Examples of Bad Customer Service Calls: Things You Can Learn

LimeCall Team

August 21, 2020
minutes to read

‘’70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated.’’

If your prospects feel even the slightest emotion of them being ignored or their issue is taking much more time to be resolved or that the brand they’ve invested in is not keeping them happy, they will immediately walk out from it and spread the word to their peers and more.

Bad customer service is not a process where brands look to just avoid, brands don’t want the terminology of ‘bad’ to be tagged in their customer service hence they go through miles of hard work to keep customers happy.

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But what happens is we often make the mistakes of over satisfying our prospects in fear of not getting the bad customer service tag and this leads us to make mistakes which even we are not able to see for the first time.

In 2020 and in the years to come, customer satisfaction will become a priority and its priority level will continue to increase and in such cases, you need to understand the actions you could commit or are committing at the moment that is driving your prospects away from your brand into the bad customer service category.

‘’62% of customers say they share their bad experiences with others’’ and your brand cannot be in this picture hence a quick guide to help you get assisted during such a period would be helpful.

Luckily for you, we have created the cheat sheet you need to understand about bad customer service and more.

What you will learn?

Let’s get started.


Meaning of bad customer service

Have you felt helpless when you received the wrong order and the brand you brought from did nothing to resolve the issue?

Have you stayed on call for hours and days only to resolve a minor issue and still got nothing resolved till the very end?

Have you found yourself feeling frustrated even more when engaging with a brand because they were not satisfying your needs with a proper solution?

These all examples are what bad customer service is.

Bad customer service cannot be a part of a brand because it would conduct multiple damages for the brand’s name and the experience. Today everyone is online and the power they have in their hand is social media, one tweet, and the brand can find themselves in a hassle. 

This man in the image lost his baggage but the way this conversation went made the readers and viewers of this tweet understand one thing, the brand failed in using social media to resolve the issue. Due to this, this became the talk of the town and was viewed on multiple platforms running the airline’s name.

Bad customer service commits more damage than you think, on that thought let’s give you specific clarity on the same.


Impact bad customer service can have on businesses

1. Damaged brand reputation

One tweet or share on social media is enough for multiple viewers to understand what your brand is all about, if it’s done in a positive manner, your brand earns better, but if it’s a complaint your brand stands on a risk.

2. Leads conversion is poor

When your brand reputation is under risk and has been seen in a negative light, the chances of lead conversions or rather lead capture becomes much more difficult.

3. Existing prospects have second thoughts

While your new prospects will take time to trust you again, your existing prospects have the chance to leave your brand in second thoughts, they could be doubtful of your service and will reconsider their decision to invest in you further.

4. Harder to win over prospects

It will become difficult to win over your prospects because with your brand being in the negative light, how will your prospects develop their trust with you. It will take a lot of activities and multiple promotions to get back your brand on track and win over your prospects.

It would be better if you understand bad customer service better from your peers who had been associated with it.


Examples of bad customer services

1. Putting company policy over everything

This is the story of Walmart, it has come become viral for a reason. What happened was there was a customer that wanted to purchase lego for his son from Walmart. When he reached the store he realized that the price of that same lego was costlier than what he saw online. When he tried to ask the staff there to match the cheaper price, they denied saying company policy.

The customer then was dissatisfied and the story went viral online. 

What the brand could do: It could tweak its company policy for the customer and prioritize the customer’s needs bigger.

2. Intervening in prospect’s privacy matters

Have you ever felt embarrassed when your card is declined in the supermarket or another public place and the person behind the counter told you this out loud? It would have been embarrassing to see multiple faces staring at you. This is another big example of bad customer service. 

What the brand could do: It could speak slowly and convey the message to the prospect so that no one can hear, the prospect would prefer this better than the above.

3. Waiting too long on hold

This example is of this customer who wanted to resolve an issue and was waiting for hours long on the phone, the customer wanted to see how long would the brand make them wait, what started from 2 hours went on for 15 long hours only to have the staff say that the issue request is denied. 

What the brand could do better: The brand could have reached out more quickly to the prospect or scheduled a call later. Appreciation of waiting for such a long time would be great as well.

Bad customer service can be eliminated, why don’t you learn it from the experts themselves.


Expert opinion on how to avoid bad customer services

1. Dr. Scott Cowley, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Western Michigan University

“Customer service transparency. The hidden policies and algorithms governing your customer service procedures aren’t a competitive advantage – they are a source of distrust.”

2. Karen Freberg, Associate Professor in Strategic Communication at the University of Louisville 

“Audiences want to engage with brands who are invested in listening, engaging and building a sustainable community for the long term. Customer service is the digital front door to a brand’s home – it’s a necessity in today’s landscape.” 

 3. George M. Klein, Founder and CEO of Peoplocity

“Improve the communication with customers! Provide a two-way mobile channel that takes away the friction of communicating with a company.”


The Bottom Line…

‘’80% of customers say the experience a company provides is just as important as its products or services.’’

And with the information provided above, your brand stands no chance to provide bad customer service now.

So tell us what did you think of this article? Have you had your own share of bad customer service experience? What did you find more insightful in this article that you would like to apply to your brand?

We would love to hear from you, reach out to us with your opinions by tweeting us

, August 21, 2020, LimeCall Team

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