Nominations for the worst customer service

Peter10d

Peter10d

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Nominations for the worst customer service

In the last few years I am finding the level of customer service from various companies to be unacceptable.
If you were to name just one, who would get your nomination and why do you think standards are so poor?
It could be a utility company, online company, or high street store.
I could certainly name a few; however I will start with Dell :razz:
 
I could name quite a few also, but these are all for the same issues.......lack of UK call centres.
 
BT. Hate their CS with a passion. Had quite a few issues over the last 3 years. They are completely useless no matter if your talking to an Indian call centre or a UK one.
 
beanbandit said:
BT. Hate their CS with a passion. Had quite a few issues over the last 3 years. They are completely useless no matter if your talking to an Indian call centre or a UK one.
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+1 Bt is all I thought of seing the title!

Supposedly Severn Trent were voted the worst custmoer service, but I always go on with them.

BT, followed by N-Power, then Tiscali. And on a much more local level, one of our very own till staff. I honestly don't know why people shop with us when she's on :shrug:

Oh and I forgot Natwest, don't even get me started on them!
 
British gas home care. Woeful, truly woeful.
 
Useless Parcel Service (that's UPS for short!)
 
I am guessing that pretty much every company in the uk will have both horror stories of woeful customer service, and also tales of where the the same company has exceeded the customers expectations.

Because one person has a crap experience does not a crap company make.

Isn't there an old adage (forget the numbers now) but along the lines of people tell say 3 people about a good experience but about 12 of a poor one.........

Probably why we hear more about poor service than excellent. :shrug:


Seems to be a lack of point or constructiveness to the thread so far. If I am to believe what is written above, BT, Dell, NPower, Tiscali , and UPS are all woeful - though I have no idea as to why. :shrug:
 
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TalkTalk (totally hopeless) followed by Endsleigh (made some horrible mistakes) and Virgin (the call centre bit is annoying)

Wait, I had pleasure dealing with BT, also highly commended
 
That's easy. I have never in my life been dealt with so shoddily by a company in all my life as I had trying to get a warranty claim and subsequent return of goods, damaged, than I had when returning a powerwasher to Lavor UK. They held the unit to ransom then didn't want to know when it arrived at my door damaged. The female on the other end of the phone was so cheeky I gave up for the sake of my health as I got so stressed over the whole affair.:bang: Wickes didn't exactly come out of it well either as it was them that sold me the unit and although polite, would not help either. Two companies I will never deal with again such was the bad experience I had.:shake:
 
wilkinsons the high street store

went in and bought some bambo style garden decoration onyl had 1 roll in

i asked the lady at the desk ( manager ) about ordering another one in if they didnt have any stock left

to which i got quoted there is no more in the back it will be here the next day other than that your out of luck

popped in 2 hours later and guess what was sitting on the shelf so grabbed it and took it to the check out and asked the manager where it come from , she ignored me and walked away

a few weeks later i was stood in a que and a customer was trying to complain about a product he was been nice about it and al she come out with was not my problem .

she still works there this was almost a year ago
 
Orange :bang:
 
+1 for SKY.

I have to have TV with them (as i want sport) but have recently moved away from phone and broadband as they were appalling. I had major issues with broadband speeds and connection loss. As i'm a telecoms engineer i completed my own diagnostics and found the issue to be with Sky. Sky told me for 4 months that it was the BT line in to the property from the exchange.

Cut a long story short, changed to BT. I'm on the same cabling from the exchange and all is ok. Proving that Sky was the issue.

A local BMW dealership have also been very shabby, so i voted with my feet there too and changed cars.

I always make sure that i tell companies if the service is sub-standard. I also tell them when the service is good. I spent 10 years in the service industry so know that a thumbs up is always appreciated.

So good companies: Honda (now own one!), HSBC, Thomas Cook, Emirates Airline, Fitness First. There are alot more but the companies are local one off's so pointless putting on here.
 
I bet there are some on here that are poor for customer service.....or so the countless threads lead me to believe!!!!
 
BT without a doubt.

Even their business support is awful.
 
BT.

The short version is the internet wasn't working and I wanted to complain. He told me to go to www.bt.com.

I lost it.
 
Natwest, completely shoddy service before the "charter" and still as useless this day.
 
T-Mobile, when I have to call them it sends a shiver down my spine........

The best must be First Direct.
 
Lynton said:
Seems to be a lack of point or constructiveness to the thread so far. If I am to believe what is written above, BT, Dell, NPower, Tiscali , and UPS are all woeful - though I have no idea as to why. :shrug:
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I'll happily explain it all to you but I doubt you actually care that much

Since this is a thread about bad customer service, There aren't going to be many positive comments are there?
 
Any company where I have to go through more than 2 menus to speak to a real person
 
BT.

I complained of being charged for broadband although the service provided was no quicker than dial-up. At the end of a drawn out process eventually involving an 'independent' ombudsman, I was told that I didn't complain enough when I was a customer to warrant any action.

Total P*ss boiler.
 
IanC said:
Orange :bang:
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Without a doubt, 10 weeks of the same questions and answers and no broadband, the problem WAS in the exchange after all, it was better after I was in contact with the critical call centre, UK based, but not much better.
 
Peter10d said:
why do you think standards are so poor?
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Standards are poor because companies compete on price so make savings in other areas to maintain margins.

The reason companies compete on price is that many customers equate "cheapest" with "best" and buy on that basis, then complain when the cheap product that they bought comes from a company that consequently has no money to provide good quality customer service.

Or put another way, you only get what you pay for.
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
I'll happily explain it all to you but I doubt you actually care that much

Since this is a thread about bad customer service, There aren't going to be many positive comments are there?
Click to expand...


Try me - for all you know I could be the Customer Experience director at BT. (I'm not by the way)

My point is............. why bleat and whinge without saying why bleating and whinging.........

For example I think Co-op east anglia is woeful! Why do I think that? The prices on the shelves often do not match the price at the till and always 100% one way that happens as well. Speak to the regional manager about it and "It's a system error" - no it's the geek who uploaded the wrong pricing database error. The "system" always does what it's programmed and told to do.

Crap in. Crap out.


Anyhow, I am fed up with this purile crap of "Sainsbury's are nasty", and "BA are bar stewards" so I'll bow out of trying to get a meaningful debate and leave you to it....
 
Peter10d said:
BT seem to coming up a lot and this one is my favourite:lol:
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I'd been having a nightmare with BT regarding my broadband service, wasn't being listened to at customer service and passed from pillar to post. I asked who to contact to make a complaint...I rang and was greeted by "welcome to BT's centre of excellence". It was a red rag to a bull.
 
Santander get my vote, my sister and I were co signers on our Dad's bank account, when Dad died, we wrote to them to transfer the account to our addresses as there were still direct debits set up on it to pay bills until his house was sold.. When we notified them, they sent me a form to fill out as vital information was missing such as name and address including post code. I wonder how they managed to send me the form then. Then they sent me a letter confirming they had changed my address but mentioned that they had now noticed it was a joint account and the other person hadn't contacted them so their mail would continue to be sent to my Dad's house. My sister had already sent them her details, then they wanted to know when she changed her name, she never has. I can understand many people could be opening the mail and dealing with it but surely all details get entered into a common file.
 
If you think BT is bad try TalkTalk. All I tried to do was cancel my account, it was painful, so very painful. In the end I sent a mail asking them to change their slogan to 'TalkTalk, officially worst than BT'. Somehow I don't think this helped. :D
 
+1 for BT, absolutely useless and unhelpfull:thumbsdown:
 
I nominate 3 mobile internet,payg.

a monthago i ran out of credit so rather than use my usual top-up method of buying a voucher and entereing the code on the 3 page i decided to use my debit card.i followed the required procedure but on checkout there was a problem and the 3 site said my debit card was not accepted saying that i had entered something wrong,so i did it again and again it said the same so very carefully i entered my details for a 3rd time and once again my card was declined.i then went to my online bank to see if there was a problem with my card and it showed that 3 times 3 had taken my money.i then rang by bank and they again confirmed that 3 had got my money,my bank could do nothing as it was a secure payment method and i should contact 3 direct.
that evening i used up £33 of my payg phone credit and got nowhere with them,each time they said my bank was at fault and i should contact my bank again.next day after going into my 'physical' bank they said that they could do nothing due to the secure method of payment and i should contact 3 again.after running out of my next £20 of payg credit i decided to walk in to a 3 shop and expalined to the sales rep my problem,they put me on there phone to customer service.after nearly an hour of them saying my bank was at fault i insited on speaking to a superviser and again nowhere so i demanded to speak to a mangaer who after much insistance 3 had done nothing wrong,i made it clear thnat i would not move until something was done to get my money back.

he then gave me an immediate half Gb of 3 internet and said my money would be back in my account in 3 days,it wasnt and im still waiting 3 weeks later.the matter has now been passed to my bank who are now reclaiming my money from them on the grounds they have failed to supply the service i have paid for,fortunately my bank have all the details of the online transaction as proof and even phoned 3 who still say they have done nothing wrong

and on top of this im over £50 out of pocket on my phone calls

ive been using 3 mobile internet on payg for almost 3 years but would not recommend anyone using their credit card option to pay for it,their customer service is '*****'

you have been warned


peter
 
I'd like to nominate Evans Halshaw Ford in Milton Keynes for this award, and heres why;

I recently got another Mondeo as a company car as one of the other guys was leaving so rather then cancel the lease agreement they gave it to me to use. First day out in it, it started raining and the wipers were knackered so I couldn't see a thing. Quick google on the phone, found Halfords to find that they don't stock those blades (they are the flat cartridge type ones). Never mind, another google search and a full Ford centre is 2.3 miles away.

So in I go to the parts desk and ask for a pair of wipers for my car. £63 inc vat was the total, I was shocked but was kindof forced to go with it as I still had a lot of miles to do. I go outside, try to fit them and can't get them in. Side by side comparison and the attachment is the wrong one. Back in I go with new and old blades to explain that they don't fit and pointed out why. The parts guy at that point decided to argue with me that I was fitting them wrong, and they were definately the right ones despite the two sat in front of him looking blatantly different. I asked him to fit them, he refused and told me to go to the service desk and ask them to fit them, which I did. The service guys don't normally fit wiper blades but as I was a bit wound up one of them came out and tried, only to confirm its the wrong one. Back in we go. And back to the parts desk. The next bit I just found incredibly rude. The parts guy knew I was there, had seen me but hadn't acknowledged me or said anything like "be with you in a moment". So more irate I get.

After demanding to speak to the dealer principal and requesting a full refund on the unused parts one of the workshop technicians goes and fits a pair of wipers to my car. Got there in the end, but it took 40 minutes and the most expensive set of wipers I've ever bought.

Lynton said:
I think Co-op east anglia is woeful!
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I feel your pain! Its not just the pricing thing, its the generally sour attitude and lack of speed with the staff that really riles me up. And if you complain they just look at you or give you an address to write to.
 
Royal Mail - went to pick up an item today (monday) they tried to deliver on saturday. Card said pick up on monday onwards. Guy in sorting office had a 30 second look for it, came back and said "it's not there...they are always doing this....it'll be in a post office branch being returned just now". From there he went down the roads of "it's not my fault" and along to "I couldn't care less".....he kept calling me by the wrong name and when I picked him up on this I was told I was being "pernickitcky". Spoke to the delivery manager who was even more of a muppet and didn't have a clue how anything worked and after consulting with original screwball simply repeated all the same nonsense. Eventually I got him to admit it was their error and to arrange for it to be re-delivered tomorrow morning first thing. Pants service all round.
 
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