Customer Service

[Moemg]

Who in your opinion has the world's worst customer service ? My nomination may shock you but it's Target .com .I recently purchased a portable crib with a bassinette for my daughter from Target .After four weeks I called them about it ,I was transferred from person to person put on hold forever ,told it was still waiting to be picked up and finally someone admitted it was lost in space .They agreed to refund my money and they did refund $140.32 only problem was I had paid $146.88.Finally after a hassle they sent me the rest of the refund .They also offered me a $20.00 coupon towards my next purchase funny thing is they never sent me a coupon code .This coupon was to appear magically when I ordered .I tried it twice and of course it did not work .So my nominee for the absolute worst customer service goes to Target .com..Who's your nominee ?.

[FinanceDude]

There's so many it's tough to choose:

TIAA-Cref
Best Buy
First Horizon Bank

I have had no problems with Target over th years........

[Khan]

I have determined that the nearby Lowe's and Office Depot do not have employees.

[Janet H]

I've had good service from TIAA-CREF but horrid service from:

Verizon (the land line side)
Charter Communications
FORD (recall service)

[Caoineag]

I nominate Circuit City. Bought an mp3 player online to be picked up at the store, got there, took it home and discovered they had given me a used one with no software. Call them, they tell me that I need to call Creative for the software and that there is nothing they can do. Are you kidding me? The box has obviously been opened previously and is missing all the protective stuff. Ungh.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

It'd be easier for me to list the people who usually give me decent service.

Almost everyone else has slipped to awful.

Amazon, Costco, Trader Joes, Lexus, Kaiser Permanente and Leapfrog have given me darn good service.

General Electric, Comcast, Sears, Dish Network, Paypal, Directv and nearly everyone else have treated me like an unnecessary annoyance.

Cake taker is still GE, who after jerking me around for 4 months on a refrigerator repair tried to say that it was no longer in warranty, then agreed to send me a replacement but only if I paid them a couple of hundred bucks for delivery.

After calling every single consumer complaint/tv/radio/bbb/AG outfit I could find, I bought a new fridge. About 2 months later the office of the president of GE called to say that they were sending me a new top of the line replacement free of charge, now would I please stop the barrage of phone calls and letters?

Its still sitting in my garage, full of soda and beer.

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny Leapfrog have given me darn good service.

Did you have a problem with a Leapster too??

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny Cake taker is still GE, who after jerking me around for 4 months on a refrigerator repair tried to say that it was no longer in warranty, then agreed to send me a replacement but only if I paid them a couple of hundred bucks for delivery. After calling every single consumer complaint/tv/radio/bbb/AG outfit I could find, I bought a new fridge. About 2 months later the office of the president of GE called to say that they were sending me a new top of the line replacement free of charge, now would I please stop the barrage of phone calls and letters? Its still sitting in my garage, full of soda and beer.

Seems refrigerator related CS is a hot button...

My nominee for worst customer service is a regional south TX appliance/electronics chain, Conn's. Here's a quick summary of my recent experience.

- Purchased a refrigerator in July of 2004 and worked fine for 3 1/2 years.
-The compressor quit the Sunday after Thanksgiving (yeah, the thing was crammed full of leftovers!). The compressor has a 5 year warranty stating "replacement free of charge."
- Conn's has it's own service department and sent out a repairman on Tuesday who confirmed it was a bad compressor and it was covered under warranty. Said he'd order a compressor for me.
- Wednesday I called CS and was told the part was on order and would be in within 3-4 working days, I would receive a call to set up a time for the service guy to come back out.
- Hadn't heard from them by Monday and called CS who told me no part had been ordered. I explained I'd been told otherwise the week before and got a "sorry". Asked to speak to a supervisor and was placed on terminal hold.
- Hung up and called back. This CS rep told me I was "mistaken" about what I thought I'd been told by the other rep, that their system didn't even show a status on an ordered part until it had been located and purchased. Asked the status of my part and was told, "we'll call you back". Asked to speak to a supervisor and was placed on hold. I attempted to wait them out and the CS rep came back on to tell me a supervisor would call me.
- Waited 4 hours before calling back. This third CS rep said "your part is in and we will be out on Friday to install it". I asked why no one had called to tell me this and got a "sorry". Asked why I had to wait 4 more days to get a service call and was told "sorry, that's the best we can do". Asked why I should believe the part was really in after having been told something different by two other CS reps. After getting no satisfactory answer, I told her to cancel my service call. She confirmed cancellation.
-While I was searching for another factory authorized repair company, Conn's called back. It was the very first CS rep I'd spoken to, the one who told me no part had been ordered. Apologized and said they could be out on Thursday to do the repairs. I said that was unacceptable and asked to speak to a supervisor. I was told "they are really busy". I told her to have one call me please.
-I called another company and arranged for a service call late the following (Tuesday) afternoon.
-At 8:30AM on Tuesday, the Conn's service guy called and left a message (I was in the shower) saying "I'll be in our area" between 1 and 3 that afternoon. I called back but could not get an answer from his number.
-I called CS and explained I couldn't get in touch with the repair guy who called and asked that he call back so I could confirm he actually had the part and that I would be home that afternoon. I got no call back.
-He showed up at 2PM and installed a new compressor, left no invoice or paperwork of any kind. I canceled the other service call.
-The refrigerator worked fine for a week, then iced up. I called another service company who came out and replaced the defrost timer the Conn's repair guy had apparently damaged when troubleshooting. $150 in charges.
-The following day (Wed) I got a call from Conn's CS to let me know my compressor was in and a service guy would be out on Friday to install it. I explained their service guy had been out 8 days earlier to install a new compressor. She said, "It just came in." Once again, I said the work had already been done. Then she asked "Well, did you pay for it?" (her exact words). I said no, it was under warranty and I wasn't going to pay anything. She said "You don't have a warranty, it expired in July of 2005". I patiently explained the compressor was covered for 5 years, I wasn't going to continue to deal with her company, expressed my sympathies at her having to work for an incompetent employer, and politely said goodbye.
-A few seconds later she called back. Said "I see where you have a 5 year warranty on your compressor, but that doesn't include the service call or labor. You'll have to pay for that." I had the warranty in hand and quoted it to her, noting it said "replace free of charge" and contained no exceptions for service calls or labor. After a moment of silence, she said, "We'll, I just wanted to be sure we were all straight." I assured her we were...all straight.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Actually it was one of those little music "tables" with a shitload of buttons and stuff that played little songs when you opened/pushed/pulled them. Gabe used to love it when he was 6-12 months old. I was cleaning it one day and I think I got some cleaner inside of it because I got a smoke smell the next time I turned it on. I opened it up and found a burned capacitor or something. Of course, not one electronics store in the area carried enough components so I couldnt fix it. It was a modular piece, so I called Leapfrog asking if they could sell me the one part.

Lady says "Whats your address?" and I gave it to her. She says "We'll send you a new one, just stick the old one back in the same box and use the prepaid mailing label to send it back at no cost to you". "Bbbbut...its not even under warranty anymore!". "That doesnt matter, it shouldnt have done that. Is there anything else I can do for you?".

They did that with two other products that I bought, all of which enjoyed a lot of abuse and a decent enough service life. I had to pay a discounted price for one and a small repair fee for another.

Needless to say, whenever I was picking a kids play product, if leapfrog made one in the category, I bought it.

I just got him one of those "clickstart my first computer" thingies. No leapsters.

[Sarah in SC]

Circuit City gets my vote, too. Car stereo nightmare. I had to resort to what they call "the cool line" to get some help.

Any time you go to a big box store, you can forget any kind of service. I do remember that Best Buy people in the computer dept helped every guy with his **** in his hand before helping, me, the lone female waiting for assistance. As you can imagine, it still peeves me!

[MikeD]

Until recently, my worst customer service relationship was Verizon Wireless. Then I got a Sprint PCS EVDO modem. What a nightmare. And recurring as they consistently screw things things up requiring me to call again...

Mike D.

[calmloki]

Best Buy is tops at the bottom of the service game! Costco and PenFed lose this game for me.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC I do remember that Best Buy people in the computer dept helped every guy with his **** in his hand before helping, me, the lone female waiting for assistance. As you can imagine, it still peeves me!

But Sarah! You had the unique ability to jump to the front of the line at any time, and you've already illustrated the method!

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny But Sarah! You had the unique ability to jump to the front of the line at any time...

I considered a similar response, but managed to contain myself...

[Sarah in SC]

LOL! You guys!

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo I considered a similar response, but managed to contain myself...

Hey, you've 'gone there' a couple of times when I wouldnt. Fortunately we seem to have a serendipitous uncorrelated waxing and waning of restraint.

[bssc]

Actually, what scares me is the internal "service" that I have gotten working for Megacorp. HR and the IT helpdesk are tied for the worse service. HR is still looking into a question I had in October (after admitting that they gave out the wrong information because they didn't do their homework) while the Helpdesk is known company wide as the helpless desk.

One more group I will not have to deal with (still have to deal with HR for medical benefits.).

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC Any time you go to a big box store, you can forget any kind of service. I do remember that Best Buy people in the computer dept helped every guy with his **** in his hand before helping, me, the lone female waiting for assistance. As you can imagine, it still peeves me!

One of the candidates for "Post of the Year"..........

[lazygood4nothinbum]

apparently you all missed my past-posted corporate theory of "crap plus one".

short version: corporations used to compete to be the best but now they just have to be one bit above the bottom.

there used to be good, better & best. but now there is just the worst, bad, and crap plus one.

[Moemg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC Any time you go to a big box store, you can forget any kind of service. I do remember that Best Buy people in the computer dept helped every guy with his **** in his hand before helping, me, the lone female waiting for assistance. As you can imagine, it still peeves me!

You were probably soo pissed that you just put back that neon stripper pole and left the store .