Dealership wants guy to drive 350 miles to pick up replacement vehicle after known fault in his new car, when customer gets upset service rep intentionally sidelines the exchange before quitting: 'I sent his case over with the wrong file, then I quit'

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Jun 21, 2025 12:00 PM EDT

It's important to remember that people working in customer service are people too. But, while this saying is intended to mean that "you should treat people working in customer service well," as you should anyone.  Being a person doesn't mean they're going to be a good person, and like anyone else and any other group of people, if left unchecked, there's a risk that you might end up dealing with someone who is petty, vindictive, or outright malicious for no good reason… Shout out here to the customer service representative I was dealing with, who refused to assist me with a warranty issue I had and would only reply to my emails with laughing emojis. You'd think these people wouldn't be working in their jobs for long if that were the case, but some people are experts in clinging to the objects of their own derision. 

Perhaps that worker is disgruntled with their job. However, going out of your way to shirk an obligation that the company you're working for has to a contract, regulation, or client is simply immoral and flies in the face of any moral or logical reasoning. Further, intentionally messing with a customer and torpedoing the relationship before running away to leave your coworkers to clean up the mess just reeks of cowardice. This customer service rep definitely thought he was doing something when he sought to get back at a disgruntled customer, and let's be real, the solution that he was presenting to the customer in the first place was completely unreasonable…

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  • 01

    "AITA for retaliating against a [...] customer?"

    I just left my job working for an automobile manufacturer. My position was dealing with lemon law cases. Basically, if you buy a new car and it starts having problems, the manufacturer has a set number of attempts to fix it before they legally have to buy the car back or give the customer a replacement.
    via OnAnOpenField
  • 02
    Cheezburger Image 10519206912
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 03
    So a few weeks ago, I get this new case. This guy's car, the rear backup camera isn't working. Turned out it's a common issue with his make and model, that has no known fix. The allowed number of repair attempts had been exceeded, so the next step was replacing the car. Now this guy had a very particular request for what he wanted as his replacement car. Such and such features. I had to do some deep digging, but eventually I found one. Actually the only one available in his entire state that had
    via OnAnOpenField
  • 04
    When I talked to the owning dealership, they told me they're only willing to hold it for 3 days and if he hasn't picked it up by then they'll sell it to someone else. I asked them if they would be willing to do a dealership transfer to get the car closer to where the customer lives, but they wouldn't go for it. So I give him a call and tell him about it. It was in a different city, that he would have to drive about 350 miles to go pick it up. And he wasn't happy about that. Then he started yelli
    via OnAnOpenField
  • 05
    But before he can pick it up, there's a little more paperwork that we, the manufacturer, have to do. And the customer needed to send some proof of purchase stuff, and then I would route his case to another department to finish everything up. So he emails me a file. It's the wrong file. I know it's the wrong file. If I send the case with this file, they'll reject it and send it back to me.
    via OnAnOpenField
  • 06
    So yesterday, I sent his case over with the wrong file. And then I quit (already have another job starting soon, don't worry). It'll be up to 24 hours before his case is reviewed, rejected and sent back to me. But I'm not there anymore. All of my open cases will be reassigned, and I'm estimating probably around a week before anyone else reviews it and starts working on it. At that point, the replacement car will most like have already been sold. AITA?
    via OnAnOpenField
  • 07
    OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the ah le: I deliberately submitted a report that I knew would be rejected, to throw a wrench in a customer's efforts to get a replacement car
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  • 08
    DidHeJustGoThere YTA, but this was almost an ESH given the other guy's behavior. However, you deliberately exacerbated the customer's problem by sending the wrong file to your (former) coworkers. At this point, the onus is on you to properly assemble the necessary paperwork and attachments, and you failed in your diligence in doing this. This wasn't accidental, you deliberately failed to do your job and sabotaged the customer's case.
    via OnAnOpenField
  • 09
    All you've done is the customer off even more, and now one of your (former) coworkers has to deal with the fallout from the situation because you walked away. You dumped the problem client on someone else on your team who's going to have to start from square one and you're acting smug about it.
    via OnAnOpenField
  • 10
    tbone603727. YTA for sure. Even putting aside the "is it right to do to the customer" question, where I think there could be some debate, your are undoubtedly the coworker that takes this case over cus this guy will launch at him. But frankly even if you removed this from the equation I think it's still pretty unethical since you're intentionally violating a contract/service
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