customer service issues.

[bando1234]

Im just wondering if anyone has any horrible cutomer service stories. My wife thought I was going to bust a blood vessel yesterday. I switched cellphone carriers. Cellphone carrier B asked me if I wanted my old number. I said sure. He asked me when my contract rand out with carrier A. I told him about a month. He said he would get it changed at that time. Well a rep from carrier B called my wife & changed the number the same day I got the cell phone. Not thinking when she told me this I went on with my day.

A month goes by. I look at mey cellphone bill from A & I have a 400 dollar charge(200 per line) from having the phone cancelled. I explained to the first rep that while I have no problem paying the last month of my bill & even a pro rated fee but I do have a problem with a 400 fee for my phone being cancelled & not living up to my end of the contract. I was getting a little heated.I did not cuss but told her they would not recieve 400 & if they really wanted they could send me to collections. I regretted making that statement because I dont want to make threats. I was in somewhat of a mood because I had woke up early due to surguy my son was having which went well, but I was tired. I asked to talk to a supervisor.

I calmed my self down & tried to rememeber its not the person on the other ends fault by the time the supervisor came on. So we went thru the whold story again. He said I sorry you did not live up to your end of the contract & you cancelled our service. I told him carrier b cancelled my service, not me. He told me I own the number & when my wife gave them permisson to change numbers,it was as good as cancelling it. I again told him I have no problem paying that last month of service to live up to the contract plus wouldnt it make good business sense to make a courtsey call. In which his reply was"why should we , we had already lost you business ,it makes no sense for us to do that" Starting to get heated again I stated if just not seem very ethical to me in which he had to disagree. Not getting anywhere I aske to speak to his supervisor. He stated he was the supervisor. I told him I would like the person above him in which he stated they were not there. I told him I wanted there voicemail. He responed by saying okeydoke in which time I was cut off the line.

By now I was livid , but I tried to remain calm when calling back. I asked for the rep I was talking too & was told there reps are all around the U.S. I explained my story again to the rep on the line while driving down to carrier B. She put me on hold long enough to explain the situation to carrier b. Carrier B told me to try to get hooked up for the last month of the contract so I could fulfill it.. The rep for A did come on the line & did waive the fee & told me to pay the last month of the bill.

Now the funny part is I am a phone service rep my self & I cant stand it when people get so worked up & cuss.I have only hung up on one person & that was after he called me a nasty name. Granted I did get worked up & the conract was broke but I paid 3 years & 11 months & I had no problem paying that last month & even some sort of prorated fee. What do you guys think? Was I out of line? Do any of you have any cutomer service issues like this or others.

[jason21nl]

I actually had that same thing happen when I switched from US Cellular to Verizon. When I switched I kept my same phone number and I was charged an early disconnect from US Cellular. I took my bill into US Cell and explained what happened, they said that I owned the number and they were correct for charging an early disconnect. However they said since it was only 2 weeks until my contract with them was up, they would have no problem waiving the fee. I was in and out of US Cellular in under 15 min. I was very pleased.

 

 

The most recent time I got upset was with my bank. I received a check for something and they wouldn't allow me to cash it out because I didn't have that much in my account at the time. I said, ok I'll just deposit it use my debit card. They said that wouldn't be allowed because there would be 4 day hold on the check. I have been going to that bank cashing checks for a long time and haven't heard of that policy. So I said, you're not going to allow me to use my own money? The lady said thats right, since there will be a hold on the check. I told the lady, I guess its time for me to switch banks huh? and left. I'm sure that other banks have similar policies but I was annoyed.

[bando1234]

The most recent time I got upset was with my bank. I received a check for something and they wouldn't allow me to cash it out because I didn't have that much in my account at the time. I said, ok I'll just deposit it use my debit card. They said that wouldn't be allowed because there would be 4 day hold on the check. I have been going to that bank cashing checks for a long time and haven't heard of that policy. So I said, you're not going to allow me to use my own money? The lady said thats right, since there will be a hold on the check. I told the lady, I guess its time for me to switch banks huh? and left. I'm sure that other banks have similar policies but I was annoyed.

 

 

Jason,

I use to work for a financial instituion. Maybe I can explain(although you still maybe annoyed by my answer). If its a personal check, an insurance check or a credit card check they will usally put a hold on them. Our policy on a personal check was to call to see if the funds were available & to leave the check on hold until hold date was over or to call to see if the check cleared. I would usally tell them to take the check to the bank it was drawn off of & they should cash it as long as you have a picture ID & the money is in the account. Im not sure on insurance check but credit card checks are put on hold because they could max out there card before the check hold & the company will not honor them. I would usally try to explain this was not there fault but just a precaution as we have got burned a few times. I know I had taken a few my time as a teller.My uncle wrote me a rather large check & they put that on hold & I was an employee there.

[logan82]

I would have been upset as well if I told a new carrier when to start a contract because I already had a contract with somebody else and they started it early. I don't know why they would call your wife and change the date after you told them when to change it. I would be more upset with them than the original company. I would say that company B screwed you and go back to company A as soon as you can.

 

The worst customer service I had was with Xbox. My original Xbox broke about 9 months after I bought it. I called in and they said it would be $75 to fix it and they would send me a box to ship it to them in. Couple weeks later and nothing, so I give them another call. They said, no it was a mistake. It would cost $120 if they send a box to me. I told them they said it would be $75 and they would send me a box. I think I ended up talking to a supervisor that time and they said they would send a box. A couple weeks later and nothing again. I give them another call. Same thing as the time before. I have to talk to the supervisor and am told $120. In the end they sent a box to me and it cost $75. It took 5 weeks just to get a box and I did get a deal I guess, but it sure was a pain.

[craigharmann]

US Cellular charged my wife and I a $150 PER PHONE charge to cancel our phone services. Here's the problem. We were moving from Sheboygan, where US Cellular had service, to San Antonio, where they don't. So my wife goes in and asks, and they said, well, you can either cancel your phone, pay the $150 per phone fee, or keep your service, but US Cellular may terminate your service, because you're not using 50% of you minutes in your "home" area. If they did that, we'd still have to pay the fee. Or we could find someone to take the phone and take over the plan and then we wouldn't have to pay the fee. We couldn't find anyone to take over our phones, so we paid the fees. I was angry about that.

 

On a semi-related note, AT&T will be hearing from me on Monday. We have home phone, cell phone and internet through them. We transferred the internet and home phone from Wisconsin, but added the cell phones (obviously). Our first bill last month was about 75. I thought, that seems a little low, but my wife was convinced that the bill had everything in it. Then, we get our bill this month. $383! The first bill had 0 cell phone charges on it, while this one had everything for 2 and a half months on it. So, I will be calling on Monday to inform them that I can only pay a part of it and to find out why this is done and to let them know this is a horrible business practice.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I had phone service through charter. I paid my cable, internet, and phone all with one check in their drop box, must have been about 3 years ago. I dropped off the check about a week before the due date.

 

4 days after due date, for some inexplicable reason, my phone is not working. I go to my mom's call Charter. I get a rep who can *barely* speak English. I had to say "what?" after EVERY sentence. He managed top explain that my phone was shut off for non-payment. I ask him to look up my account and see if my cable/internet are current. Yes, they've been paid. That doesn't make any sense, I paid all 3 with one check. He says the computer shows no record of the phone being paid. I said "that's ridiculous". Important note that I did NOT swear at this point, and he hung up.

 

I called back, got a different rep, and this guy could also barely speak OR understand English. After 3 fruitless minutes of the 2 of us failing to break the language barrier, I said "LET ME SPEAK TO YOUR SUPERVISOR". To my utter disbelief, this guy could ALSO barely speak English. Trying to communicate my problem to him was almost impossible. Getting frustrated, I asked if there was any way I could speak to someone who could speak and understand English. He hung up on me. (Funny how he understood that)

 

I called again. I got a rep who could understand me, and I him. I told him my problem. He put me through to the tech department, to schedule an app't to hook my phone back up. I got a tech, we scheduled the app't. He said, however, that the app't had to be approved by billing, so he put me through to billing. The person in billing said that there was a $60 hook up fee that had to be assessed before the tech dep't could be approved for the app't. I asked to speak to a supervisor. At this point, I spent 27 minutes on hold. Yes, I checked. I got a supervisor, told him my tale of woe.

 

I said I have been on the phone with your people for over an hour. 2 of them hung up on me. I did not swear at them, or call them names. He looked up my account, found my bill and payment, and said that there had been an error in accounting, because they were changing their system over to have everything billed at the same time. I said no problem. He said, however, that there was a 60 dollar hook up fee to get my phone back on. What? Why? He said "I have to charge the fee or I can't send a tech out to hook your phone back up." I said no you don't, it wasn't my mistake, you already said it was a mistake in accounting on your end, and my bill is current.

 

"I understand that sir, but I can't make the appointment if I don't charge the hook up fee"

 

I'm sorry, but I've worked in enough places to know in a situation like this that common sense dictates that you waive the fee or mark it "paid" on the invoice you give to the tech before he comes to my house, when it is obviously YOUR mistake that caused my phone to be shut off.

 

He said "I'm sorry sir, I'm not able to do that"

 

And I said "I'm sorry I'm not able to continue using Charter then", and hung up.

 

 

Now THAT.........is crappy customer service.

[Houlie24x]

I couldn't get my playoff money back from the Brewers.

 

I had to go through the same questions over and over again and he acted like he didn't know why I was calling. I kept telling him I just want my deposit for the playoff tickets back. He kept pushing a 20 pack and I kept telling him I didn't want it. I spent about 30 min on the phone for something that should have taken under 5 min. At one point he even told me he would give me the money back and asked how I paid. He then went back through the whole 20 pack ordeal and again asked why I was calling and at that point he sounded very angry. He ended up just hanging up on me. I got my money back without having to call back again but I shouldn't have to beg for it.

[Invader3K]

Houlie: Wow, sounds like someone was desperate for a commission check or something. Surprised you didn't hang up on him first.

 

The only experience I've had that was similar was trying to get my Xbox Live account canceled a couple years back (hey, another bad customer service experience there, go figure). The guy I was speaking to didn't seem like the brightest bulb, and asked me the same questions like three or four times. I mean, how many times do you have to ask me for my phone number, when it's the number I'm using to call you?

 

I've had a few bad experiences with Charter as well, particularly with their billing when we first got cable here. Eventually it all got sorted out, though.

[jwill535]

My wife did one of those surveys over the phone. Well they call a couple weeks later and i answer and just hang up before they say anything, which i generally do with Telemarketers. Well they called everynight for weeks and each time i just hung up before they talked. My daughter had been born a month before this and we finally had her on a sleeping sched, for any parents here you know how that goes. They would call every night at about 8 and wake her up and i finally had enough. The next time they call i tell them to stop calling, they say that they want to talk to my wife, i say NO and not to call back.

 

Them - "We are sorry sir but she has to tell us that."

 

Me - "Its my phone and i am telling you to stop calling" Hang up

 

This goes on a couple times over the next week, each time me getting more annoyed. They call one night and before she talks i say put the supervisor on the phone. So Ryan comes on and i explain again not to call and i get the same response. I say do not call again or i will file charges for harassment against them and hang up. The next night they call, i pick and up and say "Put Ryan on the phone" before she can talk. Here is the conversation

 

Me - "Ryan i have told you several times not to call, i would like your full name, address because i am going to turn you into the BBB and possible harassment charges.

 

Ryan - "why would you do that? We have done nothing wrong"

 

Me - "well yes you have, i have told you several times not to call and yet you continue to. We have a 2 month old trying to sleep and you wake her up every time you call"

 

Ryan - "First off let me congrat...."

 

Me - "Dont you even finish that thought, if you do not stop calling there will be ramifications either from me or the police!!"

 

Hang Up

 

 

Rarely do my male instincts to kill or hurt come out but at this point i was ready to pound this guy.

[craigharmann]

My AT&T saga continues...I got online this weekend to not only protest the charging of my first bill of $150, then $383 for the 2nd, when cell phone charges from the second, should have been on the first one (to even them out). Anyway, online, I said I would pay $150 (what I had budgeted for this month) and then split the remainder for the next 2 bills. I received an e-mail saying no because that's not enough, and if I did that, they'd have to turn off my cell phone and home phone service, blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile someone called the house and talked to my wife while I was at work today. I'm calling tomorrow and having a chat about this. I'm not complaining about the bill itself, it's all for services I used. I just feel that if they wait until March to charge me for phone usage, I should be able to take a bit of time in paying it!

[Barbs4339]

I just switched to Verizon from US Cellular at the end of February. I got my first bill which I misplaced and had planned on paying but kept forgetting. Note that I always pay my bills on time. The bill was due March 21st and yesterday was the 31st. I tried making a call yesterday and got directed to the financial dept and was told my phone was suspended for lack of payment. A reconnect fee of $15 per phone, I have 2, would be charged. I was floored that they disconnected my phone after 9 days of non-payment without so much as a courtesy call. I can think of no other service that would do this. I made my payment over the phone while calmly voicing my displeasure with my new cell phone company and asked that the $15 fees be waived. She said she could do it for one of the phones. I said why not both and she immediately said, ok I can do it for both as a one time courtesy. I had to wait over an hour to order a pizza while my phone was being reconnected. So I guess this is more of a company issue than customer service issue but I had to vent somewhere. Only 23 more months with Verizon.

[craigharmann]

So my AT&T saga is finished. The guy in the billing department tells me without laughing that basically they charge themselves (Cingular charges AT&T) for the cell phones, and they (AT&T) pay the cell phone, and then charge the customer. So basically the customer is billed 2 months after the fact. The intriguing part to me is for home phone and internet, they charge you for the next month. Anyway, it's worked out and if I can find a better offer for home phone and internet, I will strongly consider it. The cell phones, we're in the contract for another 22 months.

[Patrick425]

Phone, cell phone, and cable companies are all evil.

[twobrewers]

Customer Service from a Doctor!

 

So I have had been a customer of Shopko Eye Care in West Bend for around 4 years. (Evan longer history with Shopko)

 

Last year, after an appointment to get new contacts the eye doctor recommened contacts made for astigmatism. (I have an astigmatism in one eye that keeps me vision a little blurred.) So we tried out a contact for it. After about a week, I really didn't notice a difference in my vision. So we decided on the Accuvue 2 Hydroclear (for comfort reasons). I ordered my contacts through Shopko.

 

After they called and asked me to pick them up - I forgot for a while. About a month went by when I remembered. So I went to pick them up and they said "didn't you already pick them up?" Well, somewhere they lost the record that I had them still in an open order. In short, they made me feel as though I was stealing from them by requesting my order. In the end, they ended up giving me my order. (6 boxes of Hydroclear. 6.00 strength for both eyes)

 

So this year I went to order my contacts again. I asked if I needed an appointment. I was told no because I had one last year. So they would just reorder my contacts. When I went and picked up my order (I didn't really look or pay attention at the time) I had received 6 boxes of Accuvue 2 - one at 6.00 strength and 1 at 6.50 strength. A completely different product and strength that I had been wearing!

 

I went to return them and was told that was my prescription from last year. (So they must have messed up last year then) I didn't want these as I preferred the more comfortable Hydroclear. I had only used 1 pair so far. I wanted to return the 4 unopened boxes to get something else. (Likely the Hydroclear) Well they weren't too happy with me. (What did I do!?!?)

 

Anyways, I asked to make an appointment to see the eye doctor again. I don't see as well as I would like. So my vision has either gotten worse in the past year, my astigmatism is bothering me more, or I did need the upgraded lenses. But any of the 3 scenarios where possible.

 

They had already max billed my insurance for my contacts. So I would have to pay for the appointment. I said that was fine - I just wanted to make sure I was in the right contact. I returned the contacts...and they were not sure how to handle a return when I needed a different product. (Insurance kinda makes that messy)

 

Well, I get in to see the doctor and this is how our conversation went...(I haven't said a thing yet)

 

Doctor: We put you in these contacts last year because that was your prescription.

 

Me: Well, I am just not seeing quite as well as I would like to...

 

Doctor: (Cutting me off) You might never see as well as you like to! But this is what helped you see the best.

 

Me: Well, last year I tried an astigmatism contact. I thought maybe my astigmatism is bothering me more...

 

Doctor: (Getting upset) Look, I don't let anyone tell me how to fit my lenses. You got a prescription from last year and....(rambling on)

 

My jaw was just on the floor at this point. I was back in the chair in his office already as he was sitting there yelling at me. I just stood up and said "I'll just take my business elsewhere" - to which he quickly replied "Good - go ahead"

 

I walked out without another word. That was about 15 minutes ago.

 

All I wanted was to see a better. Talk about failing as a Doctor.