Stories of Bad Customer Service
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Is Customer Service Dead?
Caveat emptor is Latin for buyer beware, and many retailers would be wise to take note of how many wary customers they are driving away. Anytime, but particularly in these penny-pinching times, good customer service makes a difference. Below are three stories of shopping experiences that I never intend to repeat-- one in an Apple Genius Bar, one in Bed Bath and Beyond, the other in Barnes and Noble. I grant you that these are both big corporations with many stores and many employees, each of which differ regardless of the overarching corporate policies. Also, that I might be more demanding of good manners than some, and perhaps less so than others. At any rate, I hope that you can chuckle over my tales of woe, agree, disagree, defend, or commiserate as you see fit. So with that being said, and without further adieu, let the rants begin!
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Apple Anti-Genius Bar
My laptop computer recently needed a minor repair, and since it's a Mac, I took it to the Genius Bar inside the Apple store in Emeryville, CA. My designated "genius" said that I would need to leave my computer for at least two weeks while they got around to fixing it. The conversation went something like this: Me "Will it take two weeks to fix?" Genius "No, but we have a backlog of repairs. The actual repair will only take about two hours." Me "Oh, then why don't you call me when you can fix it, and I'll bring it in for two hours." Genius "Um, we can't do that." Me "Look, pal, I'm offering you money to fix my computer, but I can't leave it here for more than one day." Genius "Um, we can't do that." Lecturing the poor T-shirt-wearing keyboard-jockey would have been pointless because this is a systemic Apple customer service issue. But I'm not going to leave my computer to collect dust for 2+ weeks. My computer is essentially my office and Apple should understand that. After all, my mechanic has a system in place to get my car back quickly. Ironically, I don't use my car nearly as much as I use my computer! So much for Apple's half-baked repair service. Tom Smith agrees with me that "the Genius Bar is inefficient and unfriendly to the customer." Do you want to know what it takes to become a genius of the genius bar? Not much, according to the Gizmodo bloggers.
Read More...
- Penny Arcade! - The New Hotness
Read the Penny Arcade comic about an encounter with the Apple Genius Bar. - Earthly Happenings: The Apple Anti-Genius Bar
Complaints about Apple's "Genius Bars" are dropping like rotten apples.
Barnes and Not-So-Noble
Barnes & (not so) Noble Booksellers have been the subject of many complaints lately. Plenty of them can be found at Blog Critics Magazine, Complaints Board, Complaints.com, the Better Business Bureau, and on assorted online forums. There are records of all sorts of complaints-- everything from terrible customer service, to undisclosed charges, to failing to give credit for returned books. My personal gripe is with the membership pressure-sales.
I am tired of not being able to make a purchase at a Barnes and Noble store without receiving a sales pitch for a membership. The employee behind the register asks if I have a membership, then if I would like one, and then refuses to drop the subject. When I answer “no” to both questions, I am subjected to a reiteration of the benefits, often delivered in a tone and manner that seem to say “what’s wrong with you?” I have had to adamantly refuse the membership offer as many as four times during a single transaction. And don’t forget the little note on the receipt that says how much a member would have saved. Now, in addition to the membership pitch, I am being asked for my E-mail address so that BN can send me “coupons”. The cumulative result is that trying to buy a book at BN has become an irritating experience for those of us who don’t want to be members or hand over our e-mail addresses.
For example, this afternoon I went through the usual song and dance at a BN store. Ignoring the employee’s parting shot, “A member would have saved 20% on this type of book,” I bought my book and headed for the door. If I wanted to save money, I could have saved almost 50% by buying the book from Amazon.com. Instead of paying $18.40 online, I deliberately chose to pay $34 for the sake of buying the book in person and supporting local retail, and found myself being treated not as a customer, but rather as a target.
The experience then proceeded to get worse. On the way out, I noticed a couple of magazines that I wanted to read, so I went back and bought those from a different employee and had to go through whole routine again. But this time when he asked for my e-mail address and I said "No, I don't accept unsolicited e-mails" he promptly snapped "They wouldn't be unsolicited if you gave it to me", which was impertinent and rude. Between friends, such a conversation might have been acceptable, but this is not the way I want to be spoken to while I am trying to buy something in a store. I asked the young man if he had to sign up a certain number people a day, and he said he wouldn't tell me because I wouldn't give him my e-mail address. Which I also thought was rather impertinent. (After all, if BN employees will persist in asking me personal questions, such as my e-mail address, they should be prepared to answer a few of their own.)
Anyway, enough is enough! I know that BN stores and hence employees are under pressure to sign up new members, but I am tired of being on the receiving end of their sales pitches. Moreover, I am tired of their abrasive and sometimes beligerant manners when I repeatedly refuse. BN’s policy of sacrificing respectful behavior for the new member roll-call is unacceptable to me and to many in my acquaintance. On those grounds, I am returning the book that I bought at BN today. I will re-purchase that book from a different bookseller, I will share this story, and my days of shopping at BN stores and bn.com are at an end. “No thank you” means “no thank you.”
Bed, Bath, and Beyond-Bad Customer Service
In the past year, I have had to return three defective items to Bed Bath and Beyond, and on none of those occasions have I received an apology. Most recently, I had to make a special trip back to the store, stand in line, walk across the store to collect a replacement, stand in line again, be summoned to a register by a clerk who then left, replace eight AA batteries and check a product myself to see if it worked. Then I discovered that the clerk who had called me to the counter had vanished, and was informed that the register I was left standing at was not actually open and that my clerk was not coming back. It was unacceptably unpleasant. Ironically, when a young floor manager finally asked if anything “else” could be done for me, I was at a loss as to how to answer. After all, to that point, nothing had been done for me at all. I had done it all myself. When I return defective items to other stores, something that needs to be done with alarming frequency lately, someone usually takes the trouble to apologize for my inconvenience, then collects and checks a replacement item for me, but never at my local Bed Bath and Beyond. I receive more scripted “Hellos” and “How are yous” than I need, but would prefer to have some more genuine help, particularly when faced with the already irritating task of returning defective merchandise. BB&B’s prices are undeniably low, but I happily pay more elsewhere for real service (not just lip service) and more products not made in China. This most recent experience has served as the final straw in two respects. First, I intend to take a very long break from shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond. Second, I will no longer purchase products made in China due to the high fail rate. I understand that times are hard for many these days, and that retail shops in particular are feeling the economic pain, but with so much defective merchandise on the shelves, I urge you take make returns a bit more pleasant. Go and get a replacement for the customer, check that it works, and try adding “we are sorry for your inconvenience” to the customer service script.
Content Copyright Earthly Happenings
The young lady in this video (A.K.A. Consumer Queen) tells a story of receiving a damaged DVD and terrible customer service from Blockbuster.com:
This funny little skit about good and bad customer telephone support is brought to you by b3bonnes03:
Do you have a customer service story to tell?Loading...
Hello and Welcome, hsofyan! It's nice to meet you here on Hubpages! Having spent some time as a manager on the receiving end of customer complaints myself, I agree with you that after-sales services are frequently less considered than pre-sales, making life hard for those on the "front lines." Since there are five incidents in this hub, to which do you refer?
I have written a similar hub, not as well written as yours though. What can we as consumer do to combat this overall lack of service?
Hello bgpappa, and many thanks for your kind compliment! To answer your question, we teach people how treat us. Ergo, if you pay a company to treat you rudely, not offer you help, make you stand in tremendously long lines, then that company will probably not change its ways. If enough shoppers leave, taking their money with them, then company policy will probably change. Money talks, and each individual needs to decide what level of service is acceptable for him or her. Behavior that offends me, for example, may be perfectly acceptable to someone else. However, we each need to set our standards and uphold them. if a store or company doesn't meet my required level of service, I send them a polite letter informing them of the unacceptable incident AND stop buying from them. End of story. Game over. Sometimes this results in me driving a few miles farther to shop at a store that I like, or doing without something that i otherwise would have purchased, but that's a price that I'm willing to pay. Are you?
I've been treated extremely badly by Apple Service in China multiple times, I've documented this over at http://www.badappleservice.cn
Voicing complaints is the way forward, if you make a big enough fuss, then something gets done.
Thanks, Lawrence, for posting that link!
So I’m on the phone with Equifax because I can’t log in to their website to check my credit report. I do this sort of thing every so often. When I go to their website, I get an error message saying my browser is unable to display the content, but the site appears to be available, and I should check with my administrator or something. Thinking it might be a browser incompatibility, I try Firefox and Mozilla, but same problem. So I bravely try to reach equifax on the telephone. This is more of a challenge than usual, because I can’t access their website to get the customer support number. After hunting around in my email archive, I see my registration confirmation, and there’s a number. Cool. The first rep I get is just not digging me. I tell her I’m using Firefox, and she tells me to open Internet Explorer. I tell her I don’t have Internet Explorer. She says “why not? That’s the browser our system is designed to work with.” I respond that Web is not supposed to be limited to a particular browser, and besides, when I registered for the service it worked fine without it. She says “please hold on” and...hangs up. I call back and get a different person. (That may seem obvious, but I once placed an order with Sears for some freezers...called back four or five days later to check on status...at the national call center...got the same woman in Phoenix. She was very nice, too.) I run the same bit with him, and after he asks for my Social Security number (because THAT will solve their web problems) and I refuse, and we go through the browser dance, he asks the big question...”you’re not using a Macintosh, are you?” I said yes, why does that matter? Content is content, right? Him: “Well, sir, some of our users who use Macs are having trouble logging into the system right now.” Me: “First, I’m not having trouble logging in; I can’t bring any webpage that is in the Equifax.com domain. Not customer support, not the home page, and not the login screen. Second, I’ve been having this problem since early March.” Him: “Our technical department is working on this. In the meantime, can you use a different computer to access the site?” Me: “Tried that. My MacBookPro, my wife’s powerBook, my G4 desktop, hell, even my iPhone.” Him: “What about a Windows computer?” Me: “Nope, no interest in one of those. Is Equifax owned by Microsoft?” Him: “I don’t know about that, sir.” Me: “So, really, you’re telling me that my subscription to your service is worthless because I’m not using the operating system you prefer.” Him: “I would be happy to extend your subscription for you.” Me: “How long do you think it will take to resolve this problem?” Him: “Well, many of our Mac users are having trouble logging in right now.” Me: “Wait a second. Your system is incompatible with this operating system...representing, what, 10-15% of your customers, maybe more...and you’re telling me it’s their problem?” Him: “I would be happy to extend your subscription for another year.” Me: “Well, okay, but if I can’t log in, then it’s not much use to me, is it?” Him: “Is there a compatible computer you could use?” Me: “That’s a great idea. I’ll just find a helpful friend who uses Windows and download my sensitive personal financial data onto his or her hard drive. I hope their subscriptions to Norton Anti Virus is up to date.” Him: “That would be great.” Me: “I think I would prefer to keep my credit report on my computer, thanks. How long can you extend the subscription?” Him: “One year. Can I have your credit card please?” Me: Now, at this point I usually go ballistic, remind the CSR that he is as a matter of plain fact an idiot, and hang. But I hung on, and it was worth it. Him: “Sir?” Me: “I think I would rather get the service up and running again before I buy another 12 months of this, whatever this is. Can you at least compensate me for my inability to access the service now?” Him: “I can’t do that, but I can renew your current subscription.” Me: “You know, I can access TransUnion and Experian just fine, I’ll sign up with them.” Him: “I can give you a free month.” Me: “Uh huh.” Him: “Thank you. I would like to verify that you received excellent service on your issue today. Did I resolve all of your issues?” Okay, wait for it. Me: “In a manner of speaking, I guess. But I still can’t log in or even look at your website.” Him: “Thank you, sir. If you have any further questions, please visit our web site at www.equifax.com.” Me: <head explodes>
Thanks for the story, John!
I can understand being upset about not having your computer for 2+ weeks, but it's not the 'Genius' clerk's fault if they're backlogged with repairs. It only stands to reason that if they get a lot of repair orders in, they would never get a spare two hours.
As for the B&N experience, it is annoying, but it's the way the world is going. Customers are targets to corporations and any business, really. Working in a library, we are trained heavily in customer service, and we are trained to be more personal. Some people consider this to be rude and impertinent, but the majority find it a comfort from the formal business attitude you expect, so I would assume that's what he was going for.
It's really hard to find a middle ground that pleases everyone in customer service, because some customers are extremely sensitive. It takes experience to be able to read the customer and know how to treat them, and in the stores you mention, most of the time the employees are still very inexperienced.
I try to give them the benefit of the doubt, because it's usually not specifically their fault :(
What will it take to have a company see that employees that give horrible customer service are hurting their bottom line? How does hiring people to work in home improvement stores help if they do not know what the store actually sells? Why do loud, obnoxious, rude people get hired to work in major department stores? Where is the customer service in that? Why are we all tolerating this needless means of customer service? It happens all over the U.S everyday and night at airports, departments stores, doctors offices, schools, mall, restaurants, hotels, everywhere. We need to ban together and demand that companies do more to answer to the consumer. I bet if we stopped shopping in their businesses they would take action, care to join the revolt?
Get rid of bad customer service and keep great customers. Stop the needless hiring of unqualified employes to save money on your bottom line.
Bought a TV off the clearance rack at the Sams in Flint Mi. Got home and the Tv was defective, 1/2 of the screen was blank, by tapping on the front the picture comes and goes. Called the Sams Club I normally go to in Waterford Mi as its 20 mins vs. 1.5 hrs. Asked the store if I could return this Tv there when i bought it in Flint. Yes you can she told me. I loaded it up and went, waited for the electronics dude and showed him what it was doing, He said he had never seen this before, I never thought to tap the TV in the store. Well along comes Mr. Taylor the store manager looks at the receipt and says he will not accept the tv and to take it to flint. I offered to show him the phone record showing I had called his store. He said he was doing his job and made his decision not to take the TV. I told him to cancel my membership, he told me I would not be able to return the TV to the Flint store if i cancelled, but to return the tv to flint and come back to his Sams Club and HE WOULD GLADLEY CANCEL IT. I went home to no TV to watch as it was too late to drive all the way to Flint. I have all night to think about all of my family and friends who can also cancel their memberships. I'll pick up the extra for all of us to get Costco memberships.
I hate web sites, such as Pay Trust and True Credit, that do not give you any way to close your account with them online. They let you open an account without ever requiring a phone call or a personal contact, but to close your account, you must call their number. They say it is to secure your account, but if my credential submission online is secure enough for me to use the site and the data of mine that they hold, then it is secure enough to allow me to close the account without having to call. Of course, the requirement to call is to give them one last chance to pressure me into staying with their service.
You know what? All the big corporations regardless of industry are treating customers the same way....IGNORING THEM. They just want to cull your personal information for their own ends and ignore your needs completely. My advice is to not shop them, go with small mom & pop local businesses. I'm am sick of tired of being asked for my first born male child every time I go to the mall to buy socks!
I purchased a daily diary from timetravelerusa.com (based in in Dania Beach, FL) the middle of Dec 2010 and was told I would receive it 'quickly', was reassured several times that they were processing my order and come to find out that not until today 01.07.10 nothing was done. This is very poor customer service and I will not be purchasing any more of their products in the future. I was charged for faster shipping due to their laziness. Their website says those with annual subscriptions should receive their products in the middle of Oct and come to find out they don't bother doing their jobs until Jan. Had they shipped it in Oct, I wouldn't need faster shipping. If it took 3 weeks it wouldn't matter as much. Its unfortunate too because the product is superior to all the other calender/journal products I have found. Don't waste your time, aggravation and money dealing with this company. Shop elsewhere.
I purchased a suitcase from Samsonite that was was damaged (a wheel broke off) while in transit from London to Tel Aviv. I only used it on a two flights, from New York, USA to London, UK and then a on a trip from London to Tel Aviv, Israel.
The dealings with this problem were problematic from the start as I did not receive a prompt reply from Samsonite customer support using their online support system. It took them from the 29th of October until the 16th of November just to assign it to the proper person.
After initial investigation of the problem, Samsonite discovered that they do not have spare parts for this suitcase, even though I purchased it in August 2010.
On the 18th of November I was told that I could replace it with a similar product of the same type and value. After what seemed like a very reasonable solution I found out that I received a price limit based on the price I paid in the US. Before I headed out to the regional offices in Israel I compared the prices of similar products on the local website. The price differences made the possibility of receiving the same type of product impossible.
I pointed this out to the regional representative but to no avail. She did however reply she felt it was presumptuous that I chose to write in English.
I attempted to convey my disappointment to the European Samsonite representative but they ignored me completely.
After about a month and a half waiting for some kind of response I attempted to contact the USA customer support centre but they continuously directed me back to the European offices. With much patience and persistence I finally managed to catch the attention of the USA office that directed the European office that in turn directed the Israeli office to send me the same proposal over again.
I am frustrated from a customer support team that seems bent on ignoring the issues raised by their client.
I have given up on finding any understanding from Samsonite. The only comfort I hope to find is telling as many people know that buying Samsonite's “lifetime guarantee” is a more a guarantee for agonising customer support for poorly built products.
You got the point. Ever since i encountered this I got discourage about the services of other people. In this case you lose much money and gaining them more money, It is not actually good,isn't it? Just a thought.
how about checking also this blog
Please be carefull to understand the Avmed benefits in Miami agency. In my case were superficial and not real .You wll find out when time come disagreement between what was told you at the time of the contract and at the time of the care and even during the care avmed people told me different thinks. Very confusing looking for a new company.
My experience can best be summed up with the following video . . . ENJOY!
while shopping at copps food center in madison wisconsin, I asked the liquor employee what was the best wine to go with fish. He said any kind,walked away from me, said fag. I went to the service desk asked to see a manager to which the emplyee said that was the manager. I do not spend a penny at any of the copps stores anymore.
VERY BAD customer service at the Bargain Shop in Ponoka, Alberta. A family member of mine went into the Bargain Shop to buy a sweater. The cashier cuts off the tag (and throws it on a stack of boxes behind her) without being asked, when asked for the tag back the cashier refused. When asked why can't he have the tag back she(the cashier) said because he might return it. (So? Isn't it up to the customer to make that decision, who's money is it anyway. I know there are certain policies but this employees wants to make it "a final sale". If the Bargain Shop wants final sale policy they should be up front with their customers and say final sale on all purchases or it makes customers believe that they have sneaky or shady business practices.) The customer refused to back down to the cashier until she gave the tags. Due to principle, the customer told her to call the cops. The cops arrive. When the cops arrive she told the cops the same reason that she told the customer that she cut it off and did not want to give the customer the tag because he might return the purchase. The cops got his tags back and said that he did not do anything wrong they shook their heads to the silliness on the cashier's behalf because it was as simple as just giving back a tag. The customer felt some satisfaction in getting back his tag on principle and the fact that three cops were present to witness the rudeness and weirdness in this event that the customer had to go through in dealing with bad customer service.
This evening I went to the Target store on 20th Avenue in College Point N.Y. to purchase a couple hundred dollars worth of candies as I do every holiday season. Before I started my shopping I needed to return an $11.00 moisturizer that I had purchased – I explained that a store credit would be fine as I was about to do a lot of shopping. Since I had recently lost my driver’s license they refused to accept my return of the moisturizer despite the fact that I had two photo ID’s (one from my town’s Village Hall) and a number of other forms of identification. They kept me and my handicapped mother waiting there for over 30 minutes trying to resolve this minor issue. The complete ineptitude on the part of the Supervisor named Sara and all the customer service people at the 1-800-440-0680 number was simply incredible.
At 7:48 p.m., when I initially called the 800 number, I spoke to a man who said his name was Felix, he refused to help me and when I asked to speak to a supervisor, Felix left me on hold for over 10 minutes before disconnecting me. I called back and spoke to a man who said his name was Paul, he too was useless as was my final call to Shane, a supervisor who was equally incompetent. Why does Target bother having a so-called customer service desk and phone number if no one has the mental capacity to retain a customer?
My mother and I left the store and promptly went to our local Rite Aid where we spent $250 on chocolates and popcorn. We are taking a stand to no longer support businesses like Target that do not respect their customer and that bring America down with inane policies and staff that lacks any training. We will only support businesses with excellent customer service like Nordstrom Bed, Bath & Beyond, etc. Do these companies not understand how easily they can be damaged with Social Media outlets? Not only did they lose several hundred dollars in business this evening but they have lost at least two customers due to their utter foolishness. Neither I or my mother will ever longer set foot in a Target store again.
hsofyan 3 years ago
Service is the most important factors for customers. After sales services are often less considered by producers / distributors. I participated on the incident concerned.
Best regards..