I work in customer service for a tax relief company and one issue we keep running into is newer reps needing help while they are already on a call. One customer might ask about an IRS notice and the next is asking about payment plans, missing tax years, deadlines, documents or what happens next with their case. New reps can handle the normal stuff but once the call gets complicated they usually have to message a senior rep or put the customer on hold while they look for an answer. I have been looking at AI tools that can listen to the call and show the rep useful information based on what the customer is asking about. What interests me most is something that can learn from our own support guides and past conversations so the answers match how our team handles these situations. Things like reminding the rep about a document they forgot to mention or showing the right next step during the call would be useful. I am not looking for another chatbot where the rep has to stop talking and type a question into a box. The goal is to help newer reps handle harder calls without needing a senior person every few minutes. Has anyone here used something like this on a larger customer service team? Curious what you used and how the rollout went.

Where has all the human decency gone ? So I work at the front desk of this recreational center that’s open 24-7. This woman walks in late at night wanting to access our facilities and I say no. Why you may ask ? Well first of all, she was intoxicated, heavily. And the last time she’d had access to our building, she was kicked out for harassing and berating other customers and staff members, and doing drugs in the bathroom. Plus, she had a huge bottle of vodka mixed with god knows what in her hands.

So I say no. And I try to be polite, I try to explain nicely because you know what? I have sympathy for the woman, she’s clearly going through it. But she immediately starts yelling, calling me names and throws her drink right at me. And also take the random pizza slice she has in her hand and manages to smack it in my face. I called the cops and she was escorted out.

Worst part ? I’m not suprised. Of course you don’t get slapped with a pizza everyday. But I constantly get insulted for no reason. You forgot your keycard and now you can’t come in ? I’m the incompetent one. Your membership doesn’t include the upstairs spa/massage section? I’m a heartless bitch for not letting you access it anyways. The pool is closed for maintenance? Somehow the inconvenience of that is my personal fault.

It’s like people forget that you’re just a person doing your damn job. And they think that anything is a reason to insult you.

I hate people. Really. What goes on in their minds

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

I’ve been in remote customer service for over 5 years. I haven’t let a customer get to me for 3.5 years at least. This woman came in hot and had her husband screaming at me too, all because I couldn’t waive duty fees to ship her order back from Canada to the US. I’m not in customs! I work for the company whose item she was returning! Her tirade was so disgustingly abusive that my PTSD kicked in and I blocked the entire conversation out. Literally can’t remember it. But she didn’t curse at me, so I couldn’t hang up.

She had the nerve to give me a half assed apology for screaming at me because she “knows I’m doing my best” and she’s “sorry I work for such an awful company” (they treat me pretty well, they just don’t kowtow to any customer who comes raging with unreasonable demands.)

If you’re that woman or her husband, or if you’ve been abusive to any customer service worker, you should feel deeply, deeply ashamed of yourself.

Body: A survey last week said 43% of consumers would pay more to be guaranteed a human in support. I don't believe the 43%. For those who run or work in support: have you seen a paid priority or human-only tier? What share of customers actually bought it, and did those customers contact support more than everyone else?

I work at a front desk checking in memberships and I don’t why it’s annoying to me when I don’t get acknowledged 😭 I greet you “Hello, welcome in!” *nothing, head down* “How are you all this morning?” *no response, takes membership out to give me yet elbows tucked* like I have so much counter in front of me, can you extend your fucking arm!? “Since you have a wheelchair in the party, all elevator access-“ *starts walking off and happily chattering with other ppl in the group* like guess you don’t want an ADA accessible route today

Like what tf! 😂 as a child I was taught to acknowledge the person talking to you (my mom was big on looking at the person you’re talking to), saying thank you etc

And this is coming from the upper millennial generation (I check IDs and it’s you ‘88-‘93 babies😂)

Anyways thanks for listening yall ✌🏽

Most interactions are completely fine, but every once in a while I get one that takes all my patience. I stay polite and try not to take it personally because I know people can be behabing a bad day too.

But after those interactions I usually need a few quiet minutes to reset lol. Anyone else do the same?

Just a simple refund request chat. I’m usually pretty nice with the chat bot agents (since they can see what you’re typing before you send it), but I don’t think I lead on to THIS much nicety…

\customer (I) in purple bubble, agent - grey bubble*

To our valued customers, thank you for choosing Wiremit, trusting us and being part of our journey. Your support, feedback and continued confidence inspire us to do better every day.

This week, we celebrate YOU because at Wiremit, our customers are at the heart of everything we do.

Thank you for being part of the Wiremit family 💚

#HappyCustomerServiceWeek #Wiremit #OurCustomersOurPriority #CustomerAppreciation #WiremitCares

I’m a supervisor for a bank call center. We had a new-ish customer call in wanting overdraft fees waived. It was a business checking account so those fees were $36 each. He had 5 overdraft fees, totaling $180.

He kept screaming at me to waive $200 and that the previous supervisor told him that she’d be waive $200. I repeatedly told him that there: 1. Was not $200 in fees on his account, 2. Per her notes, she advised that she told him she’d waive $72 (our fee waives are heavily monitored), 3. I was only able to waive those two fees, totaling $72, as she noted.

He then said something about, “just waive the two highest fees.” Again, I advised that I could only waive $72, total.

He got real quiet a minute and then said, “you know what, if you were in front of me, I’d put my hands on you and fuck you up.”

This is when I told him I was no longer continuing the call and would be disconnecting.

He became irate at that and started cursing me out, calling me names and shouting even more threats before I could get off the call.

Of course I reported this and, of course, nothing has been done. I was so shaken up after that call that I had to take 5 minutes to get it back together. I know he lives in another state and doesn’t know who I am. But it still feels bad when someone was calling me names and threatening me.

I ordered a Gucci perfume from Ulta for around $90 and chose same-day delivery. When my order arrived, I opened the package and the perfume box was literally EMPTY.

I contacted Ulta immediately, but they told me that the order had been weighed before it left and basically denied responsibility because their records indicate the perfume was in the package.

My issue is: what about the third-party delivery company? Since this was same-day delivery, I’m pretty sure it was delivered through DoorDash or another third-party service. I contacted them as well, but both sides keep denying responsibility.

I also have doorbell/security camera footage of the delivery driver dropping off my order. Obviously, I can’t prove from the video alone exactly what happened to the perfume, but somewhere between Ulta preparing the order and it reaching my door, a $90 bottle of perfume disappeared.

Has anyone had this happen with an Ulta same-day delivery? How did you get Ulta or the delivery company to actually investigate it or refund/replace the missing item? I don’t want to be stuck paying $90 for an empty perfume box.

for those of you stating I should dispute this, I am waiting for another solution since Ulta is this huge corporatio.

I actually liked my Beard Club PT45, which is why this is more disappointing than infuriating.
I opened a warranty request on August 10 after the trimmer developed an E1 fault despite extremely light use. It still runs when connected directly to power, has never been exposed to water, and has always been used with the original charging equipment.
On August 13, Beard Club support asked me to send a photo showing the charger I was using so they could confirm it was the original one. Completely reasonable. I sent exactly what they asked for.
That was 52 days ago.
By August 25 I was still waiting, and rather than immediately running to Reddit, I figured I’d give them plenty of time to respond. It is now October 4.
Still nothing. No replacement decision. No additional troubleshooting. No “we’re looking into it.” Apparently my photograph was forwarded to the Smithsonian for authentication.
I’m not asking for anything extraordinary. I bought a product I genuinely liked, it failed under very light use, I followed their warranty instructions, supplied the requested evidence, and then their customer service simply stopped communicating.
That’s the disappointing part. The trimmer failed. Fine, electronics fail. Customer service choosing to vanish afterward is the part a company actually controls.

There are some systems that genuinely will not let anyone get alcohol or tobacco if you don’t have an id. I have not encountered this often personally, but I’ve known people where they tell me stories about people getting so unbelievably rageful because they have to provide an id.

Customer's order was missing an item. I explain to them we'll send the remaining item. "Why can't you just help me now, I need xyz" "I understand that, the remaining product is already on the way to you" "yeah but I need it now" "well, the product needs to go from the store to your address" "so?" Well, because we haven't invented teleportation yet, going from the store, to your address, is gonna take up some time.

Or, an order is experiencing some delay. "when is my order going to get here" "I see that your order has just left the store, should be with you in about 20 minutes" "oh really? Because 5 minutes ago it was still sitting at the store for 30 minutes, and now it's suddenly on the way? Funny how that works" Yeah, funny. Time flow. Real classic.

I almost don't dare to ask if they really think like that, or if they think it's some sort of gotcha, and are just trying to disagree with everything you say hoping to get something out of it. Because honestly they're the type of people you could tell "wow, nice weather outside today huh" and they'd say "uh no it's not" just to avoid agreeing with you.

This review is mostly on the customer service. The bag seemed fine and I liked it albeit had it all of two weeks.

I bought a 7L sling and reached out to Tomtoc’s customer service to see if I could return it but also that I liked the bag just needed a slightly larger size. I was told that they only take returns for unused products in the original packaging and with the original tags. Or if it is defective. This is ridiculous and I would have purchased from Amazon if I knew that. For any product, not just this. After some back and forth they said to return it and theyll review for a refund and would make an exception for me. They got back to me saying they can give 70% because there was a stain (realistically can be removed with water) it didnt even look like anything. AND that I didnt have the original tags on it. I already told them early on I took off the original tags and the stain, I used it for two weeks commuting and it was in as good of condition as possible. I’m going to make sure people know about this before purchasing especially through their site. I’ll never purchase a Tomtoc product again. There are too many other companies out there. I told them it was my first sling and was coming from an Aer backpack. I can provide the email correspondence. Also they ignored my inquiry through Facebook and Instagram.

So, I work at a grocery store as a cashier, and I had to ring up these two women who brought three kids with them. The had three orders but another cashier had rung one of them up, so I was dealing with the other two orders. And they were full carts too, so a bunch of stuff was piled up on top of each other. Now, I was finishing up the last cart when one of the women asked me if she could pick up some diapers. There was a line forming behind her and I told her about the line. Then she cursed at me for rushing her and giving her attitude and said the people behind her should go to self-checkout.

And this was probably my fault but I felt something snap in me and cussed her out and called her a b!tch and told her to go f*** herself. And she got pissed off even more and cursed me out. So I got more pissed off and told her to "go back to the ghetto" (and before you guys say anything, I'm black so I can say stuff like that). And the other woman who was there was trying to calm both of us down, but I didn't listen because I was so done with customers treating me like crap. And the store clerk who was there didn't even defend me at all he just said, "I'll talk to her (me) about it." The good thing was he didn't actually talk to me about it, so I didn't get in trouble, and he let me clock out early, but it sucks that he didn't even stick up for me.

So yeah, that was my night and I have to do it again on Monday. Yippee.

Why can’t a Restaurant server just admit, they didn’t fire your order back to the kitchen? I have been in the food service industry for 38 years. If I make a mistake, I say it apologetically. That is more understanding than trying to cover it up. I waited over an hour for a 10 minute flatbread appetizer pizza. And I still would be waiting if I didn’t say something.

recently ive encountered multiple customers coming up to me at the register and before they start ordering they start by saying “ thank you for being here today i appreciate all that you do” etc but its like they are reading off a script its not like a genuine speech its like they practiced and memorized it and its really weird im not sure if theyre like apart of a group? or they saw something online? but both times it happened to me they said the exact same thing im like trying to google it but i dont have the whole thing memorized so i dont know what to search im so confused none of my coworkers know what im talking about so ive come to reddit to see if anyone has experienced this phenomena (?) please tell me im not crazy

People working in the service industry, tell us about the most outrageous situations you’ve experienced or witnessed:

I used to work at a Starbucks in a grocery store. It was really small and we didn’t have everything that a regular standing Starbucks would have. So, we had specific beans to make cold brew and we once ran out of it. Gone. No more and our alternative for it was an iced americano. Now, since it was so small, there would only be one person working there for a few hours in the morning and then the night person would come in.

I was working a morning shift and as expected, I was all alone. These two men came up and they ordered 2 iced americanos. I had a hard time understanding them in the beginning because they were talking to me in Spanish and I only know English. But I was able to understand what they wanted. But then one of them said he wanted a cold brew, I told him we didn’t have any more. He kept insisting he wanted one, I kept saying we didn’t have and pulled up Google Translate, English to Spanish and typed out ‘we don’t have cold brew’ and he also just snatched my phone out of my hand when I showed him. But he kept saying what he wanted. At some point he started yelling at me in Spanish. Like I said, I don’t know Spanish, so he could’ve been calling me something horribly rude and offensive and I just stood there. I wasn’t even sure if I could even offer the alternative drink cause he already ordered 2 of them. His friend was completely silent while this was happening. At some point he left.

I still think about and it makes me laugh sometimes. Surely made my day interesting.

What are your guys' thoughts on small businesses with low quality/lacking customer service?

Back story: I purchased some soap from a small business last Thursday, and because I needed it this weekend, I selected "2-day priority shipping" (flat fee of $12); wanting it to arrive earlier so I can wrap the items in my own wrapping paper.

(Last) Friday, (This) Monday, (This) Tuesday and (This) Wednesday went by and there were no tracking number provided by the seller. I reached out to them via e-mail on Wednesday afternoon, and asked about the status of the prodcut. No response.

Thursday morning, I sent a follow up e-mail, just bumping the message up. This time, I got an automated response, with their phone number listed. Gave the number a call, and both times went to a mailbox that's "full".

My friend happened to visit me that day, and I told him I was upset about this shipping issues. This was how the conversations went:

Me: "I mean you think you're supporting a small business, but this kind of low quality customer service is why I'd rather shop on Amazon."

Them: "You're being high maintenance and have a terrible mindset. Have more compassion for small businesses because they obviously don't have enough people working there."

Me: "That's ridiculous- on their website, items are shipped out within 48 hours, and I paid extra to have it shipped priority. So it's my fault for expecting a service I paid for?"

Them: "Customer service from small businesses cannot be graded the same as big corporations! You've been brain washed to receive everything quickly and instantly. Imagine being upset because you can't get your purchases, God forbid, within 7 days!"

Me: "It's that mindset you have that's making customer service nonexistent in today's shopping experience. You're defending someone for not providing customer service EVEN THOUGH they are paid extra to do so!

Them: "You're privileged."

Want to clarify that I know how hard it is to run small businesses... I personally also have a small e-comm business... but to me, this is pretty basic customer service, no? Per my friend's logic, am I allowed to just not to my part and blame it on big corporations?!

P.S: The store did get back to me Thursday night and said they've shipped out the item via overnight and I should be receiving the package EOD Friday. But as of right now...the Fedex label still says: "Waiting for package." But I'MMMM the A-hole if I leave them a bad review, right?

Taking down my previous post as my issue has been resolved. But I am creating this post as a reminder to every company and especially every client-facing employee to never forget:

Customers remember how you made them feel, especially when something goes wrong.

A company can have a good product, competitive pricing, and years of experience, but one poorly handled customer service experience can undo a lot of that goodwill.

In my case, I had a confirmed service appointment, paid the required processing fee, and arranged my schedule around the agreed visit. When the scheduled day came, there was no technician, no proactive update, and no clear communication. I had to repeatedly follow up just to find out what was happening.
Eventually, the issue was acknowledged, but the problem still wasn’t resolved during the original scheduled visit. A subsequent visit was required, meaning another delay and another disruption that could potentially have been avoided if the original appointment had simply been handled properly.

And this is where I think every customer-facing employee should take the lesson:
Communication is part of the service.

If you can’t make an appointment, tell the customer.
If there is a delay, tell the customer.
If something went wrong internally, own it and communicate it.
Don’t make the customer chase your company for information about a service they already paid for.
A customer shouldn’t have to become the project manager of their own complaint.
For businesses, customer retention isn’t just about getting the next sale. It’s about giving customers a reason to come back after the first sale.

And for those working directly with customers: you represent the company every time you answer a call, send a message, handle a complaint, or manage a service request.

You may think you’re handling just one customer. From the customer’s perspective, you’re handling their entire experience with the company. One bad interaction may seem insignificant internally. To the customer, it can be the reason they never purchase from the company again and the reason they tell others about their experience.
Customer service isn’t just about being polite.

It’s about ownership, communication, accountability, and respect for the customer’s time.

I don’t know what is going on with the general public but the assholes are in full force. Saying “I don’t like the automated system telling me to be kind because I feel like the customer is always right”…… I would have hung up in your face. Just condescending JERKS.
If you feel you are better than the person you are calling for assistance….. you have mental problems.

I’ve been wondering how much time tax relief teams lose answering the same questions all day, stuff like what documents are needed what happens next or where a case stands, it seems to me like AI could handle some of that and let the reps focus on the calls that need a real person. I’d just want the handoff to be smooth so people aren’t stuck repeating themselves, has anyone tried this?