People's Worst Customer Service Nightmare Experiences

No matter how much we like a company and the services or products they offer, none of us like having to make phone calls to customer service.

Even the best customer service tends to require a long wait time to speak to someone, and sometimes that person isn't able to help in the way the customer needs.

But there have been some customer service experiences that were so bad, the customer decided to never support the company again.

Curious, Redditor No_Jackfruit_890 asked:

"What companies gave you such bad service, you will never give them a dime again?"

Comcast

"Comcast."

"My husband died. The account was in his name. They made me go down in person with his death certificate so I could pay the balance and have the account transferred to me."

"Then the CSR didn’t do it correctly and didn’t make a copy of his death certificate, so they made me go back again in person because they’re incompetent."

"I lost my husband at 50 and had two children and no family nearby. I hate this company."

- Maleficent_Appeal330

McLaren Hospital

"McLaren hospital (Greater Lansing)."

"They called me the day before my daughter's surgery and told me I had to pay more than $6,000 RIGHT NOW, or the surgery is cancelled. So I paid."

"A month later, I discovered that they overcharged me by more than $3,000, and it took months, multiple calls, and complaints to all sorts of agencies before they actually corrected it."

"I still worry about all the people who cancelled their surgeries because they didn't want to or COULDN'T pay that kind of money..."

- Antique_Grapefruit_5

"McLaren’s hospitals are so weird. I needed some blood work done recently, and my insurance had the McLaren hospital near me listed as in-network. Then the admissions desk said they didn’t take my insurance, so I’d have to stop at a different desk to pay for it after."

"I basically had to walk to the other end of the hospital to be told, yes, they DO in fact take my insurance and they have no idea what the f**k the admissions desk was talking about."

- upsidedownshaggy

Xfinity

"Xfinity. I still have collectors chasing me for two months of internet service after I had canceled, disconnected my line, and moved in 2022."

"They also claim I have to pay to replace their 'rented equipment,' which I never used, and had to pay shipping fees to send back to them despite telling them I was using my own equipment in my initial installation request."

"I was a customer for five years. I have spent at least 12 hours trying my best to contact any sentient lifeform to resolve their mistake. They provide literally zero options to speak to a human about issues like this."

"The 'debt' is not life-ruining, but I absolutely refuse to pay and have taken a hit to my credit because of it. F**k that miserable company."

- Conman3880

Verizon

"Verizon for me. I went in-person to the same store I got my equipment from to cancel. You can't cancel in person; you have to call. I tried calling, and they won't accept a call from a non-Verizon number. I tried to cancel online and have to go through a pay wall."

"Finally, I had to cancel my card that was set to auto-pay for them to stop billing me. They kept sending me bills, and I would write back that I have tried various means to cancel; get the hint."

"They got that message on the eighth or ninth letter. Then they told me that they would send packaging to return their router, and never did. Now, they are trying to charge me for the router."

"Since snail mail was the only way to contact them effectively, I will continue to use that to communicate with them."

- That-Grape-5491

Airbnb

"Airbnb. I booked an amazing apartment for our wedding night, but the owner decided he wanted to use it then."

"The f**ker didn't provide keys etc, locked me out, didn't reply to phone calls (except dead on 29.5 mins text to say he's responding to ensure compliance with Airbnb rules to reply within 30 mins)."

"Then the f**ker told Airbnb I'd cancelled so I was due no refund."

"They lapped up that s**t and wanted to double-charge me."

"I fought it and in the end only got 50% back. I've never used Airbnb since. My level of hate for that company is still off the charts, nearly 10 years later."

- Soylentfu

"I booked an Airbnb six months in advance once for quite a long stay. The day of check-in, we hadn't heard anything from the property owner. They would not respond to anything."

"We finally reached out to Airbnb support, and they messaged the owner saying if they didn't respond to us, they'd be banned from the platform. Key codes suddenly showed up."

"In the months between booking and check-in, the city had popped up on a number of must-see travel lists, and rates had doubled. We never got an apology from the owner, so we just assumed they were hoping we would cancel so they could book it at the higher market rate."

"Airbnb support came through for us in this instance, but I'm hesitant to use them again because of this property owner."

- brzantium

Ticketmaster

"It makes me so mad that Ticketmaster is unavoidable for certain venues in my city."

- DowntownComposer2517

"I checked the price online for a ticket to a play at my local performing arts center, and it was $260. Then I went to the venue box office just to see the difference in price. Same seat... $115."

"I bought two tickets at the venue box office for less than the price of one through Ticketmaster."

"I mentioned that to the box office clerk and she said, 'Ticketmaster is a giant rip off, it's not regulated. Always buy at the box office if you can.'"

"I've had other issues with Ticketmaster, too. They're really a trash company."

- Eiffel-Tower777

Progress Insurance

"Progressive insurance. When I moved states, I needed to get insurance in the new state."

"My quotes were coming in astronomically high! Progressive was cheapest by hundreds of dollars. I replied back to our local agent that it was ridiculous and I would just stay with Progressive."

"She was shocked to hear I HAD insurance as it wasn't reported on the national database. My rates were so high because 'I hadn't had insurance' for over three years."

"I went to see her and showed her my documents. I'd been with Progressive for five years."

"She sighed and said they don't always report you as covered. Then if you look for other insurance, they'll always be the cheapest. She'd seen it before. She entered my policy number and ran new quotes."

"Progressive was more than a hundred dollars more expensive than any other company quoted."

"Always make sure a new company knows about your existing policies when getting a quote."

- gaelicdarkwater

Uber Eats

"Uber Eats. I ordered $50 in takeout, and the driver went to my neighborhood and parked his car close by. He stole the food and didn't move from his position."

"Because the Uber support thought he was close and on his way, they wouldn’t help and kept saying, 'He’s close; it’s coming.'"

"But the food never came. I tried to ask for a refund. They said, 'Sorry, we can only offer you $12 in refunds on your $50 scam order.'"

"Charge back it is, and cancel membership forever."

- james-HIMself

Asus

"Asus. They kept sending me back the same broken motherboard over and over again. Months of wasted time and money until I finally gave up, threw it out, and bought a different brand."

- GMenNJ

"I was lucky. I bought one when they were still a good company. I had a tuff series Z97 that crapped out. It had a five-year warranty that was getting close to the end, but they honored it without any fuss."

"After hearing all the stories here and on YouTube, I won't give them money again. But I was really happy when I got mine replaced with no fuss."

- megabass713

AAA

"AAA once denied me service while I was stranded on the shoulder on the I-5. They said my membership was expired, so I ended up using a private tow for 600 dollars."

"The next day, I confirmed that my membership was in fact active, and they accepted the error and reimbursed me 100 dollars. Whoopy!"

- Broad_Bodybuilder_94

"I haven’t forgiven them for when I was stranded with a dead battery in the middle of winter."

"They claimed they had zero tow trucks or assistance available and suggested I could attempt walking into the nearest town over five miles away with a negative wind chill and darkness setting in."

"The deputy sheriff thankfully helped me out and even called the local tow truck service."

"That tow truck business? He was contracted with AAA."

"AAA did call four hours later to check if I was still alive. Not to help, just 'checking in.'"

"I canceled with them as fast as possible."

- cooldart61

United Airlines

"United Airlines. 2008."

"In the middle of a connection, I found out my best friend was in a coma. I tried to reroute. The ticket agent stood with a straight face and told me it was $2,400, and there was nothing else they could do."

"I called my girlfriend and she booked me a one-way for $200… on United."

"In my moment of tragedy, that was the exact moment they tried to skim two grand off me."

- MicrowaveDonuts

Petco

"Petco. I asked the woman who worked there if she could help me with a chameleon diet."

"In the most snottiest 'I'm better than you' tone, she said to me, 'You can Google that!' and then turned back to what she was doing. She was feeding the chameleons."

"Not that my few dollars matter to big corporations. She just was so rude. I later got tons of help from the chameleon sub on here."

- WitchyBroom

"I buy all of my pet supplies from either Chewy or a local guy who runs a little shop out of his house. Those big box pet stores have no idea about how to care for reptiles, or any animal, really. And their prices aren't that competitive."

"I have kept bearded dragons for years. They always have the tiniest, sickest, saddest looking beardies for sale there. And none of the staff seem to have much knowledge on diet, lighting, temp, or anything else regarding their care and well-being."

- kmill0202

"As a big box pet store employee who is very passionate about reptile care, I’m unsurprised by your experience. They give no training on animal care (told me to recommend a ten gallon for beardies) and chronically understaff so everyone’s stressed all the time."

"I honestly keep this job, because it brings me comfort that I'm willing to learn what these animals need outside of work hours, so when customers like you walk in, I can ascertain that there's someone there with solid information."

"It sucks she was so rude and I’m glad you were able to find good info!"

- alloutofamortentia

Wells Fargo

"Fuuuuu**k Wells Fargo. When I was in my early 20s, I submitted a check that took longer than expected to be deposited, so my account went overdrawn by about seven dollars."

"$90 in fees, and they let the company try to deposit the check again three times, $90 in fees each time. Plus I had 'overdraft protection,' so for a day, I was using my card for small purchases, racking up $30 fees each time."

"I was a broke college student suddenly hundreds in the red."

"I went into a branch in tears, begging for some kind of payment plan, and the teller literally laughed at me when he said no."

"I got out of there as fast as I could, that day and forever."

- 1nd1anaCroft

Subway

"Subway… It was not really a customer service issue… but they sued a small food truck owned by a friend that was using it to pay for his college/start a business."

"The food truck was posted near the Subway, down the street."

"The reason they sued the food truck was because 'they were stealing their business,' as ridiculous as that sounds, and they somehow won the case and forced the food truck to shut down.-2

"Since then, I haven't ever gone into any Subway again."

- LeStachyPotato

Best Buy

"Best Buy has earned a permanent place on my s**tlist. The last few times I talked to someone locally, they were great. The online customer 'service' people actively make getting any support for online purchases a chore."

"Also, I bought a gift card, used part of it, kept it in my wallet, and when I tried to use the rest, I was informed that someone successfully contacted support, claimed the card was stolen, and got the balance loaded onto another gift card. F**king how?"

"Needless to say, Best Buy owes me $110."

- msnmck

From being stranded to losing money to not being able to replace products or experiences, it's no wonder that these terrible experiences were the final straw in these Redditors' experiences with these companies.

Most of us will put up with a lot from a company before deciding we'll never use them again, but some things like these experiences are simply unforgivable.