Every time I leave SunTrust Bank I hear the words “Thank you for banking with SunTrust we really do appreciate your business” Ah that’s nice I have thought on more than one occasions, I’m appreciated. Let’s face it, we all like to feel appreciated from time to time.
A couple of years ago prior to my book going on sale I felt a tad less appreciated. I wanted to set up a merchants account to take credit cards online and had arranged to meet with the SunTrust area representative. It was a strange meeting to say the least. If I’d ever had a sales person working for me that not only had their cell phone switched on, but took two calls during a prospect call, I’d be having stern words at the very least.
Consequently, I got over-charged for some stuff, the account didn’t get opened on time and I wasted about 4 hours of my time chasing people down. Mind you, all the while I was comforted by the fact that SunTrust really do appreciate my business.
I made an almighty screw up last week. If I’m being honest, screw up doesn’t even do it justice, it was more of a monumental fuck up!
About 75% of my clients pay me via PayPal and as such I regularly have to transfer money online from PayPal into my checking account. To cut a long and tedious story short, I knew I needed some money in the checking account and transferred the amount I required over from PayPal.
Or rather I thought I did. What I really did was send it the opposite way and put the account overdrawn. The worst part was I never even noticed until my debit card was refused rather embarrassingly in my local supermarket. Until that moment I never even knew it flashed up on the pad “Insufficient Funds” Surely “Card error, please call your bank” would be more diplomatic?
In the two days or so I was overdrawn SunTrust hit me for $410 in charges which equated to almost 40% interest. I’ve no idea what that would come out at if you calculated the annual rate, but it’s a lot. The kind of interest that would normally cause large men with baseball bats and ready mix concrete enquiring after your whereabouts.
I phoned SunTrust to apologize for my error and ask if there was anything that could be done. I was told as a courtesy they would offer me $72 back, because let’s face it they didn’t have to give me jack (something that was pointed out to me several times). I didn’t really feel that was excessively courteous seeing as it had cost them nothing and I was a customer in excellent standing.
So next I called my own branch and was told the same thing. I explained that we were partners (I could almost imagine the women I was speaking to biting her lip and trying to stop herself from bursting into laughter at such a naive comment) and that I bend over backwards to help out my clients when they have problems. That is the essence of good customer service, surely? You know, the extra mile and all that?
I went on to point out that here was an excellent opportunity for SunTrust to demonstrate with more than words that they really do value my business.
No dice, they were keeping the money. After 20 minutes all I had to show for it was the number of the Area Manager so the following day I called her. I got voice mail and left a message asking her to call me back. The following day her assistant called me to offer help.
Even after admitting on what I presume was a taped phone call, the fees I had been charged were ‘Outrageous’ she still couldn’t help. I asked her if she could ask the AM to call me before 4.00pm the following day and she said that wouldn’t be a problem.
At 4.00pm on the nail just as a client arrived she did call. It took about 2 minutes to ascertain she’d phoned to say they were keeping their money because it was my fault.
So here we are today. I’m making arrangements to close my personal and business accounts down and move elsewhere. SunTrust have lost a client over $300, a fee that they would have got back many times over by retaining my business.
The greatest opportunity to build customer loyalty is when things go wrong.
In the Great Depression, John Deere refused to call in the loans of the farmers that had bought machinery off them and couldn’t afford the repayments. Even to this day 80 years later, some families refuse to buy anything other than Deere. They created raving fans, rabid loyalty and long term prosperity by forgoing short-term gain.
By refunding my money, SunTrust would have had a raving fan, and I am very vocal and loyal to business’s that help me out.
A year or so ago I got a phone call from Progressive insurance telling me they had made an error on my account and I was due a small rebate. As I was talking to the lady for some reason it came up that I had a US Driving License. “Oh we don’t have that on record, that will reduce your premium still further. Does your wife also have a license? if so we can backdate both refunds to when you past your driving test, when was that?”
I ended up getting over $300 back from Progressive, money that I never even knew I was owed. Six months ago when my insurance was due to renew on the advice of a friend I got a much cheaper quote from an out of State competitor. I took it to Progressive to see if they could match it. They couldn’t, but got within about $120. Was I going to move? No way, not for $120 I wasn’t, and it’s doubtful I ever will.
That’s a classic win/win. I got brilliant service and a genuine sense of being appreciated as a customer and they got a life time of business worth many thousands of dollars. What’s not to love about that?
SunTrust have created a win/lose/lose. Yes they win $300 and good for them. But in a struggling market place they lose my business, create a disgruntled ex-client and I lose the money and the time it will take me to move accounts.
By the way, I must point out at this stage, I wasn’t expecting to get all my money back. If they’d charged me $75 that would have been reasonable. I also realize that technically they were well within their rights to keep their money, it just made no sense to no matter how you look at it. As anybody in business will tell you it takes somewhere in the region of 7 times as much to generate a new client as it does to retain a current one.
A lot of British people think Americans get great customer service. On the whole their interaction is through places like Disney where staff members aren’t allowed to say no to visiting the hotels and restaurants in tourist areas that have to supply excellent service or pay the consequences.
My experience living here is that Americans tolerate atrocious customer service from large organizations, worse even than in the UK. There are of course exceptions and I’m not saying the UK isn’t sucky, just not quite as sucky as it is here.
As I was sat on hold during waiting to get through to a real live person that lived this side of the Ganges I was pondering the worst companies I have ever dealt with. I was amazed as I went back through my mind how many were in the US considering I lived in the UK for 42 years before moving here.
I thought as I’m on a bit of a rant anyway I may as well purge my spleen and let you know about the 10 suckiest business’s I’ve ever dealt and why they are so sucky.
In traditional style I’m going to count down from 10 to 1. I know you’re excited to see what is at number 1, but there are 9 other excellent candidates if you like pulling your hair out, wasting money and begging Billy Bob in Calcutta to please put you through to somebody that knows what cancel means.
10. Progress Energy: It was a hot day in late July 2007. We were moving home and because our new home was literally just over the road, had decided to carry everything. It may seem sensible not hiring a van when the new home is only 25 yards away, but in 95 degree heat with humidity that would piss off a rattle snake, seem is the operative word.
About 5 hours into the move and I’m having to step over more dead friends in the road with every passing trip. I get back to the old house at exactly the guy from Progress Energy turns up to switch the power over at the new one. He enquires to my whereabouts and when told I’m at the other house promptly leaves.
I return less than 5 minutes later to a house that has had it’s electricity turned off. I called Progress and explained the situation. They said they’d be back on Tuesday. After politely enquiring as to whether the lady has ever been to Florida in July, I get put through to a supervisor. Half an hour later they agree to get a ‘technician’ back to turn it on.
9. Instantunlockcode: The clue is in the name here, keep remembering the name, I urge you.
I paid them $2.99 to get the unlock code for my old phone I wanted to use on a trip back to the UK. Well I say $2.99, it was $2.99 all the way until I clicked to pay then it miraculously went up to $7.99.
Codes are usually given by return e-mail, except in this unusual case of course. I get an e-mail telling me my Nokia is a rare beast as only 42 million were made and they need 24 hours to figure it out. 24 hours later I get a further e-mail telling me they need another 24 hours to figure it out, but not to worry because Steve is on the case. 24 hours after that I get an e-mail saying they can’t do it. Two weeks later after 2 follow ups I get my $7.99 back.
8. Appliance Direct: If you have any fridge/freezers that don’t work, sell them to Appliance Direct and then they can sell them to me. We were left for almost 3 weeks without a working freezer that didn’t work from day one and they refused to swap for one that actually cooled food. It was eventually repaired by the manufacturer after quite frankly I gave up with the bumbling idiots at Appliance Direct.
7. Vonage: Vonage is a communication company and they’ve skillfully managed to install the worst voice recognition system on the planet. In fact, the only thing that has more difficulty understanding the English language is their Indian based support team.
Service is very hit and miss when dialing overseas and I regularly get the message “Lines are temporarily busy” Really? On a VoiP System?
6. Virgin Atlantic: Virgin is an anomaly to me. When you are on their aircraft the flight crew are excellent. The food is sometimes below par, but certainly as good or better than most airlines I ever fly with. However, actually getting on to the plane can be the tricky bit.
If you use their website prepare yourself for a wild roller coaster and don’t believe what you see in terms of prices. A seat can be $600 one day and then $1200 the next and be literally back down to $600 the day after that. In fact it can change on an hour by hour basis for flights months away.
Flights that are completely blacked out on one day may have massive availability the following day and this isn’t just every now and then, it’s all the bloody time. They also use classic bait and switch tactics with upgrades. Twice I was offered an upgrade into 1st class for $400! Twice I tried to book it and couldn’t. That was when they offered me Premium Economy. Yeh, right.
Trying to use air miles is a nightmare because flights that were available when paying with cash suddenly aren’t. And if you want to talk to Customer Service prepare yourself for wait times of almost Biblical proportions.
5. N1 Wireless: Buy an unlocked phone from N1 Wireless, but make sure you check it will work in the UK first! Oh wait a minute, that is exactly what I did do. I got to the UK with my phone and amazingly it wouldn’t work with my UK SIM card. So I went and spent $15 of a another SIM card and that didn’t work either. I e-mailed N1 Wireless and heard nothing. I also called and couldn’t get through.
Eventually after multiple attempts I got to talk to a customer service representative who promptly informed me I should have asked technical support if it worked in the UK, not sales. Eh? So when I specifically asked about it’s compatibility with UK carriers prior to purchasing, and they said yes it would definitely work, that was the time I should have demanded to talk to technical support was it?
I sent the phone back and not only did they not refund my $21 for the 3 day shipping that actually took 5 days, they charged me a $10 restocking fee for a phone that didn’t work.
4. British Telecom: If you’re British you probably know what I mean, if you’re American just be glad you never have to deal with BT. It’s like AT & T, T-Mobile and Verizon fired all their worst customer service people and BT snapped them up to head up a crack CS team.
3. SunTrust: See above
2. DirecTv: Unbelievable, I don’t even know where to begin with this bunch of jokers that have over charged me multiple times, sold me equipment that didn’t work, sent engineers that knew less than I did and bounced me around customer support for hours on end before cutting me off. If it wasn’t for their monopoly on football I would be gone a long time ago.
1. Royal Bank of Scotland: I’m proud to say that even though the UK only have 3 entries, we do claim number one spot.
When your own bank manager and somebody you have known for over 10 years says to you something along the lines of “Tim I know this debt is nothing to do with you, but you only advised me verbally you were no longer a partner in the business. You should have written in to have your name taken off the guarantor” you know you’re in the shit! Three years later and after battering me with lawyers and collection agents notices, they finally dropped their case and sent me a letter of apology. If only they’d have told me how much they appreciated me.
So there you have it, I’ve got that lot off my chest. What I really want to know however, is who are the worst companies you have ever dealt with? Have you had positive experiences of any of the above, or maybe even juicier negative ones?
Let us know in the comments and together we can bring corporate America and corporate UK to it’s greedy money grabbing knees by the next Thursday.
For me the absolute worst would be Verizon (their costumer service is horrible), and I am stuck with them because they have the best coverage area for cellphones.
I mean one time when I called even the CSR admitted it sucked! That’s funny~ *LOL*
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LOVE THIS
Nothing like a good rant to get it off your chest. I’m currently writing the revised edition of Five Star Service and I’m seeing more and more situations where the customer can make their case online.
Top Job
Michael
(1) All time worst ever company in the known universe – British Gas and its descendants.
Years ago, I was credited with money I hadn’t paid on my bill. Great you might think (unless you were the poor sod who paid their bill and had their money credited to someone elses account). It took me 6 months for them to remove the money. Approx 1 year later, they failed to credit to my account a payment I had made. They hounded me. I phoned continually, speaking to this one and that who ‘made notes on my account’. I gave them the cheque number (which had been credited to my account), the bank called them and gave them the cheque number, I rang them and there were suddenly no notes on my account. I was threatened with being cut off the next day and phoned their credit control in tears of distress. This took months to sort out.
(2) Then at work I was managing a huge empty site prior to disposal which had had around 40 gas meters on it. They were defunct, noone lived there, they kept sending estimated bills. Numerous letters and phone calls later, they eventually decided to sort this out. It was late March. They wrote accepting there were no activate meters on the site. We got everything sorted. Woopee – start of the new financial year 1st April – 40 fresh estimates issued. Aargghh.
Made appointments, trekked out to the site. Did their engineers ever bother to show up – no.
I wrote them a letter saying ‘not only do you successfully piss me off in my private life, you’ve now pissed me off in my business life to’.
They are the most incompetent disorganisation I have ever come across in my whole entire life.
Oh goody, I finally get to tell you the story of why AT&T cut off my phone!
We moved into a new house last year and transferred over our phone service, asking for the same package that we had at the old house. Only it happens that the international long distance plan we had was discontinued so it couldn’t be transferred. Nobody told us this, they just neglected to put us on any plan at all despite the receipt they gave us for the transfer had a long distance plan on this.
During that time, my father was in the hospital in Germany and I was making many calls, many to cell phones (which you know are very expensive) and the total bill without any long distance plan was over $600. I call to find out what’s up and they figure out what happened and told me I’d get a credit but it would take a couple of billing cycles to be approved as the amount was so large it had to be okayed by some sort of manager. No worries though, I was assured if I just paid each month’s current charges my service wouldn’t be interrupted.
First month, I do that and it’s fine. Second month, I do it and they send me a shut off notice, so I call and explain and they say okay, but my phone gets cut off. I call and have to explain the whole thing again, but they turn the phone back on and assure me it will be approved soon.
This started in September, the credit was finally approved sometime in April, I think. During that time, my phone was constantly being shut off and I’d have to call and get the whole thing sorted again. Each call probably took at least a half hour usually more like 45 minutes, which is no little amount of time for me to be on the phone with all these kids running around. I will say everyone was very nice, even the guy that told me “oh no, you don’t need to speak to a supervisor”. Yeah, right buddy.
This wasn’t bad necessarily but quite weird. When I first moved back to the States, I had no credit report because I’d lived overseas most of my life. The only credit card I could get was one of those Orchard Bank ones with a $300 limit, which I used and to build up a credit record then put it away when I got better cards. One day, I get an offer for a 0% balance transfer which was quite attractive since we had some credit card debt from when my father in law passed away and had to make several overseas trips. I figured I’d call and see if they could raise the limit if I used it for a balance transfer (bear in mind by this time we had two cards with 5 figure limits, spotless credit, decent income). Well no, best they could do was $300 but they did offer to enroll me in a cash back rebate program where I’d get something like $1 back for each dollar I charged. Ha! I told them to go ahead and close the account and the guy seemed pretty confused why!
Your utility company reminds me of when we moved into this house and the guy was adamant that we couldn’t overlap service at two houses for the weekend we moved. Apparently nobody ever does that!
On the positive side, I had great customer service recently from Invision Power Boards and Liquid Web. They have both been unfailingly helpful and patient when I’ve dealt with them, even though I’m sure my non-tech self drives them batty!
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Oh, make that $1 for each 100 dollars I charged. $1 back per $1 spent would be splendid indeed!
Tracys last blog post..Beautiful Boy, A book review
I want to say the number one bad company is the Realtor that sold my in-laws the house 3 houses up the street from where I live. That Realtor should have known better!
1-800-Flowers
A US Company, for those that don’t know, that sets up bouquets online and then use local florists to deliver them. I had used them before, and get emails with offers every holiday, but have used other companies for the same purchase.
This last Mother’s Day, I ordered a bouquet for my Mother – a decent bouquet, but low budget as that’s where I am. But I arranged for it to be sent on Thursday before the holiday, as I had done that before and had success as my Ma appreciated getting to enjoy it for a few days.
While speaking with my Mother on Mother’s Day, after no mention of the bouquet (which, on the low end, run $50 after all the shipping charges) I asked directly and she told me nothing had been received. I was disappointed for both of us (and felt like a slug) and after the call logged onto the website. It showed the order, but when I called the number I kept getting a recording that “due to the holiday, all agents were busy” and then the line promptly hung up. I called again on Monday and got the same issue. Several calls, customer service numbers, and no representatives, just hang ups. By Tuesday I was able to speak with someone, in India, who stated she was in the Sales Department and because they were overwhelmed, could only take calls, wasn’t trained in anything else, but she dutifully took a message.
I kept calling, and at that point (I found a number that worked) kept getting people (in India) who said they were unable to do ANYTHING but take messages, as the lines were overwhelmed. I asked, is the company going bankrupt? Has there been a major problem? No, I was told…just lots of customer service calls. HHhhmmm….
About five or six days after Mother’s Day (a full week after my order should have been delivered) I got someone from Customer Service. They were able to see the order, and that it hadn’t been delivered, but couldn’t understand why. They insinuated that the local florist hadn’t delivered it, and promised to look into it. I was given the name of someone in CS and told I would get a call back.
Several days after my converstaion with a CS rep, I called back. The reps in India all expressed surprise that I hadn’t been called back, and then hung up. I kept calling, and after about 4 additional hours to the time spent, it was determined that someone in the company knew the answer to my inquiry (based on notes on my account) but this person – who had researched the problem and logged that fact days before – had never called me back.
At this point I was irate with the rep, so she hung up on me (and she didn’t know the answer). In most of the calls in the second week, I quickly asked for a supervisor, but “none were at work, all have left” I was contuiously told”.
Within 30 minutes of the rep I spoke with, about my 15th call, about 15 days after Mother’s day, hung up on me….hang on here….someone called me back. It was the CS rep I had just been rude to. She had found additional logs in my account. She didn’t want to leave me without an answer, the problem had already been escaleted through their system….but the error was caused by a “computer glitch”.
I asked what was the recourse? She said she couldn’t give me a refund, not even partial, because the Supervisor had determined it was….OUTSIDE THEIR CONTROL. Computer glitch and all.
The matter is in small claims court and has been filed with the BBB.
Mine is not a company which is a shame because I can’t take my business elsewhere. It’s the local council – let me just name it: The City of Norwood, Payneham and St Peters, in Adelaide. I live in a house with no off-street parking and there is permit-only parking here at certain times of the week. So I went into the council offices the day after we moved in armed with the lease agreement as proof of residency to get a permit, and was told I had to have more proof – my licence and car rego with the new address on them. Until then I might get a fine that I would be obliged to pay. There was nothing they could do.
I asked if there was anywhere nearby that had unrestricted parking and she checked her information and said sorry, no.
So I came back a couple of days later with the required documents and was told that it might take a couple of weeks to process the application and in the meantime I might get a fine that I would be obliged to pay. It actually took five weeks from the time of applying to receipt of the permit. Fortunately, no fine.
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Where do I start…
BAD Service
Pipex Internet, now part of tiscli.
Service was in my OH name, they rang up and asked if she would give them details of friends or family to ‘recommend’. She declined mainly because she didn’t think it appropriate. They then proceeded to call nearly everyday between 10-11 am, just as she was having her nap with baby as well as being pregnant with next one. Whatever she said we just couldn’t get removed from this call list. It took an emotional conversation from me virtually in tears to eventually get someone to remove us from this sales list.
GOOD Service
Car Insurance am with Marks and Spencer, and as part of the deal I get RAC breakdown membershipo which has been fantastic WHen renewal time come round I ring around, no one gets particulaly close. Then I get transferred unknowingly to some company who do the ringing round for you. THey cut me off, I get very confused. Eventually I get some offer that it slightly cheaper but includes a differenet breakdown service. I say I am very happy with with insurance and breakdown and odn’t want to swap for a lesser company to save £10 a year. Women is incredulous, but you dont’ want to save £10???? No I don’t I have been very happy with my service and I feel ahppy to reward them with my custom for another year, and am happy to £10 extra to do that!
I now actively such out companies who provide excellent customer service and do not use overseas call centers, my internet provider, ZEN, my bank, FIRST DIRECT.
I used to work in retail, at the high end for 10 years and know a thing or to about how to treat customers and it never ceases to amaze how incompetent and ignorant most big companies and their employees really are.
Excellent Post Tim. I think this could become a long comments section…
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I don’t know where to begin.
I’ll just say that in general this post just made me laugh and grid my teeth all at the same time because it did sound kind of funny that some companies are just that pitiful but they reminded me of other companies I have dealt with in the past.
It seems to me that I have to start consulting the BBB more often just so I don’t get into any snags with bad companies again.
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Hi Tim, I can relate to your problems with SunTrust. I don’t know what it is about merchant accounts, but they tend to be magnets for grief. I think part of the problem is that the make all of the terms and fees so complicated.
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I’ve had great experiences with DirectTV: Our DVR died. Called customer service, got right through and after a short time trying a couple of things, they determined that it was not “user repairable”. $19 for shipping and I had a new one 2 days later.
The worst and best customer service I have ever seen: My mother had a new bathroom added on to her house. When it was almost finished the builder gave her dimensions for the shower door and told her to go to his supplier and order it (why this wasn’t his responsibility I don’t know). She gave them his dimensions and when the door came it was too small. The company wanted a 15% restocking fee ($400 door) before they would order the correct one. And no help from the builder.
She called the local glass company and asked if they would measure and install the door. They came over and measured, two weeks later installed the door and refused to charge her because of the bad experience she had with the builder and the other company. She has since had this same company replace every window in her house.
@ Melly – Yeh when their own stuff say they know it sucks, then it sucks!
@ Michael – Thanks a lot! Drop me a tweet when it’s out and I can help spread the word.
@ Margaret – I have to say BG are pretty bad, but at least you have gas. We don’t have it here and have to cook on electric. What a bummer that is I can tell you.
@ Tracy – Yeh, yeh, yeh. You bludgeon poor defenseless AT & T why dontchya because you tried to scam them and they caught you out.
@ Laurie – The reframe is at least it wasn’t next door.
@ Chris – I feel your pain that really sucks. It is worse when their incompetence makes you look cheap. I think with the rise in popularity of sites like Twitter, companies will be forced to tighten their act up or have a lot of people know how crap they are. I for one will now not consider 1-800-Flowers.
@ Hilary – To be honest if I had to name the very worst it may have been dealing with Immigration and then Social Security when moving here. Never before in my entire life have I felt so intimidated and unwelcome. Unfortunately Government monopolies are hard to do anything about.
@ Guy – My sister is with Tiscali and has so many problems with them. Good old M & S eh? Where else can you get insurance, a t-shirt and some brilliant black pudding all in one trip?
@ Web – Yep, pittyful just about sums it up.
@ Vin – Oh well at least that is now behind me. BTW, PayPal merchant services are excellent imo.
@ Ken – SO YOU’RE the happy DirecTv customer – lol ;-)
I am a keen St Louis Rams fan and go on a message board quite fequently. Every year about this time the stories about DirecTv start up.
There is one guy that has been with them like forever and always defends them tooth and nail whilst about 25 other guys are killing them. It can get really funny.
Timbo:
Whatever in the world has happened to cause you to use your power for evil and not good? Take some sweet slow, deep, cleansing breaths, and don’t let’s madden the crowd. What say ye?
Great one Tim.
And I fully support your vote for BT. I thought the South African Telkom (also called hellcom) was a lousy operator. But BT beats them. Hands down.
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So far, I can only come up with my top 3 – but I’m working on the rest!
#3 Varig Airline – Because their idea of providing a vegetarian meal was to offer fruits. But then again, I do like fruits!
#2 T-Mobile – Because their so-called customer service seems to consist of a bunch of semi-trained monkeys. Come to think of it, that’s an insult to monkeys!
#1 Ebay – Because their motto should be: “Get ripped off here – we just don’t care!” I wrote them numerous mails, and they haven’t bothered answering a single one – that’s quite an achievement, I guess.
Worst – Ashton Woods home builders. My 2 year old nephew built a house of legos last week with better craftsmanship than they could. Moreover, when he knocked it down, he cleaned up after himself – which is much more than I can say about Ashton Woods.
Best customer service – Bank of America. I had a few charges last month I didn’t feel were justified and they took them right off before I even got that far in the conversation. They have a great iPhone app that has been very helpful. I’ve always been treated well in their branches and will continue to use them.
@ Moonpie – Wo-hoo! I was waiting for somebody to say something along those lines. I’ve had this idea for about a year and it was only really my dealing last week with SunTrust that pushed me over the edge.
I was sat talking with my co-author of How To Be Rich and Happy on Friday and mentioned I was thinking of posting about it. I also said I thought it may come across a bit negative. His take was similar to what I wanted to portray. Yes I am talking about negative stuff, but I’m doing it to hopefully make it better.
A lot of big business’s rely on people’s apathy to retain the status quo. Unfortunately for them, with social media and blogs it’s never been easier to get the message out about poor service and being ripped off.
All it takes for evil to prosper is a few good men to do nothing, or something like that ;-)
@ Anja – BT certainly hold the UK side of things up and impressed to hear they haven’t raised their standards in the 4 years since I had the horror of dealing with them.
@ idv82 – If I had stretched to a Top 15 I think T-Mobile would have made it in there as would Brighthouse my Internet supplier.
Has anybody noticed how many of these companies are in the telecom industry?
BT
Verizon
AT & T
T-Mobile
Vonage
Brighthouse
Maybe there is a gap in the market for a telephone company that offers great service?
Ah Tim I feel your pain.
Also when you are used to working with clients yourself and providing a good service you become more demanding in the service you are provided yourself.
As my Mother always says,’These people are there to take your money and if you are not happy take it somewhere else.’
Royal Bank of Scotland went right down the tubes after the NatWest buy-out. I’ve banked with them (along with most of the population of Scotland) for years but am moving to the co-op I think. Frankly I’d rather not contribute in my own small way to Mr Goodwin’s (albeit depleted – but still massive) pension.
Tim,
Thanks. This was the post I wanted to write two weeks when my then bank (have since switched) TDBANKNORTH….socked me overnight fees due a changed policy upwards of $500. The bank was formerly known as PEOPLES Bank and is completing the 5 or 6 year takeover and finally switching their name to TDCOMMERCE bank. Well, that says it all…at least they are being honest about it.
Your article made me feel better. Love me a good rant. Peace,
Katie
Having a financially irresponsible, stupid, angry, shop-oholic sister-in- law…with your same name now – really messes with your financial scores and ratings. 10 years latter I am still having problems with this form of ID theft….and my brother divorced her about 3 years into the marriage…it must be HELL to be in a bad place financially
And my brother’s first wife, aforementioned was his 3rd,extorted money from one of our community banks…I always keep a complete file on the where bouts of these two women so I can redirected the bounty hunters that come to my front door and terrify my children.
Patricias last blog post..Understanding Agenda For a New Economy ~ David Korten
@ Rachel – RBS caused me a few sleepless nights I can tell you and the bank manager went from being a friend to somebody I wanted to give a damn good thrashing to. On reflection I can see he screwed up and was looking to save his own arse.
@ Katie – Well done you trumped my $410! Aren’t banks just wonderful? ;-)
@ Patricia – Jeez, that is tough. The whole identity fraud thing is way out of hand and is to favored to protect the merchant and not enough in favor of the individual. Go figure.
Well first, it’s no longer “customer service” — it’s “support” — because they aren’t actually there to serve you or help you anymore.
;-)
Here’s the comment I hate most and almost every customer service group says it:
“We apologize for any inconvenience.”
This is usually followed by an explanation of how they aren’t actually authorized to do anything and can’t actually help me.
So they’re acknowledging the error and acknowledging the ‘inconvenience’ — and then basically telling me, “Tough luck. That’s how our system works.”
Yeah.
Joy. (sigh)
All the best!
deb
Deb Owens last blog post..anything is possible (but there’s a catch)
@ Deb – Support eh? Well there is precious little of that either!
My pet peeve is “We are sorry, but due to unexpected call volumes we can’t be arsed to answer the phone”
or even
“Please listen carefully because even though our system hasn’t changed in 5 years we think you are a complete dumbass and will bother the wrong person”
Now if they spoek like this it woud be quite fun. . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLxLmFhROqY (Taysiders in Space)- its not like you would understand what they are telling you any less
Tim,
Thanks for making me remember all my horrible experiences with customer service people!
In my opinion the worst are:
Verizon Wireless
Bank of America
BGE (Baltimore Gas & Electric)
BGE urks me the most out of all of these. I will send my payment in the mail (I always pay them), but it gets there a few days late sometimes. Next letter I get from them is a shut off notice! It like they don’t give a crap you have been a good consistent customer for 10 years. Come on BGE, you raise your prices all the time and never compensate people when the power goes down. ARGGG!! Corporate GREED! Come on people…we have until next Thursday to take them all down…lets do it!
Jake | Revive Your Lifes last blog post..Release the Pressure: More Healthy Heart Tips
It really is about the front line.
J.D. Meiers last blog post..Passion, Profit, and Value
@ Rachel – LMAO, excellent!
@ Jake – Sorry to stick the knife in bud. Take some deep breaths and breeeeeathe ;-)
@ JD – Sorry, you’ve lost me.
Loved the article. Usually see “the best of…” lists. Nice to see the “worst of…” for a change.
Mark Ste. Marie
http://theinterviewingedge.com/theinterviewingedge/
Mark Ste. Maries last blog post..Need to add a little code for a feed. Readers, pay no heed.
It’s amazing, I thought I was the only one who go miffed over the annoying and outrageous charges banks slap you with.
I have seriously considered taking my money out, and only using cash, but this would really cramp my lifestyle. Maybe if I paid my bills in pennies, I’d get better service, LOL
Hey:) I’ve been milling around the website lots of times Just needed to articulate how much i treasure this place.
As an update, I closed my SunTrust account down today. They still owe me some money for a charge back but I’ve given up asking for it and for $27 I’d rather not waste any more energy.
Thanks for posting people and sorry about not responding earlier, I often miss comments on older posts if I’m not in Wordpress when they come in. They’re still appreciated though!
My top 3 companies who are the worst to deal with ever are the following:-
3) eBay
2) PAYPAL
1) eBay
I am 40 years old and I have NEVER dealt with such an obsessed, paranoid, controlling, uncaring and ridiculous company in my ENTIRE life.
They have gone past the point of customer care or concern.
If they went bust tomorrow it wouldn’t matter because the owners are set up for life! They know that so what does it matter to them!
All this time they are laughing in our faces because they know that some people depend on eBay as an income!
My biggest dream in the world would be for eBay to go under tomorrow and everybody all team together in the biggest law suit in the entire world and sue the owners for gross misconduct and lack of morals and care for their customers!
Maybe being at the bottom of the pile in this life will remind then exactly how difficult life can be when you really have to work for everything you have got in life!