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Be honest: have you ever lost your temper with a customer service rep? And did it ever help?

I’m having a hell of a time with my current ISP (sitting at 18 days now without a connection) and I’m having to bite my tongue every time I’m talking to them (Remember The Human and all that)

Whilst the front line support are nice people and answer the phones quickly they are honestly pretty useless and they never really sound like they know what they’re talking about, also seemingly none of the departments seem particularly good about communicating what’s going on so it’s hard to get a straight and useful answer out of them.

Have you ever lost it with a rep? What happened? and did it ever help push things along?

64 comments
  • Yes, although for a good reason.

    I ate at a fairly well-known cafe where I live, and had a sandwich and side salad. I finished the salad, and near the end I felt a weird crunch in my mouth. Suddenly I could taste blood near my gums, and when I looked at what was left of the salad I could see broken glass.

    Obviously, I was a little panicked, and my wife quickly called someone over to say that there was glass in my food. One person stayed with me while the manager went to the back, and found out that one of the chefs had broken a glass on the table, but had just washed the salad clean rather than throwing it. By this point I was really embarrassed because around 30 people were staring to see what was happening, given that I had blood coming out of my mouth

    I said that this was probably in other people's food, so they should probably tell others, but instead of responding they handed me cash to cover our meal, apologised, and walked away. I shouted at them to say that they shouldn't ignore it because others were eating the same salad. My wife chimed in and told everyone that we had found glass in the salad and that they shouldn't eat it.

    I've never gone back, but a few years later I had told someone that story and they said that they'd heard a rumour about it from locals, so it seems that people remembered that story and stayed away.

  • A few times. Usually, like many others, I let the rep know that it's not their fault but I'm angry and try to escalate to someone who has the authority to assist. Three times I went over the line. I'm going to leave out a lot of details on the ISP ones because one would be far too long and the other could potentially out some of the parties involved. It helped in every case, and I genuinely feel bad about one because I could have gotten someone fired.

    Once an HP rep stonewalled me for hours and I baited him into saying something fucked up on a recorded line. I hung up, called back, repeated what the rep said, informed them that it was recorded, and asked for a supervisor. I got one immediately and got my problem solved. I'm not proud of the way I handled it but I was young and not thinking about how my actions might affect others.

    Another time was a national ISP. Every single time I called all the supervisors were in a meeting (yeah, right). My service worked almost 2 out of every 3 days and I wasn't getting nearly the speeds I was paying for. I got on with a rep who told me about yet another supervisor meeting. So I said I'll hold. I told him that I had vacation time and no Internet so I had nothing else to do but fuck up his call time statistics and tell dirty jokes. In those days at that call center they weren't allowed to hang up unless you were straight up abusive. He blinked before I did because he was supposed to have already gotten off work and I was in the middle of telling bad limericks. So I got a supervisor and they actually got me fixed up the next day.

    The last time was a different (local this time) ISP. I had requested specific times for repair because I was working nights and had been without Internet for weeks. I was told that was no problem. But they repeatedly showed up in the middle of the day (supposedly, I never heard from them so they weren't ringing the doorbell but every time I called they claimed to have come out and no one was home) and telling me it's my fault for being asleep and never letting me talk to anyone except for the receptionist. So I called one morning insisting I needed to talk to someone else because it had been weeks and she wouldn't put me through so I let out a string of curse words and the supervisor interrupted me telling me not to talk to their employees like that. I told her about all the trouble I've had and that since she was there and had the receptionist lie to me about her being busy that I didn't give the slightest shit what she thought. I told her that I was coming off nights and unless she wanted me up there every day I had off explaining to anyone in a suit walking in exactly how I was treated and that she was having her employees lie for her she'd have someone out that evening who would ring the doorbell and fix my shit.

    It turned out that the issue was with their connection at the box on the outside of my apartment building so they should have been able to fix it without my input at all. No one bothered to fucking check. I seriously don't think anyone came out but I can't prove that.

  • Yes, after the rep had personally been trying to play dumb for almost 30 minutes. As a CSR myself I know it shouldn't take 30 minutes to explain your delivery person THREW MY PACKAGE OVER MY 8 FOOT FENCE FEDEX I FUCKING SAW THEM DO IT. THE PACKAGE SAID FRAGILE ON IT YOU STUPID CUNTS WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND I HAVE SECURITY FOOTAGE

    I kinda blacked out because I absolutely loathe being unkind to customer-facing workers but dear Christ this was a $300 object and I could hear the smugness as the guy played up his Indian accent (suddenly much more understandable after I snapped) while saying "I'm sorry sir I don't see what the problem is they delivered your package????"

    Fuck that guy, he deserves nasty customers every call

  • There've been a couple times. I make a distinction between frustration at the company and the person, but sometimes you run into reps that are willfully unhelpful or actively malicious for their own gain.

    Two cases come to mind. I've had an ISP rep call me about updated prices, who then proceeded to try and sell me a broadband and streaming bundle subscription. I would have gotten a slightly faster speed, plus the streaming BS. Same price as I was already paying.

    I specifically asked if unbundled contracts had also been changed, and the dude said "no". I checked the prices online while still on the call, and the bastard was straight up lying. Without the streaming bundled, the price was lower and came with even more speed. I told him this, and he asked "oh do you want that then?". I replied "yes, but not if it gives you a sales bonus", so I hung up and signed up for the new contract via the ISP website.

    In the other case I was shopping for jeans, and the store rep repeatedly handed me elastane-ridden skinny jeans a few sizes too small, insisting they'd look better, even as I kept telling him the exact size I wanted, and that I preferred the 100% cotton denim, loose fit jeans. At the fourth pair of skinny jeans I told him to fuck off, and just went through the store myself until I found what I was looking for.

  • One thing I hate is when I finally reach a human being and it's clear that the rep is being forced to read a script. And that means they probably have little to no ability to solve my problem.

    Management is wasting both our time with their CYA, boilerplate BS

  • Yep, but i felt really bad afterwards. Purchased tickets on American airlines on short notice due to the death of my wife’s close aunt. The trip had a connecting flight and our first flight got delayed by an hour (np plenty of layover time left). then when we land the plane taxied for over an hour giving us about 10 panicking minutes to make the connection, but if we ran we could make it.

    we didn’t, The terminal was much farther than expected. in the rush, my wife lost her ID, which added to further frustration. maintaining decent composure up until we go to the AA desk to schedule our alternative flight. The flight we were supposed to go on was the last flight for the day. and the next one wasn’t until next day evening.

    well that was not going to work because the funeral was in the morning. We asked if we could fly to another city (equidistant to rural home) but the clerk was really firm on that the flight had to be to my destination. after all, our bags made it there.

    that was what cocked the hammer back for me. I asked to speak with someone higher and they gave me a number, and boom i was pretty irked and very rude to the service rep who had the patience of a saint. She did get us on the soonest flight to the other city. My wife was crying with relief and i was sobbing my gratitude and apologizing for my behavior. the Service rep brushed it off like it was business as usual and tells me to have a nice flight.

    Aside from having to go purchase new clothes at 1am, we made it to the service a few hours later.

  • I did. Back in the old days we had phones connected to wires called land lines. The phones were controlled by shitty companies similar to cell service providers or cable companies (almost as archaic as land lines).

    I was having trouble getting my land line up and running after a move. A bad day at work, money trouble, and a phone that still wouldn't work, set me off. I totally lost my shit on a poor, under paid rep. I mean, I went off. It was brutal. I think I made her cry. The people in the room I was in (rental office at the new apartment complex) all left the room.

    After a solid 2 or 3 minutes of me just ripping into this innocent person, I caught myself. I realized what I was doing mid-rant and just stopped. I sort of gasped and said "oh god. What the fuck is wrong with me?" or something similar out loud. I spent the next couple of minutes apologizing and telling this person how big a shit head I was being. I admitted that I had crossed a line, commended them on their professionalism, and took full responsibility for making this their problem when it clearly wasn't. I was sincere and I was honest. I told her that she should hang up on me and make a note in my file that I'm a problem. I also said that I'd never yell at a rep like that again. And humbly asked if ther was anything she could do to help me. She did. She solved whatever bullshit problem there was and was so rad to me.

    She went so far above and beyond after I treated her like shit. That was close to 30 years ago and I still have never even raised my voice to a rep since. As bad as some places are, as poorly trained as some reps are, even as shitty as some reps are, I'll never forget how rotten a person I was in that moment. I don't want to be like that. That's not the kind of world I want to live in. And frankly, fuck a dude that would talk to me like that.

  • Yes. There was a new streaming service that I signed up for. I used an email alias and the confirmation email never arrived. They had no way to change my email address or activate my account except for me clicking the link in my email.

    After a month my free trial expired (without me ever being able to log in), they added a second month of free trial while trying to activate my account. This went on for 5 months, finally the 6th month they did not give me another free month and I was charged. Still no solution for the situation. 7th month arrives and I get charged again. The 8th month I lost it. I knew most of the support and customer service reps at this point as I had talked with also all of them multiple times a week for months. But with no solution in sight and being charged for multiple times months I finally lost it on one of the CSRs. Surprisingly while I was on the phone with them they were able to cancel my account and issue a refund.

  • Not on the phone but I had to threaten the Bitdefender E-Mail rep with a lawsuit in order to get my money back.

    A few months into my 2 year subscription I changed my e-mail associated with my Bitdefender account. Thereafter all mail I got from them went to that new email, as it should. A short while after that I switched over to Linux and my "need" for an AntiVirus evaporated entirely between Linux' workflow not really requiring one anyway and me learning how little AntiVirus Software offers over the default Windows Defender. Queue forward to the end of that 2 year subscription (whose auto-renewal I had disabled before leaving Windows exactly to prevent what happened anyway but alas I have no proof of that anymore) I notice a really weird charge while reviewing my credit card statement. A charge that by all accounts should not have been there and one I was not made aware of beforehand. Guess what, those fucks sent only the mail about the upcoming renewal to the old email account which I had no reason whatsoever to suspect would still receive mail from them. Curiously the mail about them cancelling the renewed charge after I went off on them was sent to the new email again...

    Initially the customer service said "oh well can't do anything here's a 50€ discount" until I lost my cool and threatened to sue them for theft because by all reasonable standards I could not have expected them to inform me on my old email about this upcoming charge.

    On that note my stance was reaffirmed: Between and AntiVirus and an actual Virus I'd pick the latter, at least those are upfront about their motives and intentions instead of pretending to provide you with a service.

  • Can you file a complaint straight to a regulatory agency? In Brazil, thankfully, whenever ISPs or telcos give you too trouble, you can simply complain straight to ANATEL (Brazil's telecom regulator agency), saying what you're trying to do and which, if any, protocol ID (you get one whenever you get on line with their customer blockage service) you've had. Companies will reply and fix the problem the next day.

    • This is what I did, except I'm in the USA. I had to contact the FCC directly because my phone and internet provider just pretty much quit working. Turns out they were doing repairs in our area and just didn't tell anyone to expect interruptions. If your ISP won't take you seriously now, they will if you file an informal complaint with the FCC or other comparable agency.

  • Yes I have, and no it does not help. Always apologize and tell them it's the situation, not them, that you are upset with.

    I've done that job before and most likely they would help you if they could, but the company won't train them or make any solutions available because it costs money. Your impression that they don't know what they're talking about is probably accurate.

    Your best bet is to keep escalating to a higher department ("manager", "office of the president").

  • I'm certainly close right now. I bought a laptop from System76 in December (the Pangolin). It has not, any any point, worked acceptably. First the USB ports would frequently disconnect and reconnect. Then the trackpad started freaking out, registering constant false clicks and not letting the cursor move.

    The first time I sent it in, they shipped me back someone else's computer.

    When I did get my own laptop back, I found that the trackpad issue hadn't been fixed. Then it stopped waking up after being suspended.

    So I sent it in again, and got no updates from them for 30 days. They said their usual turnaround time was 7-10 days. And the first time I sent it in, it took them about a week to send it back. Well, to send a computer back. So something was wrong here.

    On top of that, the support ticket has a "Last Updated" timestamp, and it kept changing every couple of days. I asked them for details, and only received generic "sorry this is taking a while, we're working on it" responses. I specifically wanted to know why the "last updated" timestamp was changing every few days, because of course I'm imagining that they've shipped my computer to someone else.

    I finally responded in all caps, asking where my computer was for that unexplained month, and why the timestamp kept changing. The support agent replied:

    Your computer was at our warehouse waiting to be worked on.

    Bless up,

    (Support agent name)

    Bless up? Fucking asshole.

    I always want to be patient with those working in customer support. It's difficult and often thankless job. I know how unfair it is when a customer blows up at someone in customer service, not to mention how unhelpful it is. And usually the customer is yelling at someone with no power to fix the situation. But this System76 thing is getting ridiculous. They're literally just not responding to emails and dodging questions when they do respond.

  • The only time I ever did was with Microsoft years ago on the Xbox 360.

    I bought a game online then a couple days later it kept telling me I didn't own the game but they still took my money. So I called customer service and after being transferred for the 6th time I finally lost my shit. I explained multiple times that I'm not angry with the rep but that this whole situation was completely unacceptable and it either needs fixed immediately or I'm trashing my Xbox and buying a Playstation.

    They gave me a full refund and let me keep the game.

  • Yes. They started the rudeness and I was done being the polite one. It was clearly a misunderstanding that led to a mistake on their part but once I made that obvious to them, they doubled down.

    I was getting more and more blunt, think 'so what you're telling me...' type tone. And then I heard myself and internally cringed.

    Yes the fuck up was theirs alone. But having worked in a similar role 20 years prior, I remembered how one interaction like the one we were having would completely ruin your day.

    She was flushed red in the face and neck and I remembered being young and making the (wrong) decision to double down when I'm caught out in a fuck up rather than admitting fault and working on a remedy. It's a lesson only learnt in time and humiliation.

    I think she'd learnt it at that point but it was too late. And an angry middle aged woman ranting at her was not going to do anything.

    So I stopped and said 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't be speaking to you like this. I've already had a bad day and this has made it so much worse. But that's got nothing to do with you and you don't deserve to be spoken like that by customers. When's the next available appointment?'

    She gave me a curt 'that's ok' - and believe me that almost made me snap again, but we sorted it out.

    I noted the next time I got a confirmation for my appointment that they'd included my suburb in my surname - I think to differentiate between me and another customer (the reason for the crossed wires). That's a win. But I hope she learnt a lesson about seeking truth rather than victory and I hope she wasn't too upset.

  • Yes and yes. It just depends on when and how it's done. It worked wonders with my medical insurance. My Doctors weren't too happy yet my health improved.

  • There has been four times I remember where I've either lost my temper or just got really frustrated when contacting support teams. Sorry if this seems long winded, I like to vent every time I can about some of these.

    The first time was when I tried to contact Samsung because I was having an issue with the Galaxy Store. At the time when I was trying to contact them they only had two contact methods, which were by phone and through some form of a support forum. As someone who hates talking to people through phone calls and prefers to just use emails, I opted into at least trying the support forum. As I expected, Samsung's support team ignored my post and I only got replies from users who either had no idea what I was talking about or were just bots.

    I just gave up trying to contact them after that and I haven't used the Galaxy Store very much. If you're interested in knowing what the issue is, basically, the "recommended for you" section keeps recommending me apps that I've already rating, even if I gave them a low rating.

    The second was when I tried to contact the support team for Hideout because I couldn't get videos on their website to work in any web browser on my tablet. I did everything I could to provide as much information as I could, even providing screenshots whenever I thought it would be helpful. After a few days of doing everything they asked me to and continuing to provide as much information and as many screenshots as I could, the CEO of Hideout came into the conversation and proceeded ignore everything I stated up to that point and insinuated that I wasn't being cooperative because one of the browsers I was using "looked outdated" and that the issue would have been fixed if I just updated that browser.

    I don't remember exactly how I responded but I remember calling them incompetent because YouTube working perfectly fine on my tablet but Hideout didn't and reminding them that I stated multiple times that the browsers I tested were reinstalled before testing to make sure that my settings wasn't causing any conflicts, so none of the browsers could have been outdated. They never responded after that and eventually marked the ticket as being solved when it very clearly wasn't. I stopped using Hideout after this but I probably still wouldn't be using it because sometime after that I heard that they stopped paying their users or something like that.

    The third time was when I contacted Discord's support team because I had an issue where email notifications just randomly stopped working for me. They had me try all sorts of things, like contacting the admins of the servers I joined and making sure that my Discord inbox was cleared regularly. This also included changing my email address on Discord, which caused them to temporarily refuse helping me for reasons that I don't understand. After I asked them why they were punishing me after doing what they requested of me, they claimed that there was a miscommunication on their end and continued trying to help me.

    Eventually, they determined that my issue needed to be looked at by the dev team and sent the information to them. I was expecting them to either fix the issue or at least tell me how to fix it on my end but when they responded about a week later, they gave me some bogus answer, stating that "email notifications don't work for servers with more than 5000 users". I know for sure that this was a lie because I was told by the admins for some servers that the email notifications are working for other users but the rep kept ignoring what I was saying and refused to fix the issue. I just gave up trying to reason with them and filled out the survey they gave me, even though I'd imagine that no one at Discord actually read it.

    The fourth time was when I contacted Google because I was having an issue with the Play Store. The issue was that there was an app that I wasn't able to review because when I tried to review it the first time, it glitched out and only used half of my review so I deleted it but I kept getting error messages every time I tried reviewing it again. I was using Firefox in Ubuntu at the time and I figured that the issue was something on their end and that contacting them would be quick and easy but I was wrong.

    I was emailing them about and fourth for a little over a month because they kept giving me suggestions that were irrelevant to my issue, requesting that I use features that didn't exist on any of my android devices (which still don't as far as I'm aware) and forgetting everything relevant to my issue, even what my issue was in the first place. At one point, I thought that they just gave up and redirected me to a bot that ghosted me because all of the emails they sent prior had the name of the rep I was talking to and a message about some survey they'd have me fill out when the conversation was done. I received about three emails that didn't contain either of those before they just stopped emailing me entirely.

    Given that I thought that they wouldn't respond, I decided to reply to the last email they sent with an angry email. I have once again forgotten my exact words but I remember expressing how I felt and that if they're not willing to help me with my issue, that I'd want them to just give me the survey they mentioned in previous emails. They did respond after about a week but I really just wanted the conversation to end, so I repeatedly told them that I didn't want to talk to them anymore and after a few emails they ended the conversation and gave me the survey. While I have no idea if they actually did anything directly but the issue seemed to be fixed about 6 months after that.

64 comments