3 Worst Customer Service Companies

Posted by admin on November 6, 2007 in Misc.

Yesterday, I wrote about the 3 best customer service companies. Today I wanted to list the 3 worst. It was hard to come up with only 3- there are so many- but I narrowed it down to the following. There’s a common theme to each of these companies which I will address at the end. Feel free to comment as a means to rant:

Bell Canada: I made a change to my bill last month. It took three times to get it right. I kept calling back to confirm given that I did not trust them enough. Their retail operations are staffed with generally unhappy and rude customer service reps who are more interested in pushing product than helping you. Their cell phones and internet connections are less reliable than Rogers (I used Bell for business and Rogers for personal). Most of all, the entire company gives me the impression they just don’t care (perceived indifference is the kiss of death in keeping customers). I am not the least bit surprised their stock went sideways for years before they decided to go private. They probably spent so much time trying to put down customer service fires they didn’t have enough energy to do anything innovative.
Kinko’s (technically FedEx Kinko’s): I have been to three different locations and I get the same level of service: none. If you have never been to Kinko’s, they have a large service counter and then several industrial sized machines behind the counter. The problem is that you can see their employees working on these machines while you wait and wait and wait. Someone please train these employees to at least say: “Welcome to Kinko’s. Someone will help you shortly.” I feel stupid standing there waiting while there are 2-3 employees 15 feet away ignoring me. The stores are simply too big and unfriendly. The UPS stores I go to are smaller and you don’t feel over-whelmed.
Home Depot: I guess this one may ruffle feather because there is a cult of HD but its the same problem as Kinko’s. You can’t find any help. More accurately, there’s one poor customer sales rep for 2,500 sq. feet of store and there’s about 15 of us standing in that 2,500 sq. feet looking for help so he/she is over-whelmed. The older stores (they have revamped the stores somewhat to make it feel like you aren’t in the vast warehouse that you are in) make you feel insignificant. For some reason, all the cashiers are cranky. There always seems to be one poor manager putting down fires. I try to just Home Hardware as much as possible- smaller stores and prices are slightly higher but my blood pressure appreciates me going there instead of HD.

All these companies have one common theme: they are big- either by size of company or their physical space- and they don’t do anything to alleviate this problem; everything about the customer service experience makes me feel that I am insignificant to them while the companies I admire are big but deliberately make themselves feel small, folksy and reassuring to do business with. I also note that there does seem to be a relationship between good/bad customer experience and stock price. Those who do well providing good customer service also tend to have healthy share prices (the best example not on this list is Apple).

Rant away- who do you hate dealing with?

18 Comments on 3 Worst Customer Service Companies

By guinness416 on November 6, 2007 at 11:00 am

I have found HD staffing issues frustrating in the past too. The staff look endlessly stressed out because of it as well, must do wonders for morale.

Bell has the single worst customer service in the western world. Kinkos and HD should be mortally ashamed to be mentioned in the same post as them. Among my most recent experiences – going through an issue for 20 minutes only to be told the “system isn’t working” so it may not have gone through; having to call back five or six times for the same billing issue; spending an hour on an online “chat” with a rep, only to have Bell claim it never happened – and all of this on an account I closed almost a year ago. As a relatively new immigrant with no expectations, Bell could have tied me up as a customer for life, but I wouldn’t touch them with a pole again at this point.

By admin on November 6, 2007 at 11:39 am

Yesterday I called Bell to confirm an order- their computer wasn’t working. Par for the course.

By FourPillars on November 6, 2007 at 3:31 pm

I agree about HD – they used to be pretty good when I first started shopping there about 6 years ago but they have steadily gotten worse.

They used to have more workers who actually knew what they were doing ie former plumbers, electricians etc but now most of the workers are young and in an entry level job.

By telly on November 6, 2007 at 3:31 pm

I would agree with Bell and would like to add (BIG TIME) Ticket Master and Future Shop (though it’s been awhile since I purchased something there).

By moneygardener on November 6, 2007 at 5:04 pm

TMW, you are bang on. Here is my list:

Worst
HD
Bell
Sears
Tim Hortons
Wendys

Best
McDonalds
Costco
Boston Pizza

By admin on November 6, 2007 at 5:40 pm

Thanks. Boston Pizza has a reputation for being one of the most profitable franchises- perhaps it has something to do with their good customer service?

Tim Hortons is just a factory now- they get you in and out.

By White Eagle on November 6, 2007 at 10:36 pm

I find Rona to be a lot worse than Home Depot. I’ve only had bad experiences at Rona; everything from rude salespeople to unknowledgeable staff to being unable to return purchases that have broken during the stated return policy period (Rona staff acknowledged the product was crap but “that’s what you pay for” according to them and refused to provide a refund or exchange). At least at Home Depot, you can return stuff without any difficulties (at least in my experiences).

I can’t agree with you more about Bell. Recently, Bell changed my Internet plan from an unlimited plan to one with limited usage without telling me. The first accounting rep lied to me saying that I was always on a limited plan and couldn’t even tell me the limit on my ‘new’ plan. I had to call back and get another rep to acknowledge the fact that they made the unnotified change and refund the extra charges that I faced for going over the limit. Let’s not even talk about Bell’s technical support when I called in to report that my neighbours and I no longer had telephone service; the rep kept on telling me that to check my telephone equipment)… The next rep was following the same flawed flowchart. Unbelievable, dumb and dumber. Surprise, surprise, it had nothing to do with my equipment nor my neighbours’, but everything to do with a backhoe cutting the neighbourhood’s telephone cable.

By admin on November 6, 2007 at 10:58 pm

Haha- White Eagle, the same thing has happened to me- if in doubt, Bell’s default answer is “there’s clearly something wrong with your equipment” (which, of course, they sold me).

I believe we have a clear winner (or loser)- Bell Canada!

By TKO on November 7, 2007 at 2:27 pm

Customer Service Departments pay attention to Customers.

The posts on Good and Bad Customer Service clearly prove that people are much more likely to report a BAD experience (8 comments) than a GOOD (1 comment).
I’ve read that the ratio is closer to 5:1, but we’re close enough.

I agree with the following:

Good: TD Bank, ING Direct, Wendy’s, Rogers Wireless Service, Best Buy, Costco and Zellers.

Bad: Bell, Burger King, Walmart, CIBC,
Air Canada – Was told by service rep from India to drive 200km to T.O. in the midst of a snow storm to pick up my misplaced luggage. No way Apu!
Rogers Internet Tech Support – Test your download speed for free at SPEEDTEST.NET, then give them a call about the huge discreptancy, and they’ll likely blame your router or ethernet card. Completely useless.

By White Eagle on November 7, 2007 at 10:14 pm

Oops, how could I have possibly forgotten mentioning Canadian Tire as one of the worst for customer service. I guess people call it ‘Crappy Tire’ for a reason.

Anyways, I’ve noticed a drastic decline in customer service in retail store / restaurant employees as the unemployment rate drops. I guess all the better employees moved on to “better-paying” jobs with the improvement in the economy.

By RichardM on November 8, 2007 at 1:56 am

In the overheated Alberta economy all retailers suffer.
TELUS is the worst. Unbelievably bad.

SHAW is excellent. I liked them so much I bought stock.
TD has always been friendly and efficient.

By laketrout on November 9, 2007 at 7:54 pm

Future Shop. Try getting in store help if you’re shopping for anything other than a big screen TV…

By growthinvalue on November 13, 2007 at 5:18 pm

Somehow, I just new before I even had to scroll down that Bell would be No. 1. I mean, who doesn’t have a horror story with Bell Canada? Something about being a monopoly, and being old makes one complacent. Happens in all sectors.

I think, as you astutely noted, that size doesn’t have to be a negative for service, because the truly good large firms are the ones who ape a mom-and-pop feel.

By kannadaraj on February 11, 2009 at 4:01 pm

The discussion is so true and BELL CANADA has the worst service i had in my entire life. They not only create troubles but also they deny the existence of actual records which they are embarrassed of their mistake. They are highly prone to do mistakes and they put the blame on the consumer and charge unnecessarily for which is not your fault. Their internet department is the worst of all and have no courtesy to even speak properly and just pass the line to unnecessary people who cannot give right answers and also they have no right information.

By Ryan Cook on March 17, 2009 at 10:38 am

Every time i leave Kinkos i feel a slight tingling in the back of my neck which pulls my frontal lobes into a psychotic frenzy, compassionately sympathizing with mass postal mass killing sprees.

I think this next decade will see a transition from “going postal” to “going kinko”.

There is absolutely no customer service at any Kinkos location that i have been to in Canada. On top of that, the employess are often defensive and aggresive when you show any signs of frustration, as if its the customers fault that they suck so bad.

As of this day forward i am staging a moratorium against Kinkos and will do all my printing business at STAPLES and/or independent and localized print shops. Even if it means i have to drive 15 mins out of my way to get to STAPLES.

Skanks for the memories Kinkos.

By TS on June 11, 2009 at 12:12 pm

Future Shop – their phone help is non-existent. It’s an insult to have to deal with a company who doesn’t give a shit about customer service.

By LK on August 12, 2009 at 2:40 pm

Bell is the absolute worst company I have ever had the displeasure of doing business with in my life.
They are scammers and liars. They don’t give a shit about their customers and are hands down the WORST company when it comes to customer service.
Never have I dealt with a company so prone to making mistakes. Not only do they make constant mistakes, but they are not willing to do anything to remedy them.
Absolute garbage.
Future customers be warned. You know that there is something wrong with a company when there are literally thousands of horror stories all over the internet.
Save yourself the frustration and go elsewhere.

By MMH on September 3, 2010 at 2:51 pm

No surprises on this one. Bell wins worst customer service – HANDS DOWN! But, let us not discriminate…it’s not only Bell (via phone customer support) but worse still is any experience in a Bell/Bell World store.

They will do anything to get your money, then do anything to avoid having anything to do with you after. I have been lied to by reps in store and treated with complete ignorance and arrogance by service department staff.

Now, I don’t know if this is EVERY store, but the one I dealt with in the tri-cities area where RIM headquarters is…the mall in the city that starts with “W”…is the absolute worst customer experiences I have ever had. There are 2 people on staff there that should not have a job in customer service.

Other crap CS experiences also include:
- Canadian Tire (charging re-stock fees when they made a mistake on the part? I think not)
- Best Buy/Future Shop (same company, anyway)…don’t put stuff on sale if you only have 1 per store! They never have any advertised items, then try and sell you something more expensive
- Moore’s Men’s Clothing…leave me alone, Moore’s! I filled out a ballot for a draw at a wedding show and they cold called me relentlessly trying to get me to book an appointment for suits for my wedding. You lost my business on the second call…FOREVER!
- Walmart…open another register already! And lose the attitude when I get to the till!
- Bell Mobility and Bell World stores…no, I know I already mentioned them…they are just that bad…