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

TexasDrunk , 2 hours ago

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.

vortexal , 2 hours ago

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.

shinigamiookamiryuu , 2 hours ago

It’s hard for me to do that to them, they’re not the people I’m upset at. Unless the high school office counts as a customer service rep for high school. I might as well have left their property by now with a permanent impact crater.

sevan , 3 hours ago

My answers below, but for your current issue, put in a complaint with the FCC or email the CEO of the company directly. Most major companies have a process to resolve issues that normal agents can’t access if you can get to the right level. Emailing the CEO works with many companies, but telecom companies are sensitive to FCC oversight and would rather fix your issue than deal with the FCC.

…fcc.gov/…/115002206106-Internet-Form-Description…

Yes, the agent agreed with me that the company owed me money, but told me they couldn’t do anything about it. I told them I understood, but please put in a ticket to someone that could do something about it. They just kept telling me they couldn’t help until I got mad. They eventually relented and put in a ticket, which was then denied without reason a month later. I resolved the issue by circumventing the call center entirely and getting directly to an escalation team similar to what I recommended above.

snausagesinablanket , 3 hours ago

I would complain on their twitter account, That seems to get action pretty fast these days.

MoonMelon , 3 hours ago

I was the lowest rung CSR punching bag for many years, so no. I think that whole experience is what conditioned me to do what I’ve always done when I have bad service: cancel, chargeback (if necessary), move on. I’ve probably only left one or two bad reviews in my life, just to warn others of egregiously unsafe practices. One of those business reached out afterwards to “make it right”. Nope, no contact.

Those years also taught me that if you fill out a customer service survey and you give anything less than straight 10’s across the board then you are actively hurting the employee.

boogetyboo , 3 hours ago

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.

BallsandBayonets , 6 hours ago

I had a flat tire at midnight once. Tried for about an hour to change it myself before calling a tow truck company that said it was open. Got routed to a call center who said they had to contact one of their freelance trucks, after paying $250 over the phone. A little more back and forth and about 90 minutes later (when they said it’d be 30 minutes), no truck ever appeared. The call center (third rep that night) called and said the one person they had working tonight broke down outside of cell service, can they come out in the morning? I said that won’t work, I’ll just cancel and get a refund. They said it’d take 3-4 business days to get the refund and there’d be a $50 refund processing charge.

I didn’t quite blow up at them, but any time I have to stand up for myself I get shaky and struggle to keep the anger out of my voice. I explained (several times) that there was no way that was acceptable and that I would like to speak to their manager. “I spoke to my manager and there’s nothing we can do, that’s just the cost of processing a refund.” Well I paid for services that I didn’t receive, due to no fault of my own. Let me speak to your manager. Another hold. “My manager is willing to pay the refund himself this one time.” Yeah ok sure thanks bye.

20 minutes later my tire was changed by a different tow truck company who had a real employee answer before the second ring, had multiple trucks on duty, didn’t even ask for payment until after the work was done, and it was about $80. I fully expected to have to issue a chargeback for the first company’s charge but fortunately it never showed up on my card statement.

odelik , 5 hours ago

This is what charge backs are for FYI.

“I’m sorry, but you failed to provide a service. Either give me a full refund or I will start the charge back process with my credit card company and you’ll be forced to explain why your refund policy violates their ToS and any penalties that arise from that process.”

Drusas , 3 hours ago

Also, if you can and can do so without overspending, this is why it's best to use a credit card for all purchases rather than cash or debit. Can't do a chargeback if you didn't use a credit card.

tuckerm , 5 hours ago (edited 5 hours ago)

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.

Drusas , 3 hours ago

My experience with System 76 a few years ago was similar. Perhaps the single worst purchase of my life. I had to send it back to them to fix the fucked up hardware (it had a loose power socket and a bad motherboard) more than once and each "repair" took months. The first time they sent it back, nothing had been fixed. It was more than half a year before the fancy laptop I got from them was in any way usable.

Ceedoestrees , 6 hours ago

In person at an apple store.

I bought an iphone used off a friend who stopped being my friend immediately after. I never wanted an apple product, but my phone broke, I was poor and he sold it to me for $50.

I didn’t know you needed the apple id and password to SIGN OUT of anything. I sent him messages, did the whole “click here to request a new password” thing so he would get an e-mail about it…to his apple e-mail which, let’s be honest, no one uses.

Not being able to use the full functionality sucked, but I could manage. What was worse was receiving pictures and messages intended for him.

I did what any sane person would do and brought it to the apple store. The first person who helped me repeated “Our security systems protect your privacy” so many times, no matter what I said, I lost my shit, shouted “I would like to sign out so I can stop seeing nudes of this guy’s girlfriend!”

They didn’t help and I bought an android.

jewbacca117 , 6 hours ago

iphones are decent devices from a security standpoint, but useless if someone is still signed in. Your former friend sold you a $50 brick

Ceedoestrees , 5 hours ago

It still worked as a phone.

Calling features “Security” when they significantly reduce the secondary market is a convenient way to increase profits.

corsicanguppy , 4 hours ago

given Apple’s primary goal is “more things sold”, this is completely on-brand. Better, worse, secure, not; whatever the phones are or are not, every effort goes back to “more things sold”.

running_ragged , 4 hours ago

No, its a consequence of increased security and the inconvenience of have to sign out and create a new account when reselling the phone was an acceptable compromise, rather than an intended ‘bonus’ side effect. A lot of times companies do do that, but this wasn’t one off them.

This was your friend’s fault, and yours to trade cash before understanding how the system worked.

gamermanh , 4 hours ago

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

KoboldCoterie , 7 hours ago

I’ve definitely gotten angry about a situation while on the phone with a customer service rep, but not with the rep themself. I make it a point any time I’m audibly angry when on the phone to state that I’m angry at the company, not at the person I’m speaking with, and that I understand that it’s not their fault. It seems to help a lot; I used to work in customer service and I sure appreciated it when people made that distinction to me. It’s okay to be upset, just don’t take it out on a CSR.

1stTime4MeInMCU , 7 hours ago

Honestly this is pretty much it. Sometimes you have to be pretty aggressive to get companies to do the thing you need; they will take advantage of the social friction required to keep you in predatory arrangements. They literally design it to be frustrating so you’ll give up. Like you, I try to make it clear to the person I’m speaking with I have no problem with them just the business. But if the corporations require me to get mad to do the right thing I will get mad.

corsicanguppy , 4 hours ago

I have a friend whose family immigrated to Fiji from India before coming here. He’s bi-cultural, and his super-power comes from his heritage.

Also, he will wait on the phone and talk to as many reps as required in order to get a discount. In CANADA, his full-up TV package - sports, streaming, movies, 1gbps internet, etc - is $1 for the next 2 years. Then he’ll call again and bring up the days where things didn’t work, mention how this is a consistent pattern they promised to eliminate, and launder all that into another 2 years just so they can be rid of him. He outlasts them.

kambusha , 5 hours ago

N is for NIGHTMARE

kambusha , 5 hours ago

and, for closure

Extrasvhx9he , 5 hours ago

Honestly yeah not blow up levels of anger more passive aggressive with a hint of sarcasm when I was talking to them instead. It happened when I tried getting help at an at&t store to port out my number from at&t prepaid. Yes I know now its not the same branch or something but damn they were rude and at least could’ve told me who to call. Iirc they were watching a sports game so they probably just wanted to rush me out. At&t prepaid’s reps were nice though just thick accents.

nokturne213 , 5 hours ago

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.

NauticalNoodle , 6 hours ago

Define “help” I’ve blown up on unsolicited cold-callers like military recruiters, and political campaign fundraisers multiple times and it helped me feel better. If I’m calling for support then I’m already vulnerable and blowing up is like biting the hand that feeds so no, that doesn’t help. Power dynamics matter when taking your anger out on others. Self control matters so you don’t have to