What’s been the worst (rude/aggressive) customer service you’ve received?

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Alternative_Big545@reddit

The rudest thing happened in Paris. A friend and I went into a cafe to get coffee. There wasn't anyone else there. We sat by the front window. The waiter said we had to move to the back because we hadn't ordered any food.

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piper_perri_vs_5guys@reddit

Smileworks Liverpool. Great dentist and hygienist but abysmal customer service. Just look up their reply every time they receive a 1 star review. Left a bad review online and they called to say they are sending someone over our house. Obviously they have our details as we once were their patients! Fucking bunch of pmsing cunts.

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feckarse-drinkgirls@reddit

Thats surely a report to licensing

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andrewforde@reddit

There was a local pub I regularly frequented with friends over a few years each Sunday for a pub quiz. There'd been a new landlord for a few months who was trying new initiatives to get a few more customers in - one was getting local food places to sell their cuisine in the pub. The pub was near a high street with loads of takeaway and fast food style places, so it would be different types of food places each week. My friend in passing comment recommended one of the local restaurants he likes to the landlord as a potential option in future. The landlord responded with "who the fuck are you to tell me what to do." - if we hadn't been such regulars I don't think we'd ever have gone back haha. Been about a year since and new landlords there now. That old landlord sacked a load of staff who'd worked there for years, would fall asleep on a table quite regularly, and also had a run in with the police that led to him selling up for some reason as I was told. Very odd bloke. Looked like Alan Titchmarsh which was funny though.

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Caveman1214@reddit

Working as a concierge, complete and utter useless colleague on with me. Had 2 separate families bags on 2 trolleys and an old fella comes up asking for a lighter for his cigarette. “Sorry I don’t have one, don’t smoke” “Maybe you misunderstood me, I asked for a lighter” “Sorry I’m just busy here with these guests bags, if you head to reception or the bar they might have…” “What’s your name” Told him my name “Name, go and get me a fucking lighter” Ironic to say, I lit on him, was radioing the useless colleague who unknown to me was about 5 feet away to take one of the trolleys up, when the old man goes over and asks someone to light his cigarette in the fire in reception. I go right over, tell him to leave, he starts ranting and I’m like there are children present and you have a lit cigarette, out. Now, maybe my bad but I make a grab for it, he starts yelling and screaming etc etc. duty manager arrives and escorts him out. Unbelievable. Or the time these very posh people came to stay for the golf (golfers are the worst, regardless of country) and I was asked to store one woman’s bags. I asked when their driver was coming, she was Japanese and didn’t speak any English, when an old English man in the same group told me to “not discuss business with women” I was shocked, I couldn’t react so I just chuckled and he went “go speak to him over there, he’s the leader. Understand?” I did not take this one kindly either, I just said that’s okay your bags are going into storage. “No don’t tell me…” “Alright cya later” and off I trotted. They needed the golf buggy soon after, I went to “refuel” it meaning they had to wait. In hindsight, should’ve outright refused, lives with me that one. Worst job I’ve ever had, genuinely miserable at the end.

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hdhxuxufxufufiffif@reddit

Years ago I was recovering from an injury and my colleague recommended a freelance sports masseur/physio. I contacted them directly on text or whatsapp and they replied very politely. We had a nice little back-and-forth about what the problem was and they confirmed the cost and offered me an appointment. I sent a final thank you and confirmation at about 7pm - not working hours but also not an unreasonable time. I got an immediate unhinged response that read: >DON'T contact me outside work hours ever again you CUNT I work hard all day and don't want to take my work home with me EVER I gave them the benefit of the doubt and messaged the next morning asking about the message. They sent a polite response basically saying that's what you get for ignoring the instructions on my website about when to contact me. I never saw the website, it was a direct referral. And if it's so important you're not contacted at 7pm, get a second SIM card you turn off at night ffs. I cancelled and blocked the number.

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LiamoLuo@reddit

I find instances of rude customer service incredibly rare in the UK; and aggressive service I don’t think I’ve ever encountered in my 37 years. I find customer service staff (after working in service roles for 17 years) very much match your energy. “Hello, how are you today?” rarely leads to bad service. I’ve had service without a smile etc sure, where you can tell someone has had a long day or something, but I don’t constitute that as rude.

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KnightsOfCidona@reddit

Yeah, one of the big things I learned in customer service is how appalling many people's social skills are and one way you can see this is the first impression they leave on you. So many customers immediately are belligerent and aggressive as soon as you answer. Ultimately it's greatly increases your chances of not getting your issue fixed - the agent's immediate instinct will be getting rid of you as soon as possible so they will fob you off or give you a temporary quick fix rather than look deeply to see what they can do.

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david9640@reddit

Definitely! If anything it also makes you less likely to 'interpret' any policies in their favour, because you know there's a good chance that they still won't be happy and a manager will get involved.

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CaptainHindsight92@reddit

I used to work in hospitality for many years, and I feel like the last few years it has gone downhill, not all the time but often enough no matter how polite I am, how patient or smiley, they don’t match the energy, I do sometimes get disengaged people who just can’t be bothered to be there or do their job. A lot of people say things like “minimum wage minimum effort” “what do you expect for minimum wage” etc which I get the sentiment but it does seem things have gone downhill regardless. Like as a customer I have no control over their wages sadly, I am happy to tip as well but of course but if someone is passive aggressive and inattentive then it becomes kind of self fulfilling that they won’t get any tips.

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Different-Employ9651@reddit

I had a guy leave a review that I was rude because he was insistent that I was having a bad day and I told him I wasn't lol. People are weird, man.

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lime-enthusiast@reddit

Someone called my friend rude because they tried to order pizza at a Japanese restaurant and he calmly told them they don't sell that.

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Drath101@reddit

Completely agree. I can probably count on one hand the amount of rude people I've encountered in customer service. I think we're at 3. I've never been treated what I would consider aggressively by somebody in a customer service role. I also have a long list of customer service experience, so maybe I come off as agreeable by a level of understanding between me and the worker? Not sure

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Whoisthehypocrite@reddit

Try going to some of the 'cool' restaurants in Mayfair where everyone is a famous actor or model just waiting to be discovered...

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Queen_of_London@reddit

Not the worst, but it was recent. Went to a Gregg's that's inside a Tesco and has a couple of seats. Sat down, ate my pasty, then couldn't see a bin. So instead of leaving it on the table, I put it on the counter and gestured to the staff with that kind of "look, I'm helping" smile you do, and went off to do my shopping. Then the staff member chased me across the store and told me I needed to come back. I thought maybe my card hadn't gone through or something, so I went with him, limping slowly with him angrily pausing as if he thought I'd developed arthritis just to spite him. And he stood there and pointed at a bin that's only visible from one specific angle, not as you come in or enter the area, because it's behind a sign. You wouldn't know it was there unless you'd been told. He said, very loudly, "USE THE BIN," and made eye contact with a couple of people passing by, shaking his head as if I was a horrible, rude customer who'd been throwing rubbish around, rather than a pretty obviously polite customer who couldn't see the bin so did the next best thing. I pointed out that I couldn't see that there was a bin, and he said "yeah, yeah, right. Customers need to USE THE BIN,"again trying to draw other customers in to judge this terrible example of humanity. I know it's not a big deal really, but it was pretty humiliating. And I \*strongly\* suspect he wouldn't have done the same if I were male or looked tough. Not the kind of thing to make a complaint about, but honestly, what a dickhead.

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Winston_Carbuncle@reddit

You might not have deserved that but I bet I'd be on his side more than not if he does this regularly.

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Queen_of_London@reddit

Nah, there was no need to add an attempt at public shaming - especially when the only reason he even knew it was me was because I'd attempted to make their lives easier than leaving the rubbish on the table. And if he \*does\* do it regularly, then maybe he should realise that the bin is, indeed, not visible. I expect most people don't actually sit down to eat there, or they leave the rubbish at the table if they do.

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Winston_Carbuncle@reddit

Respectfully, I was giving my opinion not stating facts.

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Queen_of_London@reddit

Never said you were stating facts. And I kinda get it, I'd probably reflexively side with a Greggs employee over a customer.

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NoFewSatan@reddit

Why didn't you ask if there was a bin instead of just leaving your rubbish on the counter?

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Queen_of_London@reddit

There was nobody at the counter itself to ask (the staff were in the back doing other tasks, so visible - hence me smiling towards them - but you couldn't talk to them). And I had looked for one before giving up and going to the counter. Given that there were only two seats, I thought there probably wasn't a bin for customers to use. That's not unusual. My local chippy, for instance, which is about 100 steps from this supermarket, has a couple of seats and no bin, and you take it to the counter if you eat there.

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MarsStar2301@reddit

On the plus side, you’ll actually know where their obscurely-placed bin is if you ever go back there.

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Ok_Aioli1526@reddit

Im an NHS dentist and unfortunately i have a lot of rude patients daily. Threatening to complain etc, sometimes i don’t even ask them to pay and they still are very rude etc… it’s crazy.. I’m sure they don’t know how little i get paid, cant wait to leave NHS.

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DogtasticLife@reddit

Just the blank stare of the bar staff as she looked straight at me then walked away, is this the Gen Z stare I’ve heard about?

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CaptainHindsight92@reddit

We went out the other night and had the same stare then ignored stared at again then she chatted for a few minutes before “I’m doing last order but you’ll have to be done in 5 minutes”.

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ParticularWallaby173@reddit

I had this at Stanstard Airport. Just looked through me with dead eyes, like a doll's eyes.

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gentletonberry@reddit

I was once the customer service worker being extremely rude to the customer. I was checking the contents of her bag to weigh it (self-serve refill shop, was a bag of chocolate raisins). The encounter was already tense from our mutual body language being quite negative, but I was trying to ignore it. She asked why I was looking inside the bags, I said so I could check what was inside before weighing them. She said it was unhygienic of me. Proper customer service would have been to smile and explain that it was necessary for me to check all bags and I wasn’t touching the food so no hygiene risk, hope that’s okay, lalala. Instead I stared at her for a few seconds and then said “do you want to fight with me about this?” in this really furious, hollow voice that didn’t sound like me at all. She gasped in horror, grabbed her kids and left without buying anything. I broke down crying and sat on the floor behind the till until my colleague came back. I left the job shortly thereafter (on generally good terms), I hated what it turned me into, I was so bitter and sarcastic by the end, utterly miserable. I still think about that encounter sometimes. And what on earth I would have done if it had actually escalated. I am not built for fighting!

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MisterD90x@reddit

I work in a bookies so picking out one would be hard when it's a daily occurrence

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glasgowgeg@reddit

OP is asking about customer service you've received from others, not worst customer you've dealt with.

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MisterD90x@reddit

I misread my bad.

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robinscotland@reddit

Well get on with it then - you are now obliged to give some really awful customer service and then tell us how bad it was!

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MisterD90x@reddit

Well earlier I told someone to "fuck off, I don't want you in here, we have all had enough of your shit." Dude was getting angry and hitting the machines. Does that count?

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robinscotland@reddit

Getting there!

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skaboy007@reddit

A lot of issues of so called poor customer service (no matter what sector you work in) is because the customer hasn’t got what they want, so they deem it as poor customer service. In my industry (railways) customers will report members of staff if a train is cancelled and the member of staff doesn’t actually know the reason why. I have often been accused of delivering poor customer service because I can’t give them what they want, despite explaining the reasons why. Staff are never going to win the customer service award.

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ah5178@reddit

Half of the independent record shops I visited in the 90s. Especially when they were having a quiet day, and I made the mistake of thinking that not being busy meant that they'd be up for chatting about music.

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DinkyPrincess@reddit

I complained about the decline in quality of an online coffee product I’d used for almost a decade. The CS decided to respond with quizzing me what I’d changed. I explained it was the same location, water, kettle and equipment used. They sent me a guide on how to make coffee. They offered to come to my house and make coffee with me. They told me stories about how much their staff takes the greatest care and is so proud of their product. They refused to take any accountability. I bought coffee from another retailer and ended my long standing use of the original as they’re crazy defensive and didn’t understand I just wanted to check their quality. They even offered to “jump on a train and come to you” rather than just take my honest feedback.

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lime-enthusiast@reddit

They offered to come to your home and make coffee? If they weren't just being facetious that's kinda creepy

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DinkyPrincess@reddit

No. They offered it more than once too. Like, no I deeply do not want that. I was very taken aback this was a response.

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robinscotland@reddit

I honestly don't know how it didn't call their bluff. That would be hilarious. You could invite some friends over, line up a circle of chairs, and all enjoy the show.

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DinkyPrincess@reddit

I was absolutely flummoxed they thought this was how to treat a long standing customer. I had their limited quantity annual subscription for years and bought probably 60 quid of beans every month. Needless to say I won’t ever use them again.

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Responsible_News577@reddit

Virgin media

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Reallyboringname2@reddit

I can’t remember when it was, but I had a really rude person once and I complained. Call was listened to and apology was made. I can just remember there being something horrifically bad about the call. Manners cost nothing and I’m always polite and friendly to anyone, especially if I need your help and more so if I’m angry. I call it the waiter rule, the more attitude you give, the more polite I become. You’re gonna be a shit if you’re gonna be a shit, you will NOT have the excuse of being able to blame me.

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GrantandPhil@reddit

You dont know the meaning of the word surly service until you have been to your average pub cafe bar or shop in Leeds. It is known as Yorkshire bluntness. You learn not to take it personally.

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Dazz316@reddit

Worked at a petrol station, leccy goes off at like 9:30, I'm on my own and I have to close up by 12. Call the manager, no I can't go home. The whole street (turned out to be the whole town) was down and there's nothing in the place but my emergency lighting. Waited 30 minutes, call my manager, no still can't go home. Sweep, tidy. A few people come by and kinda give me a hopeful look but my shrug from inside is enough for them to understand what they already knew and leave. One woman stands there with the pump in her car waving at me. By this point, it's night and it's dark as fuck. I keep shrugging, pointing up at light. Not getting the hint. She comes in asking what the hell the problem is. I tell her, while the place is in darkness aside from 1 emergency light humming exit in a weak green glow, that there's no power. SO!? She exclaims. Anyway, she argue's like I'm personally choosing to not give her electricity. I try to explain the pumps need eletrcity to pump the fuel. I'm in my last week or two of employement as I've handed my notice in and I really regret not calling her a fucking idiot. The best I got was suggest we knife the line and get the fuel that way, to which she looked at me like "yeah, do that". She started arguing that she's no petrol to get anywhere. I appologise multiple times, explain again there's nothing I can do while the powers out. She threatens to stay there and go nowhere. Fine, I'm watching breaking bad on my phone anyway. So away she sits in her car for like half an hour, giving me the death stare the entire time. Comes back in and not *as* angrily asks when the powers back up, to which I say I've no idea that's up to the electric company. She stomps off, tried to slam the anti slam door and leaves in her car. There was another petrol station 5 minute's drive away, which to be fair didn't have power either but she could have tried there, from the exchange I doubt she knew.

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LiamoLuo@reddit

Customers in petrol stations are wild. I worked at one for a couple of years as an assistant manager. Fire alarm went off and it wasn’t a scheduled test, so we hit the emergency stop for the pumps and evacuated. We still had customers stood next to the cars shouting at me that they couldn’t just get their fuel…. I couldn’t believe people wanted to still stand on a forecourt when we may have had a genuine fire. Turned out someone burnt some toast in the kitchen, and that’s what was smoking, but at the time we had no way to know that as I’m not going to look around a huge building when I’m sat on top of 10,000s litres of fuel.

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ButteredReality@reddit

Buying a sympathy card in a card shop. Chose the card, brought it to the counter. Said hello to the shop worker. No smile, no words, miserable expression on her face. Started to put it into a bag. I said "Oh, no bag for me thanks, I've got one here (pointing to my backpack)". I swear I'm not making this up. She sighed loudly, snatched the card out of the bag and slammed - literally slammed - the card on the counter, giving me a filthy look while she was at it. I have no idea what her issue was. I was too stunned to say anything and just walked out.

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MezzStipe@reddit

Yeah, I've experienced this in a bar from the SAME individual on three separate occasions lol. You feel that ya couldn't make it up. A place that I frequented so I was known to a handful of the staff, to say hi to etc and would chat about different beers and so forth. Bout six months ago a new assistant manager started (so one would assume that this individual has prior experience lol) and, well, to shorten my reply as much as possible - this person would rarely speak and would walk away from you, mid-order. Would shake head if they didn't have a specific thing (instead of saying no) and generally looked annoyed. So I decided to basically ignore the perceived attitude as I figured: they could be having a bad day or merely doesn't like the job or the bar they've decided to become an employee of Turned out that the individual has, imo, anger management issues and myself and other customers complained to other staff and the overall manager as encountered passive-aggressive behaviour and/or being spoken to (on the rare occasions that individual deigned to speak) in an aggressive manner. To date, this person is still working at the bar, much to my surprise lol and they've lost me as a regular customer (I'll happily go there when said individual isn't on shift)

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LuminidMishy@reddit

People really rate it, so I went to fitzbillies in Cambridge. I asked for a white coffee and a black coffee. I noticed I had 2 black, so I asked for milk. Woman huffed at me and put a 4 pint container of milk on the counter. It took every inch of my being not to open it and throw it at her. Never been back and never will!

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DiamondL0st@reddit

Comet in about 2005/2006. I asked the sales person if they sold stereos that had an aux input. The guy looked at me blankly and so I said again, "you know, like a headphone jack so you can play your MP3 player through the speakers". He then replied "you'd have to go to a real shop for that" and walked off. I was unaware I was in an imaginary make believe shop, but yeah, sure.

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SwiftieNewRomantics@reddit

Years and years ago, I broke my iPod touch, smashed the screen. I went online and found someone to fix it for 50 quid, he foolishly (For me) came and picked it up from my house. He brought it back at the end of the day and said 'so I fixed the screen, but the sound doesn't work anymore' and he was right, no sound came out of it ever again, even with headphones in. I was a little bit annoyed about that, so I left a 1 star review criticising the guy for breaking my iPod even worse than it was. He was furious about the review, and turned up at my address trying to kick the door in and threatening to murder me in a variety of ways.

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Euphoric_Wish_8293@reddit

You couldn't even drown out his threats with soothing music.

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sharkkallis@reddit

TIME Computers. Absolutely diabolical company from end of the 1990s. The gold standard for the rudest and most incompetent service from start to finish.

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piper_perri_vs_5guys@reddit

Fuck this brings back memories. I remember 1998, our family got a pc ad I asked the sales guy the question about hard drive. It was 13 gb and his reply was ‘trust me you are never going to be able to use all of that’. It took me 3 weeks! Arrogant little fucker

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Evening-Web-3038@reddit

I had a bit of a weird one with Nationwide a while back! Went into a branch in a city I rarely visit as I wanted to pay £200 into my current account, and that's it. The location was a bit scatty as it was it on the outskirts and in fairness she probably dealt with a few rough people day in day out. Straight away the woman was rude towards me, demanding my card as if I was purposely withholding it. She then quizzed me on the source of the money and made me feel like I was some mastermind drug dealer or something! Then she 'noted' that I had 3 current accounts, two of which I never used whatsoever and I pretty much only applied for them because they offered me them one day (I was thinking of splitting up the bills and shopping money but decided against it). Started going on about how it wasn't possible to have more than 1 and that it was breaking the rules or something... So I just turned round and said "fine, if you want to close the others down then do it" only for her to start backtracking and downplaying the issue? Took my cash and paid it in, but was a bit cold and I just got out of there as quick as possible! Pretty sure that branch is closed down now, though! Probably similar to the one in my hometown... The one which shut down a few months before they pledged to keep all of their branches open lol.

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Necessary_Umpire_139@reddit

I work at 111, someone threatened to rape my missus because he didn't know where his partner was? Not sure if it's customer service but definitely dealing with the public.

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LopsidedLegs@reddit

Netgear business support. It was several years ago, but it was dire. The VoIP bandwidth was minimal resulting in dreadful call quality, and the support was just awful and rude. They demanded a credit card because they refused to believe that their product was faulty. Credit card was never charged and I got a replacement. It is by far the single worst CS experience that I had, so much so that I removed them as an approved product from the company that I worked at.

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