This Week's Top 5: Our Users' Best Rants!

How our users felt after every one of these customer service horror stories ©

We usually keep these notes from Customer Underground positive, highlighting members’ favourites, but this week, for a little comic relief (and inspired by a great post from Tim this week), we’re bringing you some great rants.  How was your week?  Anything you’d like to get off your chest?  Write a review!  Or email us your blog post if you really need some space to rant (or rave).

We’re also kicking off a promotion on Monday – keep your eyes out for that.  And don’t forget that you can now book restaurants from our site – check ‘em out on Inner Sydney, Eastern Suburbs, and Inner West (see the right-hand column).  We’ve given it a go and it is super-easy...

Now, some entertainment:

1. Dell Hell:  Tim Hughes, travel industry expert & blogger, posted this epic of his ‘nine circles of Dell Hell’.  This post has already been a huge hit around the world; if you haven’t read it, do.  My fave bit – in Circle 5, when Dell’s robo-call closes the matter, Tim writes, “I have been looking for a definition of hell. Now I have it. It is when things around you are so screwed up that they take more than 5,000 words and 20 mins to describe but in one second a computer can make it even worse by telling you that everything is fine.”
2. IKEA Rhodes - Family friendly? I don't think so!:  Lured by “colourful images of happy families cavorting around homes and lounging on brightly coloured couches with names like Agneta and Bjorn”, maven sass found that reality at Ikea doesn’t quite match up (“The first sign that the Swedish dream may be just that, a dream, comes with Mariah Carey screaming through our ear drums on arrival”).
3. Note to Fitness First, American Express: uh, don’t you guys have a phone?:  If you’ve ever been trapped in the netherworld of trying to sort out billing mistakes, you’ll relate to Moneypenny’s hilarious account.  As she says, “Is there anything more crazy-making-with-a-capital-K than dealing with a credit card company? Or more depressing than a gym? How about dealing with a credit card company who won’t speak to your gym?”
4. Australia Post Sent Me 'Postal':  Shopaholic lets off some steam from the parcel-collection go-round with Australia Post – and her local post office...maddening.
5. And the collection of rants in the reviews of Telstra – it seems this telco can stir people’s ire like nothing else.  LGeorge notes, “In a stroke of bitter irony, the best customer service experience I ever had with Telstra was when I cancelled my account.”

Want to clue in the Underground as to some bullets to dodge?  Write a review!  Looking for some raves from the week?  Check out guest start maven Lisa’s five favourites, with some great tips – including a spot with housemade soba noodles...yum.

And please spread the word:  share your reviews on Twitter and Facebook.  Follow us on Twitter for daily Underground tips.  We’re on Facebook too!

Cheers,

Mel, Barbara, Rick, AJ, & Murray