The UK Winners for the Worst Customer Service Awards 2024

Here's another award i have never heard of or knew existed

'The worst customer service award'

It certainly shames certain companies and organisations , some that are supposed to be world leaders

I thought it worth knowing so you can watch out for or avoid them

Its a long read but worth the knowledge

Disability rights champion 2024

(Disabled passengers need a paid travelling companion or get themselves to and from the train, as staff were no longer allowed to push personal wheelchairs

But it is not mentioned in their terms and conditions

Heart of stone award

This goes to British Airways When a newly widowed father found the luxury holiday he’d booked to treat his grieving children had been downgraded due to building work. His online complaint got no response. BA, he was told when he called, was too busy to give him a timeline. It only refunded the £750 difference between what he paid for and what he got when I became involved, more than nine weeks after he’d first complained.

The company also stood firm when its own incompetence prevented a passenger from reaching her grandmother’s deathbed. Agent error had botched her booking and she was denied boarding. BA insisted she pay for a new flight the next day and, for good measure, cancelled her return flight as she was deemed a “no show”. BA didn’t see why it should refund the botched ticket, the replacement or the cancelled return, or pay her compensation for denied boarding. Why? Because, it explained with wondrous logic, a processing error had meant the ticket was not issued correctly and thus it was invalid and passengers with invalid tickets are ineligible for compensation. BA eventually capitulated after I presented it with a lawyer’s opinion on its behaviour.

Eco own goal award

This one brings back memories of when i had this done in my loft in one of the first house i bought

This fault only came to light recently

Save the planet by saving cash. Who could resist! Which is why the government encouraged property owners to spray foam into their loft cavities to improve insulation and cut bills. They exempted the procedure from VAT and issued green grants for up to two-thirds of the cost. Up to 300,000 householders complied. The good news is that most of them saw heating bills fall. The bad news is they can’t sell their homes. It turns out this insulation, if inexpertly applied, can rot roof timbers. And since the government-fuelled demand prompted a plague of cowboy installers, mortgage lenders won’t touch it. Any of it. Owners who want to sell up or release equity are now forking out thousands to get the stuff prised off.

Forget-me-not prize

This goes to Sheffield council when they towed away a student’s car which was in breach of temporary parking certificates, but forgot to tell her. It forgot to tell her for a whole year, during which time she reported it as stolen to the police and received an insurance payout. When the council recollected that it had an elderly Citroën on its hands, it informed her that it would be destroyed unless she collected it within two days and paid storage fees amounting to nearly £4,400. Unsurprisingly, the insurer wanted its money back, while the car had been so badly damaged while in the council’s care that it was a write-off. The council backed down in the face of publicity and reached a deal with the insurer.

Stand-out bereavement support

This one goes to Amazon

Many have tried for this prize, such as the utilities companies that wrote cheery letters to deceased customers after being notified of their passing. But Amazon gets this gong for its unforgettable reaction when a mother lost her little boy. She had ordered a laptop to plan his funeral. The driver refused to hand over the £800 device, claiming there was a problem with her One Time Passcode (OTP). The OTP was then used to trigger a delivery confirmation, leaving her empty-handed. Amazon was unmoved by her plight – the system showed it had been delivered, therefore it had been, it argued – until Your Problems came calling, whereupon it stumped up a refund and promised to investigate.

PR prize for the canniest marketing pitch

“Unforgettable seats” is what ticketing retailer AXS promised Taylor Swift fans prepared to pay more than £500 for posh tickets. But instead of the singer, Swifties in the VIP rows found themselves contemplating a large tent containing, as it happens, VIPs. As in celebs enjoying corporate hospitality. Those who complained say they were moved to seats that had cost a fraction of the price, and demands for a refund were ignored.