Before The Customer Service Blog went live, I used to publish articles about Customer Service on Facebook. Several people have suggested that I should re-publish some of the more interesting articles that I put on Facebook several years ago. So to start with, here is an article that first appeared on Facebook way back in March 2014.
BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE OF
THE MONTH AWARD
Following on from Tesco
winning the Good Customer Service Award this month, we can now announce that the
winner of this month's Bad Customer Service Award goes to the Pudsey branch of
William H Brown Estate Agents.
Having phoned them on
Monday of this week to enquire about their charges, I was told that the company refused to disclose their prices over the phone, and I must book an appointment
with their agent in order to find out how much they charge.
I explained that
this would mean me taking half a day off work, but I reluctantly agreed to an
appointment at 2pm on Thursday.
Thursday came, and despite
waiting over an hour the agent didn't turn up. So I phoned the office to find
out where he was. I was told by the receptionist that he was ''in a meeting''
and that he couldn't possibly talk to me. When I explained that he was supposed to be
at my house over an hour ago, the receptionist put me on hold.
For FIVE whole minutes.
When
the receptionist finally returned, she told me that he had cancelled the house viewing
and that: "He tried to leave messages on your phone to let you know".
I am certain this is an outright
lie because my phone was turned on throughout the day and he definitely had
my correct phone number. There were no voicemail messages and no missed calls.
So in other words either: (a) the agent decided not to bother turning up at my house and he couldn't
be arsed to let me know, or (b) he had simply forgotten the appointment, and was
now trying to cover up his mistake by lying (and therefore by implication, blaming me!!)
Either way, I wasted
half a day off work, and I have still received no apology or explanation from
this shoddy company.
So, congratulations to William H Brown (Pudsey Branch) on winning this month's Bad Customer Service Award.
So, congratulations to William H Brown (Pudsey Branch) on winning this month's Bad Customer Service Award.