[RoxieRxChicago]

I thought I would start this thread because they did something like this on a radio show I was listening to the other day, and it was hilarious. Also, because I had the most horrible customer service experience in my life this past weekend. I would love to hear everyone's stories, from either experiences you have had, or things you have done to other people. So here's my story:

Since I was moving this past Saturday, I decided to rent a U-haul truck so I could just cram all my stuff in there and move everything in one trip. The truck itself was only $19.95 for the day, and then 99 cents a mile. I thought that sounded like a pretty good deal, so I called to reserve the truck. When the person I talked to asked me how long I needed it for, I told her I wanted to pick it up as early as possible and that I would need it for the whole day. She said that was fine. I just assumed that when I said I needed it for the whole day, I would get to keep it until they closed, which was at 8:00 that night. When I went to pick the truck up Saturday morning, I was informed that I had to have the truck back by 4:00 because someone else would be picking it up at 4:30. Needless to say, that pissed me because I had thought I made it clear that I needed it for the whole day. This was only the beginning... As I was driving the truck home the driver's side door kept popping open... Not completely open, it was still latched, but you could see the road going by through the crack at the bottom and the wind was whistling in all around it. Naturally, this scared the shit out of me. When I got back to my house I called the place I had rented it from and told them that door wouldn't stay shut. The person I spoke to, who I found out later in the day was the manager, informed me that he knew about it and that in the four years it had been like that, it had never actually come all the way open. My comment was, "Well, there's a first time for everything." Since I had to have the damn thing back by 4:00 I loaded up my furniture and everything that was too big to fit in my Toyota and proceeded to drive to my new apartment, all the while, holding the driver's side door shut as it kept popping open. Basically, when I got to my apartment, I had just enough time to throw my crap in the middle of the living room floor and get the hell back out so I get back to the U-haul place on time so I wouldn't end up getting charged a late fee. So I drove back as fast as I could, still holding the damn door shut, and yes, it did actually come all the way open as I was turning into the U-haul rental place. When I went in to pay my bill I asked to speak to the manager, who turned out to be the guy I talked to on the phone earlier. I complained about having to have the truck back early and I also mentioned the door. This guy was such an asshole. He actually started yelling at me and accused me of doing something to the door (which he had already told me he knew didn't work correctly and wasn't remotely concerned about it) so that it would come all the way open. He called me a bitch, called my mom a bitch (don't know why, she wasn't even there), and told me to get out of his store before he called the police. I would have thought someone in a management position would have a little better control over their temper. So I called the coporate office and complained and told them that I wanted my money back. About two hours after I filed that complaint, the jackass from the truck rental place called me, apologizing all over himself. I told him I thought he should take some anger management classes and look for a job that didn't require him to deal with the public. I could tell that pissed him off but he did a pretty good job of sucking it up, and I got a refund out of it.

So there's my story. Actually the whole situation is kind of funny now, but it sure as hell wasn't at the time.

[Ottis413]

I know what you mean, a frend and I rented a U-haul car trailer to get an old drag race car he had bought, and didn't notice that the leaf springs were broke till we got on the freeway. Called them, they said it was the only one they had and no refunds. Ended up chaining the axel solid and using it anyway.... no more U-haul for me!!!

[DreadLadyFreya]

Hmm, worst customer service experience… How ‘bout a view from the other side of the “desk”? About 15 years ago (when I was in 1st Grade … What? ) I worked for the local gas and electric company in their customer service department. One day while I was working in a branch office – the one with the bullet-proof glass between us and the customers - a woman came in to have the utilities turned on in her “new” apartment. “I can help you with that.” I assure her with my best customer service smile. I bring up her “new” address on the computer, and read the notations (yes, People, they do keep records of all your calls – mwahaha). Come to find out, the services at that address had been shut off for non-payment of the bills (at the time it the company’s policy was to shut off after three months of non-payment). Three “different” people had called claiming to have “just moved in” to this apartment & needed to have the gas & electric turned on. Each caller was told the same thing: they needed to bring in their rental agreement and picture i.d. to a branch office to prove who they were and that they were, indeed, new tenants. Being the softy I was I figured I’d give this woman the benefit of the doubt, not ask for a rental agreement and just call the manager of the complex to verify her story. So I gave her a form to fill out, and told her to bring it and a picture i.d. back to me when she was done. Not surprisingly she looked … panicked at that prospect, but she took the form and left. A few minutes later she comes back with a very angry looking man. He comes up to my window and starts in on how he’s not responsible for someone else’s bills (that’s funny, I never mentioned that to the woman), and he’s got his wife and sick kids (the kids in these stories are always sick) trying to move into this g**d**n place, and he doesn’t need this s**t. He was told by “some woman” on the phone that all he had to do was come in and we’d turn on his lights. (Evidently we had a magic button that we could push to remotely turn on his services.) I was never one for confrontation, so I just let him vent. When he was done (or so I thought), I calmly and apologetically (I was such a wuss) explained that I agreed he shouldn’t be held responsible for someone else’s bills, and that asking for a picture i.d. was something we asked of all our clients. This would ensure that he would not be responsible for anyone else’s bills. Needless to say he wasn’t happy about that. He starts going off about a conspiracy and using words that I had never heard, and suggesting situations that I’m quite sure were physically impossible. My supervisor tried to come to my aid at this time, trying to calm this guy down. But he wasn’t having it. I was the problem here, not the utility company, not his own attitude, but ME. He finally stormed out of the office (sans electricity or gas service) saying he was going to call his lawyer. But before he left he looked me in the eye saying that if it was the last thing he did he was going to make me pay and wipe the “smug smile” off my g**d**n face and then called me a f**king b**ch.

Yep, definitely my worst customer service experience.

Have a nice day!

[SpaceWeavil]

I'll admit my first thoughts were along the same lines as DLF. I haven't had any majorly bad customer service experiences as a customer that I recall, but have been on the other side.

It's hard to single out the worst experience as there were so many when I worked in tourism (you'd think people on holiday would be a bit happier with themselves, but no). I mean, it was pretty rough getting a lovely American gentleman shouting why the f**k was I taking the 'Jack the Ripper' tour when I didn't have a Cockney accent. My response to that was, 'because I know the facts and where to take the tour, whereas our two Cockney guides don't.'

There was one guy who came up to me once and demanded to know why the Blue tour (we had different colour-coded routes) had told him he couldn't go to Paddington Station. Despite the fact the blue tour was bugger all to do with me, I politely replied that I was very sorry, but the police had put up a cordon around the Paddington area, as there had been a rail crash just outside the station (some of you might remember the really bad Paddington crash on that line). I told him that the buses couldn't get into the station itself, but they were still stopping at Lancaster Gate, which was 5 minutes' walk away from Paddington and those hotels in that area, and our staff were on hand at Lanc Gate to direct anyone who needed it.

Guy then looks at me and shouts, 'but my wife and I want to go to Paddington. Why is the bus not going there?'

Still patient, 'because there has been a serious rail crash on the line going into Paddington Station and the police have cordonned off the area until they can assess the situation. Dozens of people have died so far.' Then I repeated the stuff about Lanc Gate and even offered to take him to the stance for the blue tour.

His response? 'But we want to go to Paddington. We're going on a day trip. Why can't the bus go there?'

Now, this might have been unprofessional, but I took him over to the newsstand, picked up a paper at random, and showed him a photo of the crash. 'That, sir, is what has happened at Paddington Station. The police and emergency services are trying to sort that out. They don't want anyone else near them getting in their way. So we can only go as far as Lancaster Gate.'

His response? 'So do we get our money back?'

*sigh*

That was the worst one for stubbornness. I actually did have one on 9/11 as well. When the news broke about NY, we suspended our tours and ran the buses simply as ferries to airline offices, the US Embassy and the Canadian High Commission (as flights to Canada were suspended a little while after US ones). Only problem was no one on the ticket staff thought to put up a notice saying this was what had happened, and that there would be no more tours. So my bus dropped off folks at Grosvenor Square and we came back to Piccadilly Circus, to find a queue of folk waiting to go sightseeing. Driver disappeared off to the depot, leaving muggins here to deal with everyone. Not a sign of anyone else from my company anywhere, as they'd also gone back to the depot with the buses.

Most folk were okay - it'll sound odd but when they'd been out looking at stuff all day a lot of them hadn't seen TVs or the newspapers and so didn't know what had happened, and most said 'oh my god, of course we understand etc etc.'

One group of people (and ashamed to say they were British), turned to me and said 'so why can't we go on the tour? What the f**k has stuff in America got to do with us?'

I didn't have to deal with that. The two people behind these guys in the queue were from NY. I let them handle it, shall we say. But honestly.

Only people I have ever had to throw off a bus (or got big burly ticket salesman to throw off) were from my home town. We drove round Marble Arch and I was telling the story of how it was originally the gateway to Buckingham Palace but Victoria connived to have it moved. This lot from Glasgow obviously weren't listening (or were too drunk to understand) and so all I hear from the back of the bus is 'So is she f***ing trying to f***ing tell us that that f***ing thing is Buckingham f***ing palace then? Stupid f***ing **** etc etc.'

We chucked them off at Victoria Station, since they hadn't stopped swearing and shouting about when they would get to see 'Buckingham f***ing Palace' all the way around. Funny how the ned who was 'in charge' of the family suddenly wasn't so brave or hard when a six foot bodybuilding guy came on to chase them off. Suddenly they 'hadn't said anything' and I was making it up. Weirdly though, everyone else on the bus made up that they heard them too...

Anyway I will shut up now. I have many more and keep remembering other ones as I'm typing this.[url][/url]

[inglor]

Spacey, please continue, those were funny.

Which reminds me, I have the utmost sympathy for Airline gate people. You know, everyday somebody is going to be pissed at you and heaven help you if you get bad weather...

Inglor

[SpaceWeavil]

[RoxieRxChicago]

Space, your stories are hilarious. Working with the public can definitely be trying. Here's a story of mine from the other side of the proverbial desk.

I teach Pilates, so my job is to help people get themselves into shape and feel better about themselves. Our website and most of our fliers and business cards have a statement by Joseph Pilates (in case you don't know, he was the man behind the whole method) that says, "Feel better in 10 sessions, Look better in 20 sessions, have a whole new body in 30 sessions." That's a pretty lofty promise, I know. However, if you eat right and get a decent amount of cardiovascular exercise, it'll happen. I always make sure I tell the new clients I get that are trying to lose weight that they need to get some kind of cardio in as well, otherwise they are just toning the muscles under the layer of fat. About a year ago there was a woman who came in to start classes who wanted to lose weight and feel better about herself. She said she really liked that whole Pilates Promise (as we call it) and was ready to get going. She came in for private sessions for a while (we have lots of teachers, so she had others beside me who I'm sure told her the same thing I did..... eat right, get cardio, etc....) and then started taking group classes. At first she was really gung ho about it, but after a few weeks, even though she was still coming to classes regularly she didn't seem real thrilled to be there. I would also like to note that when she came in (usually early morning classes) she was always sporting some kind of donut or pastry and a Venti Mocha Latte. A couple of months ago she cornered me after class and informed me that she would be seeking a lawyer's representation to sue us for false advertisement because she hadn't lost a pound, and most definitely did not have a whole new body. I think the way she put it was that by this point she should have had three new bodies. I asked her if she had been doing any kind of cardiovascular exercise, to which she replied that she had not. I told her as politely as I could that was part of the problem and that she needed to start walking or jogging, or something to get her heart rate elevated in order to burn calories. I explained to her that in order to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. I also told her that coming in 5 mornings a week with a donut the size of my head and a gallon size latte was kind of defeating the purpose. I had hoped I had made some kind of impression on her because we never heard from a lawer, and for a while she came sans donut and latte. But now the Mocha and the donut are back full force, and she lays there and grumbles through the whole class about sadistic Pilates Instructors.

I've also discovered that there are people who can't stand to be told that they're doing something wrong. I have a client who insists on doing things with a ridiculous amount of spring weight. Because she has so much weight on she can't keep her body in the correct position so she is always hurting herself. I've tried talking to her about it, explaining that if you can't keep good form, you have too much weight on, or if you're feeling the excercise in your back, you have too much weight on, or even that some excercises are harder with no added weight, but she just tunes me out. I've even tried lowering her spring weight when she's not looking, but as soon as she figures out what I've done, she goes right back and adds more. Then after class, she complains to me that her back hurts and that she can barely function day to day because of the pain and she thought Pilates was supposed to help that and it's only made hers worse. I, of course, give her my standard spring weight lecture, hoping that it will sink in. She smiles and nods, pops a pain pill, and then leaves. She's always back the next day, with more spring weight than most of the male clients I have would even think about using, more complaints and more pain pills.

[SilverMoonLady]

(((((((Space))))))) Wow, and I thought retail customers were 'interesting', but it sounds like tourism is ... colorful!
Well, I work in a store that is sort of high end, in the sense that people who buy the stuff typically can afford a maid for the 4 bedroom house next to their 2 SUVs. But you wouldn't believe how little in the way of manners these people acquire along with their bulging purses! Very 'bourgeois', and I don't mean that kindly.
I spend much of my day either 'hand-holding' ("What would my mother/daugther/best friend like?" ) or politely answering questions like "The paint doesn't quite reach the edges of this corner on the base on this $2400 table, can I have a discount?" It's hand made, it's art, and if you can afford to spend $2200 on a table, do you really need to shave off that 10%??? Or, "How do you price stuff? Because I really don't think it should be this expensive, I mean I could make this for $5!" ... well, why don't you go do that then...
Of course, there are some perfectly nice people out there... But I never seem to meet them!
My top horror story:
About 5 years ago, I had a couple (young and healthy) come in to pick up their 6' dining table one evening; though I repeatedly told them, first on the phone, then when they arrived, that I would be working alone and had no one to load it into their car, they insisted that it had to be done that night, and watched me, 6 months pregnant and 5' high, flip it onto a dolly, walk it down the hall and load it into their car. I think he said something like "Well that wasn't so hard, was it?" The nerve of some folks!

The only times I've had rotten service as a customer is when I've had to deal with government in some fashion, Social Services, Health Services, etc. Here you are, hat in hand because you have no other choice, and you get treated like a moron on top of it. Mostly after they tell you that you can't qualify because you make $100 a year too much.....

[NeumeIndil]

SML's story brought this one to mind for me. It's not exactly "customer" service b/c it was while I volunteered for a non-profit organization, but it was definitely a bad interpersonal experience.

A family in my hometown lost their house and everything in it, including pets, in a house fire. It was October and in this part of the country that means snow could fly at any time. As part of the community effort to get this family back on its feet, the organization I worked with scanned the entire school district to find them a house. They had three teenagers, 2 girls and a boy, with an older son in the military. We found a house, small, but it had three bedrooms and a fully furnished kitchen. The family had been notified the day we found the house and asked to come see it. They looked and said they'd live there, so between a few churches and the organization I worked with, we put down first/last month's rent and a security deposit and got them keys.

We tracked down furniture and clothing donations, stocked the pantry and spent 2.5 days (including my birthday) cleaning the house and getting it ready for occupancy. Then, the secretary of the group got a phone call. Apparently the property owner's son had been charged with fraud on the state level a few years before. The mother of this family claimed the FBI called her and threatened to 'beat the snot' out of her husband and son if they moved into the house and they wouldn't be moving in. They did, however, go to the house to get the clothing and food that we'd already taken there for them.

A couple of weeks passed while this family continued to live in hotel rooms paid for by local churches, the little league board, the PTA and other community service organizations. Then I ended up talking to the younger daughter between classes one day and asked, finally, why they didn't just tell us they didn't want that house. First she said they really did get a call from the FBI, which I told her flat out I didn't believe because the Federal government didn't have anything to do with a state level case that was already closed. Then she said that her older brother was moving in with them at the end of that month and the house wasn't big enough for him to live there too. Besides, she said, they liked living in the hotel because they didn't have to clean.

The greatest insult from all of it, though, was a letter the organization secretary got in December... asking if we could spare some money to help this family keep paying for their hotel rooms.

[SilverMoonLady]

Those folks are the reason organizations, profit, non-profit or goverment sponsored, crack down so hard on helping anybody and make the truly needy jump through hoops to prove they aren't just trying to con their way into freebies!
What a bunch of selfish twits!

[NeumeIndil]

[inglor]

Phone solicitor story:
Almost mother-in-law (almost married the girl...) got a phone call from a solicitor selling some widget or other. Almost mother-in-law politely (I don't doubt this, she was the nicest girlfriend's mother I ever had) declines and asks to be taken off thier call list. Solicitor promptly says: "Fine, then why don't you just go F*** yourself".

Almost mother-in-law went nuclear, then did some research, found out where she worked, called, got the manager and got the person fired.

There is justice.

Too bad the girlfriend had a head full of snakes.

Inglor

[Robbie]

We went to a hotel recently, and there was sperm floating in the bath.

Anyone beat that?

(Olims Hotel in Canberra, let's give them a free plug. Took 20 minutes to check in whist we were the only ones there, the third room key worked (had to keep going back to reception between each attempt), half of the room was not vacuumed and we were not on the breakfast lists in the morning even though we'd paid in advance... and that was their "delux room". Sperm was just the icing on the cake after all that lot.)

[SpaceWeavil]

[SilverMoonLady]