Big companies who know how to fandangle it up...
Discussion
Who have you got?
Mine - IHG Hotels. Because I stay for work and book our team in I have an "IHG Rewards" account - endless marketing emails to unsubscribe from (And which re-subscribes me for every booking) and some phone system that recognises it is me and they try to greet me all pally and make it seem a big deal.
But can they email a booking reference? Nope. Never comes through.
Can they get me an invoice? Nope. Phone the hotel direct needed.
Is the email automated? Nope.
Can you get the local phone number for the hotel reception? Nope, you must call IHG who then give you the number.
Can you contact the hotel and sort it for me, as the 'Rewards Customer'? Nope, Data Protection says no.
Utter shambles.
(The actual two IHG group hotels we stayed in last week and last month were good, with good staff and a reasonable price.)
Mine - IHG Hotels. Because I stay for work and book our team in I have an "IHG Rewards" account - endless marketing emails to unsubscribe from (And which re-subscribes me for every booking) and some phone system that recognises it is me and they try to greet me all pally and make it seem a big deal.
But can they email a booking reference? Nope. Never comes through.
Can they get me an invoice? Nope. Phone the hotel direct needed.
Is the email automated? Nope.
Can you get the local phone number for the hotel reception? Nope, you must call IHG who then give you the number.
Can you contact the hotel and sort it for me, as the 'Rewards Customer'? Nope, Data Protection says no.
Utter shambles.
(The actual two IHG group hotels we stayed in last week and last month were good, with good staff and a reasonable price.)
Vision express are utterly usless
I used to visit one store about 6 years ago, and despite moving stores twice they still regularly say I need a contact lenses check up and then stop my subscription which leaves me without lenses.
This is despite me still getting calls from what is the store I now use, and being up to date with them.
Utterly hopeless, I’ve spoken to customer care, both stores and they always say it’s sorted and then a random amount of time goes by and then il be due s check up
I would cancel but everytime I’ve complained I get 3-6 months of contacts free when they eventually turn up.
I used to visit one store about 6 years ago, and despite moving stores twice they still regularly say I need a contact lenses check up and then stop my subscription which leaves me without lenses.
This is despite me still getting calls from what is the store I now use, and being up to date with them.
Utterly hopeless, I’ve spoken to customer care, both stores and they always say it’s sorted and then a random amount of time goes by and then il be due s check up
I would cancel but everytime I’ve complained I get 3-6 months of contacts free when they eventually turn up.
We could save a lot of time if we listed big companies that get it right. Poor service is a plague on our society now. Waiting 30 minutes on a phone before being rerouted several times or cut off is considered acceptable. Promises are routinely broken. Public services are dire and getting to speak to a human being to ask a simple question about insurance, for example, is a nightmare. Working from home is fine nowadays, regardless of the effect it has on service. The country has, essentially, turned to s
t and it's no wonder, with so many stress triggers to navigate on a daily basis, that depression and anxiety are at an all time high, despite life generally being "softer" than ever.
t and it's no wonder, with so many stress triggers to navigate on a daily basis, that depression and anxiety are at an all time high, despite life generally being "softer" than ever.When BT messed up my Mum’s broadband and after getting nowhere with the helpline I wrote a letter to the CEO. Within a couple of days I had a phone call from a dedicated customer service rep and was given their direct phone number. Everything was sorted within a week with an engineer visiting Mum’s house and putting in a free new phone system. Job jobbed.
POIDH said:
Who have you got?
Mine - IHG Hotels. Because I stay for work and book our team in I have an "IHG Rewards" account - endless marketing emails to unsubscribe from (And which re-subscribes me for every booking) and some phone system that recognises it is me and they try to greet me all pally and make it seem a big deal.
But can they email a booking reference? Nope. Never comes through.
Can they get me an invoice? Nope. Phone the hotel direct needed.
Is the email automated? Nope.
Can you get the local phone number for the hotel reception? Nope, you must call IHG who then give you the number.
Can you contact the hotel and sort it for me, as the 'Rewards Customer'? Nope, Data Protection says no.
Utter shambles.
(The actual two IHG group hotels we stayed in last week and last month were good, with good staff and a reasonable price.)
I got fed up with IHG a few years ago about this and the fact the food in the restaurants was a microwaved meal which was usually still frozen in the middle. Moved to Hilton which has been much better especially if you stay often and move up the rewards program so get inclusive breakfast, parking and a beer at most hotels. Mine - IHG Hotels. Because I stay for work and book our team in I have an "IHG Rewards" account - endless marketing emails to unsubscribe from (And which re-subscribes me for every booking) and some phone system that recognises it is me and they try to greet me all pally and make it seem a big deal.
But can they email a booking reference? Nope. Never comes through.
Can they get me an invoice? Nope. Phone the hotel direct needed.
Is the email automated? Nope.
Can you get the local phone number for the hotel reception? Nope, you must call IHG who then give you the number.
Can you contact the hotel and sort it for me, as the 'Rewards Customer'? Nope, Data Protection says no.
Utter shambles.
(The actual two IHG group hotels we stayed in last week and last month were good, with good staff and a reasonable price.)
For me its Carphone Warehouse, utterly useless, don't answer the phone when you have a question or problem but call me at leat once a week to offer me an upgrade.
BA have started to drop into this category as well, prices up, service down and a fee for everything.
BT may be hopeless when it comes to customer service but this is a good thing as far as we’re concerned as we’ve been enjoying free broadband for the last 7 months and counting due to their incompetence 
Also my wife had a nightmare trying to return an undersized mattress to John Lewis as their subcontracted CS provider appears to be staffed by morons. One of her attempts involved talking to a bloke who we were sure was stoned. He was slurring and sometimes didn’t respond or follow the conversation. It was a farce.
Also my wife had a nightmare trying to return an undersized mattress to John Lewis as their subcontracted CS provider appears to be staffed by morons. One of her attempts involved talking to a bloke who we were sure was stoned. He was slurring and sometimes didn’t respond or follow the conversation. It was a farce.
Nickbrapp said:
Vision express are utterly usless
I used to visit one store about 6 years ago, and despite moving stores twice they still regularly say I need a contact lenses check up and then stop my subscription which leaves me without lenses.
This is despite me still getting calls from what is the store I now use, and being up to date with them.
Utterly hopeless, I’ve spoken to customer care, both stores and they always say it’s sorted and then a random amount of time goes by and then il be due s check up
I would cancel but everytime I’ve complained I get 3-6 months of contacts free when they eventually turn up.
Should’ve…I used to visit one store about 6 years ago, and despite moving stores twice they still regularly say I need a contact lenses check up and then stop my subscription which leaves me without lenses.
This is despite me still getting calls from what is the store I now use, and being up to date with them.
Utterly hopeless, I’ve spoken to customer care, both stores and they always say it’s sorted and then a random amount of time goes by and then il be due s check up
I would cancel but everytime I’ve complained I get 3-6 months of contacts free when they eventually turn up.
I thought about starting an exact same thread this morning after trying to deal with Barclaycard. Boy do they not want you to speak to a human, use the app, say in a few words what you are trying to do, which one of these matches what you are trying do, say again what you are trying to do today, have your tried our website for help. All because the direct debit to take full payment was cancelled. Eventually spoke to a human who said the bank or me had cancelled it, I hadn't. Rang the bank and they said Barclaycard had set the direct debit up with a date that had expired, I only set the DD up a couple of months ago!
Water companies! We are sorry for pissing/stting in your rivers we promise to put it right and invest £10billion, that you are going to have to give us. NO fk off! You pay for it out of the fking massive profits you have been making and milking us for for years and fk the dividends you greedy bds!
OFWAT - OF what's the fking point of it more like, if they had done their job properly our rivers would be cleaner and the water companies wouldn't be giving out sniveling apologies and teeing us up for another dry bumming to pay for their long term endemic fk ups. wkers.
And relax.
Water companies! We are sorry for pissing/s
tting in your rivers we promise to put it right and invest £10billion, that you are going to have to give us. NO fk off! You pay for it out of the fking massive profits you have been making and milking us for for years and fk the dividends you greedy bds!OFWAT - OF what's the f
king point of it more like, if they had done their job properly our rivers would be cleaner and the water companies wouldn't be giving out sniveling apologies and teeing us up for another dry bumming to pay for their long term endemic fk ups. wkers.And relax.
Edited by Mr-B on Thursday 18th May 22:09
Nickbrapp said:
Vision express are utterly usless
I used to visit one store about 6 years ago, and despite moving stores twice they still regularly say I need a contact lenses check up and then stop my subscription which leaves me without lenses.
This is despite me still getting calls from what is the store I now use, and being up to date with them.
Utterly hopeless, I’ve spoken to customer care, both stores and they always say it’s sorted and then a random amount of time goes by and then il be due s check up
I would cancel but everytime I’ve complained I get 3-6 months of contacts free when they eventually turn up.
You are not alone.I used to visit one store about 6 years ago, and despite moving stores twice they still regularly say I need a contact lenses check up and then stop my subscription which leaves me without lenses.
This is despite me still getting calls from what is the store I now use, and being up to date with them.
Utterly hopeless, I’ve spoken to customer care, both stores and they always say it’s sorted and then a random amount of time goes by and then il be due s check up
I would cancel but everytime I’ve complained I get 3-6 months of contacts free when they eventually turn up.
I must complain more animately, could do with some free lenses from them as they always seem to c ock it up.
Another vote for HMRC.
I had an unexpected demand for money a couple of years ago.
I checked my books and found an obvious error.
Do you think I could get anyone on the phone to see the same error? Could they heck. I was on the phone for days being passed from department to department.
If I could have got a face to face appointment I could have had it fixed in 10 minutes with the paper copies I had. But oh no we no longer do that sir.
In the end I fired it off to an accountant friend of mine and I’ve no idea if it’s been resolved or not.
Richmond Hyundai Southampton
Trying to buy a simple car was so challenging it was unreal
Any attempt to deal with them results in numerous answers, none of which seem correct
A simple service always turns into a multi day effort usually requiring numerous trips to actually get anything done
The car can have a health check on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in the same week, numerous faults that change each time one a nearly new car, classic one is a phantom nail in a tyre or low brakes
Doing other customers work to your car and then not understanding why you are miffed
Truly awful watching them deal with the elderly / folk who are not car savvy
Trying to buy a simple car was so challenging it was unreal
Any attempt to deal with them results in numerous answers, none of which seem correct
A simple service always turns into a multi day effort usually requiring numerous trips to actually get anything done
The car can have a health check on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in the same week, numerous faults that change each time one a nearly new car, classic one is a phantom nail in a tyre or low brakes
Doing other customers work to your car and then not understanding why you are miffed
Truly awful watching them deal with the elderly / folk who are not car savvy
British Gas. They've upgraded their web site so it no longer shows me my gas and electricity usage like it used to. "Oh, that may be coming in the future" they say, without acknowledging that it was there before they "upgraded" my account.
I have two account numbers, one for gas and the other for electricity. But when I sign into the web site, or when they write to me to adjust my direct debit, they don't say which it is, they just give the account number, so I have to go hunting through pieces of paper to find out which one they're talking about. I sign into the web site and I have to pick which account I want to look at, it's just poor design that to use a website I have to look something up on a piece of paper instead of it saying "Your Gas account" and "Your electricity account".
And back in March, they paid me all three of the rebate payments on a single day instead of across three months, then emailed me to ask for it back. I paid it back, but as far as I can see they haven't resumed paying it monthly.
The worst part of the above is that I'm now going to have to contact them and ask them to sort it out.
I have two account numbers, one for gas and the other for electricity. But when I sign into the web site, or when they write to me to adjust my direct debit, they don't say which it is, they just give the account number, so I have to go hunting through pieces of paper to find out which one they're talking about. I sign into the web site and I have to pick which account I want to look at, it's just poor design that to use a website I have to look something up on a piece of paper instead of it saying "Your Gas account" and "Your electricity account".
And back in March, they paid me all three of the rebate payments on a single day instead of across three months, then emailed me to ask for it back. I paid it back, but as far as I can see they haven't resumed paying it monthly.
The worst part of the above is that I'm now going to have to contact them and ask them to sort it out.
British Gas fandangling it up worked to my advantage.
Was looking after an elderly relatives house after they died. The boiler had been installed by BG and they had been persuaded to take out rather expensive boiler and heating system cover which they'd been paying for years. I immediately cancelled this. Twelve months later I had to get a leak fixed, the local plumber wasn't interested (as they'd been passed over to install the boiler). So I ended up calling BG who do one off fixes for £X (I guess as a way in to sell you a new boiler!).
Fully expecting to pay, they told me I had boiler and heating system cover still. I did try arguing with the call centre people, but, they wouldn't have it. They came out a couple of days later, fixed the leak and didn't charge me anything.
Their IT Systems must be something to behold!
Was looking after an elderly relatives house after they died. The boiler had been installed by BG and they had been persuaded to take out rather expensive boiler and heating system cover which they'd been paying for years. I immediately cancelled this. Twelve months later I had to get a leak fixed, the local plumber wasn't interested (as they'd been passed over to install the boiler). So I ended up calling BG who do one off fixes for £X (I guess as a way in to sell you a new boiler!).
Fully expecting to pay, they told me I had boiler and heating system cover still. I did try arguing with the call centre people, but, they wouldn't have it. They came out a couple of days later, fixed the leak and didn't charge me anything.
Their IT Systems must be something to behold!
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff