Your best and worst customer service experiences [rant & praise]

partyatmygaff

nermal15 wrote: »

RAVE My sister gave me her laptop but the internet explorer wasn't working. I went into town with the intention of going to PC World but, not knowing where it was, ended up at the PC Clinic kiosk in the Ilac Centre instead. I'm so glad I did. I knew very little about what was wrong with the computer but the man figured it out within minutes and explained it simply. He called me throughout the day to update me on its progress, and had it done in a few hours. Also, it cost only half the amount of a friend who had gotten a similar problem fixed in PC World.

It took a few hours to solve a problem with Internet Explorer? :eek:

barrmur

Worst customer service,

IMAGINE BY A MILE!!!!! Next time I hear that add someone is going to die!!!

Papa_Lazarou

Must say my best customer experience has been with apple. Bought an ipod touch not long after they came out off ebay. Was working grand for a few months but woke up one morning to find the inside of the screen all damaged and seemed to have "imploded". Half expected that my sister had stood on it but after research it seemed that thwere had been problems with a batch of them where the inside of the screen just seemed to shatter.

Rang up apple straight away to talk to a lovely fella on the phone. Couldnt have been more helpful. I didnt have a receipt or any proof of where i bought it from btu it didnt matter. Next day after the call UPS guy at my house and even brought a box for me to put the ipod in. Two days later brand new ipod touch at my door with a new set of ear phones!! Top notch service if i say so myself.


Worst definately has to be dealing with eircom about my internet. It would cut out for days at a time and when it came back would be really slow. Im living close to the city and there was no obvios reason for the problems. Must have made around 20 calls over a week to get the same tripe every time,check the wires arent loose, turn off turn on even though i told them i had already went through all this. Each time i was told it was sorted and of course it never was. Eventually damanded to speak to a supervisor who after another number of calls got it sorted.

dublin99

I moved house and in the past few months bought a new fridge, washing machine, dryer, and double oven from DID, Currys and Powercity.

I am satisfied with all of them, including the delivery service provided. Both DID and Powercity have good websites and a number to call re enquiries. I knew the washing machine model (a new one) I wanted. Although it wasn't listed on the DID website, when I called I was told they could add it onto their website and I could buy online the next day saving me a trip to the store.

Powercity has an efficient call back service. I had problem with the installation of the new oven as I needed extra support in the designated cabinet. Powercity had a contractor call me back the same day and he arrived at my house that evening to measure up etc. He was extremely professional and explained what was needed, and returned the following day with the material to install. I am extremely pleased with his work.

Curry online directs you to the UK website. I bought a large fridge that is not stocked by the other retailers. Delivery could not be confirmed at the time of purchase, and instead of asking me to call the store landline (which often rings out) , the young salesman gave me his mobile no. and said he'd personally follow up on the delivery date. When I called it was his day off but he called me back and said he'd arrange delivery - and he did! Now, that is good service.

Nolimits

dublin99 wrote: »

I moved house and in the past few months bought a new fridge, washing machine, dryer, and double oven from DID, Currys and Powercity.

I am satisfied with all of them, including the delivery service provided. Both DID and Powercity have good websites and a number to call re enquiries. I knew the washing machine model (a new one) I wanted. Although it wasn't listed on the DID website, when I called I was told they could add it onto their website and I could buy online the next day saving me a trip to the store.

Powercity has an efficient call back service. I had problem with the installation of the new oven as I needed extra support in the designated cabinet. Powercity had a contractor call me back the same day and he arrived at my house that evening to measure up etc. He was extremely professional and explained what was needed, and returned the following day with the material to install. I am extremely pleased with his work.

Curry online directs you to the UK website. I bought a large fridge that is not stocked by the other retailers. Delivery could not be confirmed at the time of purchase, and instead of asking me to call the store landline (which often rings out) , the young salesman gave me his mobile no. and said he'd personally follow up on the delivery date. When I called it was his day off but he called me back and said he'd arrange delivery - and he did! Now, that is good service.

Nice to hear, so what's your consumer issue?

dublin99

I guess you can put this into "rave and rant" - just thought others may find it helpful as delivery /after sales service for large appliances can be hit and miss sometimes! Cheers!

tommy21

Rant - having tried out one of those massage chairs on a recent trip to Dublin in the basement of Clearys, I knew I had to have one. Homedics is the brand, they slide over a chair and give you a shiatsu massage etc. I have been pricing them for the last month or so, and saw that Argos had a nicely priced product at about €65 - the picture looked great, but it did not give the model number.

Argos being Argos, there is nobody to ask in store. So I sent their customer care an email, explaining my problem. I get fobbed off by a useless rep, who says unfortunately it is impossible to find out the model. They did - and I quote - "manage to find contact details for the manufacturer", and they suggested I ring them to ask! Great work there, Google is so tough to work!

Can you imagine!? What was I supposed to say to them - "Erm some company is selling your product - have a look at the picture at this link and the vague description and tell me if you can guess it." So I said something to this effect to the rep, copied it to the corporate email addy, and told them I was ordering via Amazon. Then I ordered it on Amazon - slightly more expensive but I knew what I was getting (with great feedback too).

Next day I get a reply from the same rep, with an apology and low and behold the model number, which I might add was an ancient one that is not even listed on Homedics website anymore!

thesandeman

Your local Argos store must be a very handy place to rob from @Tommy if they dont have any staff. My local one has at least five staff in the shop itself all who are really helpful with any questions I have about products and God knows how many others hovering in the store who pop out to help if there is anything too confusing for the front of house people. The store people are usually young lads who are a bit more technical minded lol.

tommy21

thesandeman wrote: »

Your local Argos store must be a very handy place to rob from @Tommy if they dont have any staff. My local one has at least five staff in the shop itself all who are really helpful with any questions I have about products and God knows how many others hovering in the store who pop out to help if there is anything too confusing for the front of house people. The store people are usually young lads who are a bit more technical minded lol.

Your local Argos sounds brill! In mine there is nobody to ask - you have the people working the tills and the others on the desk giving products to customers as their ticket number comes up. I suppose I could have paid and collected it and then returned it immediately but so much trouble!

thesandeman

Have to say though that I only go in when its quiet if I know Im going to be asking questions. I wouldnt think id get the same service Christmas week.

patrickcoughlan

2 weeks ago i bought a ten can pack in dunnes and just happened to notice it was not on my receipt as an Irish product

a few cans later and sure i sent the manufacturers an email letting them know

they got on to dunnes and fixed that issue and the very next day at 6pm a guy dropped off a 30 Euro slab of cider to me !!

now is that good consumer relations !

dudara

Can you please stop using CAPS in your thread titles? On the Internet, this is considered the equivalent of shouting.

Thread merged with best/worst customer service thread.

dudara

patrickcoughlan

sure dudara

thanks for filling me in ..i was unaware

gypseaking

tommy21 wrote: »

...I have been pricing them for the last month or so, and saw that Argos had a nicely priced product at about €65 - the picture looked great, but it did not give the model number.
Argos being Argos, there is nobody to ask in store...

tommy21 wrote: »

Your local Argos sounds brill! In mine there is nobody to ask - you have the people working the tills and the others on the desk giving products to customers as their ticket number comes up. I suppose I could have paid and collected it and then returned it immediately but so much trouble!

If you want to check out a product in Argos, you just have to ask at the till, and they will get it brought out from the storeroom to let you see it. Then you can decide whether you want to buy it or not.

sg1rebel

If you are thinking of selling gold here are a few pointers that will definitely help you get more money.

1. buy yourself an eye piece so you can determine what karat you have in your possession as they will not tell you when you go in.

375 = 9 karat
585 = 14 karat
750 = 18 karat
916 = 22 karat
999 = 24 karat

2. Take out all stone you may have in any possessions as they will use stone as an excuse to pull back on the price.

3. here are thr prices you should demand at least. ( minus Stone )

9 karat = 8 euro per gram
14 karat = 12 euro per gram
18 karat = 16 euro per gram
22 karat = 20 euro per gram
24 karat = 23 euro per gram

Sovereign coins are 22 karat gold and half sovereigns weight 4 grams and full sovereigns weight 8 grams so you should expext at least 80 for a half and 160 for a full.

4. If you have krugkrands do not sell until you shop around. These are 24 karat ( nearest thing to pure gold ). You should even try coin collectors where they will be worth more as a coin.

5. DO NOT LISTEN TO THERE DRIBBLE ABOUT PRICES DROPPING AND THE LIKE. KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE BEFORE YOU GO IN AND SEPERATE ALL THE KARATS INTO SEPERATE BAGS. THEY WILL NOT LET YOU WALK. YOU TELL THEM YOU GOT A PRICE IN A COUPLE OF PLACES AND DO NOT ACCEPT ANYTHING LESS THAN THE PRICES I QUOTED EARLIER.

I hope this helps you all and happy spending.

P.S Feel free to send me some of that extra money i guarantee you will make lol

madmaggie

Re dealing with social welfare, I have had dealing with various sections of the department over the last couple of years. With one exception, everyone I spoke to, or have written to or met have been very courteous and helpful. Would put a lot of customer service people in the private sector to shame.

Fey!

RANT:

Eircon: Despite having told them to get lost nearly a year ago after their blatant lies and brutal so-called customer service, I had a guy ring me during the week saying that he was our neeww account manager and asking if there was anything we could help us with!!

AXA: Not so much the company as their engineers. I was told they'd replace my car, then 4 months later wa told they only replaced cars worth more than €5,000 (mine was only worth €3,000). However, I did get a letter of apology 8 weeks after the whole thing eventually got sorted.

Reids: Bought a leather suite, leather wore through, got it replaced. All good. Repacement fell apart and leather wore through again, but local shop closed. 4 months later finally got someone out to look at it, who reckoned the soft fleece we put on it caused the wear on the leather (exactly the same as on the first one), and that couches are only gauranteed for people up to 16 stone weight (I'm 20 stone), so the extended cover we bought for the leather and the 5 year warranty on the mechanism of the recliners do not cover our issues!!

RAVE:

NTL: I know, it's unusual to see them raved about. However, my last blow up with them was really my own fault (which I finally figured after I dealt with someone efficient there after I was an ass to one of his colleagues). Recently their customer service has become very efficient, with hold times down from about 45 minutes to about 5 minutes. Maybe I've just been lucky recently!

Galway County Council Motor Tax: Possibly one of the friendliest and most efficient public departments I have encountered. I contacted them about renewing my uncles driving license (he lives in Scotland); they sent the necessary form directly to him with very clear instructions on what to do, and sent the license directly to him. All sorted within a couple of days. Also, when I mislaid my license and was going away for a weekend, they had processed my replacement in about 10 minutes (3:30pm on a Friday) in case I needed it (was driving to Britain). On their tax side, I was asking the girl at the couter about the new regs regarding commercial vehicles, and she set me straight on them very quickly, telling me what I didn't have to do (in other words, to ignore all I had read on boards motors!!). I always find the staff there very pleasant, even on days when the queue is out the door!

SerialComplaint

Fey! wrote: »

Reids: Bought a leather suite, leather wore through, got it replaced. All good. Repacement fell apart and leather wore through again, but local shop closed. 4 months later finally got someone out to look at it, who reckoned the soft fleece we put on it caused the wear on the leather (exactly the same as on the first one), and that couches are only gauranteed for people up to 16 stone weight (I'm 20 stone), so the extended cover we bought for the leather and the 5 year warranty on the mechanism of the recliners do not cover our issues!!

Do you have the small print of the extended warranty? If this was an insurance based product, and they sold a product for 16-stone people to a 20-stone man, then it was missold. Take a case to the Financial Services Ombudsman and you should get your money back.

John Mason

Chill.ie

Rang up to renew my car insurance with them - asked for a quote was told €362

I told them that when i put my details into their website it came up as €342.

Agent agreed with €342. Asked him to send out it in writing along with the changes i made to my policy.

Letter duly arrives with €362 - phone them and tell them the wrong amount is on the letter - new letter sent with correct amount.

phone up to pay with credit card - girl says that €362 will be deducted from my card.

through the whole thing again - she agrees to €342.

__________________________________________________________

Phoned them up today to look for travel insurance - thought i might get a discount as i am already with them

Guy: "travel insurance - we dont do tra...............can i put you hold"

Me: Ok

Guy: "okay, i am transferring you to the correct number"

Me: hi, i am looking for a travel insurance quote

Poor confused woman on the end of the line: Travel insurance????????? this is a private house phone number

Me: oh i have just been transferred here

poor confused woman on the end of the line: sorry,this is my house not a company

HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN:eek::eek:

SerialComplaint

I wouldn't normally be a big fan of Tesco, but they handled an issue very well. I emailed them on Sunday to tell them that one of their trolleys was turning into an unofficial bin outside Dundrum Library - see attached photo. I emailed the generic address on their website. It can often be a nightmare to get through such generic addresses to the relevant person in a large organisation.

I had an acknowledgement on Sunday, a further acknowledgement on Monday, and the trolley was gone by Monday evening. Pretty good going.

caprilicious

Rave:
Micksgarage.ie - I ordered stuff from their site yesterday afternoon & it was delivered 10am the following day

baggy1

a company called medi tronics sell substandard car media cd audio equiment beware, no replacement if faulty you have been warned

Gerrymanus

Bought a cordless phone with answering machine for my business recently in Power City. When I tried to use it, I found it incredibly difficult to comprehend the instructions and if the answering machine kicked in, it took five minutes to hang up after the message was received. So I went back saying it wasn't fit for the purpose and they told me I had to contact the supplier directly regarding my problem. The fact that I stated that my contract was with them (ref. Sale of Goods act 1980), they still fobbed me off with this solution. Time to send in the cavalry in the guise of my good wife who went in the following week, repeated the same line with a bit more venom and authority and they then issued a refund eunder duress. Would suggest you buy equipment from other electrical stores for better after sales service.:mad:

Thoie

Never thought I'd be praising Vodafone, but got a call from them yesterday to say they hadn't received my payment and that they might have to cut me off. As it happens there was just a mistake, and we got it sorted out in 2 minutes on the phone. Vast improvement from a few years back when something similar happened and the first I knew about it was when they disconnected me.
That one quick phone call from them turned a potential rant into a rave

giftgrub

We got our Christmas saver vouchers the other day...85 euro worth.

And promptly threw them out in the recycling by accident....

85 lids could go a long way right now, believe me.

I rang the clubcard helpline, where a nice man said it would be no problem to get them re-issued.

wmpdd3

Gerrymanus wrote: »

Bought a cordless phone with answering machine for my business recently in Power City. When I tried to use it, I found it incredibly difficult to comprehend the instructions and if the answering machine kicked in, it took five minutes to hang up after the message was received. So I went back saying it wasn't fit for the purpose and they told me I had to contact the supplier directly regarding my problem. The fact that I stated that my contract was with them (ref. Sale of Goods act 1980), they still fobbed me off with this solution. Time to send in the cavalry in the guise of my good wife who went in the following week, repeated the same line with a bit more venom and authority and they then issued a refund eunder duress. Would suggest you buy equipment from other electrical stores for better after sales service.:mad:

I presume this is a compliment on Power City as:

When I tried to use it, I found it incredibly difficult to comprehend the instructions

( you were not able to use the machine)

and if the answering machine kicked in, it took five minutes to hang up after the message was received.

(you had the message length set to infinity)

Fair play to power city.

dinneenp

Two thumbs up for Tesco!
My wife was in Tesco Oranmore (newly opened).
Shopping came to €120, she had a voucher '€20 off if you spend €100 or more'.
New bank card didn't work and she had only €90 cash on her.
The girl on the desk was friendly and called the floor manager. The floor manager gave my wife a €10 voucher for free to make up the €100!

dillo2k10

The worst place that I have ever had to deal with was Homecare insurance - (They done the phone insurance with Meteor)

They were useless. Didnt try to help at all, took months to get a new phone.

Power city came in close second. Dont care at all what you want, just pretend to agree with you to get ya off the phone.

Best place was Sky. I found them very helpful.

thesandeman

Tesco. Bought a pack of blank DVDs last week. Tried the first two and they didnt work (wouldnt load). Brought them all back and got a refund no questions asked. Im sure other places would have given all the excuses about no refund on media etc.

busman

Was in today to SW office in Mallow to sign back on after FAS course and to add newborn
Have to say that they were very helpful, said that they would get it processed as quickly as possible, checked my file to see if they had everything, asked if I wanted some copies of my daughters birth cert. Gave me a name and number on a sticky to call on Thursday to see if payment will be available.

Very happy customer!