Customer Service Sucks

[Young Val]

Have you received bad service? Or have you served a bad customer? Come here and post your tales of woe!



Now, don't get me wrong. I started waiting tables when I was fourteen years old and continued to do so off and on until I was 23. God forbid I have have to do it again.

I've worked other customer service jobs as well, including working at three different libraries for a total of six years.

I am the most patient and understanding customer you will EVER meet (and yes, I'm very secure in putting myself that the top of that list).

Today I went to the Queens Library to get a library card and check out some books. Now, remember, I've worked in a library before. The building was completely quiet, there were no other patrons, and only one of the three women manning the front desk appeared to be doing "busy work," the other two were simply sitting.

I waited at least four minutes before anyone looked up to speak to me. Every question I asked was interrupted and conflicting information was barked at me. The women working there today were rude and entirely unhelpful. Clearly it was my first time in the library, as I was applying for a card, yet when I asked questions like "Where can I find the multimedia section?" (none of the sections were clearly labeled) I was answered in a completely condescending tone, as though the answer to my question was obvious (it wasn't; the multimedia section is on a different floor and totally obscured by the children's section).

Now, I've served worse customers than these women, and I've received far worse service than I had today. But something small like that really ruined my afternoon. I was really excited to learn that there was a library so close to my home. Previously i'd been using the NYPL and had to go into manhattan to browse. But these women made me feel uncomfortable looking around. When I finally got my library card I opted to leave and come back again later this week. It was disappointing.


Next time, I'll tell you some of my waitressing horror stories.

[Bevis]

A few years ago I was a dispatcher in a shipping department. One of my responsibilities was printing & handing out bills of lading to truckers who had been loaded. One day our computer system was down and I had to write the bills by hand. We were busy, anyway, and this only added to everyone's agitation.

Mostly in this situation I could explain to the truckers the problem, maybe try to make fun of company & get them laughing and they might grumble a little or just grin & bear it. This day, however, a guy who apparrently had the world resting firmly on his back, didn't like hearing that he'd have to wait in line for me to sign out the guys in front of him by hand before I could sign him out by hand. He began saying as loud as someone can say before they're officially screaming "This is ridiculous. I only get to eat supper with my feet under my own table once a month. I don't have to put up with this." Which, in fact, he did have to put up with the wait just like everyone else. I didn't care for his implicating that the problem was my fault. But worse than that is the fact that there were several other guys standing in the same spot as him while he was acting as if he was the only one dealing with any hardship. And the way he acted like it wasn't his own decision to be a semi driver.

[ratesjul]

A few weeks ago, when I went out to grab sushi for lunch, I ended up with about 4 or 5 different orders. I let a few people ahead of me in the line, and then made my requests during a slight lull. when I got up to order number 5, the guy behind me said "Look, can I just pay for this and go?"

The person at the till took his money and did so. I was peeved. That guy could have had FIVE people in the queue in front of him, and instead he had only one. And I wasn't umming and ahhing and trying to make up my mind, either.

Okay, so that's not bad customer service, that's just bad people.

[Dr. Mobius]

About a year and a half ago when I ordered my iBook from Apple's online store, it took forever for them to ship it. After a week and no word, I ended up having to call customer support and after playing phone tag, I found out that a freebie carrying case was back ordered at the warehouse and it was holding up my entire order (I had opted to have everything ship together). So I had them switch my order to ship separately since everything else was ready to go.

Getting my stuff from FedEx was a pain the ass as well. Somehow when she changed my order to ship separately, the signature requirement got screwed up because I ended up having do to drive to FedEx to pick up $100 worth of software that required a signature, yet the geniuses decided it would be a good idea to leave my $2000 computer sitting on the front porch while nobody was home.

In the end, that stupid freebie carrying case that I didn't want and have never used was the first thing to arrive.

(Yes, I've found more smilies than the chicken and tumbleweed.)

[Satya]

Yeah, recently I ordered the first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on DVD for a friend for his birthday - I placed the order the last week of January for his birthday in mid-February. Item description said "ships late January." Guess what? It's March 9 - still hasn't shipped. Customer service has been non-existent.