comparison sites, the damn thing is 50% cheaper per night!! That's a whopping £100 cheaper for the 2 night trip.

So, do I just book it through the price comparrison site? nope, I call the hotel directly to enquire about the guarantee. I'm not bothered about the extra 10%, but I definitely want them to match the price.

And the incredibly unhelpful customer service agent doesn't even know about any guarantee. Not only that, she can't even be arsed to speak to me. When I explain that I'd rather pay direct than go through a 3rd party, she tells me a price that is MORE expensive than their own website. When I explain that the price she quoted is practially double that of the price comparrison site, she advises me to book through them then!

So basically, either she's just terrible at her job or the hotel's guarantee isn't worth the pixels it was designed on. Either way, think I'll pay a bit more and look somewhere else.

Whew, rant over haha.

So there's my (latest) customer service horror story, what's yours?

I live in Holland. Every chore, every errand is a costumer horror story.

They don't know the word service. Not even at service desks. They just don't understand what it entails.

Sometimes I have a strong urge to move to America. Just to get service from a friendly person.

I don't know if America is the solution when you are looking for exceptional customer service...

Is that how other countries view us??

I used to date a guy in customer support. He told me that it was actually the company that made their policies impossible for the staff to even be able to provide good service. The employees actually got better marks for keeping their customer interactions as short as possible, not based on whether or not they solved the issue!

I always heard that Disney has THE BEST customer service training. They tell their employees that they have the power and resources to do absolutely anything to make sure any guest is satisfied.

It used to really bother me when I got bad service. It's a shame that bad service has become so common that now I am acutally more surprised when someone does a decent job at it.

Customer services are unhelpful all over the world.

Timmy84 said:

Customer services are unhelpful all over the world.

I used to think that "Computer Says 'no'" mentality from Little Britain was just made up, but I'm pretty sure some companies are showing it staff as a training video

[Edited 5/18/11 13:19pm]

erik319 said:

Timmy84 said:

Customer services are unhelpful all over the world.

I used to think that "Computer Says 'no'" mentality from Little Britain was just made up, but I'm pretty sure some companies are showing it staff as a training video

They probably are.

I wont stand for bad customer service. I just wont.

I'll write letters, call managers and everything.

If it's really good customer service, I do the same.

if the customer service sucks i go elsewhere

We bought a tiller this weekend. It worked for about 10 minutes and died.

I brought it back for an even exchange, I didn't even want money back.

They (it took 3 brilliant people to handle this transaction) made a whole to-do about oh, I don't know if we can take it back because you could've put some "bad" gasoline in it.

It's an electric tiller.

johnart said:

We bought a tiller this weekend. It worked for about 10 minutes and died.

I brought it back for an even exchange, I didn't even want money back.

They (it took 3 brilliant people to handle this transaction) made a whole to-do about oh, I don't know if we can take it back because you could've put some "bad" gasoline in it.

It's an electric tiller.

^ sorry but, BWAHAHAHAHAAAA! what did you say?

As someone who worked in the customer service "industry" (lol) for several years and ended up becoming manager over a customer service dept, it's not always actual stupidity so much as indifference. Customers are extremely abusive, regardless of your level of quality assistance. For some reason, people are born and bred into this "Customer is always right" mentalities and they then transfer that abuse onto the CSRs. Then the CSRs simply begin to emotionally shut down while they are at work so that they can withstand the shitty customers insulting them, yelling at them, etc.

I can't tell you how many times I have answered the phone after it was escalated and the person straight up lied about the CSR's conduct (hello, they really are recorded!). Some customers call up screaming and shouting about authorization charges and actual charges, which they never really understand. I dunno, I could go on. I used to write a blog about it and post emails that we would get in our queues and they were terrible and disgusting.

XxAxX said:

johnart said:

We bought a tiller this weekend. It worked for about 10 minutes and died.

I brought it back for an even exchange, I didn't even want money back.

They (it took 3 brilliant people to handle this transaction) made a whole to-do about oh, I don't know if we can take it back because you could've put some "bad" gasoline in it.

It's an electric tiller.

^ sorry but, BWAHAHAHAHAAAA! what did you say?

I didn't even get to say it, the lady behind me in the line just looked at them and said "Umm...That's electric."

johnart said:

XxAxX said:

^ sorry but, BWAHAHAHAHAAAA! what did you say?

I didn't even get to say it, the lady behind me in the line just looked at them and said "Umm...That's electric."

you shoulda hit'em with your

RenHoek said:

johnart said:

I didn't even get to say it, the lady behind me in the line just looked at them and said "Umm...That's electric."

you shoulda hit'em with your

I left it in the car.

Spinlight said:

As someone who worked in the customer service "industry" (lol) for several years and ended up becoming manager over a customer service dept, it's not always actual stupidity so much as indifference. Customers are extremely abusive, regardless of your level of quality assistance. For some reason, people are born and bred into this "Customer is always right" mentalities and they then transfer that abuse onto the CSRs. Then the CSRs simply begin to emotionally shut down while they are at work so that they can withstand the shitty customers insulting them, yelling at them, etc.

I can't tell you how many times I have answered the phone after it was escalated and the person straight up lied about the CSR's conduct (hello, they really are recorded!). Some customers call up screaming and shouting about authorization charges and actual charges, which they never really understand. I dunno, I could go on. I used to write a blog about it and post emails that we would get in our queues and they were terrible and disgusting.

So true! I used to work in the concession area of a movie theater while in college and people treated me like utter crap and like I was a complete moron. In my current job, people come in with attitudes of entitlement, they want everything for free, immediately. A little please and thank you goes so much further. I think everyone should be required to work some sort of customer service job so they can gain a better understanding of how frustrating it is.

On the other hand, some CSRs are completely unhelpful. A couple of weeks ago I had to call an HR/payroll type company to get a fax number and the woman insisted that I needed to give her all my personal info (soc. number, personal address, etc.) before she could do that. Nevermind one of her colleagues had just left the fax # on my voicemail (that number was wrong/didn't work, which is why I had to call, because the genius who left the voicemail with the wrong fax number didn't leave her phone number). When I asked to speak with a supervisor, she told me I had to answer the security questions in order to speak with a supervisor. All I needed was the fucking fax number. Then she "disconnected" our call.

there are loads of people out there who know they are in the wrong, but they don't have any money or don't want to pay, so they'll shit all over customer service to see what they can get. it means nothing to them, it's just a game.

johnart said:

RenHoek said:

you shoulda hit'em with your

I left it in the car.

gurl, ya slippin'...

RenHoek said:

johnart said:

I left it in the car.

gurl, ya slippin'...

Spinlight said:

As someone who worked in the customer service "industry" (lol) for several years and ended up becoming manager over a customer service dept, it's not always actual stupidity so much as indifference. Customers are extremely abusive, regardless of your level of quality assistance. For some reason, people are born and bred into this "Customer is always right" mentalities and they then transfer that abuse onto the CSRs. Then the CSRs simply begin to emotionally shut down while they are at work so that they can withstand the shitty customers insulting them, yelling at them, etc.

I can't tell you how many times I have answered the phone after it was escalated and the person straight up lied about the CSR's conduct (hello, they really are recorded!). Some customers call up screaming and shouting about authorization charges and actual charges, which they never really understand. I dunno, I could go on. I used to write a blog about it and post emails that we would get in our queues and they were terrible and disgusting.

Wow i wouldn't fancy getting into a dispute with you on the phone based on some of your rants here LOL

johnart said:

RenHoek said:

gurl, ya slippin'...

A clutch doesn't do much damage.

Spinlight said:

As someone who worked in the customer service "industry" (lol) for several years and ended up becoming manager over a customer service dept, it's not always actual stupidity so much as indifference. Customers are extremely abusive, regardless of your level of quality assistance. For some reason, people are born and bred into this "Customer is always right" mentalities and they then transfer that abuse onto the CSRs. Then the CSRs simply begin to emotionally shut down while they are at work so that they can withstand the shitty customers insulting them, yelling at them, etc.

I can't tell you how many times I have answered the phone after it was escalated and the person straight up lied about the CSR's conduct (hello, they really are recorded!). Some customers call up screaming and shouting about authorization charges and actual charges, which they never really understand. I dunno, I could go on. I used to write a blog about it and post emails that we would get in our queues and they were terrible and disgusting.

I used to work in Customer Services too and have to fully agree with you.

Customers think its ok to ring up and from the start of teh call, yell abuse, swear and threaten you. To be honest I got sick of dealing with these assholes and quit, I wasn't being paid enough to deal with that shit.

I had one phone call from a customer who literally did nothing but make threats and yell the F - Word at me constantly for 3 minutes. I was as polite as possible to the asswipe, but he just would not shut the fuck up with his abuse, in the entire 3 minutes I did not even get his name or the reason he rang as he wouldn't let me say a word !! In the end, I simply told him I was hanging up, although he would not have heard me through his constant threats on my life ( I love how these penile dysfunctional morons threaten to hurt you cuz they are hiding behind a telephone)

I handled my Call so calmly and professionally that they used the recording in Training sessions

You get what you give, be arsey on the phone and you ain't getting nowhere and at the end of the day, why abuse someone who had nothing to do with why you are ringing? They are there to help not be your personal verbal punchbag.