9 Responses

1. John Sherwood says:

   21 July, 2009 at 11:54 am

   BULLDOG BROADBAND – Prior to them being taken over by countless different companies, don’t know if they are better now.

   BB was down for weeks, repetitive calls to CS, spoke to many teenagers, whose stock response was, “It has been referred to technical.” Finally fixed after 3 weeks, damaged cable in switch, which BT had to fix, so that is, “nothing to do with us.”

   After that, they then started not taking direct debits, same teenagers told me there was a problem with the CRM system. During which time they were taken over. Then I have another company chasing me for late payment. I’m out of there now, never going back, I get cold shivers thinking about them…
2. Ben Everard says:

   21 July, 2009 at 11:55 am

   Purchase a Suzuki Motorcycle a few years ago, turned out the engine had seized whilst it was under warenty, dealer and Suzuki GB failed to honor the warentee because the bike hadn’t been serviced by them. The caved in after I contact my local trading standards office who informed me of my rights.

   This was just the start, as it took 10 weeks to repair the fault. At no stage in the repair process did I ever recieve a phone call about the progress, I had to visit them anytime I wanted to know what was going on.

   About 8 weeks in and I kicked off when I learnt that other bikes were being prioritised higher than mine, even though I had been informed that the parts were in stock. It was about week later when my bike was returned back to me.

   I had to take the bus 5 days a week for 10 weeks, but no compensation was awarded for my inconvenience, not even a little something to keep me sweet. To rub salt into the wounds they refused to apologise for the delays or experience, even when prompted by myself. Contact Suzuki GB to alert them of my issues and they shrugged it off.

   I’m only 21, but had spent 5 years in the retail sector and nothing is more important than customer service. It’s a shame that neither the dealer or manufacturer cared more, their actions have lost my custom, and a handful of my friends of whom have listened to me moaning about them.

   Now I have a BMW motorbike and am loving every minute of it.
3. Gillian says:

   21 July, 2009 at 1:45 pm

   I nominate Ebay and Paypal together. When there’s a dispute they don’t get involved. There is no way of contacting Paypal, no email address, no phone number, nothing. When I finally get them to talk to me through putting in a complaint about Paypal, they still do nothing. The seller first says we haven’t paid, then 3 weeks down the line says he’s sent the item (which he hasn’t) and still Ebay and Paypal do nothing. There are no guarantees with Paypal (despite what they advertise) so be very careful how much you pay out through them.
   Twitter ID netaddict
4. Anthony says:

   21 July, 2009 at 2:08 pm

   T-mobile Nightmare!
   Last year I decided it was time to move house and visited a mortgage advisor. After viewing several homes and was ready to make a decision I was informed that no mortgage company would touch me with a ten foot shitty pole as I was a ‘liability’. It would appear that despite enjoying a very very high credit rating in the past, I no longer had any credit available to me and was in fact a risk to lenders. I was advised to look into my credit profile and investigate the issue for myself.

   I contacted experian and ran my own credit report. This produced a gleaming result with one exception; i’d been issued with a default notice by T-mobile (further to be known as ‘them’). At this point i’d not been a customer of ‘them’ for 2 years (previously was a customer for 10 years!) and the amount I had allegedly defaulted on was ¬£39.

   I promptly contacted ‘them’ and was informed (after much debate and discussion) that this was in fact an error and this was money they owed me. I was assured that this would be rectified instantly and the moeny would be sent to me via a payment into my bank account.

   Time passed and no money, so I contacted ‘them’ once again and informed them over a further oversight. Much argument took place as there was no record of the money being owed to me and after even more arguing they then found it again. They informed me they were not able to pay directly into my bank as I was no longer a customer (cough*bullshit*cough) and could only provide me with a cheque through the post.

   Again, time passed and no money, so I contacted ‘them’ yet again (all at cost to myself I might add) and explained the issue once more. This time I was met with not only an argument over who the money was owed to but “undeniable proof” that the money was left outstanding from my final bill. The final bill i’ve never received or heard of and as all accounts were settled at the close of my account.

   This “undeniable proof” was a record on their finance system and a note to say I had refused to pay tyhe bill verbally. ‘They’ were able to produce no proof what so ever and refused to supply me with a copy of the call recording with completing a ‘Subject Access’ request (again, at my own cost).

   To put it mildly I was furious! Alas, ‘They’ are a very large, international company who care even less about me than I now do about them (i’m essentially less important than shit on their shoe). So, Having spoken with their finance department at length (and only when they call me as they “have no number!”. Yes, remember this is a telecommunications company) I reluctantly decided to pay the money to make the issue go away. This was because I was assured that the default notice would be removed completely. Three months later all ‘they’ had done was mark the default as settled and the default remains on my credit FOR THE NEXT SIX YEARS! And there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.

   BASTARDS.
5. James Pearson says:

   21 July, 2009 at 2:32 pm

   I’d have to go with a write in candidate: British Telecom

   I don’t mind international call centers, Be Internets call centers are in eastern europe and have the best trained, most polite, efficient call center staff I’ve ever used, but on the other side of the coin is BT.

   Their call centers were all shipped to India in the late 90’s and have staff educated to “Burger King” levels. They stuggle to understand the language, and if you are off the script of problems they know then you will not be able to get them to understand.

   The refuse / are unable to transfer you to the UK call center, the supervisor is the highest level you can talk to, they refuse to give any identification beyond their first name so you can reference them in future calls (of which there will be plenty because an issue is never resolved on the first call).

   The claim to have no complaints department, as everything is handled centrally… which means the same person your complaining about could be the one dealing with the complaint.

   I went to the extent of writing a letter of complaint to BT. 10 days later I got a call asking if I was happy with the service, the latter had been lost in processing.

   I resent the letter only to have someone phone me (minutes after I posted it) to go over the first letter.

   This has turned in to a long, none structured rant.. but that is what bad customer service results in.

   Oh one more thing, if you call them twice and hang up as soon as you are connected to an Indian call center rep, then on the third time you are put through to an English call center as it is assumed there are connection problems to India. WTF?!?

   I’d cast my vote a thousand time for British Telecom.
6. Steve Downes says:

   21 July, 2009 at 3:35 pm

   Now this is superbad customer service – read and weep. http://tinyurl.com/nm78uv

   [admin] We have added this as a ‘vote’ for BT.
7. Bob Cannon says:

   21 July, 2009 at 4:32 pm

   I vote for AT&T. They want your phone, mobile, internet and TV business.

   Try calling customer service and they invariably transfer you 47 times or give you another number to call. There is no one place to go to get help. It is maddening.
8. bea reygan says:

   21 July, 2009 at 7:10 pm

   The following happened to an elderly friend of mine,who at the time had been seriously ill.It left me with the feeling British Gas customer services are bullies.
   Ms X problem started in Dec2006,when an old meter was replaced.The old meter reading was taped to the new one by Transco,who also phoned through the old reading.The last bill to be paid from the old meter was Sep2006.The next Dec2006,then April2007.Some months later the new meter was read and the the old reading also.
   However no bill arrived.Concerned Ms X phoned CService to be told the bill was on its way.During 2007 Ms x made several phone inquiries regarding the absence of any bill,she always received the same answer,the bill was on its way.A gas bill arrived in March2008.Both myself and MsX were concerned the bill did not reflect the length of time she had waited.I rang CServices to be told in no uncertain terms the bill was correct.During August2008 the meter was read so MsX phoned CServices to make sure the bill was sent.She was told “there was nothing on the screen that showed a payment was due”.Within a few days a demand bill came which showed a charge of ¬£659.48.Then another with an adjusted billing of ¬£368.00.I phoned for some clarification as the summeries were difficult to understand.CServices were rude, uncooperative,and insistent only that MsX pays ¬£122 per month.In Sep2008 MsX returned home from hospital to find yet another bill for ¬£104.87,they had added this to the previous bill to the grand total of ¬£478.11.MsX phoned CServices,who admitted being unable to work it out,then hung up!MsX phoned Consumer Direct who advised her to phone Energy Watch,who in turn sent her through to British Gas head office,who didn’t want to know,telling her to contact ‘Essentials’ for future reference.Now desperate MsX referred back to Energy Watch who advised contact with the Ombudsman.The Ombudsman,agreed to make an exception to the 12month rule and became involved.The instruction by the Ombudsman is worth noting:”I remind British Gas that the supply of goods and services act 1982 states,’A company must provide their service with reasonable care and skill’if not British Gas could be breaking their contract with MsX”
   British Gas were asked by letter six questions,one of witch was:Why were British Gas advisors unwilling and unable to unravel and explain the billing summery?.Although MsX was given an apology,that question was never answered!!!! here’s to the next time Regards Bea.
9. Customer Service – the art of not disappointing your clients? - n3wmedia says:

   15 October, 2009 at 12:22 pm

   [...] not disappointing your clients? A short while back we asked people to tell us about examples of  bad service and which companies had disappointed them the most . There was no shortage of stories. This led me [...]