How would you deal with appalling service?

I would say I am a fair person and I always endeavor to be understanding, that being said when I find myself in a situation that I do not feel is right, and that is putting it mildly, I have to take action.

I am curious as to what other people would do in these circumstances. Let me explain. A few weeks ago someone accidentally reversed into my car. They came and told me what they had done and upon inspection, we discovered the damage was worse than they had thought. They contacted their insurance company, and I would like to point out that as it is a company car they have no say in the insurance company used.

Fast forward eleven days and even though we had both been advised that the insurance company would contact me, this had not happened. So days of persistent chasing the company began and this got us nowhere. They decided the only course was to contact their manager, who in turn, contacted the insurance company and told them they had to contact me that day.

I received a message that day asking me to call them and to give the reference number they quoted. So I did as requested. Now I understand that nowadays not only are companies very busy but they are, as we all are, still dealing with Covid, so I expected to have to wait to talk to someone. The queue advised me I was caller number 6. One hour later I was finally caller 0. At this point, the automated message told me I had three options. Option number three was to continue to hold and I would be put through to someone, so obviously, that is what I did. The system then advised me that I was now number 3 in the queue, so without doing anything I was pushed back down the waiting list. I continued to hold whilst investigating if there was another way to contact the company as I wasn't confident my call would be answered.

I couldn't find any other options and at this point, I was starting to get frustrated. Following this, I decided to investigate the company in a little more detail. I must say when I saw a Trust Pilot rating of 1.5 stars I was not inspired. It got worse, upon reading recent reviews it appears that the company was inundated with bad reviews. My concern as to what I was going to have to deal with, bearing in mind that wasn't my fault, rose substantially.

Fifty minutes later I had been caller number 0 in the queue for twenty minutes and it didn't look as if I was going to get put through to anyone. At this point, I must admit I got the distinct impression that I was being purposefully ignored in the hope I would give up and go away.

I figured the stress wasn't doing me any good and we were only at the start of the process so I hung up.

Upon investigating I managed to find a number for one of their offices and although this was not what I had been advised to do, I called them, more out of desperation than in the hope of actually getting something sorted. I felt that unless I persisted this was going to drag on and on and well I think you get the idea.

Surprisingly enough someone answered and I explained what had happened, that I was at this point, less than impressed with their service, and that I did not want to find myself in the same situation again. I am now back waiting for someone to call me and who knows what will happen.

I do however feel that something needs to be done, not just for my experience but for all the people, that have from their comments had such incredibly awful service. I must confess I am not someone to sit back and complain about something and do nothing, not when I feel it matters. I have already had to deal with two shall we say rather big issues which meant involving the Government, and in both circumstances, I managed to make a difference so believe me, I am not afraid of a fight.

I could, of course, add to the Trust Pilot reviews but with the number of bad ones already listed I am not sure that this will have any impact. Tell me what would you do in these circumstances?

Cate