Remember the disgruntled Range Rover owner in England who lettered his complaints on the vehicle and parked it in front of the dealership? Reader M.H. discovered his American counterpart standing in front of a Hyundai dealership in Vancouver, Washington.
bad customer service
Reckon Offers 12 Months of Excuses, Still No T-Shirt
By 5.5.09
Reckon is a company that sells silkscreened designs of celebrities on various articles of clothing. Seriously, where else can you get a Morrissey onesie? Dan ordered a custom t-shirt with a design of Larry David on it in April of 2008. He’d like to report on the fit and quality of the shirt, but he can’t, because he hasn’t received it yet.
Sears Loses Lawnmower, Shrugs
By 4.27.09
Tracy needed a new lawn mower, and ordered one online from Sears. Later that day, an email arrived announcing that the lawnmower was ready for pickup. For whatever reason, Tracy wasn’t able to make the 17-mile trip out to the store until more than a week later. The mower was….well, nobody quite knows what happened to the mower.
Louis Vuitton's CSI Handbag Division Won't Let Customer Return $700 Purse
By 4.27.09
Kristie wanted a specific bag, in a specific size, and ordered it directly from Louis Vuitton. They sent her correct item, but in the wrong size. They had sent her the Speedy 25, which costs $25 less and is quite a bit smaller. The company sent her a pre-paid shipping label so she could return the bag and they could correct their mistake. Two weeks later, she received the same box back, with a letter informing her that the bag had obviously been used, and they wouldn’t accept the return.
CitiBusiness Strands Customer In The Middle Of The Pacific With No Credit Card
By 4.15.09
Skye is on a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean without any way to pay for things, because Citibank canceled his card due to a security breach and didn’t bother to warn him first. What’s worse, they’re making him call repeatedly to try to fix it, which is costing him $3.50/minute because he’s in the middle of an ocean.
E-Harmony Gives You 58 Dimensions Of Suck By Billing You For Two Accounts
By 3.3.09
Update: eHarmony has returned the money.
Fandango & Regal Play Blame Game For Missing Tickets
By 2.16.09
After waiting in line ~10 minutes I swipe my credit card only to get the following message “Tickets cannot be found, please try another machine.” After trying several other machines, I quickly realize that nobody can find their tickets.
US Airways And Delta Duel Over The Phone For Most Incompetent Airline Ever Award
By 2.16.09
Want a great example of the broken state of airline customer service in this country? Try a four-way conference call between yourself, Amex Travel, US Airways, and Delta. You’ll see firsthand how CSRs from the two airlines can play the “it’s not our responsibility” so well that even a devoted Amex Travel rep can’t get them to solve your problem.
Bank Of America Blames You And Your Dead Mother For Financial Crisis
By 2.6.09
CSR: Oh, that’s really not the way to look at it. I know that if it were my mother, I’d pay it. That’s why we’re in the banking crisis we’re in: banks having to write off defaulted loans.
1800mattress.com Will Give You Free Pillows, But That Doesn't Mean It Has To Like You
By 1.27.09
We love it when what’s supposed to be internal communication leaks out to the customer—it gives you such clear insight as to how a company really feels about you. In the case of 1800mattress.com, calling to complain about a missed delivery date makes you “difficult.” But hey, they’ll still send you some free pillows.
Samsung Stalls And Lies For A Year Over Broken Photo Frame
By 1.22.09
Dave bought his mother a Samsung digital photo frame for Christmas—Christmas a year ago, and it stopped working after just a few weeks. Since then, Dave has tried regular customer service and executive customer service, he’s waited on hold for up to 2 hours at a time, and he’s waited patiently for RMAs that are promised but never sent. Now it looks like he’s throwing in the towel: “I no longer have the time or energy to waste with them.” You win this battle, Samsung! But you do realize that Dave—a small business owner who has made large Samsung purchases in the past—will never buy another one of your products, right?
Why Can't You Understand That Hobbytron Does Not Want To Talk To You?
By 1.17.09
Hector ordered one product from Hobbytron and received something else. He tried to contact them to arrange a return, but every avenue they offered didn’t work, or funneled him to an alternative method. He finally recieved an RMA from them, but no instructions or description of what happens next. Hobbytron is really busy right now, Hector! They don’t need your guff!
Is Silicon Solar Ripping Off Its Customers, Or Is It Just Incompetent?
By 1.12.09
Update: company co-founder Matt addresses some of the accusations in a comment below. Why are there so many complaints online about Silicon Solar? One customer, Dennis, told us how he was lied to by a salesman, then strung along by a woman in customer support until the 14-day return period had expired. A quick Google search turns up dozens of similar stories about being treated badly by customer service, receiving products that don’t work as advertised, and never being given the RMAs necessary to send items back. Writes one reviewer on DavesGarden.com, “I can’t express the anger and frustration I felt when dealing with this company.”
AT&T Says Your Jesus Phone Can Be In Three Places At Once, So Pay Up
By 10.9.08
Wow, those iPhones really are amazing. Chris’ iPhone can make a call from Nicaragua the same time it’s incurring a data roaming charge in Mexico—all without leaving Chris’ side in the U.S. Some skeptics will probably just say there’s a problem with AT&T’s records, or the phone’s SIM card was cloned or something, but AT&T believes. That’s why they want Chris to pay that bill each month it keeps happening.
Proactiv Saleswoman Goes Insane When You Try To Return The Product
By 9.27.08
Amanda just had a frightening experience with the woman at the Proactiv kiosk in her hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi: “[Mall security] told me to come over and get away from her because she would not stop yelling, and refusing to do anything until I was out of her sight.” [Update: we’ve received more information on who to contact to resolve this issue. Check out the bottom of the post for details.]
USAA Temporarily Deletes 14k Roth IRA, But Won't Explain Why
By 9.24.08
USAA just pulled a huge mindf#@k on Travis and his wife, and now he wants to talk to someone high enough up the chain to find out what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. His wife “went online yesterday to check on some transactions and discovered her IRA balance was $0. Six hours prior to that, her balance was $14,000.” When she tried to find out what had happened, the first CSR she spoke with told her she had no IRA account, and the second CSR told her to refresh her browser. Yeah, you know how these newfangled browswers are always wiping out retirement accounts.
Indoo Ships Your Textbooks To You When They Feel Like It
By 9.19.08
Don’t order textbooks from Indoo.com if you need them right away, because they’re a little casual with their shipping. Joe ordered two textbooks on September 5th. Four days later on September 9th, they sent him an email saying they’d been shipped via USPS Priority mail. They hadn’t arrived by the 16th, so Joe emailed to ask what was going on. They responded that actually the books had been shipped on September 11th via USPS Priority and that “the arrival expectation is 4 to 5 business days.” Joe received one of the two books yesterday, on September 17th, which would have been 5 business days after the 11th. Still no sign of the other book.
Continental Confuses California With NYC?
By 9.12.08
[Update: Several commenters have pointed out that “Ontario, CA” actually refers to Ontario, California, which is near L.A. And to be fair to the OP, we’re the ones who misinterpreted Ontario, not her. We’ve updated the post. Also, check out Fly Girl’s insider explanation as to what likely happened.]
Continental canceled one leg of Lesley’s flight from NYC to California without notice—she only discovered it when she went online to check that everything was okay this morning. What’s worse, however, is the alternative flight plan they proposed, which would have her going from NYC to Houston to California and immediately back to Houston to NYC again, depositing her 20+ hours later in Newark, New Jersey—where we presume a gang of Continental employees will be waiting for Lesley at the gate to beat the crap out of her with confiscated water bottles. East Coast hates West Coast, Lesley!
