Customer Service

[Phatslugga]

Heh, gotta love it when the Customer service at a store is just vile. I bought a 40 dollar pair of shoes at JC Penney's a few weeks ago, and the toes of the shoe got scuffed really badly, to the point where the brown color came off completley and now there is a big black oval on my shoe. SO now I can't wear them to work, becuase it looks horrible. It's not like I put them through hell either, just walking around best Buy. So I call them up, becuase they're about 25 minutes away, I lost the receipt so I don't want to go up there for no reason. I explain the situation and they said there would be no problem. As long as I had the original box I could go up there and get credit for the store at least, which I was cool with. So 25 minutes later, I'm at the store and of course,things aren't going the way that I was told. They start telling me that without a receipt I couldn't return them, but they're being polite so I'm not really mad. They tell me to go speak to the manager, becuase they don't know what to do in this situation. They send me down a floor where she's at the children's shoe department. I explain what had happened, and she starts trying to defend the shoe. I don't know about anyone else, but when you buy a pair of shoes, even if they're for 40 dollars, you expect them to last for at least 6 months. I show her the scuff marks on the shoes, and she starts explaining to me that any shoe can get extremly scuffed within 15 minutes of buying it. So when I mention that someone told me over the phone that I could get credit for them, she says "There's no way anyone in the store would have said that to you." So... at this point I was ready to punch her in the mouth, becuase nothing annoys me more than being called a liar about something stupid like a pair of shoes.

Before things got out of hand I just turned around and walked away... becuase I would have snapped. So i called them from home and ask to speak to the store manager, and the regular manager tells me that he's on the floor helping a customer, so she puts me on hold. After about 5 minutes, customer service picks up not knowing the current situation, I already know what's coming. I tell them to transfer me to the store manager, and they give me some bull**** response about him being in a meeting. So i leave them my number, which I know damn well wasn't even written down. So basically I paid 40 dollars for a pair of shoes to wear for 2 weeks. Awesome huh?

Anyone else have some horrid, or on the bright side, really good customer service experience?

 

[Smith|]

I always feel sad after calling Time Warner Cable's customer service. You can tell the guy is just reading off of a slip of paper and doesn't know what the hell they're doing. They sound like they're going to cry when they run out of options and don't know what to say anymore. So I just comfort them for 30 seconds and say that it'll probably get better on its own.

 

[Phatslugga]

Haha, I know exaclty waht you;re talking about. That's why I switched to Earthlink, and they're great avout customer service. The best service I've ever had as a matter of fact.

 

[Vegeta]

So... at this point I was ready to punch her in the mouth, becuase nothing annoys me more than being called a liar about something stupid like a pair of shoes.

(rofl)

I hear you, man, I hear you.

It's all bull****.

 

[Ravendust]

That's pretty cold, at least they were polite to you

she starts trying to defend the shoe

Funny too...

Anyway, here's my customer service story, at the start of the year:

OK, i've just started my new job, just got into ESF, and I need a computer to play it on. I saved up for 3 months and bought myself a shiny new PC (£799 - $1475) from Time Computers, who I thought were reliable because they have adverts and big stores and stuff.

Anyway, I got a good few weeks of use before I noticed it wasn't making as much noise...in fact, it was completley silent. The fan had died. For fear of death by magmic overheating I turned the thing off and contacted their customer service line which was not only charging me £1.00 a minute ($1.84, the rate of a phonesex line) but was automated. Not even the good kind of automated where you press buttons, no, it was flashy voice activated automated where you have to clearly shout down the line YES or NO.

10 minutes (£10, $18) later i'd waded through the automated crap and managed to speak to a nice lady who politley told me i'd been directed to the wrong number, and gave me a new number to call. I politley responded that i'd prefer it if she just put me through to them like a good customer service line.

I was now talking to their 'IT Specialist' named Akbar, who's indian accent was so thick you could cut it with a knife and spread it on toast. I understood maybe every third word, and the fact that I had to ask him to repeat himself all the time was surely adding onto the bill. I was put through to an english member of staff (post-racist-accusations) who told me that the fan might be broken.

I usually have a lot of patience but I was at the end of my tether. The jackass then told me to open DXDIAG to see if it came up with any information about the fan going down. It didn't. I was then instructed to open my PC case with the PC running to see with my own eyes the fan not working. Me, an untrained consumer, opening a metal box with an electrical current running through it with a screwdriver.

After visual confirmation, he confirmed the fan was not functioning properly (thanks) and gave me a date of when they'd pick up the computer. I'm now firmly in the £30 ($55) margin, but at least i'd be getting it fixed. As soon as I pay the £45 reshipping and delivery fee.

Now, my warranty mercifully covered repairs, so I thought £75 would be all i'd be paying, but there I go again being wrong. When I opened the case (as instructed by the 'specialist') I invalidated the warranty. Chalk on another £10 for a new metal fan. I was told it would arrive within 1-2 working weeks.

2 Months Later: The computer arrives, but it's not MY computer, oh no. The hard drives been wiped (for a fan?) and the spec has dropped. I'm missing 256mb of RAM. Back it goes... I'm now seen fit for 'maximum priority' status (i'm guessing this happens a lot) and am told it will be back in top form within the week.

1 Month Later: It's not here and neither is my sanity. I phone them up on the provided number (£1.00 an hour) and give them the computers serial number. They keep me on hold for 5 minutes and tell me the computer hasn't been seen to yet. I scream that I want a refund but naturally they refuse because "I've already damaged the item."

A week later and it's here. So is a phone bill for £60 and Time's request that I pay them their £45 by cheque. The computer has notes written all over one side of the case (which i've now replaced) and the technology is starting to get outdated before i've got to properly use it. Time to upgrade.

'New' computer - £799
Reshipping - £45
Phone calls - £60
Getting raped and humiliated by a corporate giant - Priceless.

 

[Phatslugga]

'New' computer - £799
Reshipping - £45
Phone calls - £60
Getting raped and humiliated by a corporate giant - Priceless.

For crying out loud... you make mine look like nothing. I feel horrible for you man. It sucks that people can get away with crap like this, from what I've heard though, mentioning the Better Business Bureau does some good.