Bad Customer Service Contest Winner

We would like to thank everyone for their submissions to our “Bad Customer Service” contest. We have chosen Ms. Sandy Waggoner’s entry as our contest winner! Sandy is the President of Resource Solutions Associates in Milan, Ohio. Her story, although quite hilarious, truly depicts customer service at its worst.



Sandy Waggoner

Due to the rupture of my water heater tank in March 2009, I was left with 3 inches of hot water over my basement floor. The higher temps outside turned my basement into a sauna, tempting me to put a “Health Club” sign in my front yard. As I cleaned up the mess and had the new water heater installed, I put out an APB to my friends for all available dehumidifiers to be brought to my house for deployment.  Anticipating no response, I sent my daughter to this “superstore” to purchase one which she did for $178.

For the next 2 days, the water heater project was in the clean up and re-install phase, and by the time I was ready for the dehumidifier, I had three sitting there waiting to be used. I did not take the purchased humidifier out of the box until July, and once I did, I discovered that the cooling coil did not work. I decided to return it because it was obviously defective and brand new. 

Lacking the receipt which was lost somewhere in the basement flood panic, I had a copy of my credit card statement, and the box was marked with this “superstore’s” name and address on a dated shipping label with the price and bar code for the item. After waiting 37 minutes in line, the customer service representative scanned the bar code and announced, “You bought this somewhere else, it’s NOT our merchandise!”  Noting that everyone within earshot was now looking at me like I was trying to scam this poor lady, I pointed out assertively that the store’s name, address, and pricing information was on the box so obviously it WAS their merchandise.  As our friendly little chat continued, she became annoyed and said to me, “Ma’am, I cannot take back merchandise that we did not sell” in what appeared to be her effort to embarrass me out of the store. Getting nowhere, I asked to speak to a manager and was told that he was not in and would have to call me “sometime.”

When I returned home, I received a phone call from the store manager the customer service representative had called at home because I was “rude” to her.  Oh my God!!  Being a patient Baby Boomer trained in Total Quality Management, I said I was sorry if I’d appeared rude, that I was frustrated and I explained the issue.  I was then told that “your dehumidifier isn’t our problem since it was an old unit you had obviously used and tried to bring back.”  I tried to explain that the unit had never been used, I had my credit card statement with the purchase documented in March 2009, and that the packaging was still in the box so obviously this was NOT an old, used dehumidifier, it was a new unit that did not work.  The store manager told me very tersely, “Lady, it’s not our problem.  Go pay someone to fix it.”   I thanked her for her call, and told her I’d be shopping at (the competitor) store in the future, wished her good professional luck during this recession, and hung up. 

Today the dehumidifier still sits in my garage as a reminder not to shop at the aforementioned superstore. I’ve not shopped at the store again except for a couple emergency purchases, and instead drive 12 miles north using $2.85 gasoline to another chain superstore in another county. The saddest part is that this superstore could have kept my business with very little expenditure.  They could have given me a $10 coupon for a new dehumidifier and I probably would have purchased one.  They could have paid $30 to recharge the unit, and I’d have continued to shop there every week spending my average of $150 per week.  They could have offered me 20% off a new unit and I would have purchased one, spending another $150 in their store.  They could have probably just been just NICE and I wouldn’t have crossed them off my list of retail establishments I patronize!  Instead, I’m true to statistics and I’ve told at least 10 people about my experience.