Summary:

Can you make it through the haunted house of spooky CX trials and tribulations?

This Halloween, we are bringing you a selection of CX horror stories told by the anonymous folks of Resulticks. Get ready—these tales told from the perspective of an individual customer, are shocking, harrowing, and altogether grave.

Story 1: “A ghastly long ordeal”

While moving houses, changing the official address across subscriptions is essential. However, with broadband providers—it’s never easy. Considering that I was leaving the country I was in, I had to suspend my subscription or pass it on to a friend. I tried to do both. What ensued was truly grief-inducing.

The provider stated that they would need me to pay the outstanding amount (which would be refunded to me), relocate, and then fill out 12 different forms for the transfer of ownership.

What followed was a long ordeal speaking to nine separate representatives in succession, multiple forms and having to explain the same problem multiple times across the phone, email, and even in person because we were not assigned a single representative. 

The issue was finally resolved after six months of chasing the organization to facilitate the transfer and initiate the refund.

This ordeal haunts me till this day. It was hands down the worst experience I have ever had with any brand.

P.S. The icing on the cake was that they sent me $2 less than they were supposed to!

Story two: “The plane from hell”

I may have fallen asleep. I wasn’t sure.

What happened next was in the margin between consciousness and exhaustion.

Light was entering my eyes through the corner of the eye mask I was wearing. I pulled the eye mask tighter and focused on getting sleep. I secretly hoped they knew I was sensitive to light and would switch it off.

People were chattering around me, and I wondered why they weren’t sleeping. And the children. Don’t get me started on the rowdy children! I just wished the air stewardess knew I was a light sleeper and would give me a pair of earbuds to tide through the long night.

Then my jaw started clenching. The hair on my skin was standing and my numb fingers were digging into the fringes of the cardigan I was wearing. I wished I had another blanket to huddle under to stay warm and cozy.

With each wave of half-conscious sensation, my flight experience grew more and more unbearable. I did not do anything about the discomfort. Conflict-averse, I neither moved nor spoke up as my willpower drained away.

When the doors opened, I was relieved and dragged myself toward the exit for some fresh air. It took all my strength to hold back the exhaustion, but the damage had been done.

Story three: “Accountability gone wrong”

Some time ago, I ordered from an online beauty brand well-known for its great reviews and low prices. I paid an extra fee for the express courier so I could receive the product within the week. However, it didn’t arrive in time, so I flagged it to the customer service.

Much to my dismay, they told me that two of the products were lost in the mail. Wow, so much for great reviews!

I was aghast at their poor customer service. Why tell me my products were lost only AFTER I flagged it?! I proceeded to demand a refund.

All my products appeared only after 2 weeks. Surprisingly, the 2 products that were supposedly lost also showed up in the package as well! I was bewildered.

They did offer a full refund and told me to keep the products, which helped me recover from this CX tragedy.

Story four: “An imaginary gift”

I bought my aunt a gift card from an online store.

She then got an email with an offer code. She went all the way to the store only to find out that the offer code didn’t exist!

We asked the staff what to do next. They said that we should raise a ticket with the customer support team. I sought their advice, but received no response.

In a fit of desperation, I scrolled through their social media pages to find anything resembling an answer. But I only saw 100 other people complaining about the same issue.

I never got my 400 euros back, lost in the eldritch abyss of horrendous customer service.