I had something similar but where the mortgage servicer paid my homeowner's insurance to the entirely wrong company and into some random person's account. Imagine the fun as I try to get that resolved and I don't have any ties to the company or the person whose homeowner's insurance just got paid. I am honestly surprised I didn't have an aneurysm after speaking to so many idiotic, unhelpful, and completely unapologetic CS reps.

the answer:

Yes

TXTransplant said:

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United is so terrible. Got an email last week saying the refund was issued. Over a week later, still no credit on the cc. And when I check the "status" of the refund on the website, it says no refund exists.

So now I'm on chat again to get a refund that I never should have had to ask for in the first place. Waited over 30 min to be connected to a human, and it's been almost an hour in total.

Agent says a refund takes 7-20 days…WTF?!? And before o could finish reading his last response, I was kicked out of the chat. Can't even see the conversation anymore. Ugh.

Oh, and T-Mobile STILL doesn't have my bill correct. Just give them "one more month". I actually downgraded my plan to keep costs under control. They sure as heck cut my services as soon as I made the change, but the new rate takes an extra billing cycle to go into effect. Supposedly it will be prorated. Nothing like paying for services you aren't receiving.

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Seriously, get an Amex and book your travel through them. I travel around once a month, which isn't a lot, but rotate between Delta, United, and American and they're equally (un)loyal to me. I'm not sure United and American could have worse customer service if they tried. If I'm at an American or United gate and I need to make a flight change, I will call Amex before I will talk to the gate agent. One call and everything is taken care of. They will tell me on the phone if I will get a refund or airline credit and how long it will take to show up. I feel like refunds are always within a few days.

He has an AmEx, but we always book with his United card to get the priority status. I'll tell him that's an option.

7-20 days to get a refund to a cc is unacceptable. They should have to pay interest.

And yes, American also has horrible customer service.

This is good advice. We have AMEX through work and I have the same (positive) experience with AMEX, I don't know why I never considered that for my personal use as well.

Yes it is. I miss the 1990's Vegas customer service.

Some of the decline in Customer Service seems to be companies trying to go too fast too soon with AI (which the wife refers to as 'Artificial Ignorance"). It just doesn't seem ready for Prime Time yet, and is making the customer experience worse in a lot of instances.

northeastag said:

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Some of the decline in Customer Service seems to be companies trying to go too fast too soon with AI (which the wife refers to as 'Artificial Ignorance"). It just doesn't seem ready for Prime Time yet, and is making the customer experience worse in a lot of instances.

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I visited with a guy this weekend who is developing AI for CVS and streamlining the process for prescription drugs. What could possibly go wrong?

Honestly probably a lot less than what a human is going to do.

Service down, profits up. Rich people get richer, society gets worse.

Some AI hotshot company will sell the CEO of a large megacorp on AI and show him $$$ and he will sign on. End of story. In a few years you will never talk/chat to a real person.

This is how all great civilizations get rotten.

infinity ag said:

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Service down, profits up. Rich people get richer, society gets worse.

Some AI hotshot company will sell the CEO of a large megacorp on AI and show him $$$ and he will sign on. End of story. In a few years you will never talk/chat to a real person.

This is how all great civilizations get rotten.

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It certainly feels this way. But somewhere on this message board is an old thread of people making predictions of what will happen in the next 5 years.

Essentially every assumption that has been made on that thread hasn't panned out.

Hopefully yours doesn't either.

It's a really interesting thread that serves as a great reminding that none of us know what the hell is really going to happen

Yeah, customer service feels like it's hit rock bottom lately. It's frustrating when basic support becomes a marathon of AI bots and undertrained reps. I do think there's a market opportunity for businesses to differentiate through great service. I was reading this article on Forbes about customer service trends https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/2025/05/29/four-customer-service-trends-every-business-leader-should-know/ and it's spot on, companies focusing on personalization and human interaction will definitely stand out.

lotsofhp said:

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infinity ag said:

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Service down, profits up. Rich people get richer, society gets worse.

Some AI hotshot company will sell the CEO of a large megacorp on AI and show him $$$ and he will sign on. End of story. In a few years you will never talk/chat to a real person.

This is how all great civilizations get rotten.

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It certainly feels this way. But somewhere on this message board is an old thread of people making predictions of what will happen in the next 5 years.

Essentially every assumption that has been made on that thread hasn't panned out.

Hopefully yours doesn't either.

It's a really interesting thread that serves as a great reminding that none of us know what the hell is really going to happen

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I see all sides of this issue. Our products and services are now cheaper to buy overall, due to advances in the non-personal interaction customer service methods. Perspectives truly vary by generational cohort.

There are many more problem-solving tools available via websites, message boards, AI, and the like, and the younger generations would flat-out prefer those to calling a call center anyway, to a large extent. The older sets (which I would fall into, probably) generally get frustrated quickly with those tools, or especially with poorly designed interactive voice response systems.

I foresee a situation within several decades where there is at least a nominal fee to talk to a customer service rep, just to align revenues with costs. However, I have been mistaken before - products such as ATM cash withdrawals or lead-free gasoline still have surcharges, despite being cheaper to produce (?).

would rather talk to chatgpt than a human

The AI revolution to customer support has barely even started for smaller businesses

We've literally started implementing RingCentral's AI Receptionist for a few companies, as part of the phone system migrations, so they no longer require a main receptionist. You simply call, tell the AI Receptionist why you are calling, and it connects you with the correct extension or department, or provides you directly with answers to your questions based on a knowledgebase. These used to be features only available in extremely expensive contact centers. Now, companies of any size can do these things for a very small cost. Definitely tens of thousands of dollars per year less than the cost of a receptionist.

TXTransplant said:

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Had a bad experience with T-Mobile recently, too. Went to a store to get my bill lowered (took over an hour). After 3 months, still no change. Went back to the same store, and after an hour waiting, the idiot employee "helping" me said he couldn't resolve my problem, and I had to come back a third time and talk to the EXACT same person I saw on the first visit. I nearly lost my mind at that point. Luckily I found "proof" of the previous visit in my account, but he still wouldn't help me and sent me to another store on the other side of town. The staff there did resolve my issue, but the whole process took 3+ hours of time and 3 separate trips to 2 different T-Mobile stores.

Again, I think they intentionally make it difficult just so you won't bother. I specifically went to the store because I didn't want to deal with CS on the phone, but it was no better (arguably worse).

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I love the tenacity of seeing this through to the end! In my mind, it's only for $5/month, which makes it even better.

Good for you.

IowaAg07 said:

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I had something similar but where the mortgage servicer paid my homeowner's insurance to the entirely wrong company and into some random person's account. Imagine the fun as I try to get that resolved and I don't have any ties to the company or the person whose homeowner's insurance just got paid. I am honestly surprised I didn't have an aneurysm after speaking to so many idiotic, unhelpful, and completely unapologetic CS reps.

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Update after after 80 days.

Turns out my mortgage provider told me completely incorrect info and blamed it on USAA. After finally getting a copy of the cash check the mortgage service provider sent, I confirmed they had sent it to the wrong insurance company. I ultimately got the Texas Department of Mortgage Lending involved and I will say they were extremely responsive in helping me and getting the mortgage co to resolve the issue.


Finally 80 days later the mortgage service co refunded the money back into my escrow, I then had to request a fkn escrow analysis to get an actual check refund. The whole thing has been infuriating.

double aught said:

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TXTransplant said:

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Had a bad experience with T-Mobile recently, too. Went to a store to get my bill lowered (took over an hour). After 3 months, still no change. Went back to the same store, and after an hour waiting, the idiot employee "helping" me said he couldn't resolve my problem, and I had to come back a third time and talk to the EXACT same person I saw on the first visit. I nearly lost my mind at that point. Luckily I found "proof" of the previous visit in my account, but he still wouldn't help me and sent me to another store on the other side of town. The staff there did resolve my issue, but the whole process took 3+ hours of time and 3 separate trips to 2 different T-Mobile stores.

Again, I think they intentionally make it difficult just so you won't bother. I specifically went to the store because I didn't want to deal with CS on the phone, but it was no better (arguably worse).

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I love the tenacity of seeing this through to the end! In my mind, it's only for $5/month, which makes it even better.

Good for you.

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Actually, I think it ended up being about $20/month. Was trying to get $40, but they didn't clearly explain the new rate (shocking, I know).

I also went another round with United on the seat fee refund. Last person I chatted with said the first refund request was never fully processed. All in, it took over a month to get that refund. Went past the billing cycle, of course.

In general, when I think a company is ripping me off, I am like a dog with a bone. Could be $1 or $1000 - doesn't matter. I will fight until they make it right on principle alone.

Those of you praising Chic Fil A probably haven't eaten at the ones in DC.

You can stand and stare at 10 employees on their phones and chit chatting with each other not giving a damn about you or your order.

I think they actively try to stare you down in hopes you'll never come back.

Which means it's like most places in DC and even good companies aren't immune to cultural degradation

It's hard to get good service from large companies. I try to buy local and we've switched some of our vendors to smaller companies because they actually have sales people and seem to care about our orders. The big guys have bought up just about everyone and try to push everything online. (Construction industry)

Re Chic Fil A......the type of employees you can hire in College Station vastly different than in DC
or most big cities. I love the "my pleasure" reply when you say thank you at CFA. Sure beats the
"no problem" reply you get most places. CFA is NO. 1 in their category for 11 years in a row. They do more
biz in 6 days than other places do in 7 days. Who they hire, their training and their customer service is a lot
of what sets them apart in most locations.

I gotta give props to the organization that runs the Eiffel Tower. The French do a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense, but we had tickets to the top of the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday night. We got there and a storm was about to let loose. We were able to go to the second platform (when the elevator doors opened, the wind was blowing the rain sideways), but the summit was closed. There is a price difference between the two.

They told us when they scanned our ticket that I'd be getting a refund for the difference.

The refund showed up in my credit card account this morning (Saturday - less than 3 days later). When I told my BF I had the refund, his immediate reply was "Better than United!"

I've worked for an Internet company that gave very little attention and now a company that gives a ton of attention to customer service. It has a lot to do with culture.

And it's a relatively easy thing to do when you're small, but scaling it is extraordinarily difficult.

None of us would actually pay for the customer service we think we're truly owed, but there is a middle ground incorporating onshore, offshore, and AI assets that can make it robust.

There are three things I value heavily, personally:
- don't screw with my money
- tell me there's an issue before I find it
- fix the issue quickly and painlessly, or keep me updated

Recent experiences that are fresh: CPS Energy does great at these things and SAWS is horrible. Monopoly utilities in San Antonio, so it is what it is, but one cares and one doesn't.

I recently took over many of the financial dealings of my uber-elderly parents and the first thing I noticed was that their numerous CDs were rolling over and being renewed at less than optimal rates. When they set them up, it was advantageous to go with a 2-3 year vehicle which, at the time, gave the highest rate. Things have changed and the shortest periods now are giving the highest rates, sometimes by close to a full percentage point.
When I went in to renew some of the CDs during the grace period, I asked the financial officer why they were getting rolled over at the same time periods instead of contacting my parents and suggesting they go with shorter maturity and higher rates. (yes, I know the bank makes more money that way but that is not the point of this thread). If a bank is going to advertise on TV that they are the friendliest, most helpful bank, why don't they fulfill that boast?
His answer: We don't really have the time to do such.
That is a bunch of crap. Every time I walk into any bank now, there are rarely other customers inside and the employees are surfing the web or some such.

oklaunion said:

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I recently took over many of the financial dealings of my uber-elderly parents and the first thing I noticed was that their numerous CDs were rolling over and being renewed at less than optimal rates. When they set them up, it was advantageous to go with a 2-3 year vehicle which, at the time, gave the highest rate. Things have changed and the shortest periods now are giving the highest rates, sometimes by close to a full percentage point.
When I went in to renew some of the CDs during the grace period, I asked the financial officer why they were getting rolled over at the same time periods instead of contacting my parents and suggesting they go with shorter maturity and higher rates. (yes, I know the bank makes more money that way but that is not the point of this thread). If a bank is going to advertise on TV that they are the friendliest, most helpful bank, why don't they fulfill that boast?
His answer: We don't really have the time to do such.
That is a bunch of crap. Every time I walk into any bank now, there are rarely other customers inside and the employees are surfing the web or some such.

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In this instance, it's not poor customer service in the slightest. When your parents signed up for the CDs initially, they were almost certainly given options to auto-renew for the same period, or to convert to cash (or move to savings/checking) upon ending of the original CD term. In no instance does a bank unilaterally search for their opinion of the best rate and move customers' money without consent. So, they were doing exactly what they were instructed to do - even though you may not like the result.

Now, if you had a financial advisor with a fiduciary responsibility to you, they may make you aware that shorter term CDs are paying higher yields to see if you wanted to change them out, but you'll almost certainly be paying a management fee to them to make this happen.

It's not always a conspiracy to provide poor service. Usually, it's doing what the customer originally agreed to - read your contracts before signing up front!

I'm not claiming they are obligated to do such, nor am I suggesting the bank move money to a higher interest rate per period without consent. A call/text/email could be made to inform a customer of a better deal. And yes I realize due to the sheer number of different financial vehicles that it would be difficult to contact everyone personally (although I bank at Prosperity and have received such calls) but why not have a computerized program to advise customers of interest updates the day a CD, etc. comes mature. It is not like they don't have the contact info on everyone doing business with their bank.
My opinion is that it is a lapse in customer service.
=

I know most of you probably don't trust the publication, but The Atlantic just had an article on this very issue:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/06/customer-service-sludge/683340/

Quote:

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Taken separately, these hassles and indignities were funny anecdotes. Together, they suggested something unreckoned with. And everyone agreed: It was all somehow getting worse. In 2023 (the most recent year for which data are available), the National Customer Rage Survey showed that American consumers were, well, full of rage. The percentage seeking revengerevenge!for their hassles had tripled in just three years.

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Quote:

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Some of the sludge we submit to is unavoidablethe simple consequence of living in a big, digitized world. But some of it is by design. ProPublica showed in 2023 how Cigna saved millions of dollars by rejecting claims without having doctors read them, knowing that a limited number of customers would endure the process of appeal. (Cigna told ProPublica that its description was "incorrect.") Later that same year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Toyota's motor-financing arm to pay $60 million for alleged misdeeds that included thwarting refunds and deliberately setting up a dead-end hotline for canceling products and services. (The now-diminished bureau canceled the order in May.) As one Harvard Business Review article put it, "Some companies may actually find it profitable to create hassles for complaining customers."

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Quote:

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Signs of that warping seem to be appearing more and more, as when a Utah man who says he was denied a refund for his apparently defective Subaru crashed the car through the dealership's door. But most of us wearily combat sludge through the proper channels, however hopeless it seems. A Nebraska man spent two years trying to change the apparently computer-generated name given to his daughter, Unakite Thirteen Hotel, after a bureaucratic error involving her birth certificate. She also hadn't received a Social Security numberwithout which she couldn't receive Medicaid and other services.

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Quote:

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But in some corners of academia and government, pushback to sludge is mounting. Regulations like the FTC's "Click to Cancel" rule seek to eliminate barriers to canceling subscriptions and memberships. And the International Sludge Academy, a new initiative from both the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the government of New South Wales, has promoted the adoption of "sludge audits" around the world. The business research firm Gartner predicts that "the right to talk to a human" will be EU law by 2028.

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