Stupid customer service story

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I called Northwest Airlines WorldPerks to book a ticket to Portugal. I asked if I could schedule an extended stopover in Newark, and the woman said I'd need to be flying overseas to do that and that Mexican cities did not count.

"Actually, Portugal isn't in Mexico, and it IS overseas," I helpfully pointed out.

Surprised, the woman asked where Portugal was. Her first guess was Africa, then she guessed South America.

"Europe," I said, wearily. "It's in Europe."

"Well," she said, "I'd rather route you through Houston than Newark. Do you want a stopover in Houston instead?"

I have had the WORST experiences with them. Once I called and the woman hung up on me when I said I'd prefer for her to look for available seats than to spend ANOTHER hour trying to use the website (which is horrible and does NOT work for booking FF mile flights). She said she didn't really have time. Time to what? Do her job? #######?

[britbird 4]

Yeah, it's frustrating dealing with these corporate drones, but if you are savvy enough and make sure you keep complete records of who you spoke to and - especially if you use online help - get them to agree to things they really shouldn't have (take advantage of the fact that english isn't their first language basically) you can get a good deal of stuff for your trouble.

Case in point - i had a crappy experience with Dell. Hours on the phone (free phone, but whatever) wasting my time with their crappy computers. I decided I wouldn't put up with it and by the end of it not only had I gotten a free print, scanner and copier from them, I'd also gotten a call from a CEO attempting a grovelling apology. I also kept my rebate check and ended up just getting my credit card company to deal with them.

Also, Office Max. Delivered a crappy office chair. They couldn't get their asses in gear to come and get it at a time that was convenient to me, so i just waited a few days until they realised that they couldn't do what they said they were going to do, called their corporate line, quoted back the full names and extensions of all the idiots I'd spoken to and then again said 'look, if you don't give me my money back I will get my credit card company to challenge the charge...at that point it will cost you an awful lot of money than it will cost me'. They ended up calling me back and telling me to just throw the chair in the trash and they credited my money back that same day.

Point is, don't let these people fob you off with 'oh it takes 5-15 business days etc etc etc etc' just be patient, quote their words and names back at them and know exactly what you want. If you keep them on the line long enough they will give you what you want.

PS don't use the credit card company unless you absolutely have to - save it for if anything goes wrong with a major purchase, because otherwise you will be blackmarked. It makes for a fairly useful threat at times though.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Northworst really sucks big time -- when they screwed up my booking at christmas, I actually screamed at the old crone behind the counter that they deserved to be in Chapter 11

[Sinergy 3]

I used to work tech support for a software company, and once was asked "are you a real person or a machine?" and when i replied "a real person" she actually said "damn machines" and hung up

my moral, there are never stupid questions, just stupid people.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

my moral, there are never stupid questions, just stupid people.

True. There are stupid people on both ends of the phone. Luckily I've never worked a customer service job. I don't think I could handle people like me.

But when my house is on fire I'm not interested in flood insurance. So quit asking!!!

[iceyspots 0]

I love NWA and I've had the best experiences with them... hm.

[Sinergy 3]

my moral, there are never stupid questions, just stupid people.

True. There are stupid people on both ends of the phone. Luckily I've never worked a customer service job. I don't think I could handle people like me.

But when my house is on fire I'm not interested in flood insurance. So quit asking!!!

LMAO

[#@!!* 0]

I used to work tech support for a software company, and once was asked "are you a real person or a machine?" and when i replied "a real person" she actually said "damn machines" and hung up

my moral, there are never stupid questions, just stupid people.

Maybe she thought you were part of the Borg Collective and wanted to assimilate her.

[amylovespaul 0]

I used to work tech support for a software company, and once was asked "are you a real person or a machine?" and when i replied "a real person" she actually said "damn machines" and hung up

my moral, there are never stupid questions, just stupid people.

I work in a doctor's office and I was talking to a patient on the phone. She told me what she needed so I told her I would have to transfer her to the person who could help her. She went on and on about how she had left messages and no one called her back. So after I kept telling her that I was sorry that this person wasn't calling her but I couldn't help her she finally said "I just want to talk to a real person" So I said "I am a real person, but I'm a real person that can't help you." So I offered to take a message so she wouldn't have to talk to VM again. I felt bad for her and wanted to help, but I really just couldn't.

[Ban Hammer 12,876]

I love NWA and I've had the best experiences with them... hm.

oh icey if you only knew what you just said.

[MrMrsKnight 0]

I love NWA and I've had the best experiences with them... hm.

Dave did too.... we've never had a single problem with them....

[ual777 0]

The standard line in the airline industry is:

"Better to go by rail than fly the red tail" LOL

Now they charge you extra for sitting in the exit row and choosing your seat. They won't be recieving my business.

[Alex+R 0]

The standard line in the airline industry is:

"Better to go by rail than fly the red tail" LOL

Now they charge you extra for sitting in the exit row and choosing your seat. They won't be recieving my business.

My problem with them is a) they are morons, ok, but B) seriously, you cannot pay people 15k a year and simultaneously increase their hours by 25%. And they wonder why their people are striking...

But man, that Amsterdam connection to Greece is going to be sweet in November. The KLM affiliation is pretty nice.

[ual777 0]

That is if the flight attendants don't strike.

[cheeky^Wolf 0]

The worst I have ever had was with NTL in the UK

Guy comes to the house and installs, TV, phone and broadband, so the phone and the broadband work great, but the TV only has the free channels and not the full package that we paid for. The guy informs us that the channels will come on in around 30 mins. So happy with that the guy leaves.

Around 2 hours later, a bit annoyed that the channels havent come on I phone up NTl, after waiting for around 3 0 mins to get to a real person she informs me that we have to switch the box of at the mains, keep it off for a minute and then switch it back, effectievly rebooting it. So I hung up and done what she told me, but it didnt work.

So I tried phoning back, but after 45 mins I gave up and went to sleep

next morning I got up and checked to see if the channels were on, but again no they werent so I phoned up and after around 15 mins got through. She told me that she had now forced the channels through and all I had to do now was reboot the box, so I put the phone down and tried that, again nothing worked.

left if a couple of hours I was ready to bite the next persons head off, so i then tried again and the woman started by saying

NTL: what you need to do is switch the box off ...

me: I aint switching the box off, you have told me to that twice and it never works.

NTL: Well sir we cant help you unless you follow our advice

Me: I aint getting off this phone untill I have my channels

NTL: OK sir please wait a second..

(please note this was the short version of the conversation)

as she said please wait the channels started magically apearing and the box was updated. She then came back and asked if our channels were there. I thanked her, but WHY THE HELL DIDNT THEY DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE

NTL (NTHell) are awful! I had so many problems with them in UK, their answer to any technical problem was to reformat the PC (even when I'd just unpacked a new PC!)

It once took them 3 days to return a call from me, I explained to them I was on a train to France but the idiot just kept telling me to disconnect and reconnect the modem. I ended up writing them a shitty letter asking for explanations, I got the standard "sorry for any inconvenience this caused" letter back, so called them to cancel everthing I had with them. Within 5 mins I had 6 months free internet, TV upgrade and free overseas calls for a month! They even screwed up my disconnection when I moved... useless!