Customer Service THREAD

JennRenee's Shrimp dinner got me remembering a few times that I can think of where stores/business DID honor a complaint and do something about it...(and some not-so-good stories too)

Its a shame and SHAME on those that dont know how to keep a customer

My sister recently wrote a note/email to Macy's Mgmt regarding a saleswoman who was quite nasty when my mom simply asked her to check a price. She directed her to the price-check thingy and was not very nice about it. My mom is not very saavy with some high-tech things, and even though she LIVES IN and LOVES macy's sometimes she cant get those things to work, so if she comes upon a cashier first, she'll ask there.
Well Macy's responded within the day, to the email, with a huge apology and a $25 gift certificate!

I recently had an encounter at Kohls. OK I am guilty of 'leaving stuff on a rack' but hey 'customer is always right' and Ive worked in retail and have done MORE than my share of putting stuff away.
Well JA and I were shopping for a good couple of hours. and before I went to the register I stood off to the side, to see what I didnt want.
So I hung a few shirts, on a random rack JA was fussy, I was visibly exhausted and did I mention visibly preggo and this woman goes to me (VERY LOUDLY) 'EXcuse me??? ARE YOU TAKING THOSE ???' and I go 'Uhm, no' (I was so tired, that I wasnt my loud self... I was pretty calm and passive ' and she goes 'WELL, NO NO NO, I dont want that there, NOPE' (as she shook her head as if she were talking to a 2yr old who put her shoe on a table. and I didnt respond, and she goes 'I want it ALL Back to where it belongs. I want everything back in its right department!' (Again, VERY loudly!) and I go 'well, Im really tired, Ive been shopping for a few hours,and I cant go back to each department' and she goes 'well then take it all to the register' and just the way she spoke to me, I was appalled and shocked. I didnt say anything more than 'ok, ok, no problem'... but I got a glimpse of her name, and I plan to complain about her. After I left there, I couldnt BELEIVE that I didnt rip her apart. My response was SOO 'not me' but I just didnt feel like being confrontational (can ya beleive it? ) But nevertheless, even though what I did was annoying and salespeople HATE that, you NEVER talk to a customer like that! Im curious how Kohl's Customer service will react to this one

I have one more. I'll make it short. I took Amtrak to Canada a few years ago. The restrooms stunk to high heavens and were VERY filthy. The snack bar/on board food stand had a cheesy and WAY overpriced selection. I complained about those two things, and about the horrendous delays and the way the conductor spoke to some customers (rude)... They sent me a $250 credit towards another ride. (which I never used, but still I thought that was VERY nice)

Oh, once John never got a small white rice with his chinese takeout. and he went to this place AT LEAST 2X a week. The next day he told them they forgot the white rice the day before. They were nasty, told him he'd have to buy it, 'ONE DOLLAR' and just didnt even listen to his story!!! GRRRRRR. OVer 10 cents in white rice!

Anyone have good or bad stories??

Eckerd

I dropped off photo's. One hour photo turned into 7 hour photo. I was fuming. The girl then refused to give me my photo's and told me I have to wait till I get to the front of the line. I said I want my photo's. She said to me well you waited this long you could wait 2 more minutes. I said listen lady every other person on this line has their photo's and I want mine.

She got Pissy and stormed behind the counter, grabbed my photo's, then practically threw them at me.

I wrote an extremely nasty letter to Eckerd and they sent me 2 rolls of film, coupons, samples, and a bunch of other stuff.

Needless to say I refuse to go back to that Eckerd.

American Airlines, I got free round trip tickets after complaining, (long story), Fortunoff's, I received gift cards & a decent amount of $$ off my cocktail tables when the delivery came damaged TWICE! , Fortunoffs again when I registered and after a whole day, the gun was broken when they went to put it in the pc and told me I had to register all over again!!!! Avis rent a car, when they gave us a car almost on empty, I got money credited back to my card, Radisson in Orlando when the room they put us in smelled, I got 2 out of the 3 nights that we stayed there, credited back to my card!!!
I could go on and on. I specialize in complaining & getting stuff out of their crappy service.
All my friends always ask me to write letters for them when something happens! I got my friend a whole week free stay at Atlantis when he had a bad experience there. (5 days stay)

I have no balls... I never speak up for myself, and when I do, it's usually quick and meekly.

I need lessons from you ladies!!

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Posted by anna

After I left there, I couldnt BELEIVE that I didnt rip her apart. My response was SOO 'not me' but I just didnt feel like being confrontational (can ya beleive it? )

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LOL, right before I got of this part of your story I was thinking this

I have so many stories, I will have to think. One of my pet peeves is bad customer service, I agree you NEVER treat to a customer like that. I'm not saying there aren't times where customers are psycho but I can't believe how bad some customer service is, appalling. I always grumble to DH about how you just can't get good customer service these days.

Since it's a pet peeve, on the flipside, I very much appreciate good customer service. I recently wrote an email to Sears about an employee in the Sunrise Mall location. She's in the tool and paint dept, which we go to alot with the house and all, and she is always very very helpful to us and to other people, goes out of her way. That deserves recognition too.

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Posted by Cindy

For us it was Sandals Antigua. We, along with other couples we met there had major problems at the resort. After complaining with management, we left with a five day Sandals certificate to use. We ended up going to Bahamas.

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For us it's Verizon.. they are awful... They say one thing.. and charge anoher. They really are awful in my opinion. My FWand I can't stand them. They are so bad.

WELLL.... I worked in customer service (retail) for like 4 years SO.... I don't really get to 'nasty' I try to contain myself cause I use to get yelled at all the time by customers for things I couldnt help. It has to be REALLY BAD for me to get mad.
But The first one that comes to mind is...

My best friend (MOH) and I went to Florida for my brothers wedding. One morning we woke up and went to IHOP on the corner. Now we both love IHOP. This guy sitting across from us calls the waitress over and says 'I found
this in my food im not really sure what it is. It looks like dirt' YA we were really grossed out but we decided to stay since we ordered already and starving! Our food comes and April takes her second bite of her Omelet and whats in it? The fingertip to a rubber glove. YUP We were so grossed out. We just paid and left. When we got home she wrote a letter to Ihop and she still hasnt gotten anything from Ihop that was a year ago in april.

I went to Pizzeria uno in Bayside. The worst service ever. our waitress stood by the soda dispenser the whole time and talked to her friends we had to hunt down a manager to get our check (we tried to complain to him but he blew us off) we left her like a .01 (penny) tip and I left a note that said something like u should pay attention to ure customers and u might have gotten a better tip. I wrote them a letter and I got a 5.00 coupon YIPEE.

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Posted by JennRenee

I have no balls... I never speak up for myself, and when I do, it's usually quick and meekly.

I need lessons from you ladies!!

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JennRenee - that's exactly me too!!

My SIL is always able to get something when she is not treated well! Whenever DH and I are somewhere and irritated because we got poor servce, we always say we're gonna get her to make the call!!

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Posted by JennRenee

I have no balls... I never speak up for myself, and when I do, it's usually quick and meekly.

I need lessons from you ladies!!

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Jenn, same here. I never complain, and maybe I should!! As a car dealer, my DH gets it all the time and he handles his customers very well!

My best is getting free Billy Joel tickets!
We had gone to see him at Nassau Coliseum and the seats were awful. We could barely see, but even worse, we couldn't hear. I yelled at DH for singing too loud....I couldn't hear Billy Joel (which caused us to get into a huge fight). So I complained - wrote a nasty letter. A few days later I got a call saying they would give us free tickets to his next show as long as I sent our ticket stubs. I was so excited I was jumping up and down at work. The tickets were great - we sat in the penalty box right on the side and it was the day they raised the Billy Joel banner to the ceiling.
Since then my friends have me write letters when they want to complain. I've gotten other things, but that was my crowning achievement!

I complained about the RUDE florist who is our reception hall's preferred florist. She was snobby, elitist, and spoke to us like we were idiots. When I told her the quote I got was about $1600 higher than all the others i had gotten, she pretty much told me that no one could do my wedding for cheaper for what I wanted and that I better make sure i wasn't getting mums for those prices!! I called up my Banquet Manager to complain - and the florist called me two weeks later to tell me she had been fired!!!

well, i have stories upon stories but this is very recent:

For Valentines Day (that night) DH took me to this really great Italian restaurant. It reminded me of Lady and the Tramp where they are eating spaghetti. There were rose petals on the tables, candles, low lighting, cozy - really nice.

He made reservations about a week ago and when we got there, the waiter showed us to our table, which was right near the door and hostess station. So DH asked since there were a few unoccupied tables in the back, if we could sit there instead. The host said no, sorry we already have you booked at this table. Well, I wanted to enjoy the night and it wasn't *that* bad so we stayed. My DH was annoyed.

20 minutes later, in walks a couple to the hostess stand who said they did NOT have reservations but was there a free table? 'Why yes, right this way' said the hostess - and takes them to a great table in the back!! My DH called her over and said 'Why did you give people who walk in off the street a great table but not us who had reservations?' He also mentioned where he works bc they are nearby and bring a lot of business to the restaurant.

Well, she was mortified and gave us free coffee. Should have been free dessert!

How frustrating.

I have two stories to share, both with happy endings:

1) About 5 years ago, I went to buy a $5 cup of coffee at Starbucks. After paying for the coffee, I waited close to 20 minutes for the people to make it. Apparently, I ordered something a little different from what most other people ordered when I was there, so it seems that everyone (those who ordered behind me) got their coffee before I did. At this point, I called the manager and demanded my money back. He said that my order was being made. I told him that it was too late and was late for an appointment and would call the police if I didn't get my money back. The manager tried to make an excuse why I couldn't get my money back, so I loudly accuse him of stealing my money, and I finally got my money back. I took a recommendation form and wrote this whole story and mailed it. About a month later, I got a letter of apology (and the letter indicated that the manager of this particular Starbucks got a copy of my letter) plus two coupons for a free drink (with no expiration date or price limit).

2) I went to drop off my rolls of film at Duane Reade and was told to pick them up two days later. I picked them up and one roll was missing. In the record book that the store kept, it wasn't recorded that this roll of film came back to the store. The manager called the processing plant and they couldn't find my roll of film. I called this processing plant several times, and they called me, and my film was not located. They were very nice to me, and offered to give me a free roll of film, plus free processing, though they pointed out that it can't replace all the pictures I took. About a day after the offer, my pictures were located - it was filed alphabetically incorrectly. So I called the processing plant to tell them that my pictures were found, but they said that they just mailed these coupons to me, so I should just enjoy the free film and processing.

I have a funny story to share.

My aunt years and years ago..Im talking like early 60's found what she thought to be a flea or another small insect in the underlay of the cotton on a kotex pad. She freaked out, thank goodness she didnt put it on and wrote the company a letter.

In about a week, she forgot all about it and the doorbell rang. There outside her door were 20 boxes filled with free kotex! On the outside of the box, it said exactly what it was. She was mortified!!!!!! She claims that she never wrote another letter to anyone again!

Remember, back then, things were different, things were kept way more secretly so it was a very big deal! LOL

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Posted by nycchic_24

I have a funny story to share.

My aunt years and years ago..Im talking like early 60's found what she thought to be a flea or another small insect in the underlay of the cotton on a kotex pad. She freaked out, thank goodness she didnt put it on and wrote the company a letter.

In about a week, she forgot all about it and the doorbell rang. There outside her door were 20 boxes filled with free kotex! On the outside of the box, it said exactly what it was. She was mortified!!!!!! She claims that she never wrote another letter to anyone again!

Remember, back then, things were different, things were kept way more secretly so it was a very big deal! LOL

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Posted by nycchic_24

I have a funny story to share.

My aunt years and years ago..Im talking like early 60's found what she thought to be a flea or another small insect in the underlay of the cotton on a kotex pad. She freaked out, thank goodness she didnt put it on and wrote the company a letter.

In about a week, she forgot all about it and the doorbell rang. There outside her door were 20 boxes filled with free kotex! On the outside of the box, it said exactly what it was. She was mortified!!!!!! She claims that she never wrote another letter to anyone again!

Remember, back then, things were different, things were kept way more secretly so it was a very big deal! LOL

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That is so funny!

ETA: As I was reading this post, I gave a quick chuckle and DH said, 'God bless you!'

Noreen, that's hilarious!



We went to Disney World for our honeymoon and reserved a Quiet Pool view room at the Boardwalk with a King size bed & a refrigerator. They took the pool view for a water view over the Boardwalk (really loud at night) which is a preferred view and more expensive. They had no king rooms available and no friges. It's our HM! So I asked to speak with a manager. The woman at the counter came back 10 minutes later explaing that there was a miscommunication and would it be ok if we moved you to a garden villa. This room was worth twice the amount we paid for our reservation - had two floors, living room, wet bar, king bed, jacuzzi, 3 tvs and 1 & a half baths plus concierge service. Nice.

Another time I was calling Outback for take out. I called and got disconnected after holding. I called back and left on hold for a really long time. So I hung up and called back a third time and they said the kitchen was closed. I flipped - why couldn't the two other people I spoke with tell me that instead of letting me wait on hold like an idiot!! I got a $25 gift certificate.

One time we went to a local pub for some beers & burgers. Two hours later still no burgers, the tables around us had two seatings and we cant' get a burger no matter how much we beg. We ended up paying for one round of drinks - they kept the drinks coming so we probably had 4 rounds or so.