Wiffy

Exact thought went through my mind when I saw the thread!

Isakat

To be fair, good customer service is lacking in other countries as well.
Just got back after 3 weeks abroad and had another bad experience in a shop.
I went to a toy shop with the kids; DS wanted to see some cars, so DD and I said we would wait for him at the end of the isle, from where we can see him while he looks. He touched a toy, then an almighty bang ensued and he came back frightened. At that moment, the security guard came to me and asked me to put all the fallen toys back on the shelves since "it was your son who did this". There was nothing broken by the way.
My reply was that I do not dream of doing someone elses job, I am a customer here and do not get a salary. To which he replied that he was the security guard. Well then, I said, you can ask the girls employed here to get off their a**es and stack the fallen boxes as they did not do a good job in the first place. He was speechless when I turned my back on him.

I forgot to ask him-"Are you coming to check maybe that my son was not hurt by all those fallen boxes?"
Needless to say, I just went out and told OH who was waiting outside what had happened. Apparently, he would have put the toys back on?!

duffer

Was this in Italy? Security guards have guns here.

Isakat

No, it was not in Italy, but anyway, I have a big mouth and a bad temper.

Sirena

Fiumicino airport has awfully angry staff members! Pretty unhelpful too.

Italy is a very very slow moving country, which is difficult I feel for us brits, especially if like me, you're a city person!

I was conducting research for my dissertation on an italian river this summer and had to abandon ship as there was no useful information available even though around easter time it was all promised to me....(with a no no no non ti preoccupare, ti do tutto + a wink)... should have known from the wink!

ononno

Welcome to our world!

Juvefan

I have traveled to many countries, I have had great service and shite service, and down right rude service where the guy is lucky I didn't knock his block off.
but I guess it really depends, a lot of professions the employees know they can't be easily fired so they blatantly tell customers to shut up! or piss off.
other staff know you are not going to make a complaint because you don't speak the language and if you ask for the manager of the supervisor , well guess what? he or she is not here and I don't know his number or when he is coming back. etc.. the run around.
foreign country, on holidays, don't want to make a scene , so you just leave.

or the worker is friends with the manager, so if you complain you end up being the fool. so yeah... what I always do, is walkout of shops, not pay, get up from restaurants and just walk out. tell people to piss off, what ever I feel is right.
airports are the worst, because you have no choice but to use their services, Easy jet have some right little twats working for them.
and even some of the workers at heathrow! just rude little sods!


I treat people how I would want to be treated , but if you treat me like a tool!
then I will treat you like one.

and what is this scam in Italy where you pay more in a bar to sit down?
COME ON! what ever happened to hospitality? I mean that is the industry isn't it? hahahahhahaha
drives me mad, I have been done a few times like that I just feel ripped off, you know, the bar is empty! I want to sit down. SIT DOWN, that's all.. and I should pay 10X more for the coffee. because I want to use the chair?
next they will be charging to use the loo!!

Isakat

what I always do, is walkout of shops, not pay, get up from restaurants and just walk out. tell people to piss off, what ever I feel is right.


Well, this is what happened here a few days ago.

A few days ago a Romanian diplomat and a young blondie were sitting in a famous restaurant in Rome and were waiting for their meal an awful long time. He was p***sed off and got out of the restaurant refusing to pay for a bottle of wine he had while waiting. He then went to the restaurant nearby, while the owner of the first restaurant followed him there and demanded money for the bottle of wine. They called the police and it transpires that by law you must pay for what you consume in a restaurant.
He took 10 euro from his wallet and paid.

What a horrible publicity for this restaurant and for 10 euro, they are bloody fools, they do not know how to do business.
And in England, you get free drinks if you complain about your meal...

Juvefan

just to be clear, when I said not pay, I meant I don't consume anything.
because that would be theft. not pay means just walk out of the place and not order and not pay, give them nothing!

Lorna at Vicenza

I got given a smartphone in October.
Last month the wifi stopped working on it and then it kept losing the Vodafone signal as well.
Took it back to the shop this morning with the receipt and original box and everything.

I was expecting the shop to tell me it would go to repairs, but I was really hoping they'd just give me a substitute.

No bloody chance. Off it goes to repairs for 3 to 4 weeks.
I said something like, " I might have known that even in this shop i servizi clienti is nothing other than a good word, but only a word as actual service never comes into it. How the hell can you leave somebody without a phone for a month? There's an identical phone just there. Give me that one."

I was told that no can do and surely I must have a spare phone at home, to which I replied "no."

Then the customer service guy filled out a form in my name and then asked me for my mobile phone number !!!!!

I laughed at him and asked if he was serious ........... "you've just taken my phone away for a month and you're asking for its number you cretin"

I was told that he'd give me the SIM from it and to ask around my friends for an extra phone.

"That's not the bloody point though is it?" I said. "It's not my job to fill in your gaps in service. This phone has been bought and paid for and is not even 6 months old and now I, the customer, has to live without it for a month and you think you'll call me on it when it's ready to pick up."

I was told that they can't just substitute by law. I want to know what that law is.

I have got an old Nokia here but that really isn't the point. I wasn't going to stay there and argue all day, but it sure as hell put me in a bad mood.

Isakat

I know how you feel Lorna.
Our microwave stopped working( bit inside would not rotate, but heated food). I use it all the time, can not live without it. We thought to repair it, then OH said, to hell with repair, we will be without it for at least a month, I am getting a new one.
He did get one from Media World, much cheaper model, no inverter and just when we wanted to take it out of the box, DS said, lets try the old one once more. Lo and behold, it started rotating, it must have some cut off mechanism when it overheated.
He took the unopened box back to the shop and I nearly fell of my chair when he said they gave him a refund on his credit card!! I was expecting at best a voucher which I did not want, but they surprised me.

MarkRD

Well I've had two pleasant encounters with Italian customer services* this week, surprisingly, so I can't complain.



For now.







*namely, Paypal (Lottomaticard) and amazon.it

Isakat

That is because they are international companies.

MarkRD

True, but then again look at Vodafone and Sky (Italia) ....

Mind you I got a text from Vodafone saying that as from today I get 1GB of internet instead of 500Mb for the same price. I might start using it a bit more now.

37100

I've found that at least here, most shops are willing to do this. I bought a few different handles to try out at home and just returned the ones I didn't like.

One of our cars is a VW. It's been in the garage (3 diff garages) 6 times in less than 3mnths for the same problem plus another couple of times for different reasons. VW usually calls you after your car has been in for work. They don't call us anymore. Our next car will not be a VW.