Worst Customer Service

[k2clones29]

I just got off the phone with a company, and it is the worst customer service I have experienced. I won't say the actual company for liability reasons, but for the sake of giving them a proper noun, we will call this company Eye Kia. And for identification purposes of the type of company Eye Kia is, let's just say that they are a company who sells medium-quality furniture with "some" assembly required at an exceptional price (sometimes worth the aggravation, sometimes not). I bought a product at their store and took it home (I live 4 hours away). The product Eye Kia sold me had three parts that had to be put together (incidentally, it is a shaving cabinet for my stuff, a cabinet with a mirror, an end cabinet that is open for viewing, and a stand for the cabinet to sit on). They gave me the boxes that had these parts (I did not pick it up, the furniture said to see a guy who would give me a piece of paper to get the products, I saw the guy, he gave me the paper, and someone else put it in my car for me to drive home and jigsaw together). I got all the way to the end of my puzzle to discover that the stand they gave me was the wrong size.

Since I live 4 hours away, and they screwed up, I called the store, figuring someone would just send me the right stand and I would return the wrong one. They couldn't help me and referred me to their customer service line, so I called customer service. Waited 30 minutes to speak to a representative, and when I told them this, they said they would take my information down, provide me with a reference number, then send the information to the store who would contact me in 24 - 72 hours with a resolution I was on the phone for 90 minutes, just to have an email filled out and sent so I can wait to hear back from someone.

Seriously, I could have just sent the store the email myself. I didn't need a grown woman to type it out for me. That's not customer service, that's a dictation service! I don't wish anyone to lose a job, but if that's all that they do, then why does the department exist? Sure, I wouldn't have been happy filling out the form myself, but I'd rather do that than waste an evening for someone else to do it for me.

In any event, that spurred on the question I ask now: what is the worst customer service you have received? It doesn't have to be shaving related (although, in my experience with all of the companies associated with wet-shaving, they have provided me the absolute best customer service, so I would find it difficult for anyone to say one of them was the worst). Company names aren't required either. Just your time to vent.

 

[gaseousclay]

I like to refer to Ikea as the Swedish Walmart. their furniture and stuff looks better but it's still cheaply made crap

 

[lungho]

Whirlpool ....sue me, I don't care.

Bought a new water heater from Lowes. Install water heater. After 4 days, I noticed I wasn't able to get any (or very little) hot water. I went downstairs to see what the problem was. The inner tank was leaking, which destroyed the digital thermostat control unit and my garage was flooded.

Lowes will not take a return on a water heater without an RMA # from the manufacture. So I call Whirlpool and they tell me that it could take up to 3 to 5 days to send one of their guys out to repair/replace the unit....that's 3 to 5 days without no hot water. I don't mind but SWMBO does.

So I'm telling this girl at Whirlpool this is unacceptable and that I simply want an RMA# to simply exchange the unit for another Whirlpool......since they are Made In America. She says no and that it's against their policy. I ask her, how am I supposed to know what their policy is. She says that their policy is clearly stated with the documentation INSIDE THE BOX!!! I then ask her how am I supposed to know what the policy is without buying the water heater first. She laughs at me and says, "That's not my problem."

So now I'm heated. I am letting some "not-so-gentlemanly" words leave my mouth as I'm browbeating (talking sternly, not yelling) this girl, pointing out every fallacy in her/the company's "logic". She then puts me on speaker so the whole office can hear. At this point I can hear everybody in the office laughing uncontrollably. So after I finish my rant, she then issues me an RMA#.

I bought a Whirlpool over a GE because it was made in America. What did I get for my troubles? A flooded garage, a faulty product, and the-worst American based tech support I've ever experienced.

So what did I do next?

I returned the water heater to Lowes and went across the street to Home Depot and bought the Chinese made GE water heater, which cost less and had more capacity than it's Whrilpool counterpart. It's been 3 months since this incident and life's been good.

Never gain will I buy Whirlpool. Whirlpool Whirlpool Whirlpool Whirlpool = B-A-D

 

[njpaddy]

My wife and I bought 2 storage cabinets from "eye kia" a year or two ago and had them delivered because of the weight. One box had the wrong door hinges. My wife spent a lot of time on the phone trying to get new hinges sent. A day or two later we come home to find a huge box on the porch. They sent another cabinet, but not even one like we bought. My wife then spent more time on the phone arranging pick up of the new box and delivery of hinges for the right one. Eventually they picked up the box and mailed us the right hinges. My wife now says she wants another cabinet and I keep trying to talk her out of it. I don't want to go back to that store. I hate going into that store. It's like being lost in a giant corn maze. I don't know what's worse, trying to find what you came for or finding a sales person to help.

 

[Doc4]

I like to refer to Ikea as the Swedish Walmart. their furniture and stuff looks better but it's still cheaply made crap

How on earth did you figure out that the OP was talking about Ikea??

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

AT&T.

/thread

 

[Mojo88]

Chrysler.. All our service advisors are busy,I don't know when they will get back to you.
Send me your documentation and I will take care of it..I want to make sure you have the right parts.
So what if all 4 tires go flat? it will happen gradually and you won't lose control over your car.
How do we know you didn't do something to the car to cause the failure?
These were the responses from customer service and a district manager.Nothing was done..Not even a call back.

I bought this car when Chrysler was in trouble..I tried to do what I thought would help them by buying a car.

It reminds me of the 80s when all you got was the run around..I bought a Toyota after B.S. like this and this will be the last American car I purchase. I will not put up with this again.

 

[HLS]

Jeep and Chrysler have been junk for years now. I don't know why anyone would buy one.

Jim[

QUOTE=Mojo88;4433487]Chrysler.. All our service advisors are busy,I don't know when they will get back to you.
Send me your documentation and I will take care of it..I want to make sure you have the right parts.
So what if all 4 tires go flat? it will happen gradually and you won't lose control over your car.
How do we know you didn't do something to the car to cause the failure?
These were the responses from customer service and a district manager.Nothing was done..Not even a call back.

I bought this car when Chrysler was in trouble..I tried to do what I thought would help them by buying a car.

It reminds me of the 80s when all you got was the run around..I bought a Toyota after B.S. like this and this will be the last American car I purchase. I will not put up with this again.[/QUOTE]

 

[Doc4]

The tech support with my cable company ... calling to talk to someone to try to make the tv work again ... you're on the phone on hold for over an hour!! Well over an hour sometimes. Over two hours.



... once you finally get through they're actually pretty good to deal with, but the interminable waiting (because the company won't hire enough people to man the phones) is pretty crappy.

 

[Nils]

I don't know about the US, but here in Germany: absolutely EVERY Telephone/Internet provider. In a country not noted for being consumer friendly, they manage to distinguish themselves as incompetent, unfriendly and utterly incapable of dealing with just about any problem their customers might have.

 

[galopede]

What annoys me is the big companies' help lines.

You want to buy something, there are hundreds of salesmen just waiting with their hands over the phone to answer instantly. You have bought something and have a problem? There is one poor bloke in India to answer hundreds of problems. As someone said above. it can take hours to get through.

Gareth

 

[roklein]

So true. When the product is sold "we don't want to hear from you." I'll add, any "help line" number that connects you to a phone tree and I have to listen to my options carefully.

 

[Benedictine]

About a month ago I returned to my country after a month of backpacking Bolivia. When I returned home I realized someone opened my backpack after I gave it to the girl at the counter at the airport, they stole a Kindle Fire and an Iphone.
I contacted the Airline and they courteously said that I was the responsible and I could be lying in order to get money from them.

 

[Jawaburger]

U-Haul pulled an interesting one on me. I had reserved a truck for two nights which would give a friend and me time to both move. The next day, only half way through the reservation, they called and asked why I had not returned the truck yet. I said I have it till tomorrow. And they told me they would call the police and report a stolen vehicle if I did not return it immediately.

I have used Ryder ever since and have had absolutely no trouble with them. And they are nice to me, which U-Haul never was.

 

[auk1124]

I don't know about the US, but here in Germany: absolutely EVERY Telephone/Internet provider.

You're not alone. They're horrible in the US as well.

 

[ironfisted]

I find it's difficult to address the worst incidents, since poor customer service is pandemic. I have to say though, despite the general tendency to slag offshore call centres, the best experience I've had has been with Indian call centres. In particular, I recall dealing with D-Link's people. They answered promptly and spent an hour trying to walk me through issues that were user related, not hardware related. That is to say, my stupidity.

I can't imagine any western call centre ever being so patient and thorough.

 

[lungho]

I don't know about the US, but here in Germany: absolutely EVERY Telephone/Internet provider.

You are most definitely not alone. One of my duties at work is to order services (cable, internet, telephones) when we open a new location. Nobody can ever get the order or address right and you are on hold f-o-r-e-v-e-r, while listening to, "You're call is very important to us." "Please remain on the line and it will be answered in the order in which it was received."

Well if my call is so important, why don't you hire more people to answer it in a prompt manor?

 

[Member357]

Special mentions for BT and Sky TV in the UK for pitiful customer "service."

 

[HLS]

It takes a particular kind of jerk to threaten you with the police over something so simple. I've had that happen and it's absolutely infuriating. The word "punk" is what comes to mind.

Jim[

QUOTE=Jawaburger;4435745]U-Haul pulled an interesting one on me. I had reserved a truck for two nights which would give a friend and me time to both move. The next day, only half way through the reservation, they called and asked why I had not returned the truck yet. I said I have it till tomorrow. And they told me they would call the police and report a stolen vehicle if I did not return it immediately.

I have used Ryder ever since and have had absolutely no trouble with them. And they are nice to me, which U-Haul never was.[/QUOTE]

 

[APEXshooter]

Horton and Barnett

I work at an Archery Pro Shop we service all brands of bows and crossbows except those 2. If there is ever a problem you call navigate your way up the automated phone tree, sit on hold for an hour and a half and are either then disconnected or you get a person who has to "transfer" you to another department and while being transferred your call gets disconnected. W tell customers that we will replace strings but if it is anything else they must call and get the parts before bringing us the x-bow.