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

dudara · 07-12-2018 6:49pm

Merged into Best / Worst Customer Service thread

dudara

Vicxas · 17-12-2018 1:53pm

Budget/Avis Car hire in the US.

Please folks for the love of god spend a little more and go for Alamo or someone half decent.

They gave me the downgrade on holidays and refused to swap, the car for me when the car i ordered came back in, so i asked for a refund of the difference. And they gave me $100, well below the difference. I've been battling with their phone/email support for the last month.

L1011 · 17-12-2018 2:33pm

AirBaltic lost a bag for 46 hours and are offering €20 for "essential items" when given receipts for >€200 (clothing and toiletries for 2 people for 2 days). Their strict liability under the Montreal Convention is capped at over €1,300.

Time for European Small Claims, with all the effort involved.

31-12-2018 12:47pm

Shout out to An Post for delivering my parsel containing a radio control box before year end

LollipopJimmy · 31-12-2018 12:59pm

PTSB

Sweet suffering Jesus... 4 times in the last 4 months they've blocked my card. I bought a set of wheels online and the transaction was blocked, took me hours to get through and have my card unblocked, I was left with no cash on a Friday morning. They thought it was an unusual transaction... I spend a fortune on bike stuff and they thought buying from a main bike part website was unusual.

The next was a company in Australia I had to make three payments to, they blocked the first, no problem, it was an unusual transaction, processed in the early hours here and on the other side of the planet. Got it sorted the following morning and told them it was fine and there would be more payments to that company. The next two transactions were also blocked and same thing, making me look like a dick with the company and each one costing me at least 30minutes on hold

punisher5112 · 31-12-2018 5:13pm

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

PTSB

Sweet suffering Jesus... 4 times in the last 4 months they've blocked my card. I bought a set of wheels online and the transaction was blocked, took me hours to get through and have my card unblocked, I was left with no cash on a Friday morning. They thought it was an unusual transaction... I spend a fortune on bike stuff and they thought buying from a main bike part website was unusual.

The next was a company in Australia I had to make three payments to, they blocked the first, no problem, it was an unusual transaction, processed in the early hours here and on the other side of the planet. Got it sorted the following morning and told them it was fine and there would be more payments to that company. The next two transactions were also blocked and same thing, making me look like a dick with the company and each one costing me at least 30minutes on hold

Get a revolut card and transfer amount onto that you need, much better exchange rates also.
Think they doing a deal at the moment of free actual card as you can run a virtual card on your phone app.

ajkhashan · 15-01-2019 1:01pm

I hired des kelly to do my newly bought home. Big mistake.. not just the job wasn’t done properly and I had to hire someone else to fix it , the left the house in total mess . They didn’t bother to clean anything and left so many sharp objects every where.

Doop · 21-01-2019 4:18pm

For carpeting or what?

dudara · 22-01-2019 10:13pm

Merged into best/ worst thread

dudara

AryaStark · 30-01-2019 3:04pm

I had a problem with my local supervalu and sent in a complaint by email... I was a bit upset as I didn't hear anything back... forgot about it though.

About 6 months later I got a letter of Musgraves apologising that nobody had gotten back to me.. they said that they take all complains seriously and there was a 100 euro voucher for supervalu! I was very happy!

LollipopJimmy · 30-01-2019 3:36pm

punisher5112 wrote: »

Get a revolut card and transfer amount onto that you need, much better exchange rates also.
Think they doing a deal at the moment of free actual card as you can run a virtual card on your phone app.

It's done and dusted now, plus it was a euro payment

KinnegadKid · 22-02-2019 12:20am

Evening Folks
Just giving ye all a heads up about this website/company.
Don't use them for cheap accomodation deals.
Steer well clear of them.No customer service,no refunds nothing.Bad News.

anewme · 22-02-2019 9:41pm

KinnegadKid wrote: »

Evening Folks
Just giving ye all a heads up about this website/company.
Don't use them for cheap accomodation deals.
Steer well clear of them.No customer service,no refunds nothing.Bad News.

Theres no details.?

JCX BXC · 22-02-2019 9:46pm

anewme wrote: »

Theres no details.?

They put the details in the title, which you can't view on mobile. It's called OneHappyWallet apparently?

Prominent_Dawg · 23-02-2019 1:12pm

Ordered a parcel which was to be delivered by ups, after it taking over three weeks went online to track it and seen it had being sitting in a warehouse five mins from me the last two weeks and scanned every day, rang customer care and they stated they didn't have a full address or phone number, both of which had being provided along with an eir code and told them that I would contact the company that sent it to see what address was provided, next thing I knew it was at my door within five minutes via nightline, hate a delivery service that cant deliver!

ellee · 06-03-2019 1:25pm

Just wanted to make other buyers aware of my experience with DecorOnline (www.decoronline.ie)

This is a website only company selling modern furniture.

I bought a BADU table from them for over €800 which was delivered in Dec 2015. The top was warped and replaced Spring 2016. This top was also warped but despite huge efforts on my part to get a resolution I have completely failed to do so. Top is now very unsightly as it is wearing very poorly and unevenly due to the warping. Have brought a small claim, no response.

There is no scope for leaving a google or yelp review as this business does not have a location on the map. So I am leaving a review here in total frustration and hoping it might save other people from a similar experience.

TL:DR Table quality extremely poor. Customer service non-existent. AVOID

dudara · 06-03-2019 6:33pm

Merged into Best/Worst Customer Service thread

dudara

Arbie · 07-03-2019 2:11am

ellee wrote: »

Just wanted to make other buyers aware of my experience with DecorOnline (www.decoronline.ie)

This is a website only company selling modern furniture.

I bought a BADU table from them for over €800 which was delivered in Dec 2015. The top was warped and replaced Spring 2016. This top was also warped but despite huge efforts on my part to get a resolution I have completely failed to do so. Top is now very unsightly as it is wearing very poorly and unevenly due to the warping. Have brought a small claim, no response.

There is no scope for leaving a google or yelp review as this business does not have a location on the map. So I am leaving a review here in total frustration and hoping it might save other people from a similar experience.

TL:DR Table quality extremely poor. Customer service non-existent. AVOID

I've added it to Google Maps so you can leave a review now.

robo · 05-04-2019 8:46am

Good

Got a Fitbit Versa last July in Arnotts and last weekend I noticed that all of a sudden the battery wasn't lasting the day, and went down very quickly. So I contacted their online chat and within 10 minutes of them checking my account (they could see my battery usage) I was sent an email with a link to order a replacement. Now I know this should be the case, but still its nice that it could all be sorted within 10 minutes. Nice one Fitbit

Be well and win · 05-04-2019 8:57am

Best has to be Air Canada. Travelling to Canada shortly after 9/11 I missed a connecting flight in Heathrow. There was a Mother travelling on her own with a small crying baby who had obviously pooped his nappy in front of me in the queue at the connections desk in Heathrow getting rebooked on another flight. Mother was very stressed at this stage. Whilst one Air Canada staff member sorted out the rebooking, the other took the baby and the nappy bag, got the changing mat out and changed the nappy and cleaned the baby up in about 2 minutes and then got a bottle out of the bag and started feeding the baby as well. Result, stress levels way down in 5 minutes.

Air Canada also replaced a bag that got damaged for me at no cost and no quibble, I love them.

Contrast that with Subway in Dundrum a couple of weeks ago who told me in a snotty voice that they "don't do butter" on their rolls. His attitude e so annoyed me I mailed Subway with a complaint. Never responded. Cold day in hell before I darken on of their stores again.

Migaloo · 14-05-2019 9:24am

Has anyone the misfortune of dealing with this company ?

Mollieor · 14-05-2019 9:30am

Yes!! They are infuriating.

Luckily I paid through PayPal and raised a complaint with them and after being ignored by Michael Murphy for weeks with no reply the issue was resolved within a day with PayPal and full refund given.

I've never experienced more shocking customer service, couldn't even get an answer about a delivery date even though my product was paid for etc.

I'd never go near them again, lovely furniture but not worth the stress.

Migaloo · 14-05-2019 9:55am

I had the same experience.
After purchasing furniture I received an E-Mail to confirm the order 7/ April and that the furniture was in stock. After waiting 2 Weeks I heard nothing from them so I rang their office and was told they had a safety problem in their warehouse, and they had a backlog. The delivery should be about week later. Another week later and still nothing, so I rang again. This time the person on their help desk wanted to know if I was going to collect the furniture myself ???? I told her if she bothered to check my order she would see that the delivery was paid for.
Then I decided to Mail their sales desk instead (3 times) quoting all the details of my order and asking for a delivery date, to which they did not even reply.
Afet 5 weeks of waiting and getting no information as to the delivery of the furniture i rang and cancelled my order.

I will never do any business with Michael Murphy's furniture company again. I have never had dealings with such an unprofessional company. Do not believe a word of their customer care they post on their web site....

LouD2016 · 14-05-2019 10:03am

Yes - we had a long wait for furniture. Eventually getting it in drips and drabs. A year later we were still waiting on a coffee table. Husband rang them and said to just leave it.

Months later he was still getting phone calls saying that we owed them for it. Husband explained numerous times that we never got it and he cancelled it. We had paid for it advance so they actually owed US the money. Almost 3 years later we never received a refund.

bolgbui41 · 14-05-2019 11:22am

Awful experience this week with Yodel. They were passed I parcel I sent to the UK with another company a few weeks ago - something I wasn't aware was going to happen - and I discovered it's been sitting in their hub for three weeks. Their customer service is completely non-existent: the people on web chat don't answer questions properly and finish the chat if you push them to answer something, and keep citing "data protection" as the reason for not telling me why the parcel is stuck (despite the fact that I have the tracking number and my name is clearly on the returns label. My brother, to whom the parcel is addressed, has also been told he can't be given any info because of "data protection"). Phone line is automated and hangs up after you give the parcel details, and there is no email. Most frustrating consumer experience I've ever had.

On the other side, I'd really recommend Gorey Cycle Centre. Friendly, knowledgeable staff who didn't push me to buy a new bike outside my price range (a problem I'd had elsewhere), and who offered to help box up the bike if I needed to send it to the UK. And they threw in a free bell, and told me to get in touch the minute I had any issues. A great experience.

dudara · 14-05-2019 2:20pm

Migaloo wrote: »

Has anyone the misfortune of dealing with this company ?

I bought several pieces online from them last year. Very easy experience, everything was delivered exactly when they said it would be.

barton1 · 21-05-2019 9:50pm

1. Holland & Barrett -> worst Customer Service Ever. It is like talking to bots for 4 months and none want to take responsibility. 10 open tickets and always how much they are sorry for not assisting, but they are there for me

They owe me cash vouchers that blame some system for not there and eventually would get them. Piling up from 10 euros to 20 euros.

barton1 · 21-05-2019 9:53pm

Holland & Barrett -> worst Customer Service Ever. It is like talking to bots for 4 months and none want to take responsibility. Next day order gets delivered over week and a half, items credited back 2 weeks after. Cash vouchers not credited correctly. 10 open tickets and always how much they are sorry for not assisting, but they are there for me

They owe me cash vouchers that blame some system for not there and eventually would get them. Piling up from 10 euros to 20 euros since February.

Has anyone had similar with Holland & Barrett?

oconnor.mike81 · 22-05-2019 3:32pm

Never had dealings with H & B before.

But the first line in the response from Argos was below.
the email I sent to is <help@argos.co.uk>

Subject: Catalogue number 548/7673 Hitachi 48 OLED UHD 2D

Thank you for your email regarding the above. I am sorry for the delay in responding. For future reference, our email account is largely unmanned

How can such a large company have an email address that is unmanned.

robo · 10-06-2019 4:18pm

Good

Parkingtag.ie
I was driving along North Circular road in Dublin yesterday on my way to the Dublin V Kildare match and was looking out for a parking spot - there weren't too many people at the match. So I noticed the parking signs around the Mater were Mon-Sun 7am-24:00. I got a spot on NCR, just down from the old Big Tree pub, glanced up at the parking zone and noticed it was red and just assumed that it was Mon-Sun, so I paid for 3 hours parking using the app. Got out of the car and realized I was in a spot that was only paid parking Mon-Sat (had paid 7.40). So I thought feck it, my mistake.
Got to Croker and just emailed them about my mistake. Then got an email back this morning asking for my reg number, which I replied with and 7.40 was refunded to my account!
Great service for my mistake!

lcstress2012 · 11-07-2019 6:55pm

Ordered a piece of furniture through the site. 350 euro. Delivery date was supposed to be 2/7/19 still nothing. Rang then. They told me to contact the merchant (dreams living) presuming it’s coming from them. Rang dreams living, they told me to contact living social/wowcher as they can’t provide me with a delivery date!! Fuming as I’ve lost out on 350 euro.

Started a refund dispute with PayPal that will take up to 30 days to review. Hopefully I get answers and a refund.

Anyone else have or had problems with this company recently or in the past ? What happened and what was the result?

L1011 · 08-08-2019 9:41pm

Think this one is settled enough now to recount - wanted to make sure there was no further communication for a bit!

Had a tolltag with Easytrip for over 10 years. They forced a replacement of the tag - paid for - due to its age last year, and bundled in a puncture protect product I told them I neither wanted nor needed with it FOC.

That product - that I never bought - was then renewed automatically and I only noticed when it appeared on my monthly statement when doing expenses for work. Requested it be removed and refunded by email, got a nonsense reply and after a few mails back and forth got told I had missed the cooling off period - for a product I never bought - and it could only be cancelled on renewal

Phoned them to emphasise that I had never bought it and got the most aggressive staff member I had ever dealt with there in the huge period of time I was with them; further refusing to refund it.

Cancelled the account, charged back the last payment on my credit card and even got a refund for my outstanding balance from them - presumably automatic - that wasn't adjusted for the chargeback. Moved to eFlow who don't require prepayment and don't charge for topups so will probably save me a fractional amount over time too.

Moral of the story - adding products like this is not an acceptable business practice. You will lose long term customers doing it. I used well over €1k of tolls a year, and they lost me for a tenner.

L1011 · 20-09-2019 1:15pm

Eir store gave the wrong details on a sim deal I needed for a device for work, basically giving me a calls package I didn't want instead

Got through first ring to customer care who got it sorted out in minutes. Never happened before and likely never will again but it's worth commenting on when it does!

SirChenjin · 28-09-2019 10:10am

Arnotts is somewhere I have noticed a big change in relation to customer service staff. My more recent experiences (last few years really) have been very good with very helpful and pleasant staff.

I have emailed my praise to them after one recent customer service experience there.

corks finest · 24-11-2019 3:59pm

Hi shopping in carrigaline this afternoon,bread section-
Looking for the weekly deals wholemeal reduced normally to around e1.60 + ,
I'm 60 don't need reading glasses to shop at Dunnes,Aldi,Lidl etc,but honestly the bread labels were tiny and at angle tilted inward+ away from customers eyes
Went to express checkout and to my horror bread I thought was reduced was actually e2.40 + too embarrassed to ask someone for help,but it got the better of me + asked for a manager,who called a more senior manager, grumpy boy who when I pointed out ref the labelling being tiny and turned inward and really not customer friendly - his reply was " yeah " nothing else ,left me standing there,I felt old and foolish

denis1501 · 24-11-2019 5:27pm

I'm very sorry that you had a bad experience like this in a store I frequent on a regular basis, in fact I've been going there since I was a child. The staff at this store are normally on the ball and very fast to help out in any way they can. Obviously you feel that you were let down and that's disappointing. I don't work there but I promise you that next time I call in there I will seek out the owner, Mr David Collins, and pass on your observations. Nobody should be made to feel "old and foolish" whether in a store or anywhere else. Have a good evening.

corks finest · 25-11-2019 4:18pm

denis1501 wrote:

I'm very sorry that you had a bad experience like this in a store I frequent on a regular basis, in fact I've been going there since I was a child. The staff at this store are normally on the ball and very fast to help out in any way they can. Obviously you feel that you were let down and that's disappointing. I don't work there but I promise you that next time I call in there I will seek out the owner, Mr David Collins, and pass on your observations. Nobody should be made to feel "old and foolish" whether in a store or anywhere else. Have a good evening.

Thank you,I'm shopping there' years and yes normally the customer care in-store is brilliant,but on this occasion no,but this man definitely just wanted rid of me,I emailed customer care HQ ,and waiting a response

Honda99ce · 03-12-2019 7:13pm

Horrible experience.

2 months waiting for order

Rang to say order in and they want 10% fee for restocking.

Told them I was told I would not have to pay this fee.

6 phone calls later...told store would contact me

No contact from store..told today when I rang again that they would call back in 15 mins..5 30..still no call

Sent email rang within 5 mins saying they tried ring me but couldn't connect...lies.

Just rang back now to say I still have pay restocking fee and store would be in contact

Absolute disgrace

endofrainbow · 03-12-2019 7:16pm

who ?

Honda99ce · 03-12-2019 7:48pm

endofrainbow wrote: »

who ?

Michael Murphy Furniture

seagull · 04-12-2019 5:23pm

Why are they looking for a restocking fee? Did you cancel due to the time the order took to come in?

Honda99ce · 04-12-2019 10:47pm

seagull wrote: »

Why are they looking for a restocking fee? Did you cancel due to the time the order took to come in?

Because I returned the item as was not happy with what I had orderd. Product was still in the box and untouched. Apparently look for it to put the product back in their warehouse. I have said I wont be paying and I am now waiting 3 weeks for a call from the store after been told on 3 occasions..they would contact me.

Never will I shop here again
Daragh

anewme · 10-12-2019 11:10pm

Honda99ce wrote: »

Because I returned the item as was not happy with what I had orderd. Product was still in the box and untouched. Apparently look for it to put the product back in their warehouse. I have said I wont be paying and I am now waiting 3 weeks for a call from the store after been told on 3 occasions..they would contact me.

Never will I shop here again
Daragh

Is this a customer change of mind (not happy with what I ordered) or was there an actual fault with the product?

If it was not been taken out of the box, it would be hard to see how its faulty.

Its not clear from the post.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 11-12-2019 8:16pm

Good

Reads like a change of mind, so a restocking charge is very possible.

It read like a failure to deliver or late delivery first.

L1011 · 01-03-2020 1:26am

AirBaltic delayed my bags for nearly 72 hours back in December 2018. After all attempts to explain their legal responsibilities failed, I had to take a European Small Claims case against them.

A while ago (as in weeks), my local court phoned me to ask had they paid me - as they'd told them they would. Nothing at all had arrived so proper writ was filed

Money arrived by EFT overnight with the court case in the remittance info

That they refused to pay up initially is bad enough (it wasn't a huge amount of money - if I'd claimed on my travel insurance the two person excess would have eaten most of it) but telling the courts they'd paid and not doing it is particularly egregious. And this is the Latvian Government owned airline.

punisher5112 · 01-03-2020 9:48pm

Had similar to last poster but with laptops direct.,.

They wouldn't take faulty laptop back after 24 days, ignored emails and no calls went through.

Got a writ and no UK court would take it as the amount was less then £600 so I had the paper from court but could do nothing with it.

Worst company ever in my experience.

Cowboys.

L1011 · 01-03-2020 11:32pm

I had an awful B2B experience with Laptopsdirect that isn't strictly applicable to this forum (as nobody is legally a consumer there) but resulted in me moving the last 10k a year or so of purchasing left with Laptopsdirect to Datapac in Wexford instead, for a very slight premium + actually getting support. Replacement hardware shipped before the faulty unit was even picked up and so on.

Caranica · 10-03-2020 3:27pm

Want to give due praise to Quickpark at Dublin airport. Trip to Italy cancelled so contacted them and asked for a credit as I'll park there the next time I travel and they refunded me straight away. I wish getting refunds from Ryanair and booking.com had been that easy!

seagull · 11-03-2020 2:44pm

Very pleasantly surprised by the passport office. 2 weeks from handing in application at post office to shiny new passport, and it was a first time application.

Bikerman2019 · 21-03-2020 12:03am

Sent an email to The Olympia Theatre in Dublin about my buddy. We were going to see Paul Smith, the comedian but my friend is recovering from cancer, is very tall and bloated as hell. We were worried about the small seats in the stalls.

Got a nice email back and advised to talk to the duty manager at the door. We did, and were taken to a small box area with a simple chair and good view. It was ideal and very much appreciated. My friend was delighted as I had not told him.

OLYMPIA THEATRE !

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

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