PJ T.

My business has been a customer of Oriental Trading Company for many years. Today it took me two hours to place a simple online order because the system wouldn't accept the code in the OTC magazine. Eventually a nice woman on the phone named Ashley helped (she was very hospitable and that's why I gave 2 stars instead of 1), but the incredible rudeness of a Chat "customer support" rep ruined all credibility OTC has with me and I will likely never make a purchase here again.

It took THREE chats before I had to make the call to try and get this resolved. No chats were able to do what took Ashley barely a minute to accomplish, but the real issue is the third chat person by the name of "Geneva."

I was already frustrated with the process and instead of sympathizing or apologizing for the wait and extra hoops I had to jump through, Geneva was rude, condescending, and made excuses about how they were busy and apparently that took priority over the hours I spent trying to get this done.

In the end I asked for the reference number of the chat twice and she refused to give it to me (knowing how rude she had been and probably not wanting to get in trouble).

My last communication to her in regard to asking for the chat number was: "Are you denying a customer access to their own chat reference number, Geneva?"

And she responded: "I am obligated to help you with this order. You have a great rest of your day - I tried to assist you -bye."

Then she hung up the chat. Worst customer service experience of all time.

If OTC is able to track a chat convo that was picked up at 2023-10-26T12:56:01-05:00 and trace it to Geneva, please ensure she is terminated as an employee.

Do you have any idea how upsetting it is to spend such a long time trying to accomplish such a simple task, have patience for three separate support requests, and then have someone treat you without any compassion whatsoever?

Customer service means that when a customer is already frustrated and has gone through multiple steps to achieve a goal, you don't make them feel worse and you don't make excuses. You apologize, get them what they ask for as fast as you are able, and you certainly don't hang up on the customer.