"We don't answer questions." The owner of Jansen Medical Supply is quite possibly the worst customer service representative of all time. [more inside]
posted by granted on Jun 5, 2009 - 88 comments

Ever wondered what makes people complain about the media? An Apple ad was recently banned by the ASA as it was felt that the ad exaggerated the speed of internet services. Could the complainants have been genuinely mislead about the phone's services? In the case of one complainant, a man who had queued on release for the first iPhones to arrive in the UK, it seemed an ideal way to fight back against poor customer service. "We arent a cult, we are just a brand..."
posted by mippy on Nov 26, 2008 - 23 comments

Seemingly, customer service isn't what it used to be, if you can even find them. Well, no more hiding. Enter Hard to Find 800 Numbers, an alphabetic list that eliminates the scramble for contact information. Waiting on hold for customer service or tech support is painful enough.
posted by netbros on Aug 4, 2008 - 30 comments

He wanted his espresso iced, but the coffee shop wouldn't let him. "Hey man. What you're about to do … that’s really, really Not Okay." [more inside]
posted by brownpau on Jul 14, 2008 - 339 comments

In the same vein as gethuman [previously.previously.], Bringo! is a nice free little service that helps bypass the (decreasingly) minor annoyance of automated phone answering systems (aka IVRs). Only it does all the work for you. [more inside]
posted by jckll on Mar 31, 2008 - 9 comments

"Dear Continental Airlines" Disgruntled airline passenger writes to customer service. Complete with hand-drawn diagrams.
posted by thatweirdguy2 on Jun 30, 2007 - 113 comments

"Three dollars a minute for technical assistance for my computer? If I'm going to spend that kind of F--KING money, I'd just as soon have phone sex." Lewis Black on customer service.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow on Oct 27, 2006 - 25 comments

Wanna talk to a person? Gethuman.com lists cheat codes for hundreds of customer service numbers. Sweet.
posted by MrMoonPie on Feb 13, 2006 - 15 comments

The customer is always stinky (some swearing and references to genitalia)
posted by 13twelve on Feb 24, 2005 - 23 comments

Frustrated by web sites that don't offer a customer service number? Slate magazine discovers Amazon.com's. (Of course, they'll probably change it after it gets around...)
posted by braun_richard on Dec 16, 2004 - 42 comments

What is the value of good customer service? An oft asked question indeed, but one that is being answered as wee speak. The abject failure of Dixons, a UK retailer, to repair a TV set may cost them $475,000 of lost sales in less than a week (start from the bottom and work up....). [Via The Register.]
posted by davehat on May 23, 2003 - 10 comments

SBC Customer Service staffed by bots? The bots themselves don't bother me too much, I think its pretty cool if SBC Yahoo has bots advanced enough that they can use them for online customer service and the bots turn out to be actually helpful (I don't know, since I never have problems with my DSL and have never used them). What is disturbing, though, is the apparent deceit involved by having that the bots insist on being human. Anyone know anything more?
posted by akmonday on Feb 19, 2003 - 17 comments

So much for customer servise A website chronicling one guys journey though tech support hell. I laughed my head off at what the guy had to go through and also that he would go so far to document it like he has. Not a lot of fun (but funny because it wasn't me)
posted by Coop on Sep 10, 2002 - 18 comments

Nice or not. It looks like Verizon manages to get kudos on their service while getting relatively little exposure while they are trying to lock-in their customers. What do you think? Does it make sense to go to 3G with Verizon or should one go with competitive content providers who are willing to let you keep your phone numbers when we leave them? Which is more important?
posted by Adman on Jan 30, 2002 - 7 comments

Stanley Marcus Dies at 96 We've all heard corporate propaganda about "customer service." He really practiced it. Neiman's has really been expanding their online shopping services. Can Web retailers in the 21st century learn anything from such old-skool customer service? (NYT password link obituary is here)
posted by sixdifferentways on Jan 23, 2002 - 9 comments

fast company on customer service The thing I loved about this article was the associated forum filled with customer service horror stories. Air travel, cable tv companies, and customer service seem to be things people love to complain about.
posted by rdr on Apr 11, 2001 - 5 comments

This is, of course, intended as humor, albeit rather coarse humor, but it's all too depressingly accurate. Why does customer service suck so badly these days? [Spotted at Joel on Software, whom I haven't disagreed with much lately... probably because he hasn't said much lately. :-)]
posted by baylink on Jan 24, 2001 - 58 comments