We wrote about the best companies out here with the greatest customer service a client can expect, but how about those times when things go wrong and the company responsible for the situation just won't respond adequately? Here are some examples of the worst customer service possible:
1. Westinghouse (doesn't care) - Mark decides to buy a TV from Westinghouse, because it is the Christmas-time sale and his wife is a Target employee, so he has a pretty sweet discount on the item. He buys a 46'' TV and gets it home. In three weeks the TV starts flickering, making strange noises (when there is any audio) and the on-screen menus disappear. Naturally, Mark decides to contact Target, but they told him he needs to contact Westinghouse directly so they can provide the support. After he contacts Westinghouse, he waits for half an hour on the phone before he is dumped to voicemail. Same thing happens on the next day. And on the day after. And on the day after. Mark tries to contact Westinghouse on their social network accounts, but there he finds just more complains left unanswered.
2. LivingSocial - Greg buys vouchers worth $150 from LivingSocial for a cleaning company. The cleaning company is apparently out of business, but this isn't stated anywhere and it is kind of debatable and unclear. The first time the cleaners come, they are 3 hours late, don't bring their own vacuum cleaner, do a terrible job and don't stop talking to each other the whole time. A month later, they don't even bother to show up, but Greg's voucher is illegally marked as "used". After a check, it appears that they had not been showing on customers for weeks. When Greg calls the two numbers listed on the vouchers, the first drops him to a full voicemail, while the second transfers him to yet another voicemail with a prerecorded message of a person asking people to stop calling with complains for the cleaning company.
3. Unknown restaurant - an example of how some establishments can go out of their way to provide you with the worst customer service ever. A girl stops at a local Tennessee restaurant, because she needs to go to the toilet. The restaurant has a policy which states that non-customers should pay $5 for using the toilet. The girl misses the message with the rule (which is written on a sticker below a small mirror on the wall) and uses the toilet. On the way out she is stopped by an employee of the restaurant claiming that she owns him the tax for the toilet. She refuses to pay, since the sign isn't visible and goes on her way. Now here things go crazy. The employee writes down her license plate number and with a little help from the sheriff succeeds in finding the girl's name and address. After a few days, the girl receives a handwritten letter with the fee.