Good customer service
Discussion
Hopefully this doesn't break the rules.
I bought a Gtech hedge trimmer last November. On receipt I opened the box to check nothing was damaged and then put away.
Got it out today and powered up the battery. Due to my stupidity I couldn't connected it all together though. So called them.
A couple of automated levels and then the help line was answered within a couple of rings. Within 30 seconds they resolved my stupidity and it's now all connected.
So rare these days that I felt praise was appropriate, which was also given to the call handler at the time.
I bought a Gtech hedge trimmer last November. On receipt I opened the box to check nothing was damaged and then put away.
Got it out today and powered up the battery. Due to my stupidity I couldn't connected it all together though. So called them.
A couple of automated levels and then the help line was answered within a couple of rings. Within 30 seconds they resolved my stupidity and it's now all connected.
So rare these days that I felt praise was appropriate, which was also given to the call handler at the time.
richhead said:
Quite sad reflection that people feel the need to remark when they have had good customer service.
I should be the given not the exception.
Indeed, I once wanted to contact the head office of a chain store to tell them just how good a particular branch was. The only way I could find to contact them was via their complaints portal so I had to fill in a complaint form with 'This is not a complaint!' as the subject matter.I should be the given not the exception.
I worked for a small old school IT consultancy
Customers could ring, email, fax, smoke signal us with issues
We’d call them back, cart wheel, drive etc to get the issue sorted out within minutes
Happy customers, happy profits
We got purchased by a large slow moving beast
Now when a customer emails in, a simple question will cause 3 weeks of arguing over which cost centre etc and they never get a timely answer
I didn’t realise how good we were until we were not - sad to see
Customers could ring, email, fax, smoke signal us with issues
We’d call them back, cart wheel, drive etc to get the issue sorted out within minutes
Happy customers, happy profits
We got purchased by a large slow moving beast
Now when a customer emails in, a simple question will cause 3 weeks of arguing over which cost centre etc and they never get a timely answer
I didn’t realise how good we were until we were not - sad to see
I have to say the majority of the time you get acceptable customer service, you sometimes get very good.
The last few times I have very good were John Lewis and actually Thames Water who were excellent.
JL replaced an ordered item even though it was probably lost in transit from the packaging, no questions asked and after trying and failing to get any help from Royal Mail who supposedly delivered it.
And Thames Water hen I had a leak, they were very helpful, quick, prompt and offered apologies for a problem that was a crap landlord not them
The last few times I have very good were John Lewis and actually Thames Water who were excellent.
JL replaced an ordered item even though it was probably lost in transit from the packaging, no questions asked and after trying and failing to get any help from Royal Mail who supposedly delivered it.
And Thames Water hen I had a leak, they were very helpful, quick, prompt and offered apologies for a problem that was a crap landlord not them
I used to work for a small security firm that got bought by a multinational driven by american bankers, customer service went down the toilet, along with job satisfaction, and any attempts to meet our customers needs were thwarted by "process" and short term profit at all costs.
Funnily enough loads of customers left and we went from being very profitable to making a loss.
Now I run a security company and an IT related company we gear everything toward exceeding customer expectations and profit follows naturally. We choose our suppliers based on aftersales support, but we do have to sack the odd couple of customers who chose to be difficult and impossible to please.
As far as suppliers go, one example is access control. There are cheaper companies than paxton, there are some systems that have more features than paxton, but the support from paxton for any of their products, no matter where or how you obtained their products, whether you are a multinational, a one man band installer or even an end user who never purchased their product it doesn't matter, their level of support is fanatical.
Funnily enough loads of customers left and we went from being very profitable to making a loss.
Now I run a security company and an IT related company we gear everything toward exceeding customer expectations and profit follows naturally. We choose our suppliers based on aftersales support, but we do have to sack the odd couple of customers who chose to be difficult and impossible to please.
As far as suppliers go, one example is access control. There are cheaper companies than paxton, there are some systems that have more features than paxton, but the support from paxton for any of their products, no matter where or how you obtained their products, whether you are a multinational, a one man band installer or even an end user who never purchased their product it doesn't matter, their level of support is fanatical.
Edited by OldGermanHeaps on Sunday 13th April 19:32
My beloved 1993 Berghaus emotional support fleece was having trouble with its zip, so I went to my local seamstress (ooh err), she said she could replace the zip but not the same colour, bugger; I then came across Repairhaus, Berghaus’s own repair service.
I sent off the details of the problem and they replied they could just replace the zip slider and it would be fine. Got it back today good as new and the cost? Nothing, all I paid for was the postage to get to them.
This was not a one off, if something of their’s is fixable they’ll do it FOC, return carriage included, so credit where it’s due.
I sent off the details of the problem and they replied they could just replace the zip slider and it would be fine. Got it back today good as new and the cost? Nothing, all I paid for was the postage to get to them.
This was not a one off, if something of their’s is fixable they’ll do it FOC, return carriage included, so credit where it’s due.
in my previous house I had replaced the WC and with it a soft close seat. All made by ROCA.
after a couple of years one of the plastic bolt fittings / hinge for the lid broke so I contacted ROCA for replacements. The woman who answered understood the problem and said that there had been reports of issues with these and that they should be replaced with new metal ones and asked for my address. This was free of charge. they arrived a few days later, two new complete units. . ... didnt expect that at all.
KAgantua said:
Octopus are amazing
I remember i was with both edf and scpttish power before
Never answered phone in under an hour
And therein lies the problem with talking about companies, everyone's experiences will be different. I had a horrible time with a very simple problem using Octopus that took months to resolve. No complaint's about their pricing though. I remember i was with both edf and scpttish power before
Never answered phone in under an hour
My other half and my youngest have dairy allergies and I've had a couple of bad experiences on flights. By far the worst was Emirates where I had a full blown argument mid flight due to them serving them a meal with dairy in and the head purser raising his voice and giving attitude. I made him apologise in front of the whole flight in the end.
In terms of good customer service by contrast, TUI were exceptional. It's not their fault that the food contractors couldn't put a dairy free meal together but the staff went above and beyond to make sure my family were fed. We had a mix of options added together including a couple of things from the pilot and one of the air stewardesses packed lunches! I'm not sure what good it did bit we sent an email off to Tui naming them and the flight to thank them.
Have to say I can't complain about most places I've dealt with, even Mr Bezos was quick to cancel and refund for some items that never arrived however I have tried to repair a combined light/extractor unit in the en suite which has dragged on somewhat.
Light started to flicker and flash, tried a separate bulb, no better, spoke to the manufacturer who said it's the transformer unit. Bought a new one from a stockist for the manufacturer. No Better, messages to and fro photos and cross communication withe manufacturer before the supplier stopped communicating.
Got asked for a Trustpilot or whatever review so I gave one 0. They quickly responded saying they'd look into it more. A few months have now passed, nothing.
I won't name them here but they do spare parts for bathrooms and they're a complete waste of space.
Light started to flicker and flash, tried a separate bulb, no better, spoke to the manufacturer who said it's the transformer unit. Bought a new one from a stockist for the manufacturer. No Better, messages to and fro photos and cross communication withe manufacturer before the supplier stopped communicating.
Got asked for a Trustpilot or whatever review so I gave one 0. They quickly responded saying they'd look into it more. A few months have now passed, nothing.
I won't name them here but they do spare parts for bathrooms and they're a complete waste of space.
Richer Sounds, bought a TV, started getting a problem where yellows were green in the centre of the screen and quite a few dead pixels, only a few weeks before their 6 year guarantee expired from when I bought it, emailed them, sorted pretty quickly, got £700 back to go towards a new TV, kept the old TV which still works use it in the garage when working on things.
KingNothing said:
Richer Sounds, bought a TV, started getting a problem where yellows were green in the centre of the screen and quite a few dead pixels, only a few weeks before their 6 year guarantee expired from when I bought it, emailed them, sorted pretty quickly, got £700 back to go towards a new TV, kept the old TV which still works use it in the garage when working on things.
Richer Sounds have always had superb customer service. I will go out of my way to buy from them as a result.Niche one for the model builders on here, but Belkits, I bought a second hand kit off eBay (Metro 6R4 
) it was still sealed, but I had to open it to look inside and unfortunately there was no decal sheet. They took me at my word without any question at all when I popped them an email, they simply asked for my address and a new decal sheet arrived in the post a few days later from Belgium.
) it was still sealed, but I had to open it to look inside and unfortunately there was no decal sheet. They took me at my word without any question at all when I popped them an email, they simply asked for my address and a new decal sheet arrived in the post a few days later from Belgium.Pelikan pens for me.
My limited edition Chicago fountain pen was my 40th birthday present. It came with a fine nib which I hated. I emailed Pelikan and they sent me a medium nib FOC and allowed me to keep the fine one. A nib is around £150, and new ones on ebay can be over £500
Then 20 years later, the piston got jammed and pushed the filler knob off the end of the pen. Emailed Pelikan, they said "send it in", it came back 4 weeks later fixed and looking like new FOC.
My limited edition Chicago fountain pen was my 40th birthday present. It came with a fine nib which I hated. I emailed Pelikan and they sent me a medium nib FOC and allowed me to keep the fine one. A nib is around £150, and new ones on ebay can be over £500
Then 20 years later, the piston got jammed and pushed the filler knob off the end of the pen. Emailed Pelikan, they said "send it in", it came back 4 weeks later fixed and looking like new FOC.
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