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5 Cringeworthy Customer Service Experiences (and How to Avoid Creating Them)

Customer service specialists

The ProProfs Live Chat Editorial Team is a diverse group of professionals passionate about customer support and engagement. We update you on the latest trends, dive into technical topics, and offer insights to elevate your business.

We’ve all been there.

After making a purchase, you’re dissatisfied with a product or service. After being in touch with a customer service representative, the process becomes even more aggravating when a solution isn’t reached.

Inaction, rudeness and failure to take ownership of their mistakes – these are just some of the negative approaches to customer success that have left a black mark on many organizations. It doesn’t matter how much a business pulls in revenue-wise either; all companies are both equally susceptible to errors in judgment that leave a bad taste in consumers’ mouths.

Below, we’ve listed real-world examples of customer service gone horribly awry and offered up some universal lessons that can be gleaned from these stories. The underlying truth in all of them? Take your customer relationships seriously.

“No amount of advertising can repair the damage done by failing to properly address a customer’s concern.” — Albert Schindler

Whether it’s a lack of strong communication , an insensitive tone, automated replies or just a knowledge gap between the customers and the reps who serve them, forging an authentic rapport with clients are where revenues are won and lost these days.

In our digital-first age, negative word-of-mouth travels faster than ever, so preventable public displays of ineptitude should be avoided at all costs.

Examples of Terrible Customer Service Stories That Lead to Bad Experience and How to Avoid Replicating Them

The best way to not make the same mistakes is to learn from those who make them. We understand that they may not be visible to all. But here’s a list of terrible customer service stories that will help you know what shouldn’t be done with your customers.

Walmart’s Price Matching Mistake

We start things off with one of America’s best-known corporations, Walmart. The retail giant found itself in hot water in 2014 after they refused to match a lower price listed on their own website for an item at one of their Atlanta locations.

Apparently, when a local father and his son went to the store to track down a Lego set, the staff told them that they didn’t match their own online prices. “I had to buy it on Walmart.com and do the free pickup option in the store to get the lower price,” the father recalled. “My son and I stood there and watched as a different employee came a few minutes later, picked the item up off the shelf, and brought it back to the holding spot for pickup.”

The catch? The dad in question could only retrieve the item the following day, even though he was standing in the Walmart when he completed the transaction online. It’s a lack of convenience that defies logical explanation.

The lesson: Always prioritize the needs of your customers over the policies that have been drawn up in a boardroom somewhere. There are going to be exceptions to those rules and new loopholes that are found; it’s how you deal with those scenarios and how you put the consumer’s satisfaction first that will help you retain clients long-term.

Comcast’s Intentional Name Change Blunder

In 2015, Comcast was forced to apologize after a service rep changed a customer’s first name from Ricardo to “A**hole” when his wife refused to renew their contract. Seriously, it’s one of the terrible customer service stories that did happened.

Despite giving the customer a two-year refund and publicly showing some remorse for the actions of its employees, the story still made waves and went viral. Many thought the case was emblematic of Comcast’s reputation for consistently sinking to new customer service lows, even being named the most hated company in America in 2017.

In an industry where customer-facing staff members aren’t done any favors with head-scratching policies and lots of bureaucratic red tape, that kind of insensitive behavior won’t do your organization any favors.

The lesson : E mpathy for customers is sadly not a given in the business world and, oftentimes, failure in this department stems from a lack of internal emphasis on that quality. Teach management to care about their employees and that sense of responsibility will be reflected by customer service staff when they deal with clients.

Walgreens’ Customer’s Health Scare

A Walgreens customer had a very good reason to be miffed about her experience with the drugstore mainstay: She had suffered chest pains that were the result of a store’s pharmacist filling her prescription incorrectly for almost a year.

When she wanted to be compensated for time missed at her job as well as medical expenses, Walgreens referred her to a third-party company and then ghosted her altogether, refusing to respond to messages.

Eventually, when an apology was issued, it was the kind of vague lip service that only led to more bad press being sent the company’s way. In the court of public opinion, that type of response doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

The lesson : Don’t just take responsibility for your actions but do so in a way that accurately reflects the severity of the situation. Mistakes happen and sometimes they’re unavoidable; take the proper steps to show other customers that you’re moving towards actionable change. It’s always better than hiding behind insincere prepared statements, thus helping you create examples of good customer service stories.

Whirlpool’s Embarrassing Negligence

As described in the NYT column “The Haggler,” a local woman encountered a customer service nightmare after purchasing a microwave oven for just over $216. It worked intermittently, requiring a company-approved service technician to visit her home five times, replacing certain parts more than once.

Whirlpool’s customer service response? The opposite of what you would’ve hoped.

Their team didn’t help her get a new equipment. Instead, they wanted her to wait out her 1-year warranty and go through another technician before an exchange would be considered.

Even after the column’s publication of the story gained traction, the company said they’d only give her a refund if she paid them to dispose of the machine as well as sign confidentiality clause. Both decisions made me do a double take while reading the initial report and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

The lesson : Don’t compound an upsetting issue by insisting on confidentiality clauses and requesting additional fees. Even if your business doesn’t make tons of money, the small monetary loss isn’t worth the PR disaster that could ensue. Weigh the pros and cons of a firm, policy-based carefully.

Gasp’s “Pretty Woman” Moment

Remember that scene in “Pretty Woman” when the saleswomen in a posh Los Angeles department store talk down to Julia Roberts? Well, something similar happened in Australia back in 2011, when Gasp employees were downright mean to a woman who was shopping for bridesmaid dresses.

During a follow-up email conversation with management, the company doubled down on defending this toxic behavior, stating that the customer should “shop somewhere else” because she wasn’t “fashion forward.”

It didn’t stop there. The negative press coverage that made its way into European and Western markets was described by the retailer’s area manager called the viral exposure the “best thing that has happened to our business.” Yikes.

The lesson : Don’t normalize rude, tone-deaf behavior of any kind. Once it becomes part of a company’s fabric, that kind of reputation can be very difficult to shake, especially in the comments section of their social media accounts. Always take the high road. After all, you’d rather like to be on the side that creates examples of good customer service stories, rather than terrible ones.

Set Examples of Good Customer Service Stories

To really understand your customers’ expectations, it is important to first see what the big names have done so far. By saying that, we basically want you to know what mistakes they’ve done and learn what you shouldn’t do to retain your customers. After all, you business is reliant on your customers and keeping them delighted is your number one priority.

That’s why we’ve compiled a list of examples of terrible mistakes that big names in the industry have committed so you could avoid making them again. Be the one who creates good examples and not the drastic ones.

Streamline Your Customer Interactions to Build A Lasting Relationship

These examples of customer service gone wrong are all cringe worthy at best but, when it comes to your business, all these snafus can easily be avoided. By making customers the priority when they have issues with a product or service, you’ll be promoting positive, productive discussion instead of a negative, toxic back-and-forth. Establishing your brand as a trustworthy entity that cares about their clients will go a long way to ensuring financial sustainability for years to come.

About the author

Proprofs editorial team.

The ProProfs Live Chat Editorial Team is a passionate group of customer service experts dedicated to empowering your live chat experiences with top-notch content. We stay ahead of the curve on trends, tackle technical hurdles, and provide practical tips to boost your business. With our commitment to quality and integrity, you can be confident you're getting the most reliable resources to enhance your customer support initiatives.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Personal Experience — My Unforgettable Encounter with Bad Customer Service

My Unforgettable Encounter with Bad Customer Service

Categories: Customer Service Personal Experience

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Words: 755 |

Published: Sep 16, 2023

Words: 755 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

The initial signs, the frustrating wait, the disheartening experience, the consequences.

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When Things Go Wrong: 7 Bad Customer Service Stories

Customer service 12 MIN READ Nov 17, 2023

Bad customer service stories — cover image.

Excellent Customer Service Examples To Get Your Team Inspired

Your heart beats faster, you’re sweating excessively, your anxiety level is rising… If only it were a dream, but no. It is real. You must have seen a customer service nightmare in reality at least once and wished you were dreaming, whether you were a customer or served one.

This article is packed with bad customer service stories told from two points of view: that of customers and that of businesses providing their services.

Speaking about the former, 96% of people would leave a brand if it delivers a bad customer experience. That’s nearly everyone!

In between, we’ll share the routes and tools to fix customer service horror stories and prevent nightmarish consequences. Let’s dive in.

Bad customer service stories — according to customers

Customer service feedback example from Klaus.

Disregarding customer feedback

What could be the most horrible customer service example? For Jesse Hanson, Content Manager at Online Solitaire & World of Card Games , it’s total disregard and carelessness toward customer feedback . It can sometimes lead to gruesome repercussions and endanger the lives of customers.

Reviewing games, I often provide feedback to the gaming companies owning those. Once, I was utterly ignored after submitting my comment. The customer service rep ended the chat with me, and my account in the game was banned. My message was about the game posing a risk to people with photosensitivity because of reactions to flashing lights.

In the video game industry, there are many games causing seizures. Some companies give epilepsy warnings before the game starts. For example, the following message pops up in SnowRunner:

A small percentage of people may experience seizures when exposed to certain lights, patterns, or images, even with no history of epilepsy or seizures .

Others go beyond that and turn off certain features after customers’ complaints. For example, after receiving feedback about possible player seizures, Fortnite deleted the Deku Smash move from the game.

How to fix this poor customer service example

“Deafness” to customers’ voices is widespread among companies. They hear less than 1% of customers . At the same time, 98% of people would gladly give their opinions, and 51% expect brands to ask for feedback.

Listening to customers isn’t an option you can consider; it’s a necessity. Tracking and analyzing the customer sentiment and the Customer Satisfaction Score ( CSAT ) is vital for improving your products and services and fueling your customer experiences with positive vibes, showing that you care.

Some techniques for capturing customers’ feedback are:

Focus groups
Feedback widgets
Sidebar forms
Customer surveys

Transferred calls

Footballing calls from one agent to another without finding a solution is disastrous and impacts the call center’s quality in the first place.

This situation was the worst customer service (the worst and the last) in the finance industry for Shawn Plummer, CEO of The Annuity Expert .

When you’re having trouble with your bank account, you expect the banking institution to help you tackle it as soon as possible. In my case, it was an emergency. Instead, the call center kept transferring me from department to department without explanations. The problem was dealt with only the next day.

Although my finances were safe and sound, I lost something more precious – my time. This made me change the bank.

How to fix this bad customer service example

If you do have to transfer calls, replacing cold call transfers with warm ones would be more effective. Cold transferring is bumping a call from one agent to another immediately without naming the caller or giving the context. With a warm (or attended) transfer, on the contrary, you notify the agent with relevant information and introduce the caller.

Besides, try advanced call routing with Aircall to enable better voice support. It lets you direct customers to the right teammates by customizing your call distribution based on multi-level IVRs and time-based routing. This way, you will reduce average handling time and deal with problems faster, helping you deliver excellent service.

Rude customer service rap rep

Have you seen my phone etiquette ? Man, I’ve lost it. I’m no more delicate!

If you have ever listened to the most disrespectful rap, it was nothing compared to this insulting phone support incident. It left the Founder of Supple , Hardy Desai, speechless.

Here it goes.

I called the airline’s call center to request a refund as I canceled my flight. The first phrase from the support representative was: So, you want a refund? Tut-tut-tut… And then, the f-word was perhaps the least offensive one from the upcoming speech. It was rather a storm of disdain and contempt for everything and everyone.

Whether the person was having a bad day or something else, I didn’t care anymore because my day was also ruined from that moment on. I couldn’t pronounce a word.

Since then, I prefer using other airlines.

How to fix this customer service horror story

You can turn to call center speech analytics to monitor conversations between agents and consumers, asses your support staff’s performance, and improve it in the long run. That’s call center quality assurance at its finest.

Try one of the following tools for quality monitoring:

Zendesk QA (formerly Klaus)

Customer service horror stories — according to brands

Serving customers in bulk.

71% of consumers expect personalized interactions with companies. While poor personalization drives churn. 33% of people would abandon the brand due to inadequate personalization.

So, if you still apply a one-size-fits-all approach to customer service, these stats are a warning sign to drop it.

One of the bad customer service stories from Jerry Han, CMO at PrizeRebel , also proves it.

At the start of PrizeRebel, a get-paid-to survey website, the survey participation rate was close to zero. Can you guess why? Because we sent the same messages to all customers in bulk without personalizing them or clarifying what our customers wanted or struggled with.

Remember, there’s no universal method of helping all customers at once. But there is a way out.

You can revolutionize and personalize customer support with automation and AI by collecting customer feedback through surveys and getting a holistic view of what your customers truly need right now.

For example, the PrizeRebel customer service team regularly asks users to fill out survey profile questionnaires and segments audiences by their needs and interests. Every user can be sure they will get the best-match surveys.

When the thunder strikes (or when an angry customer does)

Not always it’s your teammate who is to blame for poor customer experience. Sometimes, the customer can be the source of monstrous rage poured onto your team.

According to customer service statistics , the most reported challenge by customer service staff is handling angry or upset customers. In fact, every second agent struggles to manage such tough conversations.

And that’s what happened with one of the customer support representatives on the team of DTF Transfers , according to the CMO of the company, Michael Power.

One bright and shiny Sunday morning was a catastrophe for the entire company.

The customer called several times and yelled that the DTF transfer was not sticking. They wanted to talk to the business owner and threatened to pay us back by breaking into the office and turning it into ashes.

The funniest thing about it was that the customer had misspelled the company’s name when googling, and, as a result, contacted the wrong support team to complain about the quality.

How to fix this bad customer experience story

The agents on calls should approach customers with calmness and empathy . To handle angry customers without hissing back, your call center agents should:

Start with empathy statements ( I’m sorry you’re having an issue with it ; I would be frustrated, too )
Listen more actively, talk less
Be honest and acknowledge your fault (if any), and apologize
Suggest workable way-outs
Set a time frame to fix it and follow up

Klaus dealing with difficult conversations.

Too many emails from customers

Email remains one of the immortal customer service channels worth using. It is the most preferable means of communication with brands for 61% of consumers .

Ok, but what if there are too many incoming emails, and your customer support rep can’t physically manage them all?

Eric Mills, Owner of Lightning Card Collection , shares his team’s experience.

There was a period when our team was buried under the piles of emails from customers inquiring about the Pokémon card packs ordered from us or the availability of rare Pokémon cards, for example.

We couldn’t ignore any of those. And we couldn’t send pre-written replies because every email had to be individual. The team was burning out due to work overload…

How to fix this poor customer experience example

It’s pretty simple: Lightning Card Collection launched a simple chatbot to help customers track their order status and deliver faster responses.

Chatbots are ideal self-service tools , especially if you monitor the quality of chatbot responses just like you would with any other customer service interaction. They can help you take the burden off the shoulders of your support team, which is overloaded by chats, emails, and calls.

You can also take advantage of talking AI bots to spur the evolution of your customer service and diversify your communication channels dramatically.

Incompetence of a customer service agent

What could be worse than the lack of knowledge on behalf of a support representative?

Such an awful customer service failure can literally cost you a customer.

Or even two. Or three…

This list can go on if you don’t act on your customer service quality assurance , specifically during the agent onboarding phase.

Alex Milligan, Co-founder & CMO of NuggMD , learned this lesson very well.

Poorly prepared customer support representative (one of our new hires) was in Nugg live chat that day, and we lost several customers. In some cases, the newbie couldn’t tell exactly the qualifying conditions for a medical cannabis card in certain states. In others, the agent kept customers waiting too long while seeking answers. Eventually, customers left the chat and never returned.

How to fix this bad customer service story

It’s no use locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Mistakes happen but you can learn from them (and avoid making them again in the future).

For that, monitor the team’s performance continuously, spot knowledge gaps, and undertake customer service coaching practices with different interactive training activities as follows:

Simulations and role-play scenarios
Social media training
Online courses
Improvisations
One-on-one feedback sessions, etc.

Psst… Download the free template for your next 1-on-1 meeting .

Fixing customer service issues to avoid such horror stories

The above narrations serve as cautionary tales. They demonstrate the critical significance of outstanding customer service.

From neglecting customers’ opinions to providing incompetent assistance, the stories highlight the profound impact of a negative customer service experience on a company’s reputation and customer loyalty, well-being, and satisfaction.

The solutions are clear, now it’s time to use them to your advantage.

4 Support QA Scorecard Examples to Get You Inspired

Never miss an update.

15 Examples of Bad to Terrible Customer Service (& How Your Team Can Do Better!)

Updated: January 09, 2024

Published: February 22, 2019

What’s the one thing that can bring down even the biggest brands in the market and chip away at their customer base?

Answer — bad customer service .

Customer service blunders can damage your reputation — sometimes beyond repair — and become massive red flags for existing and potential customers. While there’s no one-size-fits-all blueprint for stellar customer service, you can avoid bad experiences by learning from some bad customer service examples.

So, let’s look at 15 times customers had to suffer through poor customer service.

Examples of Bad Customer Service to Avoid

Disgruntled customers leave service reps very little room for error when dealing with an issue. Even the most successful brands can be susceptible to having a bad customer service moment if they aren’t focused on the customer’s success.

To prevent these instances, you must know what bad customer service looks like and how to overcome it. Here are some of the most common examples of bad customer service and how to turn them into good customer service .

1. Prioritizing Company Policy Above Customer Needs

As companies grow, they need to add more internal structures that help manage and regulate the business.

This often comes from corporate policies or rules designed to deliver a consistent customer experience. However, these rules sometimes act as roadblocks for customers.

For example, this article by Business Insider highlights a notable complaint made against a large retail brand. This customer found that a product was priced higher in the store than it was marked online. When he asked an employee to match the lower price, the employee denied his request due to the company’s policies.

Bad customer service examples, Business Insider example of prioritizing policy over customer service.

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The 25 worst customer service stories to train the best csrs #custserv.

by Kate Nasser | 49 Comments »

Customer service stories: Image is rolls of money up an arrow.

Customer Service Stories: Worst to Train Best. Image via Istock.com

As The People Skills Coach™, I use both positive and negative real life customer service stories to train Service Desk and Help Desk analysts, Customer Care teams, Customer Service Reps, and Contact Center agents.

The positive customer service stories define the model of great customer service behavior. The negative customer service stories address the emotional intelligence team members need to deliver memorable service.

Below are the 25 worst customer service stories of the 40 that I received in response to the question : What is the worst thing a customer service rep ever said to you?

If you own a business or are in a position of customer service leadership, ask yourself if any of your team members would act these ways?

The 25 Worst Customer Service Stories

The foul language in this story is clearly wrong. Will your CSRs quickly identify the other critical error in this exchange? Here’s the story from Ron B: I had a problem with a new piece of electronic equipment and called for assistance. The first technician I talked with insisted that there was nothing wrong with his company’s equipment, that it must be my fault . When I explained that everything in the network had worked perfectly until I powered the new item up, he laughed at me. When I asked to talk to his supervisor, he responded with the infamous two letter expletive and hung up. I called back and spoke with a different tech who was able to resolve the problem in a matter of minutes and who then asked his supervisor to join us on the line. When I told the supervisor of my earlier experience, she asked me to give her one day so she could resolve the problem. She called back in less than fifteen minutes to tell me that she and the call center manager had reviewed the tape of the call, fired the original technician, and promoted the second one to a customer service training position. It went from being the worst customer service experience ever to one of the best in less than half an hour. — Submitted by: Ron B.

If you are a business owner, customer service leader, manager, or supervisor, consider using customer service stories during team meetings for continuous learning and improvement. As a customer service leader you may be surprised at what you hear from your teams.

If their discussion focuses primarily on the customer’s behavior, your reps and analysts may need additional training on their customer care attitude and emotional intelligence. If instead they quickly acknowledge that the service was far below par, ask them specifically how they would handle that same scenario. To punctuate the training, ask each team member to state one step they will take that day to give outstanding customer service.

The key training topics from these customer service stories include emotional intelligence, customer care attitude, listening skills, the perilous effects of procedur-itis, ownership, and clear communication. I would be pleased to work with you as you take your team members to the heights of customer service excellence. From my professional experience to your success, Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™

Related Posts: 21 Customer Service Tips to Make It Easy for Customers

Image licensed from Istock.com

©2010-2014 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email [email protected] for permission and guidelines. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™ , delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Engage in people skills learning! Let’s turn interaction obstacles into business success in leadership, teamwork, and customer service experience. I invite your questions, share my experience, and welcome your wisdom.

Tags: call center , coaching , contact center , customer , Customer Care , Help Desk , People Skills , service , service desk , Soft Skills , stories , training , Ultimate Customer Service

Posted in Customer Service , People Skills , Soft Skills

49 Responses to “The 25 Worst Customer Service Stories to Train the Best CSRs #custserv”

Kate, This was a fantastic idea to talk about. Sometimes utilizing and observing really bad service is what leads to providing GREAT service. When in the hospitatliy industry I often showed my staff the worst service examples and that at times was the best training they could have recieved. When you can truly observe the worst of the worst, you can use thier mistakes to improve upon your own business. Always going that extra mile to provide Service that others do not, will keep your customers coming back!

Fun and sad to read about at the same time! To me it raises more questions than answers about why CRS’s treat customers this way. We also seem to see these problems come from larger companies then smaller ones. Its a shame these people dont understand that they are the face of the company and what happens from one bad call!

Kate – These are great lessons. They are all indicative of instances when “putting yourself in the Customer’s shoes” would have gone a long way. These are terrific teaching moments. I’m glad people shared these stories and that you shared them with us.

I enjoyed this Kate. Keep up the good work. Kind regards, Sherry Thomas President Palm Beach Etiquette

WOW! And I thought my story was a bad one. These stories make for teachable moments, as they say. Marilyn

Kate — Really entertaining blog post. Amazing how many organizations don’t get how important good customer service really is. Rick P.

I had an recent experience with a local cable company. They didn’t offer HDTV service in my area. I called the cable company and told the CSR that I had an HDTV for over two years and this comapany offered no HD service in my area. I asked if they had any plans to make HD available in my area and they said no. I asked, “Can you give me any reason why I should keep my service with your company?” The CSR at the cable company told me to get satallite TV service. I did.

Hi Kate, Great topic! I find it interesting that poor customer service is kind of an “evergreen” topic – it never goes away, and that means it is always an issue, across industries, demos, markets… I wonder why companies can’t seem to get their arms around this? We’ve all seen stats on the negative effects of poor customer service – and here’s a snippet of one of the most recent: “Genesys, with research firm Greenfield Online and Datamonitor/Ovum analysts, measuring the cost of poor customer service in the U.S., found that enterprises in the U.S. lose an estimated $83 billion each year due to defections and abandoned purchases as a direct result of a poor experience. Nearly two-thirds of consumers said they had ended a relationship due to customer service alone. The survey participants said that when they end a relationship, 61% of the time they take their business to a competitor. The $83 billion overall cost of poor customer service in the us came from: Business abandoned and lost to entire industry, $32.4 billion Customer churn and defections within industry, $50.6 billion” As a company leader, what more would I need to know in order to make sterling customer service a top priority? And yes, I do have a story of my own (don’t we all?): I have a daughter and son-in-law in the USMC, stationed in Japan, and, as anyone who has traveled to the East knows, Japan uses a cell phone system that is not compatible with the ones used in the US or Europe, meaning that you really have to search to find a phone with the right “chip”, and a carrier that works in Japan, if you want to talk to your kids in the military. I found such a combo in AT&T, after a ridiculously long and difficult search. The price of the phones and the talk and text rates are very high, but if you want your kid in the military to have what just about every other 21 year old in the US has – a cell phone – you pay. The process of getting the phone and setting up the plan is extraordinarily complicated – you don’t just speak with one sales rep, you have to request and activate various components of the plan with different departments within AT&T. I navigated it all, got them set up, and now my kids can talk to each other, and to us, which makes us all feel much better. Then I got the bill… $1,800 for 2 Blackberries and a month and a half worth of service. The bill was 30 pages long. I called AT&T to walk me through the charges, and the billing CSR found almost $400 worth of charges that were gray areas – she could revoke them on her own authority. I was given to understand that I would do well to review and question every bill going forward to check for gray area charges.

At this point, if I had any other choices, I would leave AT&T for another carrier, not only for the $400 worth of mystery charges, but also for the incredibly high rates of service offered by the sole provider of such services. But I can’t. I have no other choice until my kids are posted elsewhere. In this case, AT&T has my business no matter what they do. But their whole way of interacting with their customers has already decided me to change providers the moment I can. I have told every CSR I have spoken to since service started in November 2009 that I am not happy to be stuck with them, and that I will leave them as soon as I am able. So my question is: why would a large brand like AT&T, with a lock on a specific and lucrative market (military families), treat their captive customers with such disregard? They won’t be alone in that space forever, and customers like me will defect, with a “bad attitude” that could cost them future business. Listen up, corporate America… that $83 billion is just the tip of the iceberg, and as the economy continues to struggle, customers will become more and more discriminating about what level of service they are willing to accept.

Great, great string, Kate, thanks for the opportunity to opine!

Lovely article Kate…

I shared it with my colleagues and friends..

Great article Kate — some real war stories out there. And I find it shocking how sometimes the biggest “bestest” companies have the worst service. Thanks for putting this together.

i think this is funny..=)

some CSRs really didnt know what they are talking about and that they sound so robotic over the phone and telling each and every customer the same and so generic spiel all over again…

I’m sorry but the customer experience in 23 is rotflol funny! While his sarcasm was bad, his response was priceless. 🙂

I don’t blame all of these on the reps its the managers and supervisors.. I am a customer service manager and the higher ups don’t care.. we hire the worst people and expect the best its not possible. We have to find people with a passion for this job. Not just somebody who has been looking and will tell you anything to get hired.

Hi Tony, I hear you. Makes you wonder why the higher ups want to hire “the worst” as you say. Others claim it’s all about the salary. Yet I have met, taught, and applauded thousands of great reps who — as you say — have passion for customer service and they are not making loads of money.

There is no doubt that someone who has passion for any job will most likely do it better than someone who doesn’t. Yet — I have sparked passion in many people who didn’t first see customer service work as a profession. It’s possible to tap people’s inner strength and passion when you don’t see it at first.

I do hope that we can chat at some point — no charge to you. Just want to see if I can share some insights. I can definitely turn overworked reps in to zealous agents. Zappos did it and so can I. Yours in service, Kate

hi kate, good day i really like what you did. because im a csr but to be honest im not really excellent in english.but when i recieved a call, i greet my caller’s very warm and with smile. when they’re angry to me, i just thought that his/her not mad at me. just to my company i worked..i always say i apologized what happened to the service and make a report from it.and promise it will not happen again…. ms. kate please advice me how to being a good csr and to build my own rebuttals or to be good in english.thank you

Many thanks Saban for your comment on the post The 25 Worst Customer Service Stories. I applaud your great attitude. That’s what CSRs must have! Here are a several more posts on delivering great service that can help you grow: ———————————- The Best CSRs Act This Way in Customer Service

The Best CSRs Get Intercultural Training for Best Customer Service

The Best Approach for Dealing With Irate Customers

Are Rude Customers a Thorn in Your Side – 5 Answers

Ace your Next Customer Service Moment! ———————————–

As for improving your English, ESL classes (English as a Second Language) can be very helpful. If you are here in the USA, you can take ESL through local community orgs. in the evening. Where are you located?

Great article! This can be of big help for both managers and CSRs! I was truly relieved to see the #25 case, when the CSR said ““You’re not listening to me “, for I once fired the person who said that to the customer after 3 years of work. I just could not keep on working with the person who is untactful enough to say such words to the customer. It is nice to know that someone else thinks such things are unacceptable!

I applaud your standard Natalia. When I teach and coach on customer care and customer service, I advise that “attitude is the beginning of everything”. Anyone can learn to deliver great care if they want to. If they are not interested in learning better people skills, then they do not belong in customer care.

Many thanks for your contribution. Kate

What a fantastic article! As the executive assistant for a business that isn’t large but does a lot of business, I spend a lot of time on the phone resolving issues. Some of my favorite bad experiences in the past:

1. Best Buy: after an hour on the phone merely trying to add our reward zone number to our bestbuy.com account, the CSR told me the best option was just to delete it and start over. Huh? An additional hour spent trying to contact them resulted in being transferred 7 times and then hung up on. It’s a simple request! I ended up getting on twitter and finding a rep…the situation was cleared up in 20 minutes.

2. AT&T: when we moved our office, I expressed that we needed to keep our lines the same and transfer them as they were already set up (fax = one number, phone = another, etc.). When they came and “installed” everything, it was all set up wrong. When I called, they said they could send someone out three days later. So the number that’s listed in the phone book/online/all of our paperwork is now the DSL line…no big deal. When I tried to explain that they hadn’t set it up right and needed to come back and fix it immediately, the CSR told me, “You’re not listening to me.” Instead of yelling at him, we just short paid our bill by those three days. That got the response I wanted!

Some CSRs don’t realize that they don’t hold the power they think they do. Sure, they’re the ones with the answers or solutions, but we’re the ones with the money!!

Sarah, My deepest thanks for your “adds” on this post. Great true life stories and once again reinforces what not to do as a vehicle for learning to be the best.

Amazing how many CSRs still say “You’re not listening to me.” It has been, is, and will always be one of the killer phrases you never say to a customer. As for Twitter, your actions say it all!

Best wishes and thanks again for visiting and contributing to Smart SenseAbilities blog. I hope you will share your insights on any post of interest to you.

Have a super weekend. Kate

I bought Bestbuys $30 gamer membership online and in a few months later I tried to pre-order a few video games on my Bestbuy online account. I noticed after preordering a couple games when I was about to check out my membership discounts was not showing up so I decided to call CSR to see what the issue was. I had to get transferred 4 times before getting to the right department that handles the gamer club memberships took about an hour. in the middle of trying to get stuff done I get hung up on they did not bother calling me back. I went through the same process again took like another hour and then, they said I needed to wait like 2 weeks for my membership to work on my online account.But my pre-order needed done sense I only had about 3 days before my video game got re-leased. They gave me an option to talk to a sales rep who can give me a discount sooner so I can buy the game before it’s release date. the transfer took another 30 minutes of waiting for a sales rep to answer the phone after about 5 minutes of giving the sales rep info to access my account I get hung up on again. this time i’m calling back to talk to a manager to tell them about the horrible costumer service and then im going to demand a refund and go anywhere else. took 2 transfers and another hour to get a hold of a manager im not going to support this behavior they need to put there employees through proper training and maybe consider firing some people.I can understand accidently getting hung up on but they had my account info open they had my phone number they should have called me back.*

Kate excellent examples of “what not to do” in customer service.

With your permission, we would like to post this set of examples on our site, giving you full credit as the source. Our readers and members include CSRs and would find value

[email protected]

I am honored John. I think it will be great info for any CSR! Many thanks. Kate

Kate- Great post.

My first reaction is that some of these are so outrageous that I started wonder if there was a little hyperbole in what the customer was relaying in their story. Sadly, the truth is that this stuff does happen, and some of them would be “grounds” for pretty swift action. And by “some”, I mean those where the rep did in fact “cop an attitude” and go outside of “common sense” protocol.

But I believe the bigger issue here is the process itself…from 3 angles:

1. in some cases, the process involved was so restrictive and non empowering, that it almost forced the type of robotic responses the customer received from the csr

2. In a few cases, it was probably the wrong process, the wrong script, the wrong behaviors, etc. that were instilled in the rep over time. And that’s culture and leadership driven and goes beyond the csr and perhaps even their direct supervision.

3. but IMO, most of this is driven because we don’t understand the customer drivers and behaviors enough to even begin to design a process that is effective.

#3 is such a big issue that if fully understood would cause a sea change in what customer service looks like in the years ahead.

There are some great reader comments a recent post that describe this in a bit more detail. If you go to http://epmedge.com and look at the first post on the page http://performancemanagementperspectives.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/a-customer-service-rant-rare-but-necessary/ —the comments as well as the article, you’ll get a feel for what I mean here.

But all in all- without these kinds of examples that you provide, there is unfortunately little catalyst in today’s market (except for losing a customer which unfortunately happens AFTER the fact) for addressing this NOW.

I have worked in service for most of my career. While there is ZERO excuse for poor service or attitude, I feel sometimes the consumer must accept some responsibility. There is this belief that ‘I am the customer. I am right” while sometimes being unreasonable. I received my first complaint as a CSR when I would not refund the customer their cost of the product, while allowing them to keep it, because it did not meet their expectations.

There are unreasonable expectations Jon. Yet the job of customer service is to handle all situations with the greatest professional behavior and caring attitude. We can always treat the customer well even in the rare case where we cannot give them exactly what they want. Best wishes and thanks for sharing your perspective, Kate

Hi Jon, I agree that customers can be unreasonable but a CSR should always know, “Customer Rules”. Once you have explained the customer what can be done by you to better their experience with your organization, and it is not something they are looking for, you always have the option to escalate the issue to your seniors/superiors who might have made a difference to the issue.

You “get it” Shrikant. It’a all about doing everything possible to satisfy customers. When we blame them, they don’t come back. When we keep innovating and working to find solutions, they do!

Many thanks for your comment here! Kate

I had to share my worst customer service experience.

My son was in the Navy and once he was assigned to a ship he decided to cancel his Capitol One credit card and get a USAA card. Just before his ship deployed to the middle east he paid off the CO card but the amount that he paid included a recent charge that had not been posted at the time of payment. He was of course trying to be proactive since he would not be able to do much while deployed. CO then refunded him the amount that he paid “over” the current bill amount.

Months past and a bill from CO came in. Since my husband and I were dealing with his affairs while he was away we opened the bill. The original amount was slightly over $6.00 but once the 3 months worth of late fees were applied it was over $80. My husband called the company to see if we could pay it but we were asking to waive the late fees since it the amount he had paid but was refunded. We were able to give them the check number they refunded him on, all of the account info etc however their standard response? “We can’t talk with you about this account unless we have your son’s permission. Have him call us” this went round and round to the point that both my husband and I were ready to pull our hair out. We tried again and again to explain that we did not want to discuss the account in detail but we were paying helping our son with his bills and would be happy to pay the principal however their ridiculous fees tacked on when they had not been sending bills for the last few months should be waived. Their final response “we have no way to prove that he really is deployed so he will just have to take care of it when he returns>” By our calculations his $6 original charge would have been @ $500 by the time he returned from his deployment. My husband and I paid the bill and my son promptly closed the account as soon as he returned.

WOW Karen… that company deserved to lose your son’s business. Although I understand a credit card company’s need for security over any account, they didn’t do anything to help in the situation.

So generous of you to share the story here. Each story teaches and adds more depth and dimension to this discussion.

Grateful thanks, Kate

Hopefully, these anecdotes will whip them into shape. I guess it’s pretty simple: if you don’t want this to happen to you, then avoid letting it happen at all costs.

Being rude is nowhere nearly as bad as being uninformative imo. You go to a customer rep for information; when 10 different customer reps give you 10 different answers and your problems STILL had not be resolved, there is something very clearly wrong! 😀

It takes both knowledge and courtesy to deliver outstanding customer service. In fact, customer service is “knowledge delivered with care to make life easier for the customers”. Here’s more on that point http://katenasser.com.customers.tigertech.net/customer-service-defined-unforgettable/

Best wishes and thanks, Kate

Two examples of poor customer service spring to mind.

This was approx 5 years ago. I was an 18 year old lad and had just got my first job. I’d been on benefits for 3 months whilst I was waiting, I rang the job centre to try and cancel my benefits, the guy on the line shouted “hello” in an aggressive manner. I tried to explain I’d got a job and wanted to come off benefits, he told me to “f*$% off” and hung up.

The second is more recent. I had a nightmare journey home where the first bus went by without stopping, the second bus terminated early and the third bus had the wrong destination on the front and turned around bringing me back where I started. I tweeted the bus company and the bus driver unofficially tweeted me with abusive messages… the bus company apologised and said they were conducting an internal investigation.

Dear James, Thank you for adding your stories to this list. There is so much of the bad out there I think this list will continue to grow and grow. Yet we all keep working to stem that tide and make customer service better.

I had some great service recently and will be writing about that soon — so nice to find some good service too.

Warmest thanks for contributing! Kate

When we first bought our home, included was Blue Ribbon Warranty or something or nother. Anyway, I wanted to utilize it since our toilet wasn’t working. I called and they dispatched a couple “plumbers” from another company. They couldn’t find my place, and when I described the route one of the guys repeated it back with Strother Martin’s accent in “Cool Hand Luke” (fantastic movie, by the way). Already, I had a lump in my throat. They showed up with no uniforms looked at the toilet and read me the riot act about my bringing them over on a “phony” service call. They yelled at me in my own home. I told them if they weren’t out, I was calling the police. I had to actually push them out.

But wait, it’s not over. I got a call from the Warranty company and they read ME the riot act, told me that I owed them money and if I didn’t pay, they would sue me. She was reading a script.

Anyway, I paid the money because I was scared. The Warranty company had to pay a class action lawsuit.

Guess what compensation the legal people proposed. . . .wait for it . . . .One full year of Blue Ribbon Warranty in which they “may” fix your broken appliances if they see fit. Ra ra ra ra. You just can’t win.

I suspect CSR in the first example was probably planning on quitting anyway. The story gets around that the CSR swore at a customer and was fired. Later a friend says, “Ah, he was saving up the f-u for when he planned to quit.” This happens a lot. FYI, I didn’t file a class action lawsuit. Some other people filed it and I was included in the group. I was so pissed off that I didn’t want anything from it. I just wanted to find the plumbers and give them a beat down.

Hello there, I found these examples quite amusing and personally, being a CSR at the moment for eBay UK, I can indeed relate and say that we were trained extensively through the use of these examples. I have to ask though:

How does one deal with someone for whom you actually cannot do anything due to your company’s policies? It’s still something I am yet to figure out, as it seems to be quite a sticky situation to be in.

Dear “Axel”, Customer service greatness takes customer focused vision/policies as well as great well-trained reps. Your question .. what do you do for a customer whom you can’t help because of your company’s polices. Does your company allow you to offer alternatives? Sometimes we think we can’t do anything because we can’t say yes to the exact thing the customer wants. Yet many companies do allow alternatives.

Let me know! Kate

World’s most sarcastic manager with unfounded accusations and defensive nature

User wrote to Salad Atelier: Found a hair and cheated by the waiter. My salad had a strand of hair in it.The waiter also did not give the free bread and water that comes with every salad.price is not cheap.above 13 for a small salad.

DyLanTLLEE, Manager at Salad Atelier, responded to this review: First of all, thanks for reviewing us on TripAdvisor. We found that you have never give any good reviews for any restaurants that you visited in Kuala Lumpur. Hope that not all restaurants pissed you off in KL.

Bread is given out when it is available and water is always free for dine in customers. Bread towards the end of the day is as hard as rock and thus we some times do not serve bread towards the end of the day. However, we are giving out free eggs since 1st of April. I hope you don’t feel cheated when you get the free egg.

Secondly, if you found a strand of hair in the salad next time (we assume you are coming back), please prompt us and we are more than happy to make a new one for you.

If you think price is expensive for such a big salad, then may be you are not a salad person. The ingredients we took are really expensive and if you compare our price to other western restaurants that serve salad, you will know our price is the cheapest in town.

We are sorry for your horrible experience (if this is true). Thanks again for your review.

Wow Sammy. The manager’s reply is both a horrible response AND a horrible advertisement for the business. I would never go there once I read his/her reply.

I’m angry. UPS is the worst and their customer service is atrocious. I am BEYOND livid and have been for the past two weeks. So let me explain why. First of all, two weeks ago, I was expecting a package and realized I should have gotten it. I go check the tracking number and it says it was delivered to Walter and i dont know who the heck is Walter cause i am the only one who live here. I get packages delivered all the time and it’s never to my front door because I live in an apartment building I called them and they started some investigation that I HAVE STILL NOT HEARD FROM THEM ABOUT. It’s been almost 2 weeks.

[…] [Source] […]

explained that everything in the network had worked perfectly until I powered the new item up lol

That’s a good one Jordan. Thanks for sharing!

[…] a collection of poor customer service experiences compiled by people skills coach Kate Nasser, a number of individuals describe their experiences […]

[…] um conjunto de más experiências de atendimento ao cliente compiladas pelo coach de habilidades com pessoas Kate Nasser, várias pessoas descrevem suas […]

Kate what if the shoe is on the other foot and I was the one who had a rude customer on the phone demanding we give him quarterly statements. I admit I was wrong in getting my back up and instead of saying “lets see what we can do for you, I straight away said “thats not possible” at his arrogance ans rudeness but this bad behavior goes both ways. A customer also needs to call and be polite as I’m a human being too and deserve courtesy. What do you think? I havent been able to sleep in days thinking of this scenario. Diana

Hi Diana, Well first of all I empathize with your feelings. 25+ years of teaching this, it is one of the most frequent questions I get. I can also see from your remark about not being able to sleep that it goes deep inside of you. So my reply here has two parts:

Part I. How can you feel good even when customers are rude? Answer: See their rudeness as a sign of their stress and discomfort. Picture them as a patient in a hospital or dentist office. Patients often snap at doctors/dentists yet the professionals don’t take it personally because they understand the fear and pain. YES it is the same with customers. You will feel much better if you see the snappiness you get as pain not as disrespect for you.

Part II. With that understanding, we as customer service professionals look for ways to ease the pain and get the job done. Since we don’t use Novacaine or other medications (ha ha), we use words that ease the way. The reason we don’t start with “no that’s no possible” is because it enrages many customers who are in pain mode. The “let’s see what we can do” intro is magical because it helps the customer come out of emotion land and into thinking land.

I applaud your self-awareness and your outreach (here) to find answers. To me that says you are looking to grow and get better and better every day. THAT is impressive.

Stay positive, keep growing, and see the power you have to uplift customers rather than take them down.

Warmest professional wishes, Kate

[…] The 25 Worst Customer Service Stories To Train The Best Customer Service Reps […]

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The Top 10 BAD Customer Service Stories of 2018!

Here are the top 10 BAD Customer Service stories from 2018!

In December, we released our Ten Best Customer Service Experiences of 2018 . Today we look at the world of bad customer service – and the top ten bad customer service experiences of 2018.

A Year of Extremes

2018 was a year of unpleasant extremes in customer interactions. Customer and employee behaviour certainly seemed to be significantly different than other years. Many of the stories we saw involved violence on the part of both customers and employees. We hope it`s not a trend.

For this Top 10 list, we chose to exclude these extreme cases and focus instead on stories that are more representative of the kinds of customer service failures still all too common in today’s world. As a customer experience consulting and customer service training company, we find these examples invaluable in examining and illustrating the types of things that significantly compromise customer loyalty.

We settled on these ten as the best examples of really bad customer service in 2018. They are in order from least-really-bad to most-really-bad:

10. Frontier Airlines Fails At Communication & Compassion

Two children, aged 7 and 9, were returning to Orlando after a visit to their grandparents in Des Moines, when poor weather conditions caused the flight to be diverted to Atlanta. From a safety perspective, Frontier did okay. From a customer service perspective, however, they failed miserably.

The parents, who were waiting for their children, received no updates. And the Frontier people in Orlando were no help. In fact, had one of their children not asked to borrow another child’s cell phone to text their parents after landing, the parents wouldn’t have had any information at all. Yikes.

Understandably, the parents were frightened and upset. When asked later about the incident, Frontier Airlines was unapologetic, stating that they had just followed “standard protocol.” Double Yikes.

The core of customer service is caring about customers. Big parts of this are communication and compassion – two areas where Frontier gets a big fail.

Here’s the story

9. An Unforgettable Cruise – In a Bad Way

Outstanding Customer service is the hallmark of cruising. A fifteen-day vacation on a cruise ship is supposed to be a wonderful thing. Norwegian Cruise Lines, however, appears to have forgotten this. No sooner did they leave the port in Miami, passengers began noticing that things weren’t quite right. Instead of a tranquil trip, passengers were treated with the sounds of… maintenance. The sounds of hammers and grinders were omnipresent. Dust filled the air as decks were sanded down – so much that several passengers had to visit the infirmary with respiratory problems.

It was so bad that close to 500 angry passengers organized a meeting. They confront the captain, whose response was to walk out. Norwegian’s response after the event was not much better. One has to wonder how many of the passengers will actually ever cruise on Norwegian again.

8. Amazon Customer Service In the Toilet

Imagine that you’ve ordered three cartons of toilet paper from Amazon. The cost: $88.77. Then imagine that you are charged $7,455 for the shipping costs. Eek. That’s exactly what happened to Barbara Carroll last May.

It Gets Worse

At first, Ms. Carroll wasn’t too concerned. Amazon, after all, has a reputation for looking after its customers. Not this time. She complained to Amazon six times. She wrote a letter to CEO Jeff Bezos. After every complaint, she received a form letter explaining that there would be no refund because the delivery was made on-time and undamaged. Double-yikes – again.

It wasn’t until she took the matter to a local television station and the story went viral for Amazon to take action. Two-and-a-half months later, she was finally reimbursed.

Mistakes happen. We all get that. But the unwillingness of Amazon to take ownership over the issue was completely unacceptable..

7. Poor Performance From a Performance Shop

When Vince Hanson went to pick up his Audi A4 from Titan Motorsports in Orlando last November, the technician took it for one last, every expensive test-drive. He made an illegal u-turn, crashing into another car. No worries – they’ll fix it, right? Wrong.

Rather than accept responsibility and offering to fix the damage, the shop told him that the contract he had signed absolved them of any responsibility. They said he would have to go through his own insurance – except the body shop has refused to cooperate with the insurance company. Needless to say, this has led to an ongoing legal battle.

It’s a great example of a company being more interested in a customer’s wallet than the customer himself.

6. Would You Like A McScolding With That?

McDonalds has two stories in this year’s list. This first one comes to us from Wisconsin. Tom and Tina Olszewski went through a McDonald’s drive-thru with their 9-year-old son. After waiting 15 minutes for their order, Tom finally gave up and asked for a refund. The worker refused, then the manager stepped in.

Caught on video is the manager yelling “Make your own cheeseburger! Teach your son how to cook a f… hamburger,” to the family. One would think that this type of behaviour might be close to the top of the “things not to do list” in the McDonald’s customer service training handbook.

5. Bad Customer Service Rating For MoviePass

MoviePass, the new company that lets you see a movie a day for $10 a month, has been under siege with customer service complaints. This is just one example.

Dorothy Wickenhiser of San Francisco found her account suddenly closed – with no refunds and no process to fix it. As with many organizations these days, MoviePass makes great efforts to prevent customers from being able to contact someone about customer service. After many hours of hunting, however, Ms. Wickenhiser managed to reach someone, who informed her that whe had violated the terms of the agreement by going to see a “premium movie.” She hadn’t, and pointed out to the person that she always goes with her husband who has his own card – yet there didn’t seem to be a problem with his.

When San Francisco’s ABC News 7 investigated, they found over 1,500 complaints on the Better Business Bureau website, and that the BBB had given MoviePass an “F” – the lowest possible grade.

MoviePass’s response to all of the complaints was, basically, to deny that there was a problem, and if customers wanted to dispute such things, all they had to do was contact their customer service department. They did not, of course, mention the bit about their customer service department being virtually impossible to reach.

4. Southwest Airlines Kicks Father & Toddler Off A Plane

A young toddler was sitting on her fathers lap prior to takeoff on a Southwest Flight from Chicago to Atlanta. She was crying. Flight attendants had come over to warn the father that she needed to be properly seated, and he was able to settle the young girl – but apparently it wasn’t good enough. They were both sitting their seats quietly when the attendants returned to ask them to leave the plane.

It seemed like an extreme measure, but clearly not to the flight attendants who got defensive when other passengers spoke up in the father’s defense. One passenger who had observed the initial interaction explained to them that the man had simply asked for a few moments to settle his daughter down, which he did. The attendant’s response to this was, “This is not helpful. Do you want to go to Atlanta?” Seriously. She said that.

Working in an airplane cabin is a tremendously challenging position, requiring above average customer service skills and legendary patience. It also requires problem-solving skills and the ability to quickly and accurately assess situations – something that wasn’t apparent in this situation.

There’s a reason that the video of the incident went viral – garnering over 1.5 million hits. It shouldn’t have happened. To be fair to Southwest Airlines, they also made our Top 10 WOW Customer Service Stories of 2018 . Maybe the two experiences cancel each other out?

3. It’s Our Policy… Maybe Not… Maybe it is…

When Cellist Jingjing Hu boarded her American Airlines flight from Miami to Chicago, she bought two seats – one for herself, and one for her $30,000 Cello. It is something many musicians do, and is in accordance to American’s policy. When she got in the plane, she buckled herself and her cello in.

Everything seemed fine until a flight attendant told her that she would have to leave the plane because the cello was too big. She was told that she could take the next plane which was leaving in an hour – only they didn’t allow her on the second flight either. She then found herself surrounded by police because the airline staff found her “not understandable.”

It wasn’t until few hours had passed, and a post her husband made began to go viral, that American actually looked into it. Oh, look – the instrument is allowable after all. They booked her on a flight the next day, covering the cost of a hotel room. (The cost, it would appear, was worthwhile for the airline. A passenger on the first plane reported that, after she ushered off, her seats were immediately taken by two new passengers on what was presumably an overbooked flight.)

American Airline’s official response was tepid, referring to it as a little “misunderstanding.” They really need to be more embarrassed – they had an eerily similar “misunderstanding” with another cellist just a year earlier. Here’s a good rule to live by: If you are going to require your employees to make life unpleasant for customers by enforcing policies, you should make sure everyone understands what those policies are.

2. A Big McOops

The second McDonalds story hit number two on our list. A drive-thru employee in Cross City, Florida forgot to turn her headset off as a customer sat waiting to give his order. He listened to her ranting to another employee for about 45 seconds, then began to record her. The result was more ranting, complaining about the customer showing up, and describing a failed drug deal. You can see the video here .

The mistake, of course, was not really that she forgot about the microphone. It was that she didn’t care enough about her workplace and her customers to remain professional when on the job. Customer service is, above all, an attitude. And a customer-focused attitude is not something that can be turned on and off like a microphone switch.

1. This Bad Customer Service Story Takes The Cake

Everyone might not agree with Harry Gordon Selfridge’s oft quoted “The customer is always right,” but it is certainly never a good practice to simply assume that a customer is wrong. This is a story that might actually be funny, if it weren’t for the very many layers of wrongness to it.

Cara Koscinski was justifiably proud of her son Jacob for graduating with a 4.89 grade average. To celebrate, she ordered a cake from a North Carolina Publix for his graduation day with the inscription, “Congrats Jacob! Summa Cum Laude Class of 2018.” The phrase, Summa Cum Laude, is a common designation for graduates, Latin for “With the highest distinction.” Just in case Publix had any questions, Ms. Koscinski included a definition of the term in the order form, along with a web link explaining the phrase.

Her explanation was apparently not good enough for Publix. When the cake arrived on graduation day, the inscription had been modified to read, “Congrats Jacob! Summa — Laude Class of 2018.” Publix’s ordering algorithm had deemed the deleted word as “profane,” and the bakers clearly agreed. Obviously, neither the algorithm nor the baker had ever graduated with this distinction. Ms. Koscinski was understandably furious.

It’s a toss-up as to which part of this experience was the worst. The disrespect for the customer’s wishes? That the minds of both Publix and their computer seem to be in the gutter? The unwillingness to accept (or confirm) the customer’s written explanation? Just sending the censored cake, instead of a phone call first to discuss the issue? Ruining a young man’s graduation celebration? Take your pick. it was a customer service failure in so many ways.

We are already collecting our stories for 2019. If there is one that you think should be on the list, please let us know!

Republished with author's permission from original post .

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In this article, Amazon is listed as one of “The Top 10 BAD Customer Service Stories of 2018”.

In “Customer Experience: Is Amazon Going Downhill?” http://customerthink.com/customer-experience-is-amazon-going-downhill/ , Maz Iqbal shared his bad service experience and was echoed by the commenters of his post.

Since you’re a well-respected expert in customer service, based on your observations, are these just coincidences or rare cases, or a real signal that Amazon’s service experience is going downhill?

In your opinion, by treating customers like that, can we still call Amazon a customer-centric, not to say the earth’s most customer-centric company?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

I just saw your post today – my apologies for not responding earlier!

It’s a great question, and my spidey-sense is that they aren’t necessarily getting worse, as much as other organizations, and customer expectations, are surpassing them.

When I look at the experience that Amazon currently provides, is it truly worse than it used to be? If so, in what way? I honestly can’t remember well enough to compare. What I do know is that it seems as though a lot of companies have been able to match Amazon’s magnificent processes and their convenience factor (Wayfair and Walmart, just to name a couple). But these companies appear to be much more responsive and proactive when it comes to the human side.

I have had occasion to reach out to both Wayfair and Walmart on a couple of non-standard issues over the last year. Things that didn’t fall under the purview of any single department. In both cases, I was quickly, efficiently and warmly directed to someone who could do something about it. In the case of Walmart, I actually got a follow-up call from a senior manager wanting to know more – so he could make sure this wasn’t a larger systemic issue. With Amazon, I have had fantastic experiences with standard issues and questions, but overwhelming frustration with anything that fell in the cracks between their departments or processes.

Wayfair has a phone number right on their home page – with humans who are empowered to help. Walmart takes 3 clicks, but you get the same thing. Amazon requires a billion clicks and continual attempts to drive self-serve solutions, then you may eventually get a human as long as you have a standard issue. If you have a non-standard issue, it’s good to have a stiff drink handy.

All this to say that I’m not sure if they have gone downhill, as much as the hill behind them has grown much bigger

Thanks for your reply, Shaun.

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Worst Customer Service Stories

According to a report by Accenture, customer experience continues to be a vital metric for brand performance in 2023. This ongoing trend emphasizes the importance of customer service and warrants our attention on sharing notable examples of poor customer service. By analyzing these instances, businesses can learn valuable insights to improve and avoid similar pitfalls.

Insanely luxurious delivery

A customer once ordered three packs of toilet paper from Amazon for around $90, only to discover a delivery charge of over seven thousand dollars. Shocked, the buyer reached out to customer support and even wrote to CEO Jeff Bezos, only to be met with refusal. The incident gained attention after being featured on a local TV channel, forcing Amazon to provide a refund nearly three months later.

The problem was clearly an oversight in customer service that failed to check shipping costs adequately. This blunder could have been avoided with better inquiry skills, rather than total reliance on automated processes.

“Chaos hotline”

American telecommunications corporation Comcast is known for having busy customer service lines, making it difficult for people to get through. But that's not the only issue.

One customer found themselves on the hotline for 3.5 hours just to cancel an unnecessary service. Another customer faced what they called “employee resistance” when they attempted to terminate a contract over the phone. Despite spending almost 10 minutes explaining their intention, the employee aggressively demanded a specific reason. The customer eventually got their way, but the story left a mark. Comcast officially expressed regret for the incident, but its reputation undoubtedly took a hit.

Flight miscommunication debacle

Airlines frequently become the subjects of customer service horror stories. Take, for example, the case of Chu Lisong Chang. Upon arriving at Vancouver Airport for her Sunwing Airlines flight to Toronto, she was informed that the plane had already taken off four hours earlier.

Chu was forced to purchase expensive tickets from another airline, despite receiving no notification of the schedule change. The situation was already frustrating, but it became even more so when she contacted the airline and the travel agency that sold the ticket. Both parties simply shrugged, claiming it wasn't their fault. It wasn't until a CBC News investigation intervened that Sunwing finally admitted the mistake and took steps to correct the situation.

This incident underscores the importance of reliable communication and responsive customer service within the airline industry. With 9 years of experience in providing customer support services to prominent clients in the aviation and travel industry, including Wizz Air , Ukrainian International Airlines, Airportr , and Fareportal , we understand the unique challenges and demands of this sector.

A lifeless robot

In 2013, Mark Hamilton from New York expressed his frustration with Bank of America by chalking a message on the asphalt outside one of their branches. The police stopped his protest, but he took to Twitter, sparking a heated online discussion.

Bank of America responded with automated messages to anyone who engaged with Mark's tweet. These templated phrases, intended to resolve common issues, were entirely irrelevant to the situation and were sent out of context.

This misuse of automation led to widespread protest and coverage in Digiday. Though the bank insisted that over a hundred specialists handled each client, their impersonal response suggested otherwise. The obvious misstep forced the bank to admit their mistake, turning what could have been a small incident into a significant public relations failure.

Waiting for eternity

A regular customer of Qantas Airways decided to test the company's hotline when all he wanted to do was confirm his flight. The automated system assured him that he would be connected to an operator shortly. Despite waiting for two hours, he resolved to stay on the line to see just how long he would be kept waiting.

After an astonishing 15 hours and 40 minutes, his call was finally answered. However, he was informed that his initial request had been rejected due to an error. Ultimately, he managed to get through and resolve his issue, but the company later stated that they had no record of this prolonged call.

Live chat challenges

Live chat is a beneficial feature in customer service, allowing for instant company contact without long wait times. However, it can also lead to subpar service. Agents may struggle with complex questions that don't fit predefined answers, leaving customers disappointed. The overuse of template responses can lead to long wait times and frustrating redirections to other agents.

Take the ObamaCare launch, for instance. Its live chat support was supposed to simplify access to new online health exchanges. Instead, the site was plagued by technical glitches. One user reported spending 20 minutes waiting in the live chat, receiving repeated messages of “Please be patient while we’re helping other people.” This case exemplifies the need for careful live chat implementation.

Corporate identity thief

In 2011, Netflix subscribers were thrown into confusion when they couldn't find their favorite streaming service under its usual name. The company had abruptly changed its name to Qwikster, a title that bore no resemblance to Netflix or any other streaming service.

The situation became even stranger when people turned to Twitter to file complaints with Qwikster, only to end up on the page of a teenager keen on marijuana culture who owned the name. This mix-up led many to abandon Netflix altogether, and the company's stock value plummeted.

Christmas eve communication breakdown

In 2013, a communication failure thwarted even Santa Claus. Throughout most of Christmas Eve, UPS , the parcel delivery company, continued to reassure customers that their gifts would arrive by morning. Then, abruptly at day's end, thousands of customers were informed that their packages would arrive only after Christmas. Santa's arrival was delayed for thousands of UPS customers.

Failing to deliver a product or service is always detrimental, but the tardiness in communicating the problem exacerbated the situation. What made this story particularly damaging for UPS was the company's attempt to downplay the issue, claiming it affected “only a small fraction” of customers. This incident not only tarnished the company's image but also serves as a poignant reminder.

Examples of poor customer service like these underscore the importance of reevaluating your customer relationship strategy. It's essential to understand your customers' primary concerns and address those issues promptly and transparently.

Bad Customer Service: Stories And Tips To Avoid Common Mistakes: №1

Major Reasons for Customer Dissatisfaction

At the heart of customer experience lies a simple expectation — that customers desire recognition, understanding, and appreciation from the brands they engage with. Unfortunately, companies with subpar customer service often overlook these needs, leading to serious business challenges. The typical reasons for customer dissatisfaction include:

lack of acknowledgment: service representatives may fail to make customers feel important and valued, causing frustration;
non-professionalism : if customers' questions go unanswered, or their ideas and suggestions are dismissed, they feel neglected;
rude behavior: any deliberate unhelpfulness or overt rudeness from company representatives can create a hostile environment;
impersonal communication: if different representatives interact inconsistently with the same client, it can cause confusion;
inefficient workflow: long wait times for request responses can exacerbate customer dissatisfaction.

Should you recognize one or more of these issues within your company, it may be time to consider enhancing your customer support service to foster a more positive experience.

How Client Retention Services Can Assist

Maintaining relationships with dissatisfied customers demands time, skilled employees, and resources. In-house solutions may add to the complexity and cost. Outsourcing offers a streamlined and contemporary alternative. Simply Contact, a company with vast experience in constructing contact centers, exemplifies this modern approach.

Simply Contact's approach focuses on integrating tailored solutions that align with a business's specific needs. With a proven track record in client retention, we offer services that are generally more cost-effective than in-house alternatives. The seamless integration of technology and human interaction helps Simply Contact stand out in delivering high-quality customer retention services, creating a path to enhanced customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Main Tips to Avoid Bad Customer Service Experience

Well-organized customer service is the cornerstone of any successful company. It's vital to uphold high standards across all stages of communication with a client through various channels. Here's a concise guide to avoid common mistakes:

Treat every client with respect and humanity. Arrogance or neglect can lead to negative consequences.
Balance a friendly attitude with efficiency, especially when a client has a problem that needs solving.
Respond quickly. Immediate resolutions lead to happy customers. If delays occur, keep the client informed about the timeline.
Eliminate robotic responses. Clarity and well-constructed speech ensure that both parties understand each other.
Offer honest and direct information. Transparency can turn even an unhappy client's mood around.
Hire skilled and empathetic employees who can understand and relate to customers' concerns. Empathy is a foundational step in building brand loyalty.
Invest in employee training, provide comprehensive resources, and conduct regular educational events.

In essence, all these tips center around the principle of attentiveness and sincerity. Customers are more likely to forgive mishaps if they feel they are not alone in facing the problem.

In summary, an effective outsourced support center employs knowledgeable experts who are well-versed in your products and services.

They can skillfully address customer inquiries, creating a seamless experience as if they were an integral part of your company. With a deep understanding of psychological techniques, they swiftly establish an emotional connection with clients, building trust and fostering loyalty.

If you've been struggling to retain customers on your own, it's time to seek the assistance of professionals. At Simply Contact , we ensure that you never become part of a poor customer service story. Get in touch with us with your project description to receive a consultation or a project estimate, and let our expertise elevate your customer support to new heights.

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Customer Service Experience – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

You might have a lot of experience in delivering great customer service, but it doesn’t mean you are delivering a great customer service experience .

Hollywood flick The Good, The Bad and The Ugly tells the story of three gunslingers who compete for a gold fortune amidst the American Civil War. The phrase is commonly used to describe the best and worst of something, among others which could have been improved but were not. Today, we’re talking about the good, bad, and ugly side of customer service experience.

Customer service is pretty big in the modern digital age. We all engage with companies on a regular basis, and some things just don’t turn out the way you want them to. Now, combine this problem with modern technological innovation and multi-platform usage and you have the perfect recipe for customers with high demands.

Satisfying their needs and wants is the only thing that companies want to achieve, along with providing a good overall end-to-end customer experience. With the growth of technology, customers are beginning to use multiple channels ( email , social media , chat , voice , etc) when interacting with a brand. This makes it important for companies to provide an exceptional customer service experience when dealing with customers.

According to Marketing Week , 15 years ago, the average consumer typically used two touch-points when buying an item and only 7% regularly used more than four. Today consumers use an average of almost six touch points, with 50% regularly using more than four.

If I asked you to describe your previous customer service experience with a brand, what would your answer be? You would probably give an account of a positive customer experience or negative customer experience. This is exactly what makes up customer service experience – the way companies handle their customers.

Define: What is Customer Service Experience?

What is considered customer service experience? You won’t find many definitions of customer service experience. However, the truth is, it is very loosely defined and used by a variety of people in different industry. However, one thing is certain – it involves a fair amount of customer service. Let me explain.

Customer service experience is simply defined as the art of managing customers, and meeting or exceeding their wants and needs when they contact customer service. It can be used to describe someone asking about an item on a menu when ordering fast food at a drive-thru, or someone asking a salesman about a product at an electronics store. It is the service experience provided to customers at various points of contact with the organization.

Is there any difference between Customer Service Experience & Customer Experience? What about the difference between Customer Service Experience & Customer Service?

You probably already know the difference between customer service and customer experience. Customer service is part of the overall customer experience, and is reactive (unlike customer experience which is proactive).

Customer Service , Customer Service Experience , and Customer Experience are similar in the way that they all refer to dealing with customers and satisfying their needs and wants. Customer service experience is the overall experience of the customer when he deals with customer service and customer support, whereas customer experience is the sum of all interactions across all touch points with a brand.

5 Essentials of Customer Service Experience

There are 5 essentials to providing a good customer service experience:

The right timing
The right service
The right processes
The right people
The right training

Customer Service Experience Challenges

Companies face a variety of customer service challenges in their quest to provide an exceptional level of customer service. Not only do they have to deliver an amazing end-to-end customer service experience, they also have to do it on multiple channels. Here are some customer service experience challenges faced by companies:

Retaining customers and stopping churn
Minimizing CES, or customer effort score
Leverage customer intelligence to better engage customers
Turn agents into brand ambassadors
Eliminate interaction silos to decrease customer frustration

Why You Shouldn’t Provide Bad Customer Service

There are many reasons you should not be providing a bad level of customer service:

It forces the customer to tell his friends and family about your company in a negative manner.
The customer might go on a social media rampage.
It spoils your chances of having a second chance at gaining their trust
It might force the customer to switch to your competitor

The Good Experience: Good Customer Service Experience

When you have a good customer experience, it really speaks for itself. A good customer service experience is when the customer is satisfied with the company’s level of customer service.

Good Customer Service Experience Examples

Here are some examples of good customer experience:

When the company solves your problem in a timely manner
When the customer does not have to put in a lot of effort to get his problem solved
When the company adequately compensates the customer if requested.
When the customer service representative knows, understands, and effectively solves the customer’s problem on time.

The Bad Experience: Bad Customer Service Experience

Being a customer, how would you handle a bad customer service experience? It’s really not that hard to define poor customer service experience. But, when we do experience a negative customer service experience, it can result in distress and frustration for anybody.

A bad customer service experience results when a customer is dissatisf ied with the company he’s seeking assistance from. Bad customer experiences have adverse effects on business, such as reduced satisfaction, decreased customer loyalty, increased frustration, and higher customer churn.

Bad Customer Service Experience Examples

You probably experience bad customer service all the time – so many companies just don’t get it right. Here are some examples of a bad customer experience:

In case of a query that requires a customer service executive to make an in-house call and he doesn’t reach on time. This causes frustration because the customer might have been waiting for the executive for a long time, or might have cancelled his plans just to get his product / service fixed.
When a customer requests for assistance over the phone, and he has to wait ridiculously long periods of time just to talk to an agent.
When the customer service agent asks for more information to verify your profile.
Having to explain the same information to multiple customer service agents
A customer orders a product from an online ecommerce store, has a problem with it, and finds out he has to mail the product back himself.
The company takes too long to fix the problem.
Unreasonable payments and unexplained surcharges
Misinformation, or the agent provides wrong or inaccurate information
When the customer has to do more work in order to solve his problem.
When the agent follows a scripted response to provide customer service

The Worst Experience: The Worst Customer Service Experience

This is the ugliest part of customer service. Sometimes, customers go through quite an ordeal when dealing with customer service. We see it all the time on some social media posts which go viral. The worst customer service experience is when a customer is completely dissatisfied with the level of customer service a company has to offer.

Worst Customer Service Experience Examples

It doesn’t take rocket science to know when you’ve had the worst customer experience. Here are some of the worst examples of customer experience:

When the customer service representative has no idea what you’re talking about.
When the customer service representative does not speak the same language as you.
When the customer service representative starts using foul or abusive language.

Man with No Name: How to Apologize to a Customer for a Negative Customer Service Experience

The movie The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is about ‘Blondie’, or commonly known as the ‘Man with No Name’. In our contact center perspective, the Man with No Name is the agent who tries to apologize to the customer for a negative customer service experience.

We’ve all been there and experienced it at least once – you buy a product or service, something doesn’t go the way you had thought, and you end up waiting for an available customer service agent to talk to about your issue. You don’t care about his customer service experience skills – you just want someone at the company to talk to you about your specific problem. After 5 or 10 minutes, you get tired of waiting and cut the phone. You vow to hammer the next available agent with your frustration.

Mind you, these customer experience statistics might surprise you.

75% of online customers expect help within 5 minutes, according to Mckinsey . Moreover, according to Forrester , 45% of US consumers will abandon an online transaction if their questions or concerns are not addressed quickly.

But wait – soon you find out that your problem has been fixed and the agent on the other end seemed extra polite when dealing with you. So, you decide to might as well leave out the negativity till next time. Sometimes, the best way to deal with an angry customer about a poor customer service experience is simply apologizing to the customer.

Here’s how to apologize to a customer for a negative customer experience:

Understand : Thoroughly understand what they are trying to say and empathize with their problem.
Apologize : Saying sorry and apologizing is the best way to gain back a customer’s trust.
Explain : Explain why they had to face the problem and what really went wrong.
Fix : Fix their problem.
Offer a Reward / Compensation : You’ve delivered a bad customer service experience, now offer a reward to compensate for your mistake. This will make the customer feel special and willing to do business with you again.
End on a Positive Note : You don’t want your customer to feel dissatisfied in any way. Try to end on a positive note by asking what else you can do to help them, and end the conversation like a pro.
Implement their Feedback : Try to ensure they won’t face the same problem again.

The Ultimate Experience: Ultimate Customer Service Experience

There is a considerable amount of difference between the best and worst customer service experiences. Ultimate customer experiences are surprisingly hard to find, and very few of us actually get to experience it. An ultimate customer service experience is when a company goes beyond what is expected of them to deliver excellent customer service, and then more. In short, they are able to WOW the customer with their service.

Ultimate Customer Service Experience Examples

When you experience something special, you can feel it in an instant. Here are some examples of the ultimate customer experience:

When the company pleasantly surprises their customers in a positive manner
When the company presents a unique level of customer service experience that no one else in the market is doing.
When the company solves your problem in a timely manner and compensates the customer something in return
When you’re having a chat with a customer service chatbot , but you can’t tell whether it’s a chatbot or a real human

While you’re here, check out Ameyo’s customer service solutions to transform your customer service into the ultimate experience your customers will remember you for.

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6 Examples of Bad Customer Service & How to Fix Them

Post summary:

Watch out for the 3 BIG Rs. After a bad customer experience, companies can lose Revenue, Reputation, and Respect.
Customer expectations have changed. Are you prepared to deal with high-volume customer requests?
Customers want the fastest response on their preferred channel. Do you offer an omnichannel experience?

We all had poor customer service experiences. Some industries have it worse than others. Cable, internet, utilities, and airline companies are prime examples. According to Dimensional Research, 72% of consumers see having to explain their problem to multiple people as poor customer service. This issue happens when contact centres don’t have a predefined strategy for dealing with calls effectively.

After a bad customer service experience, the consequences can be detrimental to a business. Poor customer service can affect customer retention and revenue for years. How bad are the consequences? 39% of customers will avoid a company for two years.

Bad customer service costs businesses a combined $62 billion each year . While bad customer service experiences are causing customers to look elsewhere, companies that have customer retention strategies in place are winning. A small 5% increase in customer retention can produce 25% more profit , according to Bain.

Bad Customer Experience Examples & How to Fix Them

1. long wait times.

Waiting is something we don’t have the patience for. Super quick internet searches, instantaneous results, millions of choices – all of the factors made us impatient. Nowadays, we have a short attention span. And the little time that we have for ourselves, we don’t want to spend on calls trying to:

check balances
report issues
get refunded
give feedback
or solve any other urgent matter.

Think about the last time you were in a queue and how frustrated the waiting felt. As customers, we feel entitled to being served quickly. And while there have been many customer service enhancements, some companies have not improved their wait times.

In contact centres, long wait times are one of the biggest issues they face. Regardless of the company’s niche, waiting is not something you want your customers to go through. If you run a contact centre, you are more likely to reduce customer frustration by informing your customers about the wait time. And most importantly, stick to it.

Most customers hang up after two minutes, and 34% of those will not call you back, explains Small Business Chronicle. Moreover, some will leave a bad customer service review which will impact your brand image and trust.

Relevant: How To Develop A Complete Contact Centre Strategy

How to fix this.

There are a few ways around fixing this. First, consider using proactive communications. 68% of consumers say it increases their perception of a brand when companies send them proactive customer service notifications.

Instead of your customer reaching you, think of a way to automate outbound calls for different scenarios. With Interactive Voice Messaging, you can schedule outbound calls for balance inquiries, booking and scheduling appointments, order deliveries, payments, and more.

VoiceSage offers outbound calling solutions which is a very effective channel if you are looking to lower inbound call volumes, focus on high priority calls and deliver essential information to your customers instantly and automatically.

Secondly, you can use your call data to determine how long your customers are willing to wait on hold. Think about when you’re receiving the highest call volumes and whether the inquiries can be self-served. This way, you will allow your staff to give the best customer service to high-value customer calls. More importantly, a customer won’t wait, and they can solve their issue following a simple automated call flow.

bad customer service post - good example

2. Slow Response Times

Slow response times are a bad customer service example. Reducing response time and offering high-quality customer support is vital to improve the overall experience. One of the most important metrics for contact centre managers is the First Response Time (FRT).

Why is it important to improve response times? Because customers associate speed with value. If you answer quickly to their request and also solve their issue fast, then they feel important and looked after.

Have an organized queuing system to manage slow response rates is essential for contact centres. If you offer more than one channel to deal with customer inquiries and support, think about which channel is the slowest. If you respond faster on online chat than phone calls, then educate your customers to use the chat.

VoiceSage’s SMS Chat is a powerful way to automate customer text communications. Eliminate the need for expensive agent interaction, reduce contact costs and deliver exceptional customer experiences.

The need for speedy responses will influence your customers’ channel of choice. Make sure your efforts and resources are placed in that channel. Also, think about using call-back techniques, depending on the complexity of inquiries and the busiest time of day.

Moreover, consider setting up automated email responses. Your customers will appreciate the acknowledgment of their inquiry, and you can provide them with a timeframe in which a reply will be sent.

Source: https://gettalkative.com/info/examples-of-poor-customer-service

3. not offering “speak to agent” option.

Channel diversity and consistency are key to customer service success. Automation is essential in busy contact centres. VoiceSage can help you achieve high conversion rates of up to 56% with 60% less agent resource. These customer support agents can then handle other issues or focus on sales to drive revenue.

While automation works and is essential for contact centres’ sustainability, many companies don’t offer “speak to agent” options. Urgent issues require a personal touch and companies should not make it difficult for customers to get in touch with agents.

Similar to Interactive Voice Response (IVR), but with outbound initiation, IVM is the perfect solution for proactive customer contact, avoiding inbound calls, and connecting “ready to talk to” customers to the right agents.

Simple, proactive, one-way voice messages are perfect for urgent customer alerts. They reduce the flow of inbound calls, decrease costs, and reassure customers with the power of a voice engagement.

4. Multiple Agents’ Touchpoints

Being passed to multiple agents and having people repeat their issues is annoying. Not only the customer will think you don’t have the right infrastructure in place but making them repeat the nature of their problem will harm their overall brand experience.

Transferring customers to the wrong departments also increases the chance of abandoning the interaction as they become impatient. This impacts another customer service metric – First Contact Resolution.

Resolving issues the first time a customer gets in touch is great for contact centre efficiency and significantly contributes to providing good customer service.

Passing the customer from one department to another and having them repeat the problem is a bad customer service example. A best practice to avoid multiple agents’ transfers is to have the right tools in your contact centre. A customer service journey should be easy, concise, and have a natural flow.

For example, if a customer submits an order, but doesn’t get any order confirmation straight away, they might become anxious. They will ring your contact centre to make sure their order was placed. Getting to the right department for such a simple request is essential. We recommend sending your customers an SMS message for order confirmation to avoid having them a call. This will improve customer experience and increase agents’ productivity by allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks.

Our support and account teams work closely with our customers to advise them on refining customer journeys and optimizing call flows to deliver exceptional customer service.

5. Poorly Trained Agents

So many customers complain about agents who don’t:

Show empathy towards them
Respect their time and needs
Understand their requests
Know enough of the product or services the company delivers

All these factors show one thing: customers don’t feel valued, appreciated, and respected. With so many choices, the easy way out is to go to your competition.

68% of customers believe the key to good customer service is as simple as talking to a polite support agent. In this sense, your contact centre agents are one of your most crucial brand representatives.

Train your agent to deliver top-class customer service. Showing empathy and respect for customers is the number one rule in customer service teams. Hire people who are naturally empathetic and want to solve customer problems.

Use role-play exercises to encourage your agents to be polite and remain calm during calls. Teach agents how to respond on different communication channels. Same as in marketing, there is a language for chat, one for email, and one for calls. But all of them should deliver a good customer service etiquette.

If your customers got in touch to solve a support issue, that means they have already been on your site. They are familiar with your products and services. Therefore they expect you to know more than them. Train your agents to be knowledgeable. It is their job to answer complex questions.

6. Not Having an Omnichannel Communication

Are you active on the communication channels your customers prefer? Do you know the channels they are more likely to contact you on?

Another example of bad customer service is a poor use of channels or lack of them. If you want to improve your first response time and serve your customers to the best of your abilities, you need an omnichannel communication platform.

Whether your customer service team is contacted via a business phone system , webchat, SMS, the FAQ section on your site, you need to be able to integrate these channels and switch between them.

Know your customers’ preferred channels and invest in them. Be present, reachable, and helpful on as many contact channels as possible. The best way to achieve this is to work with a professional cloud communication platform like VoiceSage.

We developed proactive communications across multiple channels and networks, and they all work in your favour. Our platform offers communication services on:

As part of our digital transformation project, we made channel switch possible in our inbox. When a customer requests support from the customer service team on a particular channel, agents can simply choose to respond from one inbox.

This increases efficiency massively and improves all the important contact centre metrics we mentioned before.

All of your customer service success is tied to the right technology, use of smart tools, automation, and knowledgeable people. To avoid bad customer service experiences, choose proactive communications as your go-to-strategy.

In our experience, delivering messages to your customers at the right time, on the right channel, makes all the difference. Book a demo now and see how VoiceSage can help you create exceptional customer service journeys.

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Customer Service Experience: Definition, Tips, & Examples

Your company's customer service experience can make or break your relationship with your customers. Most businesses start to panic as soon as anything goes awry with a product, assuming that they'll begin to immediately lose customers with every outage or issue.

However, the fact that bad stuff happens isn't the problem: It's how you deal with it. That's where providing an excellent customer service experience comes in. You can turn a bad day into a good one by dealing with customer questions and issues effectively.

Here's how to create an excellent customer service experience that can win over any customer.

What is customer service experience?

Customer service experience is how customers feel when they get help from your company. Are they satisfied with the response they received? Did they get a timely answer? Was it frustrating to contact you? All of these aspects and more combine to become the customer service experience.

Providing an excellent customer service experience is essential for the success of your business. HubSpot found that "93% of customers are likely to make repeat purchases with companies who offer excellent customer service." Glance reports that 78% of customers have backed out of a purchase they had previously committed to due to a poor customer service experience.

Fortunately, customers are pretty transparent about what they want when they need help. Following the steps below, you can develop a customer service experience that wins over customers.

Inspiring customer service experience examples

Before we get into the details of how your company can build an excellent customer service experience, let's look at a couple examples of what happens when you get it right.

BarkBox goes head and tails above and beyond

When Melissa's dog Cricket managed to chew his way through a BarkBox toy meant for heavy chewers, she was upset. Cricket got sick from ingesting pieces of the toy, resulting in a hefty veterinarian bill — not to mention a sad pup!

But when Melissa contacted BarkBox, they completely turned the situation around. They immediately refunded her money, sent a new super-chewer toy, and apologized. But they took it even one step further.

Showing concern for the health of Cricket, they asked to see the veterinarian bill and reimbursed Melissa directly. Now she's a delighted customer.

"I have been very impressed with the way they have handled the whole situation. They have been very compassionate and fair and wanted to make sure they did everything possible to ensure Cricket was OK. Thank you BarkBox for stepping up and taking care of this."

The post on Facebook has been shared over 78,000 times and has over 100,000 likes! Not only is Melissa a happy customer, but other pet owners also know that BarkBox is a great company to purchase from.

Source Audio beats expectations

When Reddit user hekabip had a hardware and a software issue with their new guitar pedal, they contacted Source Audio through a form on the company's website. Then they sat back to wait, expecting a response in two or three business days.

Instead, Source Audio responded within 20 minutes, accurately troubleshooting the software issue and shipping out a replacement part for the hardware issue.

"The point is they just really did a great job addressing my issue fairly and timely," said user hekabip.

They posted their experience on Reddit, and other users added their own great Source Audio stories. This kind of advocacy is invaluable, especially on a subreddit targeted at guitar players.

How to create an excellent customer service experience

There's a common misconception that you can break down customer experience into three key components: discovery, engagement, and delivery. While that may be true at the most basic level, those things need more individualized attention if you hope to create memorable, meaningful experiences like the ones above.

1. Ask for customer feedback

When providing a great customer experience, only one opinion matters: the customer’s. Even if you think you're doing everything right, if the customer isn't satisfied with the service, they won't continue to do business with you. Gathering business feedback from your customers is the best way to help shape and improve your customer experience — not only does this make current customers feel heard, but it also enhances the product to attract future customers better.

The best way to determine if you're meeting your customers' expectations is to ask them!

Customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys are a straightforward way of asking your customers for their opinions. After each customer service interaction, a survey is sent to the customer requesting feedback on the support they received. Most CSAT surveys also include a follow-up question asking for more detail.

example customer service satisfaction survey example

Beyond CSAT — a great way to understand customer needs at the transactional service level — NPS (net promoter score) is a solid indicator of how engaged a customer is with your brand.

Responses to these surveys show you where you're missing the mark when trying to meet your customers' needs. If you're responding too slowly, your tone doesn't sit right with the customer, or you haven't fully resolved their issue, they will let you know.

2. Offer different methods of communication

If you ask ten different customers how they want to contact you, you might get ten different answers. From email to phone to messaging platforms, customers correspond with businesses in an unprecedented number of ways.

Customers believe having options is an integral part of a good customer service experience.

NICE inContact found that "90% of consumers are more likely to consider doing business with a company that offers multiple ways to communicate." Furthermore, when CMO Council asked customers which channels they expected businesses to offer, a large number of customers expected to see at least the following five channels :

Email (86% of respondents)

Telephone (65%)

Website (53%)

In-person (48%)

One glaring omission from this list is social media: a channel that is growing in importance as crucial customer demographics shift. Social media support differs from website or app support in that it is very immediate and public — mistakes your team makes are immediately evident and hard to recover from.

Though the channel can be tricky, ensuring that your team knows when it’s time to bring a support conversation to a more private venue, such as direct messaging , can help provide a better customer service experience on social.

You may also want to consider implementing a multichannel support strategy. Multichannel allows your customer to switch quickly from one channel to the other with minimal effort — from social media support to email or phone support, for instance. This can be made easier by using support software that integrates with the social media platforms your customers prefer.

When you're able to offer more options, your customers have a better experience.

The Complete Guide to Getting Started with Social Media Support

Discover the benefits of supporting customers on social and get the tools you need to set a social media support strategy in motion.

3. Make it easy to get help

Sometimes the best customer service experience is the one that you don't even notice. We call these " boring customer service stories ." They don't sound like much, and often we don't even remember that they happened.

But customers don't want to have to jump through hoops to get help. In fact, 96% of customers who've had a high-effort experience report being disloyal in the future (compared to just 4% of customers who found it easy to get help).

It's easy to put up barriers between you and your customers through complex contact forms, policies, and escalations. Removing any obstacles can help provide a better experience.

Here are a few ideas on how to get started:

Create a helpful knowledge base that customers can search to help themselves.

Make it easy for customers to contact you through in-app support like live chat , and include your contact information in easy-to-find locations .

Find ways to eliminate restrictive policies that make customers work harder to change their accounts.

Self-service is a great way to empower your customers to get their answers without even needing to talk to a human, but it can be alienating for some. Make it easy for your users to find any self-service functionality you have and get additional assistance if self-service doesn't work for them. Nothing creates a worse experience than trying to provide something smooth and easy and having it be more challenging work — like needing to reach out to support after spending time searching through a help center article.

4. Respond quickly

No matter what study you look at, a quick response tops the list of what customers require for a good service experience. SAP Hybris found that 52% of customers chose quick replies as the most critical attribute of good customer service. In a Forrester study, 77% of customers responded that valuing their time is the most important thing a company needs to do.

There are several ways that you can help to decrease response time:

Hire additional staff

Work with a BPO (business process outsourcer)

Implement chatbots

Create self-service options

Utilize an AI to suggest documentation

These options, especially bots, can be incredibly impactful, but they can ruin a customer’s experience if something goes awry. Always implement functionality with your customer experience in mind. Don’t build something out just to make it easier for your team members to respond quickly — they also need to respond correctly and considerately.

Your customers don't want to wait around for help. Focus on reducing first reply time and making sure your customers feel like a priority. It's one of the most important things you can do to provide excellent customer service .

5. Build a culture of caring

Ultimately, providing a great customer experience comes down to the people. If the employees in your company aren't engaged and motivated to care about customers, any other initiatives will fall flat.

In PwC's Future of Customer Experience survey , 80% of Americans identified friendly service as one of the most essential elements of a positive customer service experience.

But even beyond being friendly, building a customer-centric culture has a ripple effect across all decisions. To create a culture of caring:

Build customer-centric culture questions into your hiring process. How have candidates improved the lives of their customers in the past? How do they respond to an angry customer in sample interactions?

Consider launching whole company support to shrink the distance between customers and internal employees. When everyone has a chance to hear how their actions impact customers, they become more customer focused in their day-to-day work.

6. Create multiple touchpoints

The point when your customers reach out to your customer service team isn't the only time they will consider when thinking about the experience you've provided. Attention to detail should be woven throughout multiple touchpoints within the customer journey.

Here are some touchpoints you might consider:

When a user first visits your site.

When they first create an account.

When they add a new user.

When they pay for a subscription.

Purchase anniversaries

The customer journey is super important to the customer experience. Ensure that you are hyper-focused on customer experience as you craft each step of their journey. If you provide an excellent customer service experience but they have a terrible time trying to purchase, all your hard work will be for nothing!

Develop a customer service experience worth shouting about

Your customer service experience can save the day when customers run into trouble. By providing quick, helpful service that gets your customers back on their feet, you can create brand advocates for life.

Like what you see? Share with a friend.

Sarah chambers.

Sarah is a customer service consultant and the founder of Supported Content . When she’s not arguing about customer service, she’s usually outdoors rock climbing or snowboarding. Follow her on Twitter to keep up with her adventures.

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Bad Customer Service Examples (And How to Fix Them)

We all know them. The bad customer service examples that evoke PTSD like they happened yesterday.

That time when you were accidentally disconnected five times only to have to start fresh in the queue each time.

The rude employee in the drive through who messed up your order and blamed you.

Being transferred to agent after agent who can “answer your question,” having to start over with the story each time.

And those are only the mild “fit for print” examples of the worst customer service. A search for #customerservice on TikTok will provide more colorful war stories.

No business can afford to underestimate the importance of positive customer experience (CX). Instances of bad customer service happen and can be detrimental to your business. Spotting bad customer service examples in your contact center is a first step, but the real solution is how quickly and comprehensively you fix the root causes.

We’ve curated seven of the most common examples of bad customer service and provide surefire ways to fix them—ways to turn that customer service frown upside down .

What is Bad Customer Service?

Bad customer service can be defined as when a business fails to meet the customer expectations in terms of service quality, response time, or overall customer experience.

Virtually no agent or contact center wants to deliver bad customer service. There’s myriad reasons why contact centers and agents fail to deliver less-than-stellar CX. Oftentimes, lack of resources, tools, training, outdated technology, or a combination, negatively impacts service delivery and ultimately affects customer satisfaction and retention. Sometimes the business is focused on KPIs that negatively impact experience, even when that is not the intent. Its important to understand the downstream impacts of that type of behavior.

Bad Customer Service is Bad for Business

In some cases, it is not “one strike and you’re out” when it comes to a bad customer experience. However, a recent survey shows Americans are more unhappy with the customer service they’re getting than ever. And according to a PWC customer experience survey , in the U.S., even when people love a company or product, 59 percent of customers will walk away after several bad experiences, 17 percent after just one bad experience.

Poor service negatively impacts the business in several areas:

Company and brand reputation
Customer churn or decreased customer loyalty
Unhappy customers tell friends, families, and colleagues about their experiences
Costs associated with loss of revenue, product returns, etc.
Negative online reviews
Low employee morale and higher agent turnover

7 Bad Customer Service Examples (And How To Fix Them)

Bad example 1: lack of empathy.

Customers expect an agent to be on their side and apologize on behalf of your company when a product or service fails to meet their expectations. They want to hear the agent say they’re sorry and acknowledge the inconvenience caused and detail how the issue will be resolved.

If a customer service rep cannot empathize with them and is running through the script with no emotional engagement, the customer might feel as if there’s no admission of responsibility or genuine apology.

Understanding and caring about customers’ needs and frustrations comes with the job in contact centers. Agents must be able to demonstrate they care about your customers’ needs and frustrations.

Not being able to show empathy through tone, communication, and other means leads to frustrated customers and worst case, lost customers.

Using the right tone and language is just one aspect of a great customer service attitude. Your loyal customers also want to feel as though your agents have the solution for every problem, even if they don’t. Customers who encounter agents saying they don’t know how to help them cannot inspire confidence and are likely to feel disillusioned with your overall service.

While you can’t teach empathy, contact center leaders can take measures to instill a “can do” positive approach to CX.

When hiring agents, include interview questions that gauge empathy and soft skills.
Make sure you set up metrics to measure how emotionally responsive and engaging your agents are.
Leverage technology that empowers proactive support. Playvox’s Coaching feature enables you to offer guidance on the fly and base your review of specific customer interactions, with no need to disrupt agents’ productivity.
Train agents to stay positive and approach issues with emotional intelligence to minimize the risk of customers ending interactions with an unpleasant experience.

Related: 31 Empathy Statements to Improve Your Customer Service Today

Bad Example 2: Making Customers Wait

This is one of the most common examples of a bad customer service experience. The prospect of waiting in a phone queue or for a response online for several minutes (or longer) is enough to inspire a sense of dread in even the most upbeat customer.

A Zendesk survey revealed almost one in three customers expect a response in under five minutes by phone. And live chat responses follow similar turnaround expectations, if not quicker.

In an increasingly instant culture of wanting everything yesterday, contact centers need to make sure they don’t fall prey to long wait times for response and resolution.

It’s vital to get your queue and response times down as much as you can. But easier said than done when you have limited customer support agents available. The solution? Again, technology to the rescue.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven solutions allow your contact center to automate your workforce management (WFM) processes, to ensure you properly staff the right agents across your omnichannel business and can measure real-time changes to reduce impact to customer experience.
Benchmark meaningful KPIs then set goals to improve your response time and other key metrics
Improve contact center processes and customer service skills through automated workflows, performance dashboards and other tools
Encourage customers to access omnichannel support—a win-win

Bad Example 3: Difficulty Accessing Customer Service or Support

Do you know companies who only offer support through FAQs or email? Or those that only offer inbound phone calls with long wait times as the only path to resolution?

One size does not fit all when it comes to delivering outstanding service. The goal of contact centers and their agents is to make it easy for customers to resolve their problems or get information in an effective, timely, and convenient manner.

Zendesk mentions that a whopping 86% of customers expect online self-service options. A robust self-service option for customers is the first line of defense to deflecting common requests. But it’s also critical to offer inbound phone support, should customers need to access it.

Modern contact centers understand that providing robust, omnichannel customer service is a must have for success. Customers want to reach you when and how they want to reach you—chat, messaging, email, website, and phone—and contact centers need to make it seamless.

Offer robust FAQs and knowledge library for a convenient self-service resources
Leverage technology to resolve issues the first time to keep support volumes down and CX up.
Build an environment where the right people with the right training and knowledge base are ready to help customers in any channel.

Bad Example 4: Transferring Customers from Agent to Agent

We all know this scenario too well. You reach an agent, only to be told you need to work with another department. The dreaded “Let me transfer you” happens. Sometimes multiple times.

Being bounced like a ping pong ball from one agent to another is one of the most familiar poor customer service examples. Not only does this imply your agents don’t know how to solve problems, it also suggests your entire operations needs work too.

When a customer calls with a specific issue, be it of a complex technical nature or something more simple, there should be agents who specialize in the more challenging areas of support.

A critical success factor in providing outstanding CX is providing first contact resolution or FCR. Customers want their problems solved or questions answered on the first try.

If frequent FCR isn’t happening in your contact center, consider auditing the current transfer call rate to uncover root causes. Is more agent training needed? Will segmentation or specialization help support more complex service requests?

Customer service teams should be empowered with proper tools and training to help customers resolve issues on the first try. Develop and enhance your knowledge base and resources available to agents to help them better resolve customer questions and complex issues.

Playvox allows you to connect your customer service variables and create KPIs to measure how often customers are being transferred and hear the effect this has on them through random call monitoring.

Bad Example 5: Asking Customers to Repeat Themselves

Being asked to give the same personal details, explain the nature of your problem, or anything else multiple times are all avoidable examples of a frustrating customer experience.

When customers are asked to repeat information it results in frustration and an unsatisfactory support experience. Customers perceive that their time isn’t being valued or the agent isn’t really listening.

Often this need to repeat is a result of multiple or disparate software systems that don’t talk to each other. Agent A collects customer information only to find out they need to transfer to Agent B. Agent B is on a different system and so the agent cringes when having to collect information again. Not to mention the frustrated customer on the other end.

Contact centers should work to consolidate technology solutions and update to modern platforms that carry customer information and agent discussions through all phases of customer transactions, regardless of channel. This also allows contact center leaders to monitor for bottlenecks and strive for continuous improvement to boost customer satisfaction.

Bad Example 6: Ignoring Customer Feedback

It’s no surprise that there’s a mismatch between customer expectations and what’s delivered on the customer service end. From the same PWC survey, “Only 38% of U.S. consumers say the employees they interact with understand their needs; 46% of consumers outside the U.S. say the same.”

While you are likely getting feedback from customers ranging from constructive to rage, other dissatisfied customers simply go away and stop doing business. As contact center leaders, are you listening to and acting upon customer feedback? Do you have the data to make impactful improvements and deliver exceptional customer service?

Your team has the power to turn a customer’s problem into a positive interaction that builds satisfaction and loyalty. This can sometimes feel like solving a puzzle that’s missing pieces.

Make the most from customer feedback:

What does the data tell you? Analyzing and acting upon the data to improve CX can be a game changer.
Take the time to measure and track customer satisfaction and customer sentiment .
Follow up on negative feedback directly to turn dissatisfied experiences into happy customers. Remember that time when a manager followed up or called back?

Monitor interactions between agents and customers. Leverage contact center solutions to proactively analyze agent interactions to look for coaching opportunities that improve customer service interactions and prevent negative customer experiences.

Bad Example 7: Displaying Rude Behavior and Bad Attitudes

Customer service agents have one of the toughest jobs out there. They’re protecting and building your company’s brand — no matter what they have to deal with from customers.

Everyone has good days and bad days. Your agents will go through times when they just cannot stand the thought of talking to another customer. It happens.

It’s the role of contact center managers to help agents remain professional and polite in every transaction–even when the customer is “challenging” or there is poor communication. The trick is to find the quickest solution for the customer’s problem and remember that there’s no need to respond with anger and go tit for tat with the customer.

Just like agents are protecting your company, contact center leaders and managers need to protect them and their mental health. Building a supportive work climate and modeling positive language and attitude is the first step.

Today’s contact center technology can take a lot of manual tasks and time-consuming procedures off leaders’ and managers’ plates. With more time to invest in the customer support team, they can better connect and communicate with agents to keep engagement and motivation high.

Deliver training not only for new hires, but provide ongoing refresher courses on best practices for handling unhappy customers.
Do they greet the caller and introduce themselves by name?
Do they listen to the customer and identify the issue when it’s first presented?
Do they ask the caller if there’s anything else they can help with at the end of the interaction?
Coach agents on conflict resolution. Know when a supervisor needs to step in to help mediate.

Turn Bad Customer Service Examples Into Great Ones

You’ll never eliminate bad customer service examples from your contact center. Recognizing the biggest collective biggest offenses is the first step. From there, focus on the fixes—like training, coaching, technology, and data—to turn bad customer service into excellent customer service. Your customers and your bottom line will thank you. Schedule a demo today to see how using Playvox can help you boost productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and reinforce your brand reputation.

We are a devoted and enthusiastic team that loves sharing knowledge!

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Customer Service Experience, Essay Example

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About two years ago, I and some of my friends made a trip to New York City (NYC). One of my friends Ada was a Nigerian girl with an upper class background whose father was a senior executive in a major Nigerian oil company. NYC is one of the fashion capitals of the world and it is not unusual for female tourists to shop at retail outlets operated by one of the leading fashion brands. My friend had been wanting a Louis Vuitton bag designed by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami for a long time, thus, we paid visit to the Louis Vuitton store in Manhattan.

All of us friends were dressed casually including my friend Ada and as we entered the shop, the store associates noticed our presence but didn’t pay attention to us. After a while, a European couple entered the shop and drew immediate attention from the store associates. The European couple was dressed up in designer clothing and looked rich. The store associates gave undivided attention to the couple for about half an hour which resulted in a sale of about $1,200. Ada felt she was being judged on the basis of both her skin color as well as her appearance even though the item she planned to purchase cost about $3,500. Even after the European couple left and despite the fact that we had come before the couple, store associates still didn’t come to us to inquire as to what we were looking for. It’s as if they had assumed given our appearance that we didn’t have the purchasing power to afford Louis Vuitton goods. Ada was so disappointed by the treatment she left the store without making any purchase and instead bought a bag from Gucci for about $3,000.

There were many factors that led to bad customer service from the Louis Vuitton store associates. The first factor was probably personal stereotypes of the store associates who may have assumed Ada comes from middle or low-income background, given her race and appearance. The second factor was age since we were all around 20 years of age and the store associates might have assumed we are merely passing time looking around.

The company could have ensured better customer service for everyone by providing diversity training to store associates. NYC is a major tourist spot and people come here from all over the world, thus, appearances can be deceptive. In addition, the store associates could also be provided rules common in other industries such as attending to every customer within a particular period of time and treating everyone with respect.

Service marketing is important because competition has grown intense and service marketing could be used to gain competitive advantage over the competition through differentiation. In addition, income levels have been rising and so have been customer expectations. Customers now do not only care about product but overall product experience.

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Describe your most recent customer service experience – 7 sample answers (briefly + in detail)

Applying for your first job in retail , you can hardly answer the typical customer service interview questions. It makes no sense to ask you about a time when you went above and beyond for the customer, or when you had to deal with an upset client. Hiring managers know that you simply do not have such an experience yet. Having said that, there are no newbies to customer service . Everyone of us shops somewhere, eats somewhere, and, if we have any money left, we go to cinema, or sports center, or any other place to satisfy our desire for entertainment. In all these places we gain customer service experience –from the other side of the table. Hiring managers wonder how we perceive it, and if we can tell a good service from a bad one .

Hence they will ask you to describe your latest experience with (good, bad) customer service, and to do it either briefly or in detail . Your goal is to convince them that you know what good customer service means, understand the importance of it (they made you feel good at some place, and hence you will return another time and spend more money there), and want to deliver such in your new job . Let’s have a look at 7 sample answers to this interesting question. My list includes both shorter and longer answers, and I hope you will find at least one of them fitting for your interview, job application, or essay. Enjoy!

7 sample answers to “Describe your most recent customer service experience” interview question

Yesterday I dined in a restaurant with my boyfriend . It was out first visit to the place. What caught my eye immediately was that as soon as we sat down, someone approached us and brought us the menu. We didn’t have to wait for more than ten second. The waitress had a nice and welcoming smile , and was courteous and friendly. She came back less than three minutes later, and took our orders. You could really feel that she cared , and it made us feel welcome in the place. The food wasn’t the best–I would call it average to give it some justice. But the customer service was so good that I would seriously consider returning to the place, and give them another chance to cook better. This experience (and similar experiences) make me realize the huge importance of great customer service, and I hope to deliver such in my job.
The last one is a bad one . I left my car in a car repair shop. The mechanic said he’d call me , and the car would be ready by Wednesday. But he called neither on Tuesday nor Wednesday, and when I tried to call them they did not reply my call . As you can imagine, this made me really nervous. It is a good mechanic, they know how to repair anything, and they do it for a good price, but they lack customer service skills. I can imagine that they are probably busy and do not want to waste time with calling. At the same time though, a short one minute call would not put a dent to their daily schedule and it would change so much for me. Even if they said the car would not be ready by Wednesday. At least I would know what was going on… Sure enough I hope to deliver a better service to my customers in my job.
Speaking honestly, the last one I got here , in your place–though I am not the customer in a typical sense of the word. Yet as soon as I entered and said I was here for an interview, people treated me really nicely . They could probably sense that I was nervous–because I care about the result of this meeting. Hence they talked to me, offered me a chair and glass of water, wished me good luck. They went out of their way to make me feel good here, and to help me loosen up a bit. This means a lot to me, and I can sense customer service isn’t just an empty phrase here . It motivates me even more to succeed in this interview and get a job with you.
I had a problem with my router, and internet wasn’t working. Called the company, and they had me waiting on the line for twenty minutes , before finally one of the operators answered the call. Yet as soon as they understood my problem, they said it is one for a technician, and I had to wait for fifteen minutes on the line again . Finally I got to talk to the technician and he fixed my problem within minutes. Was this a good, or bad customer service? In my opinion, the company should hire more operators and technicians , so customers do not have to wait for so long on the line. Everyone is busy nowadays, and we cannot just waste 40 minutes hanging on the phone, waiting for someone to finally respond.
Just this morning, in a small cafeteria where I stopped for breakfast on my way here. From the first moment you could fell the barista hated their job . They played with their smartphone, and if I did not address them, they would not notice me in the shop at all. Then it took them a really long time to make a coffee, and even in a taste of it you could feel their bitterness . It was a bad customer service experience, and no doubt I won’t be stopping in the same place next time. I wished all people had jobs that they enjoy doing, though I also know it isn’t as easy as that in life.
Hairdresser two days ago is perhaps my latest experience. I had an idea of a style I wanted, of the haircut and color I desired. And I spent a considerable amount of time planning this. Yet when I shared my idea with the hairdresser, she said that the haircut isn’t really fitting for my hair type, and would not go well with my eyes and forehead. She calmly explained me why and suggested a different haircut, more fitting for my face and hair. I agreed and you can see the result is really good! I honestly feel she went above and beyond for me. If she didn’t care, she would just do what I initially asked her to do. No doubt I will recommend this hairdresser to other people, and will myself visit her again.
Went to the dentist just yesterday. I had an appointment on a certain time, and I came ten minutes earlier. Immediately I realized there were quite many people in the waiting room. Eventually it took ninety minutes until I finally got in. Neither the dentist nor their assistant said a single word of apology . Sure, I understand it isn’t always possible to predict how long each treatment will take. What’s more, a really painful case may arrive and get priority. I do not mind waiting, but I honestly think a word of apology, or some explanation, is necessary in this case. Everyone has some obligations, and while I could afford wasting two extra hours at a dentist, some people may not have such a luxury. But it is what it is, and I cherish even such customer service experiences , since they teach me how to do things better, in my own work, when dealing with my own customers.

Your attitude matters for the hiring managers, not the particular situation you narrate

Some people think their customer service experience is too basic, or uninteresting , to narrate in the interviews. Mark my words: they are asking about the latest experience, and you should narrate such. The key is to simply show that you have some eye for detail , and understand all the nuances of a good (or bad) customers service : how long it takes to get their attention, their non-verbal communication, whether they provide what they promise, how they treat you when you arrive, stay, and leave, etc. You should find enough examples on the list of sample answers above.

Describe briefly, or describe in detail

In some cases (especially on job applications ), they ask you for a “ brief ” description of your latest customer service experience. But what does brief really mean? For some people 20 words is already long, and some may consider 200 words still brief… Hence I would not bother with that much. As long as their is space on the application, and you have lines where you can write, feel free to elaborate on the experience, using the entire space allocated for this particular answer.

On the flip side, typically in job interviews , they may ask you to describe your experience with customer service in detail . In this case you can really describe all the nuances of the experience: overall vibe of the place, if employees took notice of you, waiting times, non-verbal communication, any problems or minuses you noticed, and so on. Hiring managers may elaborate on such a description with extra questions , and it can lead to an interesting discussion, at the end of which they may offer you the job. ..

Ready to answer this one? I hope so! Do not forget to check also sample answers to other tricky interview questions:

Tell us about a time when you went above and beyond .
What does an outstanding customer service mean to you?
Describe a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer .
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Bad customer service and how to avoid it

Learn about the impact of bad customer service on businesses and how to avoid it. Discover the main causes of poor customer service and get tips on preventing service mistakes. Find out why it's crucial to prioritize customer satisfaction and how it can make or break a business.

Introduction

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There is an abundance/availability of similar products in the market these days. Customer service has emerged as the real brand differentiator for industries in both B2C and B2B sectors. A business that wants to thrive must focus on delivering customer satisfaction. Because the consequences can be truly detrimental. So what is bad customer service and how can you avoid it?

Bad customer service impacts businesses

Ignoring customers’ needs and providing bad service experiences ultimately results in losing customers to the competition. It is potentially the worst customer service mistake a company can make. The Microsoft 2018 State of Global Customer Service survey revealed that 61% of consumers have switched brands. This is due to poor customer service. Consequently, bad service leads to lost revenue and lowered profits. According to the Serial Switchers report, poor customer service is costing businesses more than $75 billion a year.

Companies failing to deliver quality customer service are at risk of losing not only current customers but also potential ones. Negative word-of-mouth can have a disastrous impact on a company’s online reputation causing would-be buyers to look elsewhere. According to the same NewVoiceMedia report, after only one bad service experience; 20% of those surveyed would post an online review. Another 20% would complain via social media and 8% would tell friends and colleagues not to use that particular company.

Poor customer service affects all aspects of a business. It can also contribute to the loss of frontline employees. Having to deal with dissatisfied customers on a daily basis makes the job more stressful and eventually leads to burnout. The resulting high employee turnover further damages a company’s image and creates additional expenses for recruiting and training new agents.

What should you avoid to prevent bad customer service?

Ignoring service requests.

Completely ignoring service requests is the worst customer service mistake that a lot of businesses make. The Customer Service Benchmark Report shows that 62% of companies did not respond to a customer service request. Moreover, 90% did not acknowledge or inform the customer that their email has been received.

Not resolving an issue

Not resolving a service issue during the first contact or not being able to do it at all is another major pain point for consumers. 62% of respondents had to make multiple attempts to resolve their recent customer inquiry. However, almost one in ten consumers indicated their problem was never resolved as stated in the Northridge Group State of Customer Service Experience report .

Long wait times

Consumers hate being put on hold and having to wait for a long time when they reach out for support. The Genesys State of Customer Experience research showed that nearly half of consumers are willing to wait on hold between 1-3 minutes. 30% are willing to wait between three and five minutes. And only slightly more than 10% are willing to wait over five minutes.

Poor employee knowledge

Unknowledgeable customer service agents have become a great source of frustration for consumers. According to Microsoft, customers ranked a representative’s lack of knowledge as the most frustrating aspect of customer service. Another is when the customers have to repeat themselves.

Lack of manners and etiquette

A single negative interaction with a service employee displaying inappropriate behavior, bad manners, and an unfriendly attitude not only leads to poor customer experience but also leads to churn. According to a report by New Voice Media, 42% of consumers stop supporting brands because they are put off by rude or unhelpful staff which is another worst customer service mistake.

5 main causes of poor customer service

1. hiring the wrong people.

The quality of customer service provided by a company largely depends on the people that are hired for the job. Therefore, not having the right employees on board is the number one reason for poor customer service. Apart from qualification, relevant experience, and skills, service agents should have; the right attitude, mindset, as well as a natural passion for helping people .

2. Lack of proper training

Untrained employees lacking adequate product knowledge and basic customer service skills can decrease customer satisfaction. Therefore, the department of agents is crucial in aligning service agents with company goals, equipping them with the right tools, and monitoring their activities to ensure compliance with company policies and guidelines.

3. Lack of employee engagement

Very often, poor customer care is caused by a lack of effort from customer service agents. This can be a result of a lack of employee engagement and motivation. Disengaged frontline employees are less enthusiastic and less likely to create emotional connections with customers.

4. Employee burnout

Employee burnout can stem from a stressful work environment, excessive workloads, low morale, or poor management. This can lead to lower efficiency, lower productivity, and poor customer engagement. Even the most experienced service agents aren’t able to provide great service if they suffer from workplace burnout.

5. Misunderstanding expectations

Today’s digitally connected, tech-savvy, highly demanding consumers want immediate, efficient, and omnichannel customer service across all touch-points. Misunderstanding customer expectations and failing to meet them inevitably causes poor customer service experiences. Thus, creates unhappy customers spreading negative word-of-mouth.

5 bad service quotes to remember

“It takes months to find a customer… seconds to lose one.” Vince Lombardi – American football coach, and executive in the National Football League

“If you’re not serving the customer, your job is to be serving someone who is.” Jan Carlzon – CEO of the SAS Group

“If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the internet, they can each tell 6,000.” Jeff Bezos – President of Amazon

“News of bad service reach more than twice as many ears as praise for good service experience.” Timi Nadela – Entrepreneur, author

“If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.” Bob Hooey – Author of 30+ business, leadership, and career success publications

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do you overcome poor customer service.

Understand customer needs through feedback. Set and communicate clear service standards. Prioritize training, focusing on communication and empathy. Analyze feedback to identify and address recurrent issues. Foster a culture that values customer satisfaction. Ensure easy avenues for customer complaints and stay committed to continuous improvement. Observing competitors can also provide valuable insights.

What are the signs of bad customer service?

Signs of bad customer service include slow or poor welcome, untidiness, excessive wait times, poor communication, inflexible scheduling, lack of initiative, customers leaving without making purchases, the need for multiple agents to resolve a single issue, increased missed calls or unanswered chats, ignoring customer suggestions, few returning customers, blaming customers for issues, and agents rushing interactions rather than ensuring quality service. The exact signs can vary by industry and context.

How does bad customer service impact businesses?

Ignoring customers’ needs and providing bad service experiences ultimately results in losing customers to the competition. Consequently, bad service leads to lost revenue and lowered profits. According to the Serial Switchers report, poor customer service is costing businesses more than $75 billion a year.

Should you complain about poor service?

Consider the context and potential impact before complaining about poor service. If it's a one-off, address it directly. If it's a pattern, public complaints may be needed for resolution and prevention. Complaints can lead to improved services but may have potential consequences such as strained relationships. The decision to complain should be driven by constructive feedback, not malicious intent.

What is an example of bad internal customer service?

Bad internal customer service can manifest in several ways within an organization. One example is when a department fails to communicate effectively with another department, leading to delays or errors in the workflow. For instance, if the HR department does not promptly respond to employee inquiries or requests, it can lead to frustration and dissatisfaction among employees. Another example is when there is a lack of support or assistance between teams, causing a breakdown in collaboration and productivity. An example of this could be the IT department not providing timely support to other departments, resulting in operational inefficiencies. These examples highlight the importance of effective communication, collaboration, and support within an organization to ensure good internal customer service.

What does poor customer experience result in?

Poor customer experience can result in reduced customer retention, lower sales, and damage to the brand's reputation. Customers who have a poor experience are less likely to return to a business, and may also discourage others. Additionally, in the age of social media, a single poor customer experience can quickly spread and damage a company's image.

The first and probably the most obvious one is not resolving a customer request or ignoring it. Other customer service pain points include long waits, poor employee knowledge, lack of etiquette and manners. Investing in complaints management software can significantly improve customer experience, as it helps to identify and resolve common pain points in customer service.

What are the 5 main causes of poor customer service?

The 5 main causes of poor customer service include hiring the wrong people, lack of training, employee burnout, misunderstanding customer expectations, and lack of employee engagement.

Customer service skills

Customer service agents need to have a full range of customer service skills to be able to provide the level of service that consumers expect.

Any business that wants to thrive must focus on delivering customer satisfaction as the consequences of poor customer service can be truly detrimental.

How to handle customer complaints

Everyone knows that dealing with an angry customer is no fun. Read on and learn how to handle customer complaints properly and successfully.

Customer Support Glossary - Customer Service

Customer service in 2024: Definition, types, cost & more

Discover what’s new in customer service in 2024! Dive into its types, costs, job requirements, and more with our comprehensive guide.

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Why Is Customer Service So Bad? Because It’s Profitable.

Anthony Dukes

If customers can’t reach a human, they can’t get their money back.

American consumers spend, on average, 13 hours per year in calling queue with an estimated monetary cost of $38 billion. A third of complaining customers must make two or more calls to resolve their complaint. And that ignores the portion who simply give up out of exasperation after the first call. So why is customer service still so bad? Part of the answer is that a subset of companies purposely make callers jump through hoops with the hope that they’ll simply give up. When this happens, the company saves money on redress costs. At first glance, this may seem problematic: what about customer retention and brand reputation? Research shows that companies with a large market share — think airlines, cable, and internet services — can get away with bad practices because customers have nowhere else to go. This may help us understand why some of the most hated companies in America are so profitable.

It’s a familiar scenario: A service provider fails to live up to your expectations and you feel some restitution may be in order. Yet, when you call customer service to voice a complaint, you’re faced with an automated voice menu, put on hold, or told that the agent is not authorized to refund your money.

AD Anthony Dukes is Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. His research is focused on the economics of marketing strategies, particularly as it applies to pricing, online retailing, and distribution channels. He is associate editor of the Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, Marketing Science and Quantitative Marketing and Economics.
YZ Yi Zhu is Assistant Professor of Marketing, Mary & Jim Lawrence Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, whose research focuses on online auctions, search advertising, media slant, and the Chinese economy. Zhu is the recipient of the John D.C. Little Award for the best marketing paper published in Marketing Science or Management Science, and the finalist for the Frank M. Bass Award for the best marketing paper derived from a Ph.D. thesis published in INFORMS journals.

Worst Customer Service

Customer service is the cornerstone of any successful business. It's the frontline of interaction between a company and its customers, shaping perceptions and influencing loyalty. However, when customer service falls short, it can have detrimental effects on a company's reputation and bottom line. There are several factors that contribute to the experience of worst customer service, ranging from poor communication to lack of empathy.

One of the most common complaints about bad customer service is the lack of responsiveness. Customers expect timely and effective communication when they have inquiries or issues, but when companies fail to respond promptly or provide vague answers, it creates frustration and dissatisfaction. For example, waiting on hold for an extended period only to be transferred multiple times without resolution is a prime example of poor responsiveness.

Another aspect of worst customer service is the absence of empathy and understanding. Customers want to feel valued and heard, especially when they encounter problems with a product or service. However, when customer service representatives lack empathy and treat customers dismissively or indifferently, it exacerbates the situation. For instance, being met with a scripted response instead of genuine concern when reporting a problem can leave customers feeling unappreciated and unimportant.

Furthermore, inconsistency in service quality contributes to the perception of worst customer service. Customers expect a certain standard of service regardless of the channel or representative they interact with. However, when there are inconsistencies in how inquiries or complaints are handled, it erodes trust and confidence in the company. For instance, receiving conflicting information from different representatives or experiencing a lack of follow-up on previous interactions creates confusion and undermines the customer experience.

In conclusion, worst customer service can have detrimental effects on a company's reputation and customer satisfaction. Factors such as poor responsiveness, lack of empathy, and inconsistency in service quality all contribute to negative experiences for customers. To mitigate these issues, companies must prioritize effective communication, empathy, and consistency in their approach to customer service. By doing so, they can build stronger relationships with customers and enhance their overall reputation and success.

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Global Economy

Corporate Social Responsibility Of Unilever

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become increasingly important in today's business landscape, with companies worldwide recognizing the need to contribute positively to society while also achieving their financial goals. Unilever, a multinational consumer goods company, stands out as a pioneer and leader in corporate social responsibility initiatives. Unilever's commitment to CSR is deeply ingrained in its corporate culture and business strategy. The company's Sustainable Living Plan, launched in 2010, outlines ambitious goals to enhance the well-being of people and reduce environmental impact. One of the key pillars of this plan is improving the health and well-being of more than a billion people globally by providing access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene products. Through initiatives like the "Clean Hands, Good Health" program, Unilever has made significant strides in promoting hygiene education and increasing access to essential hygiene products in underserved communities. Furthermore, Unilever is dedicated to reducing its environmental footprint through sustainable sourcing, waste reduction, and energy efficiency measures. The company has set targets to achieve zero waste to landfill and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its operations. By investing in renewable energy and implementing innovative packaging solutions, Unilever aims to minimize its environmental impact while ensuring the long-term viability of its business. In addition to its environmental efforts, Unilever prioritizes ethical sourcing and fair labor practices throughout its supply chain. The company is committed to upholding human rights and promoting diversity and inclusion in all aspects of its operations. Through initiatives such as the Sustainable Agriculture Code and the Fair Compensation Framework, Unilever works closely with suppliers to ensure fair wages, safe working conditions, and respect for human rights. Unilever's CSR initiatives not only benefit society and the environment but also contribute to the company's long-term success. By aligning its business goals with social and environmental objectives, Unilever has strengthened its brand reputation, enhanced employee morale, and fostered customer loyalty. Moreover, by embracing sustainability and responsible business practices, Unilever has positioned itself as a leader in the global movement towards a more sustainable and equitable future. In conclusion, Unilever's commitment to corporate social responsibility is evident in its comprehensive sustainability initiatives, ethical business practices, and dedication to improving the lives of people around the world. By integrating social and environmental considerations into its business strategy, Unilever demonstrates that profitability and positive societal impact can go hand in hand, setting a compelling example for the corporate world to follow....

Sustainable Economic Practices

Cover Letter For Grocery Store Clerk

I am writing to express my interest in the position of Grocery Store Clerk at your esteemed establishment. With a strong background in customer service and a keen eye for detail, I am confident in my ability to contribute effectively to the efficient operation of your grocery store. My experience in the retail industry has equipped me with a diverse skill set that aligns well with the requirements of this role. During my previous employment at [Previous Company], I developed expertise in various aspects of customer service, including cash handling, inventory management, and product merchandising. These experiences have honed my ability to prioritize tasks effectively, ensuring that customer needs are met promptly while maintaining store cleanliness and organization. In addition to my practical skills, I bring a positive attitude and a strong work ethic to the table. I thrive in fast-paced environments and am adept at multitasking to handle competing priorities. Whether assisting customers with their inquiries, restocking shelves, or operating the cash register, I approach each task with professionalism and attention to detail. Moreover, I understand the importance of fostering a welcoming atmosphere for shoppers and am committed to providing exceptional service that exceeds their expectations. Furthermore, I am eager to contribute to the team dynamic at your grocery store. I am a collaborative team player who enjoys working alongside colleagues to achieve common goals. I am also open to learning new skills and am adaptable to change, making me well-suited to the dynamic nature of retail environments. I am confident that my positive demeanor, coupled with my strong work ethic and dedication to customer satisfaction, will make me a valuable asset to your team. In conclusion, I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to join your grocery store as a Clerk. With my proven track record in customer service, attention to detail, and ability to thrive in fast-paced environments, I am confident that I can make a significant contribution to the success of your store. Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the possibility of discussing how my skills and experiences align with your needs in further detail....

Customer Relationships
Workplace Culture

Coca Cola Pricing Strategies

Coca-Cola Pricing Strategies Coca-Cola, as one of the world's most iconic brands, employs various pricing strategies to maintain its market position and maximize profitability. One of the primary pricing strategies utilized by Coca-Cola is value-based pricing. This strategy involves setting prices based on the perceived value of the product to the customer. Coca-Cola recognizes that its brand carries significant value and leverages this to command premium prices for its products. By emphasizing the quality, taste, and experience associated with Coca-Cola beverages, the company justifies its pricing and maintains a strong market presence. Another pricing strategy employed by Coca-Cola is penetration pricing. This strategy involves setting low initial prices to penetrate the market quickly and gain market share. Coca-Cola often introduces new products or enters new markets with aggressive pricing to attract customers and build brand loyalty. Once established, Coca-Cola may gradually increase prices or introduce premium product variants to capitalize on its market position and enhance profitability. Coca-Cola also utilizes psychological pricing tactics to influence consumer perception and behavior. For example, pricing products at $0.99 instead of $1 creates the illusion of a lower price, even though the actual difference is minimal. This strategy is aimed at appealing to price-sensitive consumers and stimulating demand. Additionally, Coca-Cola employs bundle pricing by offering value packs or combo deals, encouraging customers to purchase multiple products at a discounted price. This not only increases sales volume but also enhances customer satisfaction by providing added value. Dynamic pricing is another pricing strategy implemented by Coca-Cola, particularly in the retail and vending machine sectors. With dynamic pricing, Coca-Cola adjusts prices based on real-time demand, market conditions, or consumer behavior. For instance, vending machines may increase prices during peak hours or at popular locations to capitalize on higher demand. This flexible pricing approach allows Coca-Cola to optimize revenue and adapt to changing market dynamics effectively. In conclusion, Coca-Cola employs a combination of pricing strategies, including value-based pricing, penetration pricing, psychological pricing, bundle pricing, and dynamic pricing, to achieve its business objectives. By carefully considering market factors, consumer behavior, and brand value, Coca-Cola effectively sets prices that maximize profitability while maintaining its position as a global leader in the beverage industry....

Estee Lauder Thesis Statement

The legacy of Estee Lauder as a pioneering figure in the cosmetics industry transcends mere entrepreneurship; it embodies a profound understanding of consumer psychology, innovative marketing strategies, and a relentless pursuit of excellence. Through meticulous research and analysis, this essay will delve into the multifaceted dimensions of Estee Lauder's impact on the cosmetics industry, elucidating how her visionary approach revolutionized not only the way we perceive beauty but also the dynamics of consumer behavior and brand loyalty. Estee Lauder's success can be attributed to her innate ability to connect with consumers on a deeply emotional level, transcending the superficiality often associated with the beauty industry. By emphasizing the transformative power of cosmetics to enhance one's self-esteem and confidence, she tapped into a fundamental human desire for self-improvement, effectively positioning her brand as a beacon of empowerment. This astute understanding of consumer psychology allowed Estee Lauder to cultivate a loyal customer base that transcended generations, solidifying her brand's enduring legacy in an ever-evolving market landscape. Furthermore, Estee Lauder's strategic approach to marketing played a pivotal role in propelling her brand to global prominence. From pioneering the concept of the "gift with purchase" to leveraging celebrity endorsements, she employed a diverse array of tactics to capture the imagination of consumers and foster brand loyalty. This essay will explore how these marketing innovations not only bolstered Estee Lauder's market share but also reshaped the competitive dynamics of the cosmetics industry, setting new standards for brand visibility and engagement. In conclusion, Estee Lauder's profound impact on the cosmetics industry extends far beyond her entrepreneurial acumen; it embodies a paradigm shift in the way we perceive beauty, consumer behavior, and brand loyalty. By meticulously analyzing her strategic innovations and enduring legacy, this essay aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of Estee Lauder's unparalleled influence, serving as a testament to her enduring legacy as a visionary pioneer in the world of beauty and cosmetics....

Business Ethics Quiz 2 Essay

In today's complex and interconnected business world, ethical considerations play a central role in organizational decision-making and conduct. Business ethics encompasses a wide range of principles and values that guide the behavior of individuals and organizations in the pursuit of their objectives. This essay will delve into the intricacies of business ethics, examining key concepts, ethical dilemmas, and best practices. By exploring real-world examples and ethical frameworks, this essay aims to provide insights into the importance of ethical decision-making in business and its implications for stakeholders. Understanding Business Ethics: At its core, business ethics refers to the moral principles and values that govern the conduct of individuals and organizations in the business environment. It encompasses various aspects such as honesty, integrity, fairness, and responsibility in business practices. Ethical behavior in business involves not only compliance with laws and regulations but also adherence to higher moral standards and consideration of the broader impact of business decisions on stakeholders, including employees, customers, shareholders, and the community. Ethical Dilemmas in Business: One of the primary challenges in business ethics is navigating ethical dilemmas – situations where conflicting moral principles or interests are at play. These dilemmas often arise in areas such as corporate governance, employee relations, environmental sustainability, and marketing practices. For example, companies may face dilemmas related to product safety, labor practices, or financial transparency. Resolving such dilemmas requires careful consideration of ethical principles, stakeholder interests, and potential consequences. Best Practices in Business Ethics: Effective management of business ethics requires the implementation of best practices and ethical frameworks. One widely recognized framework is the "Triple Bottom Line," which emphasizes the importance of considering not only financial performance but also social and environmental impacts. Companies committed to ethical business practices often adopt codes of conduct, establish ethics committees, and provide ethics training to employees. Moreover, fostering a culture of integrity, transparency, and accountability within the organization is essential for upholding ethical standards. Real-World Examples: Numerous real-world examples highlight the significance of business ethics in today's corporate landscape. For instance, the Enron scandal exposed rampant accounting fraud and ethical misconduct, leading to the collapse of the company and widespread regulatory reforms. Conversely, companies like Patagonia and Ben & Jerry's have built their brands around social and environmental responsibility, demonstrating that ethical business practices can be both profitable and sustainable in the long term. Conclusion: In conclusion, business ethics is a fundamental aspect of modern business management, shaping organizational behavior and decision-making processes. By upholding ethical principles and values, businesses can enhance their reputation, build trust with stakeholders, and contribute to sustainable development. However, navigating ethical dilemmas requires careful consideration and adherence to ethical frameworks. As businesses continue to face evolving ethical challenges, a commitment to ethical conduct remains essential for fostering trust, integrity, and long-term success....

Corporations
Entrepreneurs

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Customer Service

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Monday, June 24th, 2024 5:08 PM

Worst Experience I have Ever had with any phone carrier

I am incredibly disappointed in Xfinity, their customer service and their lack of knowledge regarding their own devices, and company policies. I bought a phone from Xfinity less than a year ago, and it was experiencing mechanical failure. Which I found out the protection plan that I’ve been paying for since I bought the phone does not cover so thank God I had a warranty through Apple to get a new phone. Throughout the process of getting this new phone and transferring my ESim card I have been repeatedly told the incorrect information by representatives at Xfinity. I believe that if you are working or representing for a company, you need to know what you’re talking about before you tell a customer because I feel like I have gone through round after round of incorrect

information and being transferred to the wrong department and so on and so forth, and as a customer who has been with Xfinity for multiple years, I feel as though I was scammed, lied to, and that the people who work for them truly do not know what they are talking about. I would like to add that the automated system does not work. Ever since I started having issues when I call and enter my phone number or account number, it is not recognized, and the system will not let you move onto speaking with a live agent. I also feel as though whenever I change, add or edit my plan I all of a sudden have these standalone mystery fees, which would be fine if somebody had informed me that if I were to change my plan and this way it result in this additional change to my plan. I shouldn’t have to find out the changes through dramatic price change on my bill. I feel so they do not put their customers first and consistently have issues with the site either being down or service being down in certain areas. I plan on ending my service with Xfinity next month Because this is absolutely ridiculous and I should not have to go through this many channels just to get connected with an agent because of problems that Xfinity is having with their own site and automated systems.

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5 Terrible Customer Service Experience Stories
Comcast's Intentional Name Change Blunder. In 2015, Comcast was forced to apologize after a service rep changed a customer's first name from Ricardo to "A**hole" when his wife refused to renew their contract. Seriously, it's one of the terrible customer service stories that did happened. Despite giving the customer a two-year refund ...
My Unforgettable Encounter with Bad Customer Service
A positive customer service encounter can leave a lasting impression, fostering loyalty and trust. Conversely, a bad customer service experience can lead to frustration, disappointment, and a tarnished image of the company. In this essay, I will recount a particularly memorable encounter with bad customer service and explore its impact on both ...
When Things Go Wrong: 7 Bad Customer Service Stories
Serving customers in bulk. 71% of consumers expect personalized interactions with companies. While poor personalization drives churn. 33% of people would abandon the brand due to inadequate personalization. So, if you still apply a one-size-fits-all approach to customer service, these stats are a warning sign to drop it.
What was your best customer service experience? 7 sample answers
Customer service is one of the biggest fields of employment all over the world. And while it isn't necessarily hard to get a job in retail or in customer service (considering that many companies are always hiring, and people are always leaving, and basically the employee fluctuation is higher than in any other field of business), you still want to make a good impression on the hiring managers.
15 Examples of Bad to Terrible Customer Service (& How Your Team Can Do
Instead of saying, "Your card was denied," try something subtler like "Your card doesn't seem to be going through.". 6. Providing Incompetent Chat Support. For many customer service teams, live chat can be a tricky medium for customer support and service. It's highly efficient and can reduce phone queues.
8 Bad Customer Service Examples Unfolded in the Real World
5. Thinking a customer is being sneaky to get something for free. This is another example of bad customer service that happened to a group of friends who stood on the street in front of the restaurant waiting for a table. One of the fellows had type 1 diabetes. At some point, his hands began to shake.
The 25 Worst Customer Service Stories to Train the Best CSRs #custserv
The key training topics from these customer service stories include emotional intelligence, customer care attitude, listening skills, the perilous effects of procedur-itis, ownership, and clear communication. I would be pleased to work with you as you take your team members to the heights of customer service excellence.
The Top 10 BAD Customer Service Stories of 2018!
We settled on these ten as the best examples of really bad customer service in 2018. They are in order from least-really-bad to most-really-bad: 10. Frontier Airlines Fails At Communication & Compassion. Two children, aged 7 and 9, were returning to Orlando after a visit to their grandparents in Des Moines, when poor weather conditions caused ...
Avoiding Bad Customer Service: Stories & Tips
Worst Customer Service Stories. According to a report by Accenture, customer experience continues to be a vital metric for brand performance in 2023. This ongoing trend emphasizes the importance of customer service and warrants our attention on sharing notable examples of poor customer service. By analyzing these instances, businesses can learn ...
Customer Service Experience
The Worst Experience: The Worst Customer Service Experience. This is the ugliest part of customer service. Sometimes, customers go through quite an ordeal when dealing with customer service. We see it all the time on some social media posts which go viral. The worst customer service experience is when a customer is completely dissatisfied with ...
6 Examples of Bad Customer Service & How to Fix Them
2. Slow Response Times. Slow response times are a bad customer service example. Reducing response time and offering high-quality customer support is vital to improve the overall experience. One of the most important metrics for contact centre managers is the First Response Time (FRT).
Customer Service Experience: Definition, Tips, & Examples
Focus on reducing first reply time and making sure your customers feel like a priority. It's one of the most important things you can do to provide excellent customer service. 5. Build a culture of caring. Ultimately, providing a great customer experience comes down to the people.
Bad Customer Service Examples (And How to Fix Them)
Bad Example 2: Making Customers Wait. This is one of the most common examples of a bad customer service experience. The prospect of waiting in a phone queue or for a response online for several minutes (or longer) is enough to inspire a sense of dread in even the most upbeat customer.
15 Examples of Bad Customer Service & Ways to Fix Them
Here are the consequences of bad customer service: Lost Revenue: Customers who experience poor service are less likely to make repeat purchases or recommend the business to others.It results in lost sales opportunities. Damage to Reputation: Negative experiences shared by dissatisfied customers can tarnish the company's reputation which leads to a loss of trust and credibility in the market.
Customer Service Experience, Essay Example
Customer Service Experience, Essay Example. HIRE A WRITER! You are free to use it as an inspiration or a source for your own work. About two years ago, I and some of my friends made a trip to New York City (NYC). One of my friends Ada was a Nigerian girl with an upper class background whose father was a senior executive in a major Nigerian oil ...
Interview Question: "Describe Your Customer Service Experience."
Explain the role during your interview, and highlight your specific responsibilities. 4. Share a specific example. After introducing your previous role, provide a specific example of a time you provided customer service in that role. Aim to select an example that best aligns with the requirements of the role you're seeking.
Describe your most recent customer service experience
7 sample answers to "Describe your most recent customer service experience" interview question. Yesterday I dined in a restaurant with my boyfriend. It was out first visit to the place. What caught my eye immediately was that as soon as we sat down, someone approached us and brought us the menu. We didn't have to wait for more than ten ...
What Makes Poor/Bad Customer Service? (Causes+Prevention)
Ignoring customers' needs and providing bad service experiences ultimately results in losing customers to the competition. It is potentially the worst customer service mistake a company can make. The Microsoft 2018 State of Global Customer Service survey revealed that 61% of consumers have switched brands. This is due to poor customer service.
Why Is Customer Service So Bad? Because It's Profitable
American consumers spend, on average, 13 hours per year in calling queue with an estimated monetary cost of $38 billion. A third of complaining customers must make two or more calls to resolve ...
Good or Bad Customer Service Essay
Good or Bad Customer Service Essay. Decent Essays. 1102 Words. 5 Pages. Open Document. A large part of being a good service provider is ensuring customer convenience. Study findings show that strong leadership systems focus on customers, motivate employees, and implement their customer service vision. They also focus great attention on ...
Worst Customer Service (349 words)
However, when customer service falls short, it can have detrimental effects on a company's reputation and bottom line. There are several factors that contribute to the experience of worst customer service, ranging from poor communication to lack of empathy. One of the most common complaints about bad customer service is the lack of responsiveness.
Worst Experience I have Ever had with any phone carrier
Worst Experience I have Ever had with any phone carrier I am incredibly disappointed in Xfinity, their customer service and their lack of knowledge regarding their own devices, and company policies. I bought a phone from Xfinity less than a year ago, and it was experiencing mechanical failure.
Worst customer service experience ever
Worst customer service experience ever; Question Worst customer service experience ever. 2 days ago 26 June 2024. 1 reply; 29 views K kmosher55 First activity ... Period. There was a time not that long ago when I thought your customer service was stellar. People were obviously based in the US, they were eager to help and made sure they got the ...

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The 25 Worst Customer Service Stories

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Popular Extras

The Top 10 BAD Customer Service Stories of 2018!

Here are the top 10 BAD Customer Service stories from 2018!

A Year of Extremes

10. Frontier Airlines Fails At Communication & Compassion

9. An Unforgettable Cruise – In a Bad Way

8. Amazon Customer Service In the Toilet

7. Poor Performance From a Performance Shop

6. Would You Like A McScolding With That?

5. Bad Customer Service Rating For MoviePass

4. Southwest Airlines Kicks Father & Toddler Off A Plane

3. It’s Our Policy… Maybe Not… Maybe it is…

2. A Big McOops

1. This Bad Customer Service Story Takes The Cake

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