Here’s a great compilation of telephone customer service disasters.

Wow.  These are just scary.  No real way to know how legitimate they are, but scary nonetheless.

Interestingly, the compilation is presented as sort of a ‘customers gone wild’ piece.  Listening to them, I hear something a little different.  Are they perhaps legitimately frustrated customers who have hit the end of their rope?

The first clip, with a Dell Computer rep, for example, shows how horrendous processes (long queue time, insistance on ownershop verification, customers having to duplicate effort, etc) can cause someone with a really simple issue to really fly off the handle.  But even with those process and policy shortfalls, a little more skill and empathy on the part of the agent could have made a gigantic difference.

Enjoy – and beware, there’s a bit of off-colour language!