1. People that insist on using old technology because of a lack of comfort with new technology (phone/mail instead of email, fed-ex rather than scan).
Real example: Phone call with a sales woman, who wanted detailed info over the phone I had already presented in email. I said I’d present it again over email, and she stopped communicating.
2. People that do not respond to an important business related email or phone message. To me, this is just as offensive as being asked a question in person and walking past, purposefully ignoring that person. This happens to me pretty frequently among all industries, although it is again more common among people who are not comfortable with computers.
Real example: Sent an email to a salesman for a moving company, after the order was placed, asking to confirm that the workers were insured. No response.
3. People that do not respond within a reasonable amount of time to new information presented in a conversation.
Real example: Loan broker, who was told twice over email and once on the phone the house was not a short sale. An hour later, wrote an email i got CCed on asking if the house was a short sale.
4. Dishonesty in sales. For example, quoting one price, only to add on mandatory handling fees. Or requiring someone to enter all their information online, only to present terms that would kill the sale after the user has already spent a lot of time in the process. This is also true of hidden charges, where the price is X, but if you do Y, which every reasonable person would do, the price is X + Z.
Real example: Price aggregation website listing lowest priced vendors. However, once you place the order, in fine print you see an additional 3% handling fee on all orders. 3% fee does not show up on aggregation website.
5. People that try to establish customer relationships at too early a stage, esp. when they get offended when you do not reciprocate. “Look, I just wanted a freaking price. Stop calling me. If your price is the best after I’m doing getting quotes, I’ll call you.”
Real example: Movers again. One salesman in particular called me about 6 times after I only reached out to him once. The 6th call was a message (I stopped answering his number) where he was really aggravated I wasn’t talking to him. Ironically, his price was the highest among all bids I got.