We've heard our fair share of bad customer service experiences in our life, but these ones really take the cake.
“NOPE”
“Went to dinner with my gf and her friends for her birthday. We had about 10 people and had about 5 different tabs which all included an 18% minimum tip. The service was terrible, the server was incredibly rude and would always respond with some kind of sarcasm when we asked questions. He took the wrong drink orders twice and blamed us for getting them wrong. Brought all the apps and entrees at the same time and got upset when we said we didn’t want the apps anymore. My friend paid in cash and when he brought back change, there was no receipt. She was expecting to see 5 bucks and some change back but there was only 4 bucks and change there. She asked him to see the receipt to see if she had miscalculated. The dude got irritated and said that he threw it away and reached for his wallet and said ‘how about I just give you a dollar if you want it that bad.’ So we didn’t leave any extra tip. I wrote ‘NOPE!’ in the tip line. When I went to use the men’s room before leaving, he tapped my shoulder as I was washing my hands and goes “You think ur pretty funny with that tip don’t you? Why don’t we step outside so I can show you how funny I can be?” Im like WTF? Called the manager over and told him her server wanted to fight me cause I didn’t tip him. Explained the whole situation to her. Other servers had to calm him down cause he kept trying to interrupt me. I declined all their gift cards cause f–k I don’t wanna come back to a place where the staff is gonna shank me.” (source)
“Parts of it were actually smoking.”
“A Mountain Mike’s Pizzeria opened in my town. Since it’s a really small town, my family got excited for a new restaurant, so we went in just a few days after they opened. The four of us sat down and were helped right away. Ordered a large pepperoni pizza and drinks, pretty simple. Our drinks come in a timely fashion. Our pizza did not. We waited for an hour before we snagged a server to ask about our pizza. The guy apologized for the wait and said he’d go check on it for us. He came back out and said they were very sorry but it would be another 30 minutes. No explanation. We gave them the benefit of the doubt since they’d just opened. We waited another 45 minutes and no pizza. Called a server again. He told us he was very sorry and he would go check on that for us. He came back out with a black disc that wasn’t even recognizable as a pizza. It was a giant charcoal brick. Parts of it were actually smoking. He said that they were sorry again about the wait, but that they forgot it in the oven. The first time we ordered it. My dad finally had enough and very politely told the guy thanks but no thanks, we wouldn’t be eating this pizza and we would probably not be returning. We stood up to leave and the guy bolted for the back room. Out came the manager. He asked us what the problem was. After my dad told him the manager shrugged and said ‘I don’t see anything wrong here, sir, except that you’re trying to leave without paying for your meal.’ The manager ordered employees to stand at the exit to ensure that we couldn’t leave. The manager then called the cops. They show up and ask what the problem is. Manager said we won’t pay. My dad said the manager wouldn’t let us leave, but the guy denied it. Cops scoffed at the manager, walked us out of the restaurant, and we’ve never eaten there since.” (source)
“Clearly in the wrong business.”
“I went to the beach with my friend. We had booked a hotel room with TWO queen beds. For whatever reason, there was an administrative error and the hotel had forgotten to reserve our room. We get there are and there are no rooms with 2 beds left. The front desk agent was very apologetic and offered us an extra room at no charge until the owner of the place moseyed on in and said ‘NO, if you want 2 rooms, you’re going to pay for 2 rooms’ and asked us why we couldn’t just sleep together in a king bed, which is not really his business and if we WANTED TO SHARE A BED we would’ve booked a room with one bed. He then insisted on us staying in one room with a cot, which I said was bulls–t. Eventually after 2 hours of arguing, he f–ked off and his son (who is the part owner and the one who suggested giving us 2 rooms for the cost of one in the first place) let us have 2 rooms. His dad is clearly in the wrong f*cking business.” (source)
“Whoops.”
“At a Mexican restaurant with a girl. I’ve been to this place before (order at the register, they call your number, you go up and get your food) so I didn’t leave a tip. The guy just says ‘Wow, big spender here.’ I look up at him and am like ‘What?’ He’s doing nothing to warrant a tip. He just stands there and takes orders and calls them out; a job that he is paid an appropriate wage to do. He then says to the girl I’m with ‘Glad you’re dating such a big spender. He can’t even afford to tip.’ She’s baffled, I’m baffled, so we shrug it off. After a bit of an awkward sit, our food comes up, I go up to get it and decide to just get it to go. We walk out of there while the guy gives me dirty looks. We sit down on a bench near the restaurant and find our orders are completely f–ked up as well as our drinks only being filled halfway. We take our food back. The guy says ‘Oh, complaining about your order and couldn’t even be bothered to tip? Now you’re putting me through all this trouble and can’t be bothered to tip.’ He finally goes to fill up our drinks, comes back and says ‘Whoops’ before he pretends to trip and sends our drinks flying all over me and the girl I’m with. I demand to speak to his manager and he immediately stops playing his little game. He beg us not to talk to his manager but I refuse. The manager comes out, I explain what happened, and the kid keeps babbling that it was an accident. The manager takes me and the girl I’m with in back to get us cleaned up and then invites us to watch the CCTV footage of what happened along with the kid who spilled s–t all over us. The kid clearly trips on nothing and deliberately sends the drinks flying onto us. The manager fires him on the spot, said he had been acting like a total ass the entire time he was employed, but he turned the other cheek since it was his friend’s son. The manager was a really nice guy and paid for our meal as well as gave us a card each that gave us 10 free meals at his restaurant. He even went in the kitchen and cooked our orders himself, gave us them in to go bags, and paid for a cab so we wouldn’t have to walk home in sticky clothes.” (source)
“That place closed about 6 months later.”
“My wife and I went to a restaurant one night. We are seated after a short wait. They lead us to a table that is next to the kitchen door and a busboy station, so dirty dishes were continually piled up behind me. This table is also situated behind a pillar, so we’re cut off from the rest of the restaurant. We order some drinks. 20 minutes go by. They never come. The manager is walking by, we grab her attention. She asks for the waitress’s name. I reply that I don’t know. She says nothing, but gives me the one-eyebrow-raised-look-of-suspicion, leaves and never returns. We finally order from another passing waiter. Lo and behold, our food comes, but still no drinks. While we’re eating, the original MIA waitress walks up, points to her name tag and says ‘Beth. My name is Beth’ and walks away. When Beth brings us the check, I ask to see the manager. Beth says ‘why?’ I tell her we were stuck in the corner and ignored. I remind her about the drinks that never arrived and she just adopts the attitude of a snarky teenager, huffing and eye-rolling. After 15 minutes, the manager arrives. The FIRST thing out of her mouth: ‘Why don’t you like Beth?’ I snap, but compose myself quickly. I explain that we were ignored for the past 90 minutes and this has nothing to do with liking or not liking anybody. I explain that I’m not trying to scam a meal but I would not be returning and would tell others to steer clear of this place. ‘Ignored?’ cried the manager incredulously. ‘This is the date table’. We find that young couples like to be off by themselves and not be bothered! How about I give you a voucher for a free dessert next time you come in?’ I say ‘You think there’s gonna be a next time?.’ At this point, my wife, silent until now, says ‘You could give us free dessert right now.’ The manager furrows her brow and says ‘Well if I gave it to you now, then I KNOW you wouldn’t comeback.’ I paid the bill, left the ol’ one-penny tip and on the way out of the restaurant, Beth brushes by and mumbles, ‘thanks for the tip, cheap-ass.’ That place closed about 6 months later.” (source)
“CAN’T YOU SEE THE PICTURE?!”
“A Subway opened right across the street from my house. I started eating $5 footlongs every day. It was glorious. The service was better than any Subway I had ever been to. Fast, the sandwiches were made great, the girls were talkative and flirty. There was one downside. The guy who worked most nights was a short, surly bastard who was always being an asshole or trying to intimidate you, which was pretty easy due to his bulk and full sleeve tattoos, also those tear drop tattoos, which if I’m not mistaken are prison tats. Every time I’d go in there, I’d say ‘hey hows it goin?’ he would answer with a grunt. He’s throw meat and veggies around all willy nilly creating the most disheveled, sad looking sandwich I’ve ever seen. Me and a girlfriend of mine go in one night. I go through the same routine. My friend asks a question about the gluten free sandwiches and dude drops his mop to the ground and says ‘Are you serious? CANT YOU SEE THE PICTURE?!’ and gestures toward a picture of a gluten free sandwich. My friend says ‘you know what, f–k you man, you’re a prick’ and storms out. I say ‘wow great customer service man.’ He answers ‘What?! You asked a question and I answered it!’ He was doing the ‘come at me bro’ stance and had a fury in his eyes as if I had just insulted his entire immediate and extended family. Asshole.” (source)
“I’m sure I sounded irritated.”
“My ex got arrested after taking my car without permission. My car was impounded, and it was $250 to get it back. Needless to say, the entire situation made me fairly irritated. I arrived at the place to get my car, and as I walked into the building, my ex’s mom called to see if I needed help. I was inside, but I had not addressed any staff whatsoever, and it was obvious that the conversation I was having was with the person on the phone. On the phone I was explaining that I had just gotten there, and I wasn’t sure if they had my keys or if I needed to go to the jail. I’m sure I sounded irritated. Queue the receptionist jumping all over my s–t, telling me that they know how to do their jobs, and that I’m being rude and b—hy. I look over at her and explain that I’m sure they do, I’m on the phone, and I’m sorry if she thought I was talking to her. She’s having none of it, and gets up and starts screaming in my face. I tell her she’s being inappropriate and I want to speak to her supervisor. So she screams for him to ‘Get out here and handle this stupid b—h’ and he comes out, and starts screaming at me to get out if I’m going to treat his staff like s–t. I tried to explain the situation but he wouldn’t listen. Long story short, I was 25 at the time and had to have my mother come help me get my car out of impound because the people who worked there were insane. I’d never experienced anything like that.” (source)
“My mother was near tears”
“My mom was with cancer. The diagnosis came from some tests done after a hysterectomy she had. During her three days in the hospital after the procedure she had some of the worst hospital attendants you could imagine. She was not allowed to stand on her own, she was always to have attendants to make sure she was ok to walk around, they were also required to be there when she went to the restroom. The first time she has to go to the bathroom so she pushes the button to call for help. A male nurse comes in. He says he will go find a woman and asks her to hold it a bit. Three episodes of Seinfeld and countless button pushes later she decides she can’t hold it in any longer and gets up for the first time since the surgery and goes to the bathroom by herself. She was yelled at by the attending for leaving her bed and my mother was near tears when we finally went to see her. The next night, another nurse comes in to change an IV. My mom has the TV on in her room and the woman becomes distracted, sits down and watches for nearly 10 minutes before my mom has to snap her out of it. The same night she asked to have her sheets changed as the ones she had were from directly after her surgery and IV fluid had leaked onto it and after two days in the same sheets the woman wanted something fresher. After asking twice someone from the linen department finally brings her a new set of sheets however this woman simply places them on the edge of the bed and walks out without a word.” (source)
“My stuff is nowhere to be seen.”
“Oh God I had the worst experience in a hotel once. I had gotten the room for free as a result of being sent to a big city for the final of a competition. So after the competition finished everyone had a few drinks and we were all in my hotel room. Nothing got ruined, but it was a godawful mess, one which I fully intended to clear up when I left. Hungover the next day, I went to breakfast; the checkout was at midday. At 11am, I got back to my room to discover the door was open and all of my stuff was gone! Luckily my main bag was in another room, but my phone and some of my clothes had all been removed and the bed sheets replaced. I was so confused and went to speak to reception. A plastic bag was produced containing a scarf and I was told that was all that was left in the room. I told them that it definitely wasn’t, so they went to get the maid that cleaned my room and I had to RUMMAGE THROUGH A BIN BAG for my stuff. My phone is nowhere to be seen and this maid is saying ‘look through my bag, I don’t have it!’ A week later I discovered £124 of calls to Romania on my phone bill. I was never refunded, I got fobbed off and police said there was not enough evidence.” (source)
“Listen, I don’t have time”
“My coworkers and I got out of work at 2 am. This is, of course, when the bars empty and the drinkers in town love Denny’s at this hour. We sit down at a and start looking over the menu. The waitress is pretty much ignoring us. Finally, she shows up and says, ‘What’ll it be?’ Since this is the first time she talked to us since sitting us down, I said ‘Well, water would be nice to start.’ She went insta-b—h on me and said, ‘Listen. I don’t have time to listen to drunk assholes all night. Do you want to order or not?’ My coworkers and I just looked at each other in complete shock. We ordered. Got our food after it sat for ten minutes under the heat lamps. Got no refills. When we got up to pay at the register, the other waitress took our cash. I explained what our waitress said, then told her we weren’t drunk, and that her service was by far the worst service we’d ever received, so we didn’t tip. She said she didn’t blame us.” (source)
“MAYBE there will be a next time.”
“We sit down at a mostly empty restaurant and order drinks. Waiter comes to take our order, but doesn’t have anything to write with. Dude has to come back three times over the next half hour to ask people what they ordered because he forgot. 45 minutes in, he tells us he forgot to say that they were out of tuna, so four of the orders can’t be made and they need to order something else. Something like an hour and a half after we order, the food comes out. Almost half of the orders are wrong or. Mine was supposed to be salmon on a bed of spinach and risotto. I got a piece of salmon that was about 4 times smaller than nomral, an ice cream scoop of risotto, and no spinach in site. When I asked him about the spinach, he said ‘it’s under the salmon.’ Lifted the salmon, and found about 3 wilted spinach leaves stuck to the bottom of it. My dad complained to the owner, who simply said ‘oh, I’m sorry….we’ll try to do better next time.’ To which my dad said ‘You’re going to comp me half the bill and MAYBE there will be a next time.’ Dude shrugged and gave my dad the drinks for free, which was only about 15 bucks worth. Needless to say, we never went back.” (source)
“He had to be restrained by the manager.”
“Had a waiter spill a $100 bottle of wine (first and last time in my life I ever paid that much for a bottle of wine) all over my dinner. He refused to replace either. After I didn’t tip him he literally chased me out of the restaurant and physically threatened me for his tip. He had to be restrained by the manager.” (source)
“I had to walk a few miles away until I got a hold of a friend.”
“On a return trip on a greyhound from Vegas to SoCal. The bus missed my connecting bus, which happened to be the last bus headed out that night. I called customer service and they basically told me ‘herp derp, too bad, next bus out of there leaves at 9 tomorrow morning.’ So greyhound leaves me stranded in the middle of the night, in a terrible part of town, with a swarm of hobos and crackheads I can only assume wanted to be friends. I had to walk a few miles away until I finally got ahold of a friend who drove out 40 miles to come get me.” (source)
If you’re on a diet, you don’t want that.”
“I was out to dinner with my family. The waitress comes and we order. When it gets to my mom she orders and the waitress responds ‘If you’re on a diet, you don’t want that.’ My mom had said nothing whatsoever about being on a diet. She is slightly overweight. She is self conscious and it’s difficult to even get her to come out to eat with us. My mom simply said ‘I’m not on a diet’ with a cold stare. The waitress turned red in the face and walked off to place our orders.” (source)