Your Worst Customer Service Experience?

[Jeremy]

Just curious to hear some of your stories about horrid customer service. Does not matter if it was from Apple, AT&T, Sprint, etc... anything goes. A while back I posted a experience I had in a local AT&T store in another thread but here is the replay:

Just wanted to share my latest visit to a local AT&T store... AVOID the ORLAND PARK IL store at all costs ladies and gentleman. And if any of you think I am off base please let me know. Hopefully more of you will be on my side rather than against me on this one.

Here is my email to corporate - says it all.

Hello, I would just like to let you know about a incident I had in one of your corporate stores [Orland Park, IL (708) 460-6633] on November 11th, 2008. I purchased the HTC Fuze from the store and once I got to my car to open the box I noticed it was already open. The box contained no booklets, the phones battery cover was off the phone in the bottom of the box with scuff marks all over it, it had two separate batteries - one being a motorola battery, and the phone itself looked like it was a poorly taken care of phone. After seeing this I went right back into the store where I was greeted by the manager. I politely asked for a unopened box since I was paying $500.00 for a "new" phone. He then went on to tell me that the phone I did receive was new and that they just got that in. Not only is that insulting to me, especially when I am paying good money for a new device but for the manager to try to pass that phone off as a new device is just flat out pitiful. I really could not believe what I was hearing so I then asked him to give me a new phone or I would like a full refund. He blankly stared at me with no response, I then proceeded to my car to get my receipt for the refund. When I came back the manager was no where to be found and another worker told me they would go get me a new one, which she did. The bottom line is I'm not looking for anything, I would just like you to know what kind of person is running your Orland Park IL store. Before this happened I'd be more than happy to tell people to get AT&T service and now after this it is kind of hard to do that. One thing for sure is I will let people know to avoid that particular store. Thank you for your time. It is much appreciated.

Can anyone top that?

 

[Duvi]

Nope... I get great CS. If I don't, it's just me trying to pull a fast one.

 

[Jeremy]

Nope... I get great CS. If I don't, it's just me trying to pull a fast one.

Consider yourself lucky.

 

[Leanna Lofte]

I had a bad experience at the Apple Store in Santa Rosa, CA.

After my dad surprised me with my 1st gen 8g iPhone, I went to Apple to buy a case for it. I chose some crappy skin case that wasn't very snug. It collected dust under it very easily and was showing signs of scratching the metal around the glass. When I purchased it, I asked the guy if I could return it if I hated it and he said that was fine as long as it was within x number of days. He did not say anything about keeping the box and neither did the reciept that Apple emailed to me. It didn't take long for me to realize how horrible the case was. Unfortunately, my husband had actually decided to clean (wtf?) and threw away my packaging. I showed up with the case in perfect condition and my reciept to return it. The manager basically laughed at me for not having the packaging and told me I couldn't return it. I explained to him that the case was actually damaging my iPhone and that I was interested in purchasing a different case that was twice as much. He said that's fine, but I couldn't return the crappy one, but I was more than welcome to purchase the better one. I threw a fit, lol. He gave me some bull crap about how he was just going to have to throw the case in the garbage if he accepted the return and that he'd get in big trouble. I seriously fought (loudly) with this guy for 20 minutes right by the cash register. When I asked him for his supervisor's phone number he snatched the case from my hand and proceeded to do the return. Customers in line were appauled at the manager and told him so and "congratulated" me for not giving up. I may be little and look like I'm 15, but I'm stubborn as can be! I will win.

 

[Duvi]

Consider yourself lucky.

Consider myself using my "I'm a manager" clout. Hehe.

 

[zukir02]

I had a bad experience at the Apple Store in Santa Rosa, CA.

After my dad surprised me with my 1st gen 8g iPhone, I went to Apple to buy a case for it. I chose some crappy skin case that wasn't very snug. It collected dust under it very easily and was showing signs of scratching the metal around the glass. When I purchased it, I asked the guy if I could return it if I hated it and he said that was fine as long as it was within x number of days. He did not say anything about keeping the box and neither did the reciept that Apple emailed to me. It didn't take long for me to realize how horrible the case was. Unfortunately, my husband had actually decided to clean (wtf?) and threw away my packaging. I showed up with the case in perfect condition and my reciept to return it. The manager basically laughed at me for not having the packaging and told me I couldn't return it. I explained to him that the case was actually damaging my iPhone and that I was interested in purchasing a different case that was twice as much. He said that's fine, but I couldn't return the crappy one, but I was more than welcome to purchase the better one. I threw a fit, lol. He gave me some bull crap about how he was just going to have to throw the case in the garbage if he accepted the return and that he'd get in big trouble. I seriously fought (loudly) with this guy for 20 minutes right by the cash register. When I asked him for his supervisor's phone number he snatched the case from my hand and proceeded to do the return. Customers in line were appauled at the manager and told him so and "congratulated" me for not giving up. I may be little and look like I'm 15, but I'm stubborn as can be! I will win.

Way to stick to your guns.

 

[Jeremy]

Consider myself using my "I'm a manager" clout. Hehe.

That's fine for your employer but what about other companies...

 

[Duvi]

That's fine for your employer but what about other companies...

I use the same with all companies... Sprint ended up giving me just under $3000 worth of credits in less than two months.

I've believe that the way you speak to someone will yield the positive or negative results.

 

[Rene Ritchie]

I called Palm directly to buy a Treo 680 which had a "music pack" with it at the time. I placed my order, Treo 680 arrived, no music pack. I called Palm, they said they'd fix it asap. Nothing happened. I called back, was promised they'd fix it asap. Nothing happened.

I called again and was transferred to a manager who now said I was ineligible. I explained salesman and 2 reps had said I would get it, and if nothing else, they should keep their word. He said offer was over, they didn't have any left. Again I pressed them to simply keep their word. He said he'd get back to me. He didn't. I called again. He promised to get back to me again. He didn't.

I called again and a different manager came on who said the first manager never existed and that my ref/case# never existed. I went ape$#it and began posting on TreoCentral, DIGG, everywhere I could.

Apparently, some people online saw it and called Palm to ask about it, including a reporter from somewhere.

Original manager, suddenly re-existing, called me back the next day and send my music pack (which also suddenly was back in stock). He also asked me to post about the issue being resolved. Ahem.

I received my music pack a couple of days later, after weeks and weeks of delays and a lot of wasted time and good faith.

Still boggles my brain that a company could act like that in the internet age.

(Now if I could just learn Duvi's secrets!)

 

[Jeremy]

I use the same with all companies... Sprint ended up giving me just under $3000 worth of credits in less than two months.

I've believe that the way you speak to someone will yield the positive or negative results.

Yeah, I wish speaking to someone nicely would always get great results... not in my case. In the end it's their choice to keep your business or throw it away. Other companies out there are more than welcome to take your money.

 

[jamesus]

Here goes...

I was a long time Sprint and Windows Mobile user. Never really had issues with Sprint (seems like I was the only one for a while). About 2 years ago, Sprint ran a promotion that you could change your plan at any time without having to renew your contract. I was excited as I was always close to overage charges for minutes/texts. My plan included 2 lines and a data card. Due to personal circumstances, I decided I only needed the data card plus my main line. I stopped by a Sprint store to speak with a manager and asked advice as to how this would go over. I was informed that this would be no problem. So I called a customer service representative in order to facilitate this change. Asked the CR if this would be problematic. Again I was told that this would be free of contract renewal. We proceeded to change my plan as needed and close out the other line I no longer needed.

All was fine in the world until my next bill arrived. I noticed that I had a $200 ETF on my account for the line that was closed. I wasn't too worried as I figured I would be able to have it removed. As I looked further at the details of my bill, I noticed that my plan had changed, but not to the one I wanted, resulting in overage charges that were astronomical. Call minutes were way over and I noticed that I was now being charged for data usage even though I "had" an unlimited data plan.

I called Sprint and spoke with another CR. Was a very nice lady and she seemed helpful. Noticed that the lady I spoke to previously had erroneously split the 2 phone lines into 2 different plans and then renewed the contract. She was able to lift the charge from my statement and reverse the erroneous charges. She even offered an early upgrade for my phone without renewing the contract. I gladly accepted the offer. All was well in the world.

Next month's bill comes and the plan is still not correct. Talked to a CR that was hostile towards me telling me that I wanted the plan, etc. Talked to his supervisor and was able to iron things out. Was even given a month free.

Following bill was still incorrect. Patience was wearing thin at this point. This is the fourth month of dealing with morons. I was not a happy camper. So I called customer service...again. At this time, I was heading to Mexico for a vacation. Sprint, being a CDMA carrier, was able to work south of the border. While ironing out this issue of my plan/bill, I also had the CR to enable international roaming for the week that I was to be in Mexico. Hopefully all was well in my world.

I arrive in Mexico in not the best way. I leave a bag in the shuttle to my hotel and need to scramble to have them return it. I try to check into the hotel and they have lost my reservation. I try to enter my room once the reservation was found and the door had swelled shut. I?m tired. I?m hungry. I can?t find my friends, as the hotel doesn?t have their reservations on file either. I decided to turn on my phone and call my friend on his mobile. No service. Sprint had not enabled my international roaming. I lost it. Swore that I was changing carriers at that moment.

I arrive home 3 weeks before the iPhone 3G was released. I was making the switch. I was to be a very happy customer with a shiny new phone on a new network. About 1 week before iPhone 3G is released, I get a call from my bank. My debit card number had been stolen. While in Mexico, I needed to make a few personal calls. Since I could not use my cell phone, I used the room?s phone to call internationally back home by using a credit card. The service the hotel pointed me to did not have an automated system to connect the calls. There were actual people on the other line. Turns out that one of the operators had decided to use my card for his personal use. Drained my bank account. I almost had a heart attack. I was broke and my mortgage was due. Luckily, Chase (my bank) replenished all of the funds that were stolen. I was able to make my mortgage payment and was eagerly awaiting buying the iPhone.

I was in line at 4 AM for the iPhone launch. I was fourth in line. Purchased my 16 GB iPhone and I was off to work. Now, anyone who bought their iPhone in the morning remembers the activation snafu that occurred. That sucked. Later in the day my number was ported from Sprint and I finally had my iPhone activated and I was in the game. Found TiPB and I was a happy camper.

All this time, I still kept my data card with Sprint. On Monday following the launch, I needed to use it for work. I try logging in and I get an error message to contact customer service about my account. The look on my face was the perfect combination of anger and frustration. Begrudgingly I call customer service. Turns out when I ported my number to AT&T, they decided that I wanted to cancel my data card as well. Obviously that was not the case (I was still under contract for the data card). They also informed me that I had $600 in ETFs on my account that needed to be settled before the data card could be reactivated. Now, I am normally a very calm and professional person when dealing with CRs. This time I was not. I ranted. I used four letter words. I informed the CR that they should use this call as training material as it shows just how incompetent the lot of them were. After I calmed down, I apologize to the lady (who by the way was totally shocked and was completely silent during my rant). She was able to connect me to her supervisor, who helped clear all charges and re-enable the data card.

Since that day I have not had a problem with Sprint. The data card is working just fine. However, with legal tethering coming in iPhone OS 3.0, I am pulling the plug on my data card. I cannot wait to completely sever the tie between myself and the ?Now Network?. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

 

[Duvi]

Before you do, let me know. I may just want that data card plan. It's without the cap?

 

[jamesus]

Before you do, let me know. I may just want that data card plan. It's without the cap?

Currently I am on a month to month plan (no contract). I'd have to check and see if it is an uncapped plan.

 

[jeffnucci]

Alright, hopefully at the end of all this it will make sense. I used to be a CrackBerry addict... Still love BlackBerries but the iPhone works for me at the moment. So flash back to July of last year. I bought my first BlackBerry, a Curve 8310. I was super excited and happy as this was my first smartphone and more importantly it had a full keyboard. I text a lot so this was important... On my POS RAZR I sent an average of 25,000 texts pet month. When I got my Curve it went up to 60,000 a month, so you can understand my excitement. Anywho it works great for a month or so, I am in hog heaven. Middle of August rolls around and I'm in Boston to see the Sox at Fenway and my phone starts to trip out. It randomly loses connection to the network and all kinds if other things. It made it through the trip and when I got back home to Seattle I called up ATT and told them the issue I was having and they promptly sent me a new Curve. Here's where the drama starts. The woman on the phone said she was sending me a refurbished Curve, which I was fine with, I just wanted my BlackBerry to work again. The phone shows up and it's brand new. I'm thinking "right on" as I open it up, pop in my SIM and go on my way. Didn't think twice to call or anything. Two weeks later the phone bricks beyond repair. So I call up ATT again and the CR tells me "Sir, the computer tells me you originally bought a refurbished phone therefore your warranty has expired.". So I explain that the replacement they sent bricked and given that I was only 14 days into the 30 day warranty that comes with replacements, I should still be able to recieve a new Curve under warranty. She continued to argue until I got fed up and asked for a manager/supervisor. The supervisor told me the same thing. Fine, f*#$ it. Because I am hard on my phones I always pay for insurance. So I call up the insurance line, give the nice lady the info, pay my $125 deductable and move on. 2 days later I recieve the phone, send back my old one and resume everyday life.

Another 3 weeks later my phone bricks beyond repair again. My Dad was in the hospital and so this was not a good time for my only phone to crap out as I was the one handling a lot of the family business. This time I go into my local ATT store and see if I can get an employee to call corporate so I can get a replacement right away. The store employee did exactly that and when he got off the phone he said "Well you've had 3 Curves and ATT would rather give you a different phone to save costs so how would you like a new BlackBerry Bold as a replacement? Corporate has authorized this and you won't have to pay anything". So I say yes of course and recieve my shiny, new Bold. Given the circumstances it was a lone bright spot in a crappy week. My next bill comes and there's a charge for $549, the same price as a new Bold with no contract agreement. So I go back to the store and ask an employee what the hell happened. He does some poking around on the computer and says "Sir it says here that you swiped a credit card and authorized the charge". Yeah... Right. I called ATT and got the highest manager I could and reamer him a new one. I told him if he didn't drop the charges on my bill I would contact my credit card company and have their lawyers handle it. Needless to say he took care of it all and gave me a month of free service and a $125 credit for the snafu with my 3rd Curve.

 

[lonbeehold]

This isn't horrid, just extremely aggravating. One of the earbuds broke for my iPhone headphones; they were the orginal set that came in the box when I bought my phone in Dec (for $500 b/c I was mid-contract, but that's another annoyance for another day). On Monday, I went to the ATT store (Chicago,IL) where I bought the phone to exchange them. I assumed the salesman was doing an exchange when he informed me that it would be $33 for the new headphones. I explained that I had the phone less than 6 months, that these were the original headphones that came in the box and that I wanted new ones. Free. No can do he says, as those headphones were "complimentary". Really? Complimentary?? I said no thanks and left. Called my local Apple store. They said that the headphones were indeed covered under warranty, just bring in the broken ones and swap them out at no charge. There was only a touch of annoyance here....Make an appt at Genius Bar, oh, we're all filled today, blah blah blah. I went anyway, they took me as a walk-in and I walked out with a brand new set of headphones, no charge. I guess those were complimentary

 

[Kickstar13]

No problems yet. On T-Mobile. Been with them since 2003 of May.

 

[Tennisman120]

SPRINT IS BY FAR THE WORST IN THE CUSTOMER SERVICE SECTION!

So me and gadgets are tied at the hip. i had to get the pre. no thought. So it was fun for about a week. Then the battery pretty much stopped holding its charge. (i would surf the internet for 10mins and itd drop 30% no lie) so i went back and the guy just popped a new one in no prob. EXCEPT ONE THAT WOULD HAUNT ME LATE,.. HE DIDNT RECORD IT! So that one lasted for about a week. Went to a different store. same thing. recorded it this time after i asked. Once again, it happened. at this point i getting pretty mad. So i went to a diffent store AN HOUR A WAY AT A BIG MALL. They gave me a new phone. which they said they recorded and the never did. that didnt work. new battery same thing.

before i finish the wonderful story, i would like to add a PART 2 .

So besides the hardware issues. They were chrging me almost $20 more than it should cost WITH TAXES. (almost $100) i had the 69$ plan for 450 mins and data etc.. They claimed i was watching mobile tv. which i have never touch. first of all because theres nothing good. second because bad quality. and third, well i guess because its just plain stupid. (unless you use sling player to gett good channels....) They also said i was using the..well i dont even know what it was, but it was like $5. and i neww i wasnt using anything that would cost extra. o and btw, to mess around with them and see what would happen, i downloaded a few programs (sizeable ) through tethering on my pre. and no, those weren't the $5. surprisingly i didnt get a thing about using all that data. So i got on the phone and starting yelling at them for putting things on there i didnt use. it took about 10 mins of screaming and 2 supervisors, but i got it fixed.

Part tres (3 for people who dont have a brain)

So back to the hardware.

So if you dont remember, they seem to forgot to record the 2nd pre. once again the battery failed. already pissed with the extra bill charges. I asked immediately to get transfered to the supervisor, i was tired of trying to understand foreigners (nothing against them at all, but you have to understand the situation i was in and also the mood.... ) I got transfered to some dumbass guy. He said there was only record of 2 batteris. not 3. and no new pre. i was like WTF? and he was like yea. and i was like i demand u cancel my contract! and he was all, no i cant sorry, but i can try to get you a new pre. wheres the local store. and i was like no i dont want another *bleep* pre . you guys can seem to make a *bleep* phone. and you cant learn to do math or even book keeping. and even learn how to *bleep* answer a question (lower level reps) So he kept saying sorry we cant do that, i can get you a new pre. It went on like that for at least 30mins. I said well i didnt sign up for a *bleepin* contract that you guys are failing to keep. No working phone, no customer service etc. So pissed i told him to hold on and called up tmo. i got a contract and signed up while he was on the phone with me. He said is that all i can help you with? me: no asshole, you can go screw yourself ( i said something different but for reasons...) he said ok. have a nice day. would you be ok with me sending a survey to your email? me: no. are you *bleeping* serious? him: yes. me: um sure send it to goscrewurself@gmail.com ok have a nice day sir. did i resolve everything? at that point you can get where it was going.....


so i think you can tell, it was a pretty bad experience. BAD. i mean REAL BAD. sadly. they really have a good network.. if only they had gsm, better customer service, and someone who knows how to design phones. (regarding the new htc hero on sprint. which i think looks like **** compared to the euro version i have. the completely copied the mytouch. i highly doubt anyone can top this. if they can, i feel bad.

patrick

 

[BENGRIMM]

Because of my government discount I dont pay for activation or upgrade fees , and it is always an issue and I need to call . Usually it only takes a quick second for the rep to look , but last christmas it was a mess . I called to get it all taken care of and this women who was having her worst day ever got completly out of line , started cussing and insulting me and would not even look at my account . So I asked for a manager , she replyed all the managers where in a meeting and would be geting out soon . So I said I would hold , she put me on hold and then disconnected me . I was pissed I called back and to the next rep to immediately to get a manager I didnt care what meeting they were in . I then told the manager the whole story , of cousre they didnt believe me so they would have to go to the tape . Well the tape didnt lie , I had free service for three months and got a free phone upgrade .

I just dont understand why customer service has gottin so bad in the USA , where did all of our values and pride go ?