The worst company you have ever dealt with?

skregs

I have to say Three as well. I got one of their internet dongle things, €20 a month, minimum 12 month contract.

The dongle doesn't work in my house or anywhere nearby (works fine in other places)

I called them up, they said there was nothing they could do about it, and because I signed a contract, I have to keep paying them until december.

Fúck you, Three

orourkeda

enron

2 stroke

Phone companies are the worst to deal with imo. It should be possible to do business with a phone company over the phone, however I only deal with them in writing now.
I've also had problems with a coal company and an oil company, making deliveries that I didn't order, then demanding payment.

Sierra 117

Yahew wrote: »

My amazon story:


I used a Christmas voucher to order about £50 worth of books ( slightly more but the voucher was £50K as I recall).

What did you do with the £49,550 left on the voucher?

oceanclub

Eircom:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=171929

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=185687

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=192729

P.

musings

Has anyone mentioned the NCT?

Yahew

Sierra 117 wrote: »

What did you do with the £49,550 left on the voucher?

Maths fail. Im my typo spent £50 out of £50k.

As for the remaining £49,950, waiting for a discounted yacht to appear on Amazon.com.

OneArt

Keenan Property "Management". I use that last word lightly. Rented a flat only recently with them, all seemed well. Estate agent told us our lease copies would be in the post next week.

A month later, no lease, so we rang up. Yeah, yeah, they're in the office we'll send them (this was October we started in September).

By Christmas we'd seen nothing. Also due to one of my housemates' bank accounts, there was a f*ck up in the transfer of the rent so we were down a month's rent with them. Two of us had paid the rent, but the other hadn't come through and therefore we couldn't pay the whole thing.

The site manager contacted me saying MY rent hadn't come through. She contacted my other housemates saying the full rent hadn't been paid. Consistency wasn't exactly a strong point in that regard I guess! What irritated me was that she'd just chosen a random person to put the blame on. Anyway, this could've all be sorted out with a simple bank transfer but we said we need our lease first before we pay it.

February, still no sign of the lease. They got very quiet about asking for the missing month's rent. We were still ready to pay it, but not until we had the documents. I got sick of this and wanted to go directly through the landlord, so we rang the agent asking for his contact details. Apparently they didn't have them.

None of us ever saw the lease. I paid my last month's rent and took out that rent that I owed them (no lease, no rent guys sorry!) and fecked off to Germany. My old housemates told me that apparently the place was dirty and we weren't getting the deposit back (we were all prepared for this anyway so meh). What annoyed me, however, was the fact that we kept that place spotless. In fact that house had needed scrubbing when we moved in. It was a typical Celtic Tiger house, badly insulated (windows leaked) and the bath had to be replaced whilst we were there. And the old bath had been left outside our front door for about two months by the service man.

I can understand them taking the deposit for not paying that month's rent we owed them, all's fair, but what gets my goat is how utterly USELESS this company is. They didn't have landlord contact details, they NEVER sent our lease... Ugh I could go on.

I asked other people who I knew renting around Ballymun and a good friend of mine told me that she rented off the same people, and the same estate agent. Apparently the place was filthy when she moved in, and the landlord didn't actually know that KPM were renting it out.

Cut a long story short, they're a useless bunch of flaming c*ntflaps.

storker

Yahew wrote: »

My amazon story:
I called Amazon, they said keep it.
I gave the extras away to friends and family. Great service.

I ordered some history books from them a few years ago, and received a set of Microsoft technical manuals that were meant for a lady in Texas. I e-mailed Amazon to let them know. Their response: sorry about the error; we're making sure the right books are set out to you; please keep the Microsoft books as it would cost you too much to send them back, we'll get a new set sent out to the other customer.

I work in IT, so that was a bit of a result...

Oh, and the correct books arrived a few days later.

Stork

TheZohanS

elara.ie, they couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery, shockingly bad customer service.

Dell computers, great for sales, ****e for service - they don't look after their customers.

Vodafone's home broadband, was off more than it's on.


Have found UPC and three to be very good however, must be one of the lucky ones.

Apple were fantastic as are Amazon.

Ghost Buster

280special wrote: »

No it doesnt ! If they have it in their T&Cs that they will not accept coin, then they dont have to. After all NIB & ACC dont accept any form of currency , cash or coin, at their branches.

Well any company can state their terms and conditions and then stick to them I'll grant you that. But a bank which wont handle cash is a little like a library which refuses to handle books.

RichieC

TheZohan wrote: »

elara.ie, they couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery, shockingly bad customer service..

never had a bother with Elara.. I've bought loads from them and never once...

Satts

Ghost Buster wrote: »

3 are diabolical. i cancelled my contract formally , legally and correctly with them. Received a confirmation letter etc and then spent over6 months getting letters and phone calls from indian folk looking for money off me. They even sent debt collectors onto me. It took a solicitors letter from me to get them to f off.

Similar thing happened to me. They treatened to sell my debt to debt collectors. I sent them a registered letter to tell them if they didn't f off I would be contacting my solicitor. Got a letter back apologizing and they hope this incident would not stop me from becoming a 3 customer again in the future. God damn right it's gonna stop me from becoming a 3 customer ever again.

Paparazzo

Ghost Buster wrote: »

3 are diabolical. i cancelled my contract formally , legally and correctly with them. Received a confirmation letter etc and then spent over6 months getting letters and phone calls from indian folk looking for money off me. They even sent debt collectors onto me. It took a solicitors letter from me to get them to f off.

Similar thing happened me with Three. Contract was up, I didn't renew and changed network. My bill was direct debit, so that was that. Then about 6 months later I got calls from a debt collector saying I owed them 20 quid! Got a few letters too. Ignored them all. Hardcore

Cee-Jay-Cee

Three rang me on the wednesday 20th October to tell me i was entitled to an upgrade. The guy told the phones that were available free on the upgrade and i asked that he ring me back on friday 22nd and in the mean time i would have chose which phone to go for.

No call on friday so i rang them monday and spoke first with a guy in india who stated that the upgrade was approved and then proceeded to put me thru to customer service in dublin where i had to confirm all my details again. Then the girl in dublin put me back through to india and when thegirl there asked what my query was, i ****ed her out of iy telling her i had no query and i was put through to her to finalise the upgrade. She asked me for my name address DOB and telephone number so i told her to fúck off and hung up. Then the indian guy that i had originally being talking to rang me back and i warned him that if he asked me to confirm my name/address i was hanging up. He asked me to confirm my name and address...so i hung up again.

I then decided to call into the Three shop in town the following saturday and the guy there checked the computer and confirmed i was entitled to an upgrade. I had decided that i was going to go for an iphone. He then told me that the 8bg iphone 4 with IOS5 would be in store on monday so i decided to wait till then. I went back to the store on tuesday and spoke to the same guy, he got the phone for me and went to process the upgrade and his system said i wasnt entitled to one. So he rang upgrade section in dublin and i spoke to Barry. He manually approved the upgrade and said the phone would be sent out to me on thursday. I asked if the €49 for the phne would be taken by direct debit with my next bill and he was confused and said he wasnt aware that there was a charge. I told him that i had been told that there was by the guy in the store and he stated that he needed to speak to a supervisor in order to confirm the price and that he would ring me back wednesday to let me know. No call on wednesday so i rang thursday and spoke to some girl in dublin who informed me that the upgrade had been manually out on the system on tuesday but cancelled tuesday evening, i asked why and was told that it was because they didnt have the phone in their warehouse. I asked when it would be back in stock and she siad she didnt know. I then said it was in stock on tuesday as barry had told me it was there and he was to confirm the price. She then said 'sorry it is actually in stock' and that she would manually approve the upgrade there and then. I asked about the price and she said she didnt know as she had no price list. i asked what the fúck sort of upgrade dept are they when they dont even know the price of upgrade theyre offering. She grovelled and apologised several times more and generally spoke over the top of me. She then offered me one month free line rental for them being a complete and utter shower of incompetent idiots. I accepted. She then said she'd find out a price and ring me back and the phone would be dispatched today (friday) and i'd have it tuesday. Naturally no one has rang me and therefore the phone wasnt dispatched.

Their customer service is the worst i have ever encountered (and i've dealt with Airtricity!) Customer service have no access to upgrade dept records/computers and the people working in shops seem to use a different computer system too so they are unable to help either. Your bandied about from dept to dept and there is no continuity and so you have to explain why you've been put thru to that dept to everyone you speak to. I have nothing against indian people however i find their accent very difficult to understand and generally end up hanging up on them.


Their mobile phone service is excellent and theyre the cheapest, its just a pity they have the worst of the worst customer service.

littlefriend

Can't believe no one has mentioned MBNA!!

Oisinjm

Vodafone, shower of stealing ****

TheUsual

Laois_Man wrote: »

UPC - whatever the utterly useless shower of bastards are called these days. I don't actually know coz I left them 3 years ago, without giving my 30 days notice and continued to ignore threatening legal letters until they eventually stopped. The pack of retards are so thick they probably just forgot to sue me!!

Same with me, hounded over 25 Euro by a shower of criminals. Was with them over 10 years, paid the bill every time and when I moved house and dropped the contract they turned really nasty over 25 euro extra month crap they have in their system.
I paid it of course, always do, but the way I was targeted and harassed over it was shocking. Hope they die in a fire.

ontheditch2

Garda siochana traffic corps. Ignorant shower of bastards, with no decent bone in their body.

TheZohanS

ontheditch2 wrote: »

Garda siochana traffic corps. Ignorant shower of bastards, with no decent bone in their body.

How many points did you get?

galwayjohn89

Bad:
Vodafone
O2
Eircom
Ulster Bank
Laptops-direct.ie

Good
Ryanair
Continental
Three
Sky
AIB

4leto

ontheditch2 wrote: »

Garda siochana traffic corps. Ignorant shower of bastards, with no decent bone in their body.

Yeah they are very by the book and absolutely no leeway, even he regular guards hate them.

But although a victim of their anality I appreciate what they are doing, for to long us lawless Irish have been given the nudge and the wink in flounding traffic laws. I think it is better they are like that.

barone

this thread..

amazon are amazing, three are useless.

if anyone from three is reading boards.. note to self eh.

luckyfrank

Just thought id put a good word out there for groupon/citydeals i bought a weekend away for 200 euro, changed my mind when i saw one cheaper on hotelsireland, i rang up CS no questions asked money back, i would use this service again, Brilliant

Meteor for me by a long way.

harsea8

Carphone warehouse for me. When i lived in London in the 90s, their stores were always staffed by the biggest bunch of wideboy shisters you could imagine...thoroughly unpleasant shopping experience (think currys or dixons staff and add an element of latent aggression). Over here my one and only experience was when i bought a bluetooth headset in the local store and specifically confirmed with the staff member that it contained a cigarette lighter in-car charger (the packaging was one of those sealed plastic units and had no info about what was in the box). They said yes, i bought it, got home and was a normal 3-pin plug charger. Took it back and the same staff member denied that he had said it had a car charger and the manager refused the return as i had ever so slightly ripped the packaging whilst opening it...made a resolution that day that i will never ever buy a single thing from that company as long as i live

One of the best has to be the golden arches, was in the dublin airport one recently and dropped half my lunch on the floor. As i was hurriedly trying to salvage some chips from the floor, one of the staff ran out with a replacement for my entire order...just took the old one off me and said enjoy your lunch sir, quality service tbh

Joe_Box

Not surprisingly, the majority of complaints seem to be for Broadband/Telecommunications companies & Banks.

I've had lots of problems with AIB over the years. BOI have been better, but I think it really depends on the person who's handling your query/ account.

I'm very peeved with Amazon.co.uk at the moment.

I set up an account with them a couple months ago to sell stuff. After 2 months I had accumulated about 100euro.

When I went to deposit my money in my bank account, I was informed that it had to be into a UK account. After tonnes of emails back and forth, they simply only gave me the option to either open a UK bank account or they'd send me a cheque and close my account.

I set up the account with an Irish address and an Irish credit card with and Irish bank to verify. Why would they not make this info available to me at that stage, and not wait until I wanted to get money? Assholes

kylith

Bad:
Hostels.com - They claimed that they'd informed me that my booking had been cancelled despite the fact that they hadn't, meaning that my now ex and I were left homeless in Barcelona (luckily a family member was kind enough to book us into a hotel). When I complained to Hostels they said they'd informed me by email, I pointed out I had no record of ever receiving such a mail. I pointed out that I wouldn't have turned up at the hostel if I'd been told that I didn't having a booking, and that there were other people trying to check in who had the exact same problem, and had booked through the same site. They tried to refuse to return my deposit, then tried to give me credit on their site. I told them that I'd never be using the site again, and that if my money wasn't back on my credit card inside a week they'd be hearing from my solicitor. They gave me my money back.

Good:
White's dog food - when they didn't have the size I wanted in stock they sent me two smaller sized bags and a bag of treats gratis, and sent on the big bag as soon as it was back in stock.

Sam McCormack

Cill Dara Abu wrote: »

Boards.ie Moderators. Nightmare!

Nothing but trouble for me with the Adverts.ie Mods.

Thank f*ck they eventually banned me and I am sticking to other advert sites now

The Waltzing Consumer

There is definitely a lot of genuine stories here, but I would take a huge amount with a pinch of salt. Having worked, like many of the posters here, in places that have customer interaction, there are certainly two sides to every story.

I always heard my friends/family complain if they had a bad customer service and I would think "jesus, that's horrible" but then I have also had the luck of seeing them in these situations and it is certainly a big big change from their "stories".

I won't say all, but a good proportion of complaints or horror stories about absolute bull, only created because the customer was completely in the wrong, and when they could not get what they wanted, started feeling like a victim and what we get is these sob stories of criminal customer service.

So the story of the cashier telling the guy to f**k off becomes the guy was really abusive to the cashier and the cashier asked the guy to leave. The story of the absolute d**ks in a phone shop becomes the story of the guy with a damaged product and no receipt thinking he is so important, the normal laws don't apply to him and the staff simply pointing out the very normal procedures.

westendgirlie

Amazon may have themselves a new customer. Me.

Good customer service is paramount. By allowing the customer to keep books, dvd's, etc sent by mistake would definitely be cheaper than big adverts in the press. And it's worked! Look how many of you are praising them.

If only O2, Meteor and the like would stop with those crappy ads and treat customers with respect. Word of mouth much cheaper and if the words are full of praise, a company would be more profitable.

If only these companies lived in the real world eh?

Tony

Stinicker wrote: »

satellite.ie a small Irish company who does sat gear, ordered a few things down through the year, always had next day delivery. Superb service couldn't fault them in a million years.

Thanks, appreciate the mention

Vanbis

Stinicker wrote: »

satellite.ie a small Irish company who does sat gear, ordered a few things down through the year, always had next day delivery. Superb service couldn't fault them in a million years.

myself and a friend use them too, can't fault their service and deliveries are always nice and quick.

UPC, probably the worst at the moment. Their broaband service is great and only ever had a couple of problems but when the hardware breaks down they don't want to know and only look after new customers and not existing. Unbelievable.

Andrew33

tonsiltickler wrote: »

Amazon have the gold standard for customer service I think. A book I ordered was lost in the post, they replaced it free of charge.

BTW for everyone complaining about the ESB and Sky; there calls are handled by a call centre in cork. The company treats people like subhuman turds and offers very little training which explains your bad experiences I guess

I'm going to throw this in like a little hand grenade!
Any time I've had to deal with call centre staff based in Cork I've had a pretty lousy experience, I'm thinking Aviva, Taxi Regulator off the top of my head.
I'm always polite (you'll get absolutely nowhere with them if you've an attitude) but Munster based staff have to be the rudest, most arrogant bunch of nutjobs I've ever dealt with anywhere (must be the neck pain caused by carrying the huge chip on shoulder).
I've noticed a few of the posts above echo my sentiments with instore staff in Cork too!

Yahew

Apple in Cork seemed ok, when I called them a while ago.

Toby Take a Bow

A lot of people seem to have serious issues with UPC. I've had dealings with them in the past, mostly minor things which are their problem not mine, but in terms of getting people out to fix things, they've been grand, and the people on the phone and the people who fix the things have been always very pleasant.

Bank of Ireland have always been good to me: again, the company can be dicks, but the people on the desk have always been really friendly (this is the college green student branch).

Bad companies: Eircom. And Airtricity have been pissing me off recently: Why exactly do you need a TWO HUNDRED EURO DEPOSIT if you didn't need one before and you have all my account details?

danger mouse

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

There is definitely a lot of genuine stories here, but I would take a huge amount with a pinch of salt. Having worked, like many of the posters here, in places that have customer interaction, there are certainly two sides to every story.

I always heard my friends/family complain if they had a bad customer service and I would think "jesus, that's horrible" but then I have also had the luck of seeing them in these situations and it is certainly a big big change from their "stories".

I won't say all, but a good proportion of complaints or horror stories about absolute bull, only created because the customer was completely in the wrong, and when they could not get what they wanted, started feeling like a victim and what we get is these sob stories of criminal customer service.

So the story of the cashier telling the guy to f**k off becomes the guy was really abusive to the cashier and the cashier asked the guy to leave. The story of the absolute d**ks in a phone shop becomes the story of the guy with a damaged product and no receipt thinking he is so important, the normal laws don't apply to him and the staff simply pointing out the very normal procedures.

Haha fact Isn't that the truth.

sparrowcar

Pure Escape health & beauty in Swords.. Terrible customer service

Quinn Direct...

Basecamp outdoor on Abbey St...now that shower just take the biscuit

HUNK

Vodafone. I hate them. :mad:

danger mouse

HUNK wrote: »

Vodafone. I hate them. :mad:

Yep Vodafone CC can be a real hard pill to swallow. I worked for a company that had to deal with them alot and they were even hard for use to deal with and we where making them loads of money.

Stinicker

danger mouse wrote: »

Yep Vodafone CC can be a real hard pill to swallow. I worked for a company that had to deal with them alot and they were even hard for use to deal with and we where making them loads of money.

I wonder really who are the best Mobile company?

I have been a customer of the major players down through the years,

Spent years with Vodafone but left them in 2005 over their refusal to let me roam in the USA as a pay as you go customer. Joined Meteor as a result and I could both roam and they were cheaper.

This year I lost my old phone and Meteor didn't offer the iPhone so I went to Three.

Back in 2008 I also had the Mobile Internet Dongle from O2 and from my own expeiriences I would have to rate the companies accordingly.

1) O2
2) Vodafone
3) Meteor
-99,000) Three

danger mouse

yep O2 are the best of a bad bunch. Their CC have access to the most systems and can help you with most problems without management breeding down their necks.

danger mouse

Stinicker wrote: »

I wonder really who are the best Mobile company?

I have been a customer of the major players down through the years,

Spent years with Vodafone but left them in 2005 over their refusal to let me roam in the USA as a pay as you go customer. Joined Meteor as a result and I could both roam and they were cheaper.

This year I lost my old phone and Meteor didn't offer the iPhone so I went to Three.

Back in 2008 I also had the Mobile Internet Dongle from O2 and from my own expeiriences I would have to rate the companies accordingly.

1) O2
2) Vodafone
3) Meteor
-99,000) Three

Yeah i read about your problem with the three network just get your phone unlocked and port off the network. They cant do a thing. This is speaking from someone who had lots of dealings with them. Just make sure your account is in credit with them and you will be safe enough. :cool:

I've been with Vodafone, O2 and Meteor, heard too many bad stories to try Three. Out of those I found O2 to be the most helpful but also the most expensive.

Blikes

Good Company: HP

just finished with support for my laptop battery, no if, and's or buts.

"Don't worry, we'll get a new battery out to you first thing monday morning" Free. Awesome

ballsacky

Meteor are a shower of cnuts. And Bank Of Ireland.

Andrew33

mattjack wrote: »

the bad Volkswagon 1.4 petrol golf......never ever again, sold it at a loss after 9 months.Even the VW mechanics were at a loss for words.


the good Axa insurance ....easy to deal with face to face and by phone and a fantastic quote.

What did you expect? a profit?

mattjack

Andrew33 wrote: »

What did you expect? a profit?

whats the 33 stand for ? IQ ?

Andrew33

mattjack wrote: »

whats the 33 stand for ? IQ ?

Now now, don't get personal.
I think it's a genuine question, did you expect a profit from selling a 1.4 Golf?
You've given zero information in your post about the car except the fact that you sold it at a loss! Cars generally don't appreciate in value.:rolleyes:

Jesus Shaves

hahahahahaha, selling a car nine months after purchasing it for a loss,
Well i never!

:rolleyes: