We’ve all experienced bad customer service at one point or another: long wait times, terrible communication strategies and incompetent support, poorly trained agents, a lack of empathy, rude behaviour and bad attitudes – the list could go on and on.
Of course, everyone has bad days, and customer support agents are no exception. Working in such an emotionally draining sphere can be a total nightmare; employees are often under extreme time pressure and are expected to deal with complex problems and the tantrums of rude clients.
Their job is very demanding, and there will be times when they won’t be able to hide their moodiness – however, there’s a limit to everything.
Their job is very demanding, and there will be times when they won’t be able to hide their moodiness – however, there’s a limit to everything.
When a company is widely known for failing its customers with faulty products and missing deliveries, perhaps the issue is much more complex than the simple incompetence of its staff.
More info: Reddit
You know how it is – desperate times call for creative measures
Image credits: geograph (not the actual image)
“You would have to take that up with the board of directors” – this netizen took to one of Reddit’s most popular forums to share a story about a time he made the malicious decision to follow a customer care agent’s suggestion concerning his missing stand mixer. The post has managed to receive nearly 10K upvotes and 506 comments discussing the situation.
Electrical goods store fails to deliver this man’s stand mixer, so he maliciously complies and contacts every director
Image source: u/MirrorSignalCrash
The author was expecting to get his package in a week – however, after contacting customer service, he was told that he’d have to wait an additional 10 days
Image source: u/MirrorSignalCrash
The man began his post with a brief introduction: In the UK, there’s a huge store that sells electronics called Currys; it’s a well-known retailer that offers somewhat decent prices – however, it struggles with terrible customer service.
The OP was in the market for a stand mixer and was offered Currys gift cards for a 10% discount. Knowing the shop’s reputation, he was quite reluctant to use them but decided to take advantage of saving a bit of cash and ordered the appliance online.
Delivery was due in a week but – surprise, surprise – there was no mixer to be seen. Naturally, he rung up the customer service line to ask what happened, and after a 20-minute hold he was told that the product was out of stock and would take an additional 10 days to deliver.
Image source: u/MirrorSignalCrash
Time went by, and there was no mixer to be seen. He rung up customer support once again, and they stated that there was an order backlog, so he gave the company more time
Image source: u/MirrorSignalCrash
Image credits: m01229 (not the actual image )
Image source: u/MirrorSignalCrash
Since the author of the post was blessed with great patience, he decided to wait, but again nothing was delivered, even though the product was shown as “in stock” on the store’s website.
He contacted customer service, and their newest excuse was that there was an order backlog and they weren’t able to tell him when it’d be delivered. The man asked for a refund, but in the UK, if you pay by gift card, you can only be refunded in the same way.
Image source: u/MirrorSignalCrash
A couple of weeks later, he turned to an online chat where he was jokingly advised to “take it up with the board”
Image source: u/MirrorSignalCrash
The OP tracked all of the directors down, emailed them, and got an apologetic call from the CEO’s assistant in less than a day
Image source: u/MirrorSignalCrash
According to the OP, at that point he had no desire to use Currys ever again – however, he didn’t need yet another gift card, so he decided to give the company some more time.
A few weeks went by, and he turned to the shop’s online chat to find out what was going on, but as he probably expected, the representative was unable to help. Out of curiosity and lost hope, the man asked what he was expected to do, and the employee said that he had no idea and suggested the author take it up with the board. Here’s where the malicious compliance kicks in:
The guy went on a register of companies and found a list of Currys’ directors. He spent some time on LinkedIn, tracked them all down and sent them a summary of what happened alongside screenshots of the live chat.
Less than a day later, the customer received an apologetic call from the CEO’s personal assistant, who claimed she’d sort it out immediately.
Image source: u/MirrorSignalCrash
The stand mixer arrived in no time, and the price difference was reimbursed
Image source: u/MirrorSignalCrash
The OP was ready to wave goodbye to this mixer saga – however, he received three more vouchers, most likely by mistake, which he spent on an oven that also turned up late and faulty
Image source: u/MirrorSignalCrash
Image credits: TLC Jonhson (not the actual image )
By the time someone decided to do something regarding his missing order, the stand mixer had gone down by another £60. The “hero of this story” processed his order again and said that she would arrange for the team to send him a voucher for the difference.
He received his long-awaited mixer in no time, and a couple of days later received his promised Currys voucher. However, what’s amusing is that the company proceeded to send him three more vouchers over the next few months. The OP then joked that the admin team must be as useless as their customer service one, although he did buy a new oven that also turned up faulty and late.
Fellow online community members shared their thoughts on this tale
