Customer service hell
14-May-2008
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Customer service hell

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If you've ever called the customer service desk of some large organisation, you may have experienced frustration, anger or despair and been left with the feeling that you are nothing more than a nuisance or unwanted interruption to the person on the other end of the line.

Call Centre Hell

I had a similar experience several times recently when I called a telecommunications company to arrange for services to be installed at my home. I must have spent no less than four hours in the last month skulking in the bowels of their telephone exchange either on hold or choosing frantically from the range of inappropriate options some disembodied voice presented me with.

I wouldn't mind if this time had actually got me anywhere but to this day I still haven't had the equipment I requested completely installed to my satisfaction and I am currently waiting on the phone call I was promised.

Help desk person
Another thing that really bothers me when I ring up these places is the number of times they have to transfer your call to someone else who 'might' be able to help. This will usually mean you have to suffer some awful telephone music for another ten minutes and you may be cut off at the end of that and then have to go through the whole process again. Of course going through the mill again including the extra long pre-recorded message advertising their website which is almost but not quite more useful than the help desk you are trying to get through to.
It seems to me that the bigger an organisation gets the more impersonal the staff in customer services become and it is only the smaller companies that are able to offer a more human and user friendly service. I myself work in the support department of a small organisation and have some idea of what it is like to deal with customers on a day-to-day basis. I don't think the people I deal with would be very happy if I put them on hold, lost their call or transferred them around the office every time they called. customer service desk

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I completely agree I bought system from them and it is giving trouble in one month. They said that they would get it picked and check I am still waiting for their courier to come and collect. I cant go out and needs to stay at home. I regret buying and will not recommend it to any one else.
*vyas  12-May-2008 22:41

 
Ordered 4 items of bedroom furniture last September. They arrived finally on 18th March. 2 of 4 items too damaged to be used. Am told that replacements are no longer in stock. I am not prepared to have mis-matched furniture in my bedroom & will have to wait in yet again for stuff to be taken away. Needless to say my account will not be credited until this happens.
*Don't use Debenhams Direct  18-Mar-2008 21:09

 
Have you had a hard time at the hands of energy or utility suppliers? Is customer service letting you down? Or maybe you have a good news story. The ITV Local consumer team wants to hear from you.

Take our two minute consumer survey http://www.itvlocal.com/meridian/survey
*ITV Local Meridian and Thames Valley  22-Feb-2008 16:39

 
I ordered a river island dress and it came 1 month to arrive after I had paid for the blumming thing! buy from river island no way jose!
*>:(  29-Jan-2008 14:34

 
I ordered a laptop on 31 December 2007. Order acknowledged 2 Jan 2008 - estimated delivery date 21 Jan. Chased 7 Jan because the tracker wasn't telling me at what stage it was. Confirmed by Dell that estimated delivey 21 Jan. Same again on 15 Jan confirmed by customer care same day target was 21 Jan but could not be guaranteed. Advised on 17 January estimated delivery date now 26 February!!! What a load of rubbish in two days it was delayed 36 days. Incompetent or...did they receive a business order??
*Stuart  18-Jan-2008 10:30

 
Last time I called Dell I was patched thru to their Pakistani call center. I was so frustrated with the laptop I bought & their pathetic service I sarcastically explained to the person on the other end of the line that they were making me suicidal!
Suddenly he got all excited & started asking me whether I had a pilots licence!
*RC  16-Jan-2008 14:50

 
I have written Dell 6 lengthly letters giving all the detils of my payments (checks cashed by them). They harrassed me for one year from 8 am to l0 pm - 7 days a week. I owe $24.00 and they won't acknowledge my correspondence, so I can write this miserable experience off.
Yesterday I got a letter from a collection agency who says I owe Dell $415. I have tried to contact them with their numbers on their letter. No can do.
If I knew this was such an awful company, I would never have bouoght Dell. What can I do?
IThey say if you go on line you can talk to a customer rep right then and there. Ha.Try it.
*Bubbi  07-Dec-2007 20:36

 
Horrible horrible experience with Dell Technical Support since I received my desktop and laptop in 2005. I am currently in the midst of another bad round of service with them related to my hard drive crash. Most recently, the rep did not log the call and dispatch of service so there is no record and after a week with no help, I have had to start from square 1. This is not unusual with Dell. They consistently are rude and lose information. It makes no difference if you have record of who you speak with and any case or dispatch numbers. They are indifferent and in some cases malicious. I am without internet now for nearly two weeks. I will never buy another Dell due to their bad service and I regret that I purchased two computers from them every day.
*Patti  06-Dec-2007 16:34

 
I have also had a terrible experience (still unresolved at the time of writing). I decided to take this further:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BT-SERVICE/
*Disgruntled  19-Sep-2007 13:13

 
I spent 20 minutes waiting for a BT customerr advisor . When I eventually got one, she decided to transfer me to someone else, which took about 10 minutes - then I got cut off!! BT are crap, I want to leave them for good, but how can I do that when they can't even answer the phone. If I don 't pay them, they'll take me to court. I can't win, either way. Two fingers up to BT.
*Dixielander  03-Sep-2007 16:49

 
Dell Double Hell

I ordered a Laptop with extra hard/software in July 07 (I wish I had seen some of the above comments first!) Problems began when I received a mail of late delivery. Spent most of the month trying to get them to confirm when they would honour the delivery, which they never did, To cut a v long story short Dell promised to deliver it after 2 weeks, but 1 month has passed but no idea about the comfirmed delivery till date. Was I expected to wait for my laptop for more than one month after the money being deducted from my account.

I am disgusted with Dell who I chose as I thought they were the best - ha! This problem caused me a lot of stress and frustration and left me out of pocket. Buy from Dell? No way!
*Deepak Patel  30-Aug-2007 21:11

 
I'm with NTL and I have to say have thought about moving several times for one reason and another., but actually before you consider moving, think about the old adage, that the grass is not greener on the other side.
*g  28-Aug-2007 08:20


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