Customer service hell
03-July-2009
*
* Your Gripe Gripe List Quick Gripe Comments Gripe Poll Resources Contact Us Advertise Home *
* << prev
next >> *
 

Customer service hell

Random Gripe Random Gripe 
Related Gripes Related Gripes 
Feedburner Subscribe to feed 
 
 
 

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.

Awful telephone music for another ten minutes...

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 a company 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

Other Related Gripes

Sky HD+ was a waste of money
D600 latitude password problem, no support from Dell
Working in a call centre
Why I dumped Talk Talk for BT
Service with a smile at Tesco
Sky - No Satellite Signal Received
Oh no, not another Talk Talk gripe
Problems with Sky HD
Automated telephone services
Broadband problems with Sky Plus
Bluetooth phone headset didn't arrive
Sky customer service a joke
Mobile operators cold calling
DHL lost my digital camera
HP seven day return policy
Pharmacy counter staff useless
Car mechanics and used car dealerships
TV home shopping network
Call centre outsourced to India
Car insurance company useless
Debenhams Direct online shopping disaster
Broadband - superhighway or dead end
Home delivery at your convenience





Visitor Comments

Please read this before you post

Enter your comments in the space below

Name or nickname


Remember my name



 
Been a 3 mobile customer for a few years and recently they sent me another handset out of the blue. They claim I entered into an additional contract with them, which I did not. They have refused to cancel it and even though ive made 19 phone calls and written to them (posted via recorded delivery) have not responded.
The call centre is in india and the staff are simply not empowered to do anything beyond listen to your complaint. Then nothing happens to it, no follow up, no resolution, I just keep getting billed. I'd cancel the direct debit, but that means losing my original number (as all charges come in on the same debit code). Never touch 3 mobile, if something goes wrong they abandon you and just keep billing you regardless. As soon as my original mobile contract ends I plan to port my number to another provider and shut down my Direct Debit - forcing them to pursue me through the courts as I hope I will get the chance to contest it in the small claims court.
*3robbedme  29-Jun-2009 00:15

 
My 3 Mobile Boadband went down last summer and I tried to get them to fix it. They kept denying problem. In October I had to take out a contract with O2 internet. Then 3 sent me letter about upgrade problems in my area over previous 2 months and a credit for this time. I was left with two contracts! Then when I cancelled contract in May 2009 they cut my line but still demanded another months line rental. Avoid-Avid-Please Avoid 3. There is a reason they are cheaper. It is because they are poor service provider.
*Michael  07-Jun-2009 18:09

 
I have been trying to book a movie for over an hour without success, I will cancel my subscription. I am utterly fed up with the dreadful service from sky... what a joke!
*Mrs Karan Woodford  06-Jun-2009 20:56

 
Try Vodafone. Jesus
They have the AWAR of the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE IN THE WORLD. is a tight with Talk Talk (Never is a manager that can answer you question and not one take a record of you call )
Imagine BT is a relief
*JustMe  05-Jun-2009 21:12

 
I only transferred to TalkTalk recently but now have no landland connection and also the internet connection is patchy. This is the seventh day I've been without a phone. When I phone (my mobile) TT they say it will be fixed within 2 days and 3 x 2 days have come and gone with no-one to come and dig the holes in the road, which the BT engineer says is necessary,
*Spooy  03-Jun-2009 11:32

 
I know many with terrible costumer service => Harrods (yes, surprisingly but true – take forever but are very polite), Dorothy Perkins (plain rude), ASOS (attitude), Coast (can you hang on …. La la la …. 30 min later … still La la la )

The best one has always been John Lewis – they always seem to fix things swiftly and in a nice manner, Mark and Spencer is the second runner up and the above can learn a lot from them.
*TAS  15-May-2009 14:21

 
VW customer service is just rubbish they dont phone you back ignor customers letters vw customer diss-service.
*des  08-May-2009 13:15

 
I can vouch for this it is helll in earth talking to Dell in india,if they want to LEARN HOW TO MANAGE good customer service try a company like LaKeland limited or QVC.their sevice is excellent!
*suzy  29-Apr-2009 10:16

 
If you want poor customer service try talking to Leeds City council. I have waited 4 years for my garage to be repaired of leaks. I would be quicker doing it myself, but at 70 feel I'm getting a bit old to be climbing on roofs anymore. But why should I thats what I pay my rent for. We have waited in countless time for surveyors to call and for what, just for them to say the garage should be condemmed as it has an asbestos roof, which they dont want to touch. OK if it drifts down on me which it does from time to time. The first surveyor said it should be condemmed, I didnt need another 20 to come and say the same thing. Up until recently all I ever saw were surveyors, never a workman, it must have cost LCCC thousands. The last straw was the last but one to call. My partner waited in all day, nothing, except she did see a car near the garages, but no one got out and no one rang her. Next day she enquired why no one had come and was told he did, but no one was by the garage to see to him. What did he expect, for someone to wait outside in the cold for 5 hours just in case. He even had the cheek to say in a report he submitted for the job, he had inspected the garage, and nothing needed doing. My partner in no uncertain terms told LCCC what to do with themselves. The threats seemed to have worked as a workman was out in 3 days and pointed the garage and presumably the roof. We will have to wait to see if it leaks when it next rains heavily.
One thing I would like to say in praise of some people in LCCC, is for the staff at the Garforth one stop shop. Whenever I have spoken to them about any problem, they have been brilliant. Nothing seem to be to much trouble for them and other so called customer service people could take lessons from them in how its done
*Chris  22-Apr-2009 17:46

 
Customer service customer service, this hasn't got anything to do with replacing your hips!
*Customer service man  01-Oct-2008 21:00

 
Oops - typo! Call centres not cantres!! Missed it when I read it through.
*grumpyoldwoman  19-Sep-2008 12:32

 
I think I've touched on this in the gripe about call cantres; it's a technique for getting rid of troublesome customers (who are in the right) employed by customer service call centre staff these days.

They mess you about by shuffling you from one department to another, thus making you explain everything about 3 times, pretend to get the wrong end of the stick, answer questions you never asked & generally do anything which they know will get you angry & frustrated. They know (from training?) exactly which buttons to push and can tell the precise moment you are going to blow a fuse.
Then, when you are just about to blow, but trying very hard not to lose it, they say something like "I'm not going to carry on with this conversation if you raise your voice" or " now you are being rude", knowing perfectly well that this will tip you over the edge, and give them the perfect excuse to end the call, without them having to do a damn thing to resolve your perfectly legitimate complaint!
They also know, of course, that when you phone again you will be feeling somewhat contrite and will probably settle for far less than you are entitled to!!
*grumpyoldwoman  18-Sep-2008 08:48


View more comments on this gripe


 
*   *
* © 2000-2009 The Weekly Gripe. All rights reserved. Please see our privacy policy and disclaimer.   Site Map *