Top 5 worst Customer Service experiences ever

June 8, 2016/9 Comments/

What makes a good service? What makes a company user friendly? What makes a customer turn into a loyal one? There are a million answers to these questions, but most of them usually refer to:

transparency
correct pricing
adaptability
loyalty rewards & perks
and last, but definitely not least: a good Customer Service team.

But what makes a good Customer Service experience?

What’s the difference between a good Customer Service team and a bad one?

There are several ingredients that separate a professional, efficient, and friendly Customer Service team from a deficient one. And in this blog article we’ve decided to focus precisely on those differences you should never experience when talking to a Customer Service representative.

1. "There is nothing we can do for you"
You definitely know this one. That moment when the new flat screen TV you’ve been saving for 3 months is actually in your living room… and it does not connect to the cable provider. You try any method known to humankind, even call a friend over to check out the settings, but nothing. Then… with your last breath, you call the Customer Service team and hope for a miracle, for a warm comforting “Let us see what we can do for you”, and all you get is “There’s nothing we can do for you!”
2. "It’s working as designed"
Yeap… you just helped them discover a flaw, bug, error in their system. Do you think you’ll get recognition and still hope you’ll see that issue taken care of? Clearly, NOT! Because it works as intended. Customer feedback is not something on the menu for some companies! Instead you get the old traditional “It’s working as designed” aka “we won’t change it, it’s perfect the way it is. ”
3. "Ya mam, wesd rufj dimn uklod doodop"
In other words, not fluent in English or with a difficult to understand accent. Meaningless phrases, complicated words, or simple ones put together without forming a sentence. What can you do? Ask for a supervisor! What will they do? Continue talking!
4. "Google it"
“You need to go online and check this” or “Google it, I don’t know” fall right under the category of an untrained, unprofessional, inefficient Customer Service team. And there’s plenty more where this came from.
5. Stay on hold until your phone battery dies
Hours on hold and being passed from one representative to another is probably one of the worst Customer Service team errors. Playing with the limited patience of a customer is not something you want to do. Still, many companies do it time after time.

What does Tello do different? We understand customers are the main core of our business, so our Customer Service representative treat them as our most valuable assets. Plus, here are a few other things that separate Tello Customer Service from all the others:

13239226_1119955168067968_7027798341325717810_n available 24/7 by phone, email, or chat

maximum 10-second waiting time

fluent in English & Spanish (native speaker level)

resolution time under 30 min

friendly & empathetic

willing to go the extra mile

patient and professional

So if you need help to activate your device, if you don’t know how to bring your phone to Tello or simply can’t find the answer to your question in our Help Center…

Don’t hesitate to contact our Customer Care team!

9 replies

Daniel says:
April 10, 2017 at 1:23 pm

Hahaha! I feel your pain!!! It really sucks when you call someone who you know is the only one that can help you and turns out they can’t as well. :(
Reply
Dorie mallory says:
December 20, 2018 at 1:36 pm

switched to Tello yesterday, my port is in limbo, I have been without service ever since. No service no calls no assistance…..wish i never found tello’s phone number
Reply
- Maria Dima says:
  December 21, 2018 at 4:33 am
  
  Dorie, we’re very sorry for the inconvenience. I’ve forwarded your message to our Customer Support and they’ll see into it further. We are really sorry about this connection problem, we have already opened an investigation with our provider Sprint as this seems to be an outage in the area. As soon as we have an update, we will contact you back.
  
  Thank you!
  Reply
Dr. James Priester says:
April 23, 2020 at 11:29 pm

I am close to giving up, folks. My Iphone SE is unlocked. I have used different SIM cards in Italy, Germany, Spain, and every year for 4 months in Jamaica on Digicel, which offers both GSM (?) or CDMA (?). Not in telecommunications, I don’t know the exact 2 systems used throughout the globe.

I’ve never had a problem. Now, I do have a problem. I would like to buy a SIM card to see if your service will work. Entering the IMEI number, it gives me a “may not work”. However, it does work on Digicel (Jamaica) and another carrier in Italy (can’t recall).

Can I not buy a Tello SIM to see if it works? I get the run around from customer service. I just want to try it. Tell me yes or no. If I can not, fine. Just don’t give me long transmissions, please.

Thank you.
Reply
- Maria Dima says:
  April 30, 2020 at 7:44 am
  
  Hello, Dr. Priester,
  
  Thanks for reaching out.
  
  We don’t want to woo you with unnecessary details, but just know that CDMA & GSM have to do with how your phone works. To join Tello, only CDMA devices are a match. There no workaround other than checking your IMEI on our site: https://tello.com/bring_your_own_phone. Please call our Customer Service and tell them about the issue, hope it will work out.
  
  Stay safe!
  Reply
tom parker says:
June 16, 2020 at 9:15 am

My phone is suppost to be working but it’s not. Tello customer service is still out to lunch. What customer service?
Reply
- Maria Dima says:
  June 29, 2020 at 8:42 am
  
  Hey, Tom,
  
  Sorry to hear that! You still have to give my colleagues from Customer Support a call to see if they can sort this phone issue out for you, thanks!
  Fingers crossed!
  Reply
yomo says:
August 28, 2020 at 10:04 am

tello disconnected 2 of our PAYG phone numbers for our grandparents just this week when there was still funds in their tello account because of some new evil policy change.

Now they cannot call anyone for assistance and if they have an emergency, will NOT be able to reach their doctors, 911 and their caregiver.

We don’t know how they are doing so we have to drive over to see if they are okay. Especially with the pandemic going on and we’re supposed to shelter in place but are now forced to drive.

Anybody know a good personal injury lawyer in Georgia?
Reply
- Maria Dima says:
  August 31, 2020 at 10:30 am
  
  Hi, yomo,
  
  Sorry to hear about this experience. Please contact our Customer Support Team to investigate your particular account details, the reason for discontinued service, and possible fixes.
  
  Thank you!
  Reply