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

MunsterCycling

Easons own most of the newspaper distribution network in this country.

dudara

Threads merged

dudara

dirtypanties

well thats the reason they are in business then-its certainly not for their low prices and excellent customer service!

maxer

TopGifts
Waiting almost 2 years for a helicopter trip!.
They keep pushing me out by 6 months blaming a backlog.
But of course no mention of this when you are purchasing the gift on their site .

Corruptedmorals

InTouch wrote: »

As the title suggests, this is part of the slogan of a well known established Irish store.
I'm not looking for recognition as a customer because I have money etc, but common courtesy and the ability to be a representative of a company that holds a slogan so strongly through its advertising. Don't get me wrong, I know not everyone can be tarred , but seriously...

I have been in to this store on three occasions in the past year. On each occasion I have encountered staff who do not look customers in the eye, reach over and grab the money from your hands, barely say "thanks..." when they shove the money back at you and seem to all be burning up with resentment or just have a purely bad attitude.

So , if this is the difference, and how "good" of them to point it out, then I am disappointed, needless to say, I won't be returning.

The same company is notorious for treating its staff awfully. Doesn't matter what the slogan is in that case. I worked in the same company for years, there were a few alright that would tend not to acknowledge customers, but they were in the absolute minority. Most are at least tolerant if not outright pleasant! Bad attitudes suck but I will say that the company needs to treat their staff better, really it is rotten from the top down. M&S is completely different, they train their staff well, treat them well, and pride themselves on their customer service. The difference is..this company do not and are understaffed.

As regards amount of Irish staff- definitely dominant. I would say 70/30, I'm sure stores differ but that was a flagship Dublin store.

seagull

maxer wrote: »

TopGifts
Waiting almost 2 years for a helicopter trip!.
They keep pushing me out by 6 months blaming a backlog.
But of course no mention of this when you are purchasing the gift on their site .

Try contacting the vendor directly, and see what availability is like. If they have immediate availability, get back to topgift, and tell them you know there is availability, and you want to go now. Topgift are notorious for delaying your activity so they can hang onto your money that little bit longer.

david4791

What should I look out for when buying a used Apple Ipad?

Cinderella11

I also had a bit of bad service with this company, I bought a camera in the terminal 1 store in Dublin about six months, I was dealing with a young guy who while in the middle of the sale wandered off and started chatting to two airlingus air hostesses. I found this very rude but decided to wait for him as i was keen on buying the camera. I tried to speak to other members of staff but honestly the place seemed like a bit of a creche with staff messing about and not bothering with any customers. After about 15minutes the guy came back to me and started he sale all over again like he had not remembered speaking to me. i stopped him and just told him that Id take the camera. he then went into a big long tangent trying to sell me cases and cards and even when I produced a 16gb Memory card he told me that wouldnt be enough as a photographer myself I felt he was a little intimidating and forcefull and onlt for the camera was at a good price I would not of bought it from him. When I got home and opened the box there was no battery in it. at this stage I was livid with the situation not only had I gotten TERRIBLE service but the package was not complete. I rang the store in dublin airport and within 4-5minutes I was passed around at least four different staff members. Finally I spoke to a supervisor (who's name i wont give) who apologised and assured me that the battery would be sent to me within 3 to 4 days. I was satisfied wit that. 3 weeks later there was so sign of the battery so i rang the store again and this time I asked to speak to the manager but was told he was not there, so i asked to speak to the assistant manager who was also not there. i said Id ring back and the same thing again, the were not there. i decided to leave it as i would be going through the airport again in 2 weeks. When I went in I asked to speak to the manager who GUESS WHAT??? wasnt there. I was told he would be back in half an hour so i decided to go over and sit in the coffee shop directly across and about three minutes later a man in a suit walked out of a door at the side of a shop I approached him and asked was he the manager and he replied yes. (so much for not being there!) I explained my problem to him and he started saying something about it being over 28days. while this was going on agroup of about 4 to 5 staff members had began to surround us listening to the conversation. Eventually I got another battery just handed to me without an apology(suprise suprise) but one thing is for sure I would NEVER shop in any of there stores again after this. Not only do the staff not have a care in the world but the management proved to be as clueless and ignorant as the staff!
Kelly.

SerialComplaint

The CEO of Dixons and PC World - Declan Roynayne - posts and responds on this forum. Why not post your story there and see what happens.

Dues Bellator

Double rave....
gamestop in rathmines , i bought a game new Homefront 3 weeks ago , wasnt really into it so i brought it back to trade for tigerwoods12 , i was expecting 35 euro but he said , ah yer grand ill just swap it for you as you just bought it:D

also mentioned my sons xbox is on the blink he said bring it in ill have a look at it for you, rang me 2 hours later and said he fixed it , the guy would not take any money either for doing it. service like that is unreal these days ,i did not even buy xbox there , i bought it 2nd hand on adverts.ie.

ive bought all my software and consoles from this shop and will cont to do so. really nice guys:D

admiralofthefleet

almanu wrote: »

Double rave....
gamestop in rathmines , i bought a game new Homefront 3 weeks ago , wasnt really into it so i brought it back to trade for tigerwoods12 , i was expecting 35 euro but he said , ah yer grand ill just swap it for you as you just bought it:D

also mentioned my sons xbox is on the blink he said bring it in ill have a look at it for you, rang me 2 hours later and said he fixed it , the guy would not take any money either for doing it. service like that is unreal these days ,i did not even buy xbox there , i bought it 2nd hand on adverts.ie.

ive bought all my software and consoles from this shop and will cont to do so. really nice guys:D

The lads in Arklow are sound too

christineh

So this is just my experience of Express bus Dublin

We booked a bus to take us down to Galway on Friday. The bus driver they sent us on the way down was pretty much veering over and back across the white line most of the way down. So based on that, I rang them and requested they send someone else to collect us on the Sunday.

So the bus arrived, we were delighted, waved goodbye to the landlady as we had rented out a castle and some beautiful grounds.

What did the bus driver do? Instead of driving on the gravel round the side of the house and reversing back around it, he drove right across her lawn. Hmm not the best idea considering it was a soft lawn. Hence he sunk down into it, then tried to reverse back and got stuck. We were stuck there for 3 hours. we had to arrange for two tractors to come and pull him out. You should have seen the state of her lawn. we were originally due back in dublin at 7 as 45 of us had work in the morning, instead we arrived back after 11pm last night shattered.

So the girl who works for the company said last night she would ring me today
to talk about it....hmmm needless to say, I didn't get that phone call.

So all and all after spending months organising a great trip away, I'm kinda wishing I picked a different bus company to say the least.

Cabaal

Hope the owner of the premises is billing the fool for damage to the lawn and time/costs for the tractor

liam7831

Ha thats quite funny, i bet your sorry you asked to change the driver now!!

christineh

oh god ya, well there were 45 witnesses with cameras taking pictures of the damage so they prob wouldnt last long in the small claims court ha

oh and yes! i was very sorry i changed the bus driver haha. although im not entirely sure he wouldnt have done something very similar :eek:

herya

It must have been awful but thanks for the laugh

John.Keane

Hi
I am the General Manager of the dixonstravel stores in Dublin Airport in both T1/T2 & I've only joined Boards.ie since yesterday. I am appalled to see the increadably bad service you recieved (Cinderella11). However i would like if you contacted me on my store email - John_keane@dixonstravel.co.uk - to discuss further & would like to reassure you this is not common practice in my stores.

Dues Bellator

John.Keane wrote: »

Hi
I am the General Manager of the dixonstravel stores in Dublin Airport in both T1/T2 & I've only joined Boards.ie since yesterday. I am appalled to see the increadably bad service you recieved (Cinderella11). However i would like if you contacted me on my store email - John_keane@dixonstravel.co.uk - to discuss further & would like to reassure you this is not common practice in my stores.

looks like the dole Q will be growing by 1

ynul31f47k6b59

We've been with FBD for three years. Himself has 3 vehicles insured with them, one being the car. This year, they sent him out a quote that was up on last year. Now I understand that insurance has gone up, but this was ridiculous considering his age and his driving experience, and the fact that he has full no claims and zero penalty points. This was almost €500 for Third Party Fire & Theft. We searched online and found another company who quoted him less than €400 [*EDIT: for FULLY COMP] with all the same benefits (NCD protection, windscreen, breakdown, same excess, etc). Rang FBD to tell them and they wanted to know who the insurance company was - I wouldn't tell them, then they started to pick holes: "Oh, if it's a crowd that's regularly advertising on the TV with numbers in the name [I presume she meant 123.ie] you'd want to check that policy because there's no way you could be getting the same benefits". Told her it wasn't, gave her the quote, asked her what she could do, then after speaking to me for the guts of ten minutes she decided that under the Data Protection Act that she couldn't talk to me anymore (even though I was already approved to discuss the account when we first got insured and the payments come out of my bank) and asked to speak to him, where she asked him all the same questions. Then she said she'd investigate and ring back. Did she ever ring back? Nope. I rang them back two days later and informed them we would not be renewing the insurance on any of the 3 vehicles. This isn't the first time I've experienced bad customer service with them - they moan about changeovers, they moan about any changes in the policy, and their prices are ludicrous. We had a run of bad luck with cars last year, and had to change over three times - on the last occasion, they insisted that he present at the nearest branch and pay €50 before they'd insure him, and told him they would not be doing any more chaneovers in the future. We've never missed one single payment or made a claim. I will never deal with FBD again and if anyone asks me what they are like, I'll be telling them to stay as far away as possible from them. No Nonsense? Yeah, right...

stargazer 68

My sister fell recently and landed on her hands and bruised them quite badly. As a result she had trouble driving and holding a cup etc. We were in a shop in Blanchardstown and she was putting her change back in her purse - with difficulty. The guy at the till said - 'dont rush Im here until 7'!

We found it hilarious but she was not impressed at all. Told her she should have said he wouldn't be here at all if she wasnt in the shop buying his tat!!

Elmo

almanu wrote: »

looks like the dole Q will be growing by 1

Hope he got a date with one of the air hostesses!

Radhead

That's some shocking FBD story!

SerialComplaint

Danica Noisy Chimp wrote: »

Rang FBD to tell them and they wanted to know who the insurance company was - I wouldn't tell them, then they started to pick holes: "Oh, if it's a crowd that's regularly advertising on the TV with numbers in the name [I presume she meant 123.ie] you'd want to check that policy because there's no way you could be getting the same benefits".

They tried this with me when I switched away from them at Xmas. I had the 123 policy open in front of me, so I was able to answer all their points with the detail from the 123 policy. Actually, I didn't mind at all that they did it - it was good to see them fighting for the business, and it was good for me to see that 123 was good enough for my needs on the specifics.

Dovies wrote: »

My sister fell recently and landed on her hands and bruised them quite badly. As a result she had trouble driving and holding a cup etc. We were in a shop in Blanchardstown and she was putting her change back in her purse - with difficulty. The guy at the till said - 'dont rush Im here until 7'!

We found it hilarious but she was not impressed at all. Told her she should have said he wouldn't be here at all if she wasnt in the shop buying his tat!!

Not funny at all. Does he make smart remarks at older customers, customers with arthritis, customers with vision loss, customers with physical disabilities etc? I'd be having a firm word with the shop manager about a need for staff training (or just staff cop-on).

i71jskz5xu42pb

Elmo wrote: »

Hope he got a date with one of the air hostesses!

Or both of the air hostesses!

daenerysstormborn3

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Some regular posters on the consumer issues forum may recall my thread about a faulty Sony laptop and my attempts to get a refund.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056132378

Nearly a month ago my boyfriend (who purchased the laptop) was told by The Sony Centre in Waterford (the one on the Cork Road) that the refund had been authorised by Sony but that it would take 10 workings days to process. Some posters on here advised me to go straight to the Small Claims Court but in fairness after 2 months of going back and forth what was 10 more days of a delay? The Sony Centre is about an hour drive from our house so on the 9th day (which was a Thursday) my boyfriend happened to be passing The Sony Centre so he called in just to see if the refund was in. He was told it would take 3 more days. So he called in again on the following Tuesday, still no refund, few more days blah blah blah. So my boyfriend called in again on Monday of this week and he told the guy in the shop, <SNIP>, that if the money wasn't in by Wednesday we would take it to the Small Claims Court. Lo and behold, boyfriend went in today and the refund wasn't there.

Since my boyfriend was told the refund had been authorised by Sony the person who manages The Sony Centre has refused to refund my boyfriend his money until Sony refund them their money. Now according to the shop they know the refund has been processed and they know the money is coming to them but they still refuse to give us our money until the money comes in from Sony.

The customer service we have received in there has been absolutely disgraceful. <SNIP> has been as helpful as possible but the person who runs the shop has been extremely unhelpful and has tried to scupper this whole process at every turn.

The manager has point blank refused to refund our money until he gets his money from Sony. What I understand of consumer law is that he is obliged to provide my boyfriend with the refund and then wait on his own refund from Sony.

According to <SNIP> they have three other cases pending with the Small Claims Court so that says a lot about their business.

I am posting this to warn people to stay away from this shop because of their customer service not just because they have handled my refund the way they have. Three other cases pending with the Small Claims Court speak volumes about how they treat their customers after they have taken their money off them.

Also, trekking in and out of The Sony Centre to check on the status of this refund has been a huge inconvenience to my boyfriend. He has been in there at least once a week since January. The Sony Centre didn't even have the courtesy to ring him and tell him that the refund had been delayed each time.

Just to highlights this shop again.

It is now April and my boyfriend has still not received a refund. The matter is with the Small Claims Court and I do not know if there is significant delays or what the story is there.

It is very frustrating that it's nearly hitting the 6 month mark since the laptop was bought and we have neither a laptop nor money :mad:

Cinderella11

John.Keane wrote: »

Hi
I am the General Manager of the dixonstravel stores in Dublin Airport in both T1/T2 & I've only joined Boards.ie since yesterday. I am appalled to see the increadably bad service you recieved (Cinderella11). However i would like if you contacted me on my store email - John_keane@dixonstravel.co.uk - to discuss further & would like to reassure you this is not common practice in my stores.

No Thanks John,
I have had enough of your store to last me a life time, ah yes very easy for you to say that this is not common practice on this, but between 2 visits and 2 phone call's I was treated with no respect at all, so obviously it is a common practice! And maybe if you were only managing one of the store's you could manage your staff better so there not messing about like Zoo Animals.
So again . . .
Thanks . . . .
But No Thanks

Kelly .

ike

shayleon wrote: »

don't know what is wrong with these topgifts.ie guys. Did business with them as a provider for many years with no problems, but for the last year I had to beg them for every payment (which they received upon booking), I am still waiting for a payment invoiced in December last year, and they also changed the prices we agreed upon on their website. The also don't answer my emails anymore. I asked them to remove my business from their site and do not wish to do any more business with them. Shame. they had a great business and they just shoot themselves in the foot.

Hi Shay, That's very interesting we've been registered as supplier with www.topgifts.ie for just over a year and we've completed numerous bookings for them but we haven't been paid ANY money from them, again it's impossible to get a response from them, they don't return emails or phone calls, like you say they just seem to shoot themselves in the foot

Mightycraic

seagull wrote: »

Try contacting the vendor directly, and see what availability is like. If they have immediate availability, get back to topgift, and tell them you know there is availability, and you want to go now. Topgift are notorious for delaying your activity so they can hang onto your money that little bit longer.

Check first that the vendor is still accepting TopGifts vouchers, as some have given up due to non-payment. Maybe the excuses are so that you will eventually give up and you will become a statistic in their huge income in unredeemed vouchers (verifiable online at www.cro.ie). From memory, in 2008 it was around €360,000 and over €250,000 last year. It's clear that they don't run their business on the margins that their partners offer them.

ike

Just to be aware that topgifts (http://www.topgifts.ie) seem have taken down the Experience Gifts section of their website and the rest of it seems to be disappearing rapidly...

yahoomac

if you want to cancel a weekend booking with irish rail you cant so they catch you with the refund if they want to keep there customers i suggest they bloody pay somebody to answer the phone on sat and sunday