I have had some seriously bad customer service calls in my past, but the one that just happened just takes the cake (I've even been charged over $800 before for a service that I had 5 confirmation numbers of cancellation for, which they denied existed, BBB cleared that one up).

So, I have decided to enact a new policy. Every customer service phone call I place I will be recording, and every person that gets on the line (and every new person), I will notify them for legal reasons that I, too, am recording the call for quality assurance purposes. Quality assurance has repeatedly failed us as a society, so let's put the burden of quality assurance on our side of the call, where we can actually be in control. QA is a team that is employed under the same hierarchy and structure as the organization that is being monitored, so cannot be objective by nature and is prone to large amounts of monitoring of employees that is difficult to manage. If you factor in the various other things that they might take into consideration on their end of the call, they cannot accurately portray the call itself because they work for the company that is supposed to be critiqued by the process.

Share your stories of bad customer service experiences here. I recommend that all people from now on record their customer service calls, but be aware that you must inform them that you are recording, and everyone that comes on the line, as you might not know what jurisdiction their call is in and applicable laws on recording would follow their laws for recording for your side of the call (and your side for them recording you). At least I'm pretty sure that's how it works. I would just notify them anyway to be safe and also to be polite about it.

There are many good customer support representatives out there, and we want to make sure that they continue to be customer support representatives, so remember to always be polite on the call and keep your patience and try not to get frustrated. Also, always write down your confirmation numbers, and if you have a bad recording, report the call and turn over the recording to the BBB. They really do work wonders.

The transcript of my communication is as follows to the best of my abilities to remember, after having been bounced around from department to department, it was determined that I could not actually possibly use their service. So they forwarded me to billing to refund me:

Rep: "Hello can I please get the phone number for the account?"

Me: "The number is XYZ"

Rep: "Let me look up your account information."

Rep: [general gossip with coworker]

Me: "What was that?"

Rep: "Please hold while I look up your information."

[5 minutes]

Me: "Hello?"

Rep: "Yes, please stay on the line."

[5 minutes]

Me: "Hello?"

Rep: "Yes, please stay on the line."

[5 minutes]

Me: "Hello?"

Rep: "Yes, please stay on the line."

[5 minutes]

Me: "Hello?"

Rep: "Yes, please stay on the line."

[This continued for about 1 hour, repeated hello, stay on the line every 5 minutes]

Me: "Hello?"

Rep: [no response]

Me: "Hello?"

Rep: [no response]

Me: "If quality assurance is listening, please note that I am extremely unsatisfied."

Rep: [no response]

Me: "Hello?"

Rep: [no response]

Me: "Hello?"

Rep: [no response]

Me: "Hello?"

Rep: [no response]

Me: "Hello?"

Rep: [no response]

Me: "Hello?"

Rep: [no response]

[continued for another 5 minutes]

Me: "Representative, if you are listening I have extreme patience and will remain on the line for hours if need be."

[immediate disconnect]