Your best and worst customer service experiences [rant & praise]

daenerysstormborn3

There is a Hilfiger store in the town i live near and i do find the sales staff very pushy, numerous approaches during my time browsing, interrupting conversations with the people i am shopping with. I have made purchases in there but have now stopped going into the shop because they just hassle me too much.

I would definitely make a complaint if i were you. Try googling them, see if they have a head office or main store (possibly the one on grafton street) in Ireland and contact them.

Mental Mickey

pixiebean22 wrote: »

There is a Hilfiger store in the town i live near and i do find the sales staff very pushy, numerous approaches during my time browsing, interrupting conversations with the people i am shopping with. I have made purchases in there but have now stopped going into the shop because they just hassle me too much.

I would definitely make a complaint if i were you. Try googling them, see if they have a head office or main store (possibly the one on grafton street) in Ireland and contact them.

This is exactly how I think that person was coming across. Pushy, on the verge of being aggressive. The guy involved, on the other hand, was being downright rude imo.

Djawl

Isn't it strange how some companies think that customers are commodities (as above indicates). These companies forget that customers bring custom or take their custom away.

I took my broadband and landline custom away from Eircom and because this company charged me for leaving (after changing terms and conditions for my completed contract). I have now also taken away my mobile, AND my sons have taken away their custom for broadband and mobile without being charged because I could advise them

I just can't understand rude staff, arrogant managers, smug retention of charges. Customers = business = jobs/company. I am not a commodity, I have two legs and walked away :}

daenerysstormborn3

Eircom - we have been having a problem with our broadband for the past month and they really could care less. They have made little effort to help fix the problem, other than send out a technician who appears not to have even reported back to them what he thinks the problem is. Anytime we ring them (which is everyday at this stage) we have to explain the whole situation to them and we are contradicted everytime "Well everything looks fine from our end so there's no problem". Every single person we have spoken to in broadband technical support have been so rude on the phone to us, interrupting us, speaking over us, contradicting us. Imagine being told on the phone "there's nothing wrong with your broadband" but at the same time you can't get online and they won't believe you?? My partner is running a business here and it's costing him money because he can't get online to check prices for customers, yet they seem to think we have time to ring up and waste our time and theirs with a problem that according to them is non-existent.

The person we spoke to this morning was so rude that my partner rang Eircom Complaints. He outlined the problems we have been having and was then put on hold for 5 minutes, the Eircom rep then proceeded down the same path as the rest, contradicting us and being extremely rude. He then ended the phone call by saying "You will have to deal solely with broadband technical support. Thank you for calling Eircom Customer Complaints. Have a good day" - so in other words I don't care about your complaint and don't ring me again. He literally did nothing for us on the phone other than leave us even more frustrated.

The company are an absolute joke and I am amazed that there is such a large concentration of people with absolutely no manners working in the one place.

Djawl

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Eircom - "Well everything looks fine from our end so there's no problem"

Rude, arrogant, smug. Change Pixiebean22, but give a thirty day notice FOR EACH SERVICE you will be changing (it took me 33 years to change).

fj1200 wrote: »

phonecancellations@eircom.ie

I changed to Smart, I'm saving money even though Eircom retained charges AND the broadband is a little better somehow
This is the rate I am on now :- http://www.smarttelecom.ie/home_broadband/10Mb_anytime.aspx

Look around and change

daenerysstormborn3

In the process of changing now, just trying to find the best deal. Fortunately there's a lot more choice than there used to be.

They've lost themselves a loyal customer, who pays their bill the day it comes by post, of 10+ years.

OldNotWIse

Mental Mickey wrote: »

Anyone else ever had issues with these guys??

I was in one of their branches on Friday evening. I had originally gone up to my local shopping centre to purchase something else, but while I was there, I decided to ramble around the shops to kill a bit of time..

Anyway, I went into the Hilfiger store to take a browse around. I was there about 2 minutes max when the young shop assistant came over to me and asked if I needed any help.

I politely told her no, that I was just browsing. She went off and came back a little later and asked the same question, to which I gave the same reply. With this, she disappeared for a few minutes and came back into the store with a man(I assume he was the manager) dressed in a suit & tie. He proceeded to ask me the same questions, to which I gave the same answers.

He then said to me(wait for it):


If you're not going to purchase anything, could you please leave the shop!!!!!


I didn't get to ask the people's names before I left......I was in shock. It only hit me afterwards how badly(I think)I was treated.

Do I have a right to make an official complaint? Which avenue(s) should I go down?

Can't believe this :eek: I hope you get somewhere with the complaint. Even without being told, "if you're not buying get out", I personallly HATE when assistants ask if I need help. Don't know why but it always seems so insincere or something. Tempting to play them at their own game and say, "Well actually yes you can help, I'm looking for a nice jumper for burying my dead aunt in, do you have anything suitable? Actually, maybe something like what you have on at the moment would be nice" :P

OldNotWIse

_meehan_ wrote: »

Schuh isn't a supermarket, and only 2 people can serve on tills at one time anyway.

But surely even if they are not trained on the till it's not beyond them to seek out someone who is (and who knows how to use it)? regardless of anyone's training, there's no excuse for leaving someone standing like a knob.

Mental Mickey

OldNotWIse wrote: »

Can't believe this :eek: I hope you get somewhere with the complaint. Even without being told, "if you're not buying get out", I personallly HATE when assistants ask if I need help. Don't know why but it always seems so insincere or something. Tempting to play them at their own game and say, "Well actually yes you can help, I'm looking for a nice jumper for burying my dead aunt in, do you have anything suitable? Actually, maybe something like what you have on at the moment would be nice" :P

PMSL.

hdowney

OldNotWIse wrote: »

Can't believe this :eek: I hope you get somewhere with the complaint. Even without being told, "if you're not buying get out", I personallly HATE when assistants ask if I need help. Don't know why but it always seems so insincere or something. Tempting to play them at their own game and say, "Well actually yes you can help, I'm looking for a nice jumper for burying my dead aunt in, do you have anything suitable? Actually, maybe something like what you have on at the moment would be nice" :P

I hate it too. A few years back my friend and I were in some shop (no idea what it was, some independent yokie I think) and he was browsing. Yer wan comes over and asks can they help. Mate says no, just looking, not sure what I want yet. That's fine. They can come and ask once, no harm.

Five mins later they were back, same question. Same answer from the mate, but a little more snark in his tone. Off goes the assistant.

Friend continues to browse, even picks up a couple things to buy. Still browsing, with the items in his hand yer wan comes over, asks does he need any help, and would you like me to take them over to the till for you. Now you might think the offer to take them was nice - save your arms from carrying, but you could well tell by the shop assistants tone the reason they wanted to take them was to make sure my mate wasn't gonna try a legger out of the shop with the items. Mate says he is fine thanks, still wants to try them on, proper snark in his tone now, no mistaking it. Shop assistant slinks off.

Mate says to me he is done and wants to buy these, cos if he keeps looking and yer wan comes up to him one more time he is going to pitch a fit. So we go to the till.

Shop assistant is there with someone who looks managerial. Managerial type asks if we found everything ok. Mate says yes, but it would have been a lot easier with out yer wan going on all the time. Managerial type says we just like to help our customers. Mate says what help them decide to go elsewhere for their stuff cos you treat them like they are going to nick something. I was about ready to throw these at your assistant and leave. Managerial type says nothing, rings up purchases with face like smacked arse! Says have a nice day as we are leaving.

Mate says we will now, and we won't be back!!

He says afterwards it is a shame cos the store had tons of stuff he really would have liked to buy, but he won't be treated like that and I agreee.

And the strange part is my mate isn't really the say anything type. He was clearly well pissed off

OldNotWIse

hdowney wrote: »

I hate it too. A few years back my friend and I were in some shop (no idea what it was, some independent yokie I think) and he was browsing. Yer wan comes over and asks can they help. Mate says no, just looking, not sure what I want yet. That's fine. They can come and ask once, no harm.

Five mins later they were back, same question. Same answer from the mate, but a little more snark in his tone. Off goes the assistant.

Friend continues to browse, even picks up a couple things to buy. Still browsing, with the items in his hand yer wan comes over, asks does he need any help, and would you like me to take them over to the till for you. Now you might think the offer to take them was nice - save your arms from carrying, but you could well tell by the shop assistants tone the reason they wanted to take them was to make sure my mate wasn't gonna try a legger out of the shop with the items. Mate says he is fine thanks, still wants to try them on, proper snark in his tone now, no mistaking it. Shop assistant slinks off.

Mate says to me he is done and wants to buy these, cos if he keeps looking and yer wan comes up to him one more time he is going to pitch a fit. So we go to the till.

Shop assistant is there with someone who looks managerial. Managerial type asks if we found everything ok. Mate says yes, but it would have been a lot easier with out yer wan going on all the time. Managerial type says we just like to help our customers. Mate says what help them decide to go elsewhere for their stuff cos you treat them like they are going to nick something. I was about ready to throw these at your assistant and leave. Managerial type says nothing, rings up purchases with face like smacked arse! Says have a nice day as we are leaving.

Mate says we will now, and we won't be back!!

He says afterwards it is a shame cos the store had tons of stuff he really would have liked to buy, but he won't be treated like that and I agreee.

And the strange part is my mate isn't really the say anything type. He was clearly well pissed off

What ar*eholes :rolleyes: It's crazy that even in times like these when businesses are suffering, some places still feel it's ok to treat customers like this :mad: I wouldn't have bought anything, I would have brought the items up to the desk, let them ring them all through and then say, "actually, these are the things that I was going to buy until your rude assistant made me feel like something she had scrapped off the sole of her shoe. The figure on the till is the amount your staff just cost you. See ya "

Mental Mickey

Got a telephone call from PR(i think?)connected to Hilfiger. Their story completely conflicts mine. The staff say that I must've overheard them talking - apparently one of the staff members said "I'm off" - they think that I thought they were closing.

I told the lady that I don't recall this conversation ever taking place. She offered me some vouchers to go and spend in their store, but I told her that I didn't want it and to donate it to the Irish Cancer Society instead. She said that they might look the CCTV too.

daenerysstormborn3

Not the ideal outcome but at least they did something about your complaint rather than ignoring it

Mental Mickey

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Not the ideal outcome but at least they did something about your complaint rather than ignoring it

The woman said that it would probably be an internal disciplinary matter.....

darkhorse

Hi Intheright,
It's a pity that I did'nt know you a couple of years ago. Ya see, I had terrible hassle with the company that you mention(I cant even say their name). To cut a long story short, I did get sorted, but I had to jump hoops for a whole six months. An experience I will never forget as long as I live.
JB

caprilicious

Rant
Ramada hotel bar Waterford
Dismal service, left waiting 20 minutes before order taken & at that I had to go to the bar to get someone over, despite bar being fairly quiet & 3 staff on duty.
When order placed, food till hadn't arrived after 30 mins (nothing on order would have taken that long to cook).
Went to bar to ask if food would be with us soon, had it dropped down straight away, not a word of apology for delay.
Two of the three dishes looked like they had been cooked a while & left sitting under the hot lamps (pasta sauce congealed on top).
Shame really as the food was quite nice, wouldn't return again for such poor service though.

Praise
Homebase Cork road, Waterford
Lovely gent (Dave) served us when pricing wood for DIY project. He was extremely helpful & knowledgeable.

Daisy78

Worst.........Toni and Guy Clarendon St

I had a pretty awful experience here last week. I had reason to complain on two occasions when getting my hair done (by two different stylists).When I was asked how everything was once they had finished I explained that I wasn't happy and explained what the issue was.The stylist insinuated that the problem was with me and was extremely condescending in his response.He was so confrontational in his manner that I practically ran out the door in shock. I wasn't offered the opportunity to speak to a manager at any time. Im astonished that in the midst of a recession a global hairdressing franchise such as Toni & Guy think it is acceptable to treat customers like this. I did my best to try and explain what the two issues (which were completely reasonable complaints) were but they weren't having any of it. I don't know what avenue's are open for consumers to complain about a situation such as this:(

Nasty_Girl

Argos. I won't get inti the whole saga of ordering a home delivery from them and them sending the wrong thing and it taking an age to resolve. However, heres a little tale from the branch in Swords.
Husband was in the process of buying a sat nav and me beinf almost 9 months preggers went and sat on the sofa - checking for any signs stating they weren't to be sat on.
Husband was having some difficulty finding what he wanted so I was there for about 5 minutes when some sales girl came over and without making eye contact rattled off "this is our display model so I'll have to ask you to get up".
I called loudly over to husband "they told me to get up don't give them any money" and we left the store.
I can understand they dont want people wrecking their sofas but I felt it was unessecary.

Best customer experience recently would be Eurobaby in Airside. So friendly and helpful

Procrastastudy

Worst KLM / Airfrance - numerous phone calls ref extra leg room seats. Didn't mind paying - various half hearted "we'll see what we can do" eventually arrived at Schiphol to find they had done nothing.

Best Kenya Airways: Found out that KLM/Airfrance were operating using these guys, why they couldn't have just told us is beyond me as I could have made direct contact. Kenya Airways made my wife (6'4 with VERY long legs) as comfy as pos on the way over and moved us to extra legroom seats on the way back including a flight change Nairobi.

Worst Thomson - Will. Never. Fly. With. These. Muppetts. Again.

Best Ryanair - the day they removed reclining seats in the day my wife wanted to marry O'Leary

ChocolateChip

I will never do business with this crowd again. We have had issues with them in the past, but after making a phone call to them today, I have been left utterly disillusioned with their manner and customer service.

I rang enquiring about a TV. A very hostile woman answered, and I asked politely 'Is this Euronics?', as she had not given any indication whether I was through to the right crowd. She then says, 'No, it's Joyce's', immediately putting me on hold for what seemed like an eternity. I eventually got through to another woman who seemed 'put out' by my asking of a particular TV. She then says that she'll call me tomorrow, without asking for any details at all. I answered saying that I will try my local electrical retailer instead and she hangs up straight away.

The sheer ignorance and careless attitude is enough for me to never shop with them. They're the same company who had rotting meat in their supermarket which should have been a sign to me to not try out their electrical department.

darkhorse

Hi Nasty Girl,

All I can say is, that assistant was really ignorant to treat a pregnant girl like that.
John

AhInFairness

Got my hair done in The Style Club in Swords the other day. The stylist was great. Very professional, friendly without all the 'going anywhere nice on your holidays' fakery and she did a great job on my hair.

The problem was one of the younger staff members - possibly a trainee as I didn't see her do much with anyone's hair in the 3 hours I was there. At one point she came over and interrupted my stylist to tell her that another woman wanted her to do her hair. The stylist said 'well obviously I can't do it now. Did you tell the lady she'll have to wait as I am with a client?' At this stage she was only half way through one side of my head for highlights. The stylist ended up having to leave me for about 10 minutes to try to figure out what was going on. Looked like the younger girl was also given a bit of a talking to.

When I was finished and paying it was this girl who was at the reception desk. She did not look at me once. The stylist came up and told her what I had done and the girl just stood there with a sullen face. She told me the price, €140, and I handed her my card. I then quickly said 'oh sorry could you recommend a leave-in treatment?' She let out this biiiig sigh and rolled her eyes and then really narkily said 'well, for what? Do you want this? Or this?' I grabbed one of them and then she was narked at having to cancel the transaction and put in the new price. I apologised 'for being awkward' and she didn't even acknowledge me. I suggested two transactions if it was a problem. She mumbled at me along the lines of 'no, its fine.'

In the end I got my card and receipt and got out as I was dead late to meet a friend. Considering making a complaint though as she really soured what was an expensive treat for myself.

fasttalkerchat

My sky box stopped working 2 days after I got it installed. They said it would take 3-7 days to send out an engineer. I threw a strop because it had taken a month to get it installed in the first place. Demanded that it was replaced with a new box within 24 hours. They came out at 8am the following morning. I had called on a Friday evening so they were out on a Saturday morning!


Paypal/Ebay, I bought my sister GHD straightners. Turned out to be fake but we didn't know that for nearly a year. Ebay and Paypal wouldn't give me money back because there was a time limit to report counterfeit goods. They also wouldn't give me the sellers bank account or personal details so I ended up with nothing.


Ian Glasgow Car Sales outside Belfast. Horrible man and terrible service! I drove 40 miles to see a car, I mentioned some rust on a wheel arch and he said well you're not going to get that (points to 2010 Quashquai) for £1500. He then said that he was in a hurry and made me feel like I was wasting his time. At one point he said "I don't think this car is for you".

Bank of Ireland, I'm waiting 4 years to get online banking pin. Applied to get it 14, yes fourteen times. The final time I went into the bank and spoke to the bank manager for the fifth time about it and asked should I give up? He said he was sorry but he didn't know what the problem was.

Not really customer service but when I went to get a PPS number I was asked "Are you wanting to sign on" no, I want a PPS number. "Do you want the number to draw the dole?" No, I need it for work. It was like she had never met someone who wasn't on the dole!

Went into a shop to get change for a Dublin Bus. Bought something and got 2 euro coins. Asked for 2 single euros instead and was told sorry, we're low on change. Asked for whatever you have ( need small change for the bus). He said sorry, cant do that. Their were a few people waiting behind me in the queue so I decided to be awkward and demand a refund.


Ryanair, need I say more?

Corruptedmorals

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Paypal/Ebay, I bought my sister GHD straightners. Turned out to be fake but we didn't know that for nearly a year. Ebay and Paypal wouldn't give me money back because there was a time limit to report counterfeit goods. They also wouldn't give me the sellers bank account or personal details so I ended up with nothing.

GHD's are unlikely to be real online, you can only really safely buy them from Peter Marks. GHD allow you to check that your straighteners are real by typing in the serial number on their website. I don't think you can blame either company that you were not aware of how prolific fake GHD's are or that you didn't notice for a year really. Unfortunate but not really a situation you can pin blame on anyone except the seller.

fasttalkerchat

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

GHD's are unlikely to be real online, you can only really safely buy them from Peter Marks. GHD allow you to check that your straighteners are real by typing in the serial number on their website. I don't think you can blame either company that you were not aware of how prolific fake GHD's are or that you didn't notice for a year really. Unfortunate but not really a situation you can pin blame on anyone except the seller.

This was a few years ago, back then no shops had them so everyone was ordering them online. The box, instructions and the GHDs themselves were all genuine but had been built with inferior components. If I remember right it was the heating element that wasn't genuine.
IMO if GHD had better security at their factories this wouldn't have happened. Also Paypal and Ebay say that they will protect you if something is counterfeit so its shameful that they backed out of this promise because it took a year for them to break.

We only found out something was wrong when we sent them to GHD to be repaired (using the enclosed warranty) and GHD refused!

Corruptedmorals

Peter Marks have been the stockists for a long time. I bought my first ones there in 2002, and they were available before that, 2000 or 2001. As I say it's very unfortunate that it was not realised sooner or the serial number checked online but a year does sound excessive. As for giving out details, there's probably very good reasons why they don't do that. The seller would probably have good grounds to sue them if they did do, fraudster or not.

fasttalkerchat

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

Peter Marks have been the stockists for a long time. I bought my first ones there in 2002, and they were available before that, 2000 or 2001. As I say it's very unfortunate that it was not realised sooner or the serial number checked online but a year does sound excessive. As for giving out details, there's probably very good reasons why they don't do that. The seller would probably have good grounds to sue them if they did do, fraudster or not.

They can't do that but I would have thought that they could help in some way. I couldn't help feeling that I was left high and dry. It wasn't like you could tell by looking at them so its hardly like GHD expect every customer to open the product. Expecting every customer to register serial numbers online is a big excessive too IMO. I never register anything online because I thought it was just an excuse to get your details for marketing.

Anyway, rant over.

ValidName

I've come to realise that every business is going to fail in their service to the customer at some point. Businesses, after all, are run by humans. It's not, therefore, the lack of problems that defines good service - it's how the business deals with it. I just bought a Sat Nav in Tesco, Donore Road, Drogheda and, when I got home, found that I had an empty box. The machine had been removed for security reasons. The shop assistant removing the security tags had missed this. I rang and explained that the few bob I'd saved deciding to buy it from Tesco would be pretty useless if I had to spend an hour going back to rectify their oversight. I now have my new sat nav on the desk beside me, delivered with a smile by one of their staff. I'm not shy of complaining so I wanted to be fair and give a 'thumbs up' to Tesco Drogheda for good service after an honest mistake.

Ghost Buster

H and F enterprises, Cashel. They specialise in range cooker restoration. They have had a part of my range sine August 2011 for what was a two day job.After a year chasing them and threatening legal action i received my range top missing 7 parts and its unusable. The staff openly blame each other on the phone and never ever return calls. i have tried several times to speak to management and they refuse to speak to customers and will not return calls.
Im considering legal action at this stage:mad:

Bummer1234

Nasty_Girl wrote: »

Argos. I won't get inti the whole saga of ordering a home delivery from them and them sending the wrong thing and it taking an age to resolve. However, heres a little tale from the branch in Swords.
Husband was in the process of buying a sat nav and me beinf almost 9 months preggers went and sat on the sofa - checking for any signs stating they weren't to be sat on.
Husband was having some difficulty finding what he wanted so I was there for about 5 minutes when some sales girl came over and without making eye contact rattled off "this is our display model so I'll have to ask you to get up".
I called loudly over to husband "they told me to get up don't give them any money" and we left the store.
I can understand they dont want people wrecking their sofas but I felt it was unessecary.

Best customer experience recently would be Eurobaby in Airside. So friendly and helpful

Best thing you could do,Terrible way to treat a heavily pregnant woman!!