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

perri winkles

Had a really bad experience with Carphone Warehouse, specifically the Sandyford branch but also had to deal with Greystones, Dun Laoghaire and Dundrum branches :mad:

Boyfriend bought me a phone for xmas, a basic nokia. Was faulty by April, quite unusual for a Nokia I thought.
Was bought in Greystones so brought it back and they said it would be fixed within the week, they would call when it was ready. 10 days later still no call. I rang them to see what was going on and the phone had been sitting there ready for collection the whole time, they hadn't bothered calling me :mad:

Not too bad. Phone was fixed all grand. Started acting up again so brought it to Dun Laoghaire as I happened to be there anyway. THe guy there was fine to deal with and he told me that since I had the box and all the packaging for the phone, that I could swap it for WHATEVER phone I wanted and just pay the difference etc.
Very reasonable I thought, I had been thinking of buying an iphone and it seemed the perfect excuse, as I would be getting around 100e off it by giving in the old phone.

I hadnt really decided yet if I'd take the plunge and buy the iphone so he said he would order in my original phone to the Sandyford branch as it was closest to me and I could decide what I wanted to do.

Went up to the Sandyford branch a week later. THe staff were rude, and for an empty shop just couldn't be bothered to deal with me. They told me Dun Laoghaire hadn't been authorised to order in any phone for me, so basically I had waited a week for nothing and with no phone. I told him of what the guy in dun l had said, about swapping for any phone and he said no it was false and that It wasn't HIS problem that Dun Laoghaire had given me false information.

Called Dun L and the man I dealt with just evaded the question, told me that they would order a replacement phone etc.

Had to ring their customer care team, who when finding out that I would be swapping a measly nokia for an iphone was VERY enthusiastic :rolleyes: Said there was no problem.

I rang Dun Laoghaire again the next day and was talking ot the guy I originally had been talking to. He reiterated that there was NO PROBLEM with swapping for another phone and said he would put a note on my account and that he had been talking to a man called 'John' in Sandyford and he had agreed to it.

Up to Sandyford AGAIN. Told the man working there the story. He said his name was JOhn and that he had never gotten a call from Dun Laoghaire and that he would have never ok'd that :mad::mad::mad: He was rude and very unhelpful. He then checked the system and saw the note HE has written saying I could swap for the iphone.

Lo and behold there are no iphones left in Sandyford. Apparently they are very hard to get your hands on :rolleyes:
Had to trek it up to Dundrum then to FINALLY get the phone.

Never again woudl I buy off Carphone Warehouse they were awful to deal with, none of them had a clue what they were doing and were generally very unaccomodating.

Rant over:o

metalgear2k2

ppink wrote: »

Surely if this event company told you 2 weeks earlier that it was fine then they shouldl not have cancelled on you at the eleventh hour like that. whether they got the voucher names mixed up or not they had accepted your booking.
I understand the event companies must be in bother over topgifts but I dont think it is right what they did here either.

I would have thought the same thing but there wasn’t much I could do being about 2.5 hours from the activity and couldn’t get through to TopGifts.

PinkySaunders

I elect Venture Photography as the worst company in Ireland.

At Christmas I paid out about €90 for a one-day photgraphy session for my Granny.

Unfortunately Granny was very ill with cancer and would not be capable of travel up to Dublin to have the session. I rang them up and talked to the manager. I told them about the situation and that I wanted a refund. Which I though was quite reasonable. But Venture said that they don't have a refund policy. My only option was to have the photography session and if I didn't enjoy the day they would give me a refund.

Recap: they would prefer me to drag my dying Granny halfway up the country and have a miserable day instead of doing the just thing and giving me the refund. And what were the chances that they would give me a refund after the event, since they apparently "don't have a refund policy"?

My Granny died at the end of March. I rang them again in April and asked if I could get a refund. Gift out the session to someone else was their response. How heartless and crass is that?

I need to find out if I have a case against them to get a refund but I don't have the time to go into the Citizens Advice. So what should I do?

i71jskz5xu42pb

PinkySaunders wrote: »

I need to find out if I have a case against them to get a refund

You have no case against them based on the above. Legally they don't have to provide a refund unless there is a problem with the service or product they provide.

tommy21

Ashton Salmon Stinker wrote: »

You have no case against them based on the above. Legally they don't have to provide a refund unless there is a problem with the service or product they provide.

This is true. Now any manager with a blind bit of sense would have done what you asked, and now they have gotten bad press for a poor decision. But legally you have not a leg to stand on. Sorry to hear about your gran.

Dues Bellator

PinkySaunders wrote: »

I elect Venture Photography as the worst company in Ireland.

At Christmas I paid out about €90 for a one-day photgraphy session for my Granny.

Nothing annoys me more than companys taking the pi*s like this, even when you explained the situation they were rude on the phone:mad:

Dont like to see companys go down the tubes but some deserve to.

careca11

best experience ...................bank of ireland Credit card(surprisingly eoungh) ( Credit card was scammed in Barrets shoes Grafton street) to the tune of €1,000.

Bank of ireland credit card fraud department contacted my , informed my of the fraud ,
they refunded the €1,000 to me within a week


worst : Harvey norman , Curries , Sky ( they can process add-ons in a flash ), but when it comes to cancellations they are a complete joke, worst I've every come across.

Lunaarli

I applied for a copy of leaving certificate as I thought I lost mine.
Found it and cancelled it, they said it was fine and they would refund me the €13.50 within 1 working days.

This was Jan 20th.

Three weeks went bye, no refund.

Between then and today May 13th I made 14 phone calls, they took my no each time to 'call me back', not once did anyone call me back.

Every time I rang they hadn't a clue what happened....

I eventually got a phone call today to say that the refund would be in my account in approx two weeks.

Should I hold my breath?!

I know it was only €13.50 but still...

My brother is having INSANE issues trying to contact passport office from UK...



Oh the Irish government :mad:

MitchKoobski

suntottie wrote: »

I applied for a copy of leaving certificate as I thought I lost mine.
Found it and cancelled it, they said it was fine and they would refund me the €13.50 within 1 working days.

This was Jan 20th.

Three weeks went bye, no refund.

Between then and today May 13th I made 14 phone calls, they took my no each time to 'call me back', not once did anyone call me back.

Every time I rang they hadn't a clue what happened....

I eventually got a phone call today to say that the refund would be in my account in approx two weeks.

Should I hold my breath?!

I know it was only €13.50 but still...

My brother is having INSANE issues trying to contact passport office from UK...



Oh the Irish government :mad:

I just went into my old secondary school and they had it on record. Printed me off a copy!

dudara

I have removed the home addresses of the TopGift.ie directors. Please do not publish such information in this forum.

dudara

wmpdd3

MitchKoobski wrote: »

I just went into my old secondary school and they had it on record. Printed me off a copy!

Yep I did the same., I didn't think they'd have it as the school didn't have A computer when I went there!

Fey!

Praise for the Marriages Abroad section of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

I'm getting married abroad in September, so I sent in my application for my letter of freedom on Thursday.

On Monday I had a missed call from the on my mobile. When they couldn't get me on my mobile, they didn't give up and rang me at work to let me know that one of the forms I had sent in was wrong, and told me exactly what I needed to do.

They were very fast to get on to me, and very courteous on the phone. They were also very efficient several weeks ago whaen I rang them to see what I had to do.

They've just made one headache a lot easier to deal with.

watna

Fey! wrote: »

Praise for the Marriages Abroad section of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

I'm getting married abroad in September, so I sent in my application for my letter of freedom on Thursday.

On Monday I had a missed call from the on my mobile. When they couldn't get me on my mobile, they didn't give up and rang me at work to let me know that one of the forms I had sent in was wrong, and told me exactly what I needed to do.

They were very fast to get on to me, and very courteous on the phone. They were also very efficient several weeks ago whaen I rang them to see what I had to do.

They've just made one headache a lot easier to deal with.

I've also found the registrar in Dublin excellent to deal with. Im living abroad and getting married in Dublin and they were so helpful when I rang to find out how went about getting our wedding licence. Really friendly and quick service - and very knowledgeable.

Spiderbob

i recently stayed at Citywest hotel overnight for a wedding! Heres my advise... Stay well away from the place! I had booked into my room with my wife and three children (family room). Left all our belongings in the room and headed down to enjoy the wedding. Later my brother in law approached me telling me he had complained about the condition of his room and had been moved to another. The room key he was given turned out to be my room. We had organised a sitter to look after the children later in the evening so you can understand my horror at the thought of a complete stranger been given access to my room. It was just pure luck it was a family member! After complaining I was given a 50% discount! After speaking to another resident about this the next morning he informed me that he had also complained and was given a full refund and invited back to stay free of charge and have a free meal and breakfast! I will never set foot in the place again even though i regularly play golf there! Never again! Stay clear of the place!

The_Conductor

Hmmm- I have absolutely no idea why you've posted this in the Property forum. I'm going to move it to consumer issues (Mods- I hope you don't mind?)

Kind regards,

Shane

Spiderbob

smccarrick wrote: »

Hmmm- I have absolutely no idea why you've posted this in the Property forum. I'm going to move it to consumer issues (Mods- I hope you don't mind?)

Kind regards,

Shane

Sorry Shane,
i'm new to this.
Thanks for that!

The_Conductor

Nay problemo....

dudara

Threads merged

dudara

Le_Dieux

Worst

1) Carphone Warehouse
2) Three

Have had major problems with both of these so called companies - see: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72294596#post72294596

Best

Thankfully our country is blessed with wonderful companies, and people. I was on crutches for 6 months, and had to travel up, and around Dublin using trains/Luas/and Dublin Bus. Can only single out ALL the drivers for their consideration during my incapacitation.

amdublin

Poor

Spiderbob wrote: »

i recently stayed at Citywest hotel overnight for a wedding! Heres my advise... Stay well away from the place! I had booked into my room with my wife and three children (family room). Left all our belongings in the room and headed down to enjoy the wedding. Later my brother in law approached me telling me he had complained about the condition of his room and had been moved to another. The room key he was given turned out to be my room. We had organised a sitter to look after the children later in the evening so you can understand my horror at the thought of a complete stranger been given access to my room. It was just pure luck it was a family member! After complaining I was given a 50% discount! After speaking to another resident about this the next morning he informed me that he had also complained and was given a full refund and invited back to stay free of charge and have a free meal and breakfast! I will never set foot in the place again even though i regularly play golf there! Never again! Stay clear of the place!

Jeez like accidents/human error can happen.

And you had a sitter ie. An adult in case anything like this happened.

I think you are over reacting tbh.

Dues Bellator

Spiderbob wrote: »

i recently stayed at Citywest hotel overnight for a wedding! Heres my advise... Stay well away from the place! I had booked into my room with my wife and three children (family room). Left all our belongings in the room and headed down to enjoy the wedding. Later my brother in law approached me telling me he had complained about the condition of his room and had been moved to another. The room key he was given turned out to be my room. We had organised a sitter to look after the children later in the evening so you can understand my horror at the thought of a complete stranger been given access to my room. It was just pure luck it was a family member! After complaining I was given a 50% discount! After speaking to another resident about this the next morning he informed me that he had also complained and was given a full refund and invited back to stay free of charge and have a free meal and breakfast! I will never set foot in the place again even though i regularly play golf there! Never again! Stay clear of the place!

sounds to me your a bit pi*sed you also didnt get a full refund, 50% discount and complaining , maybe you should read tru some other posts here and feel some real hardship.

Fey!

I raved about the marriage abroad section of the DOFF earlier.

Now it's the diocesan office of the Catholic Church in Tuam.

Like the situation above, I sent in my forms last week. This morning I had a very pleasant call and an email from the diocesan secretary because (again!) I had forgotten a form. It was a case of "don't worry about it too much; the second we get it will get your forms off to Poland and all will be fine".

The paperwork side of things for our wedding was what we both dreaded the most, and both of the people in these organisations have made it incredibly simple, as has the parish priest in Corofin.

A big thanks from us to all of those involved.

Another thanks to Avalon; we had our pre-marriage course booked with them, but got some bad news about a family members health. We rang Avalon to say that we may not be able to make the course we booked. Their response was that if we couldn't make it they'd get us onto another course somewhere, and if it turned out that we could make it then that would be fine. In either case there would be no need to ring them again until we knew where we could go on the alternative course (that sounds a lot more complicated than they made it!!!)

The Lovely Muffin

http://www.sweetspartyshop.co.uk/ - avoid

I ordered with them in April and didn't receive my order, contacted them several times and heard nothing from them so ended up having to start an eBay dispute to get my money back.

tommy21

Was in London last week and here is an example (via a letter of complaint I sent to the pub manager and the pub chain itself) of bad service - city centre pub:

Dear Manager

I am writing to you to detail my negative experience at this pub on
Sunday night last (8th May). My two companions and I got here at
around 9.30 to enjoy a few drinks. We ordered one round and were
served again at about 10pm. Up until this point everything was fine.
About 3 minutes after we got our second drinks (which as you will see
should never have been granted if they were closing), the lights
started flashing and then were put on fully.

The pressure to leave mounted when one of the two female waitresses came down and picked up
other empty glasses on our table (not ours by the way, but they hadn't
bothered to clear them earlier), and pointed at my 3/4 full pint,
asking "Are you finished?" The lights flickered again, and three
German (I think) women to left of our table rolled there eyes and
left, leaving their half-finished drinks after them. At this stage we
were very frustrated, and could feel the glares from the two
waitresses as they watched us from the bar. One waitress came round
again a couple of minutes later, and actually asked us to hurry up! I
quote "Will you take those drinks outside, I want to get home". So
that is what we had to do. I asked her what we should do with the
glasses and she shrugged and said "Leave them outside the door."

Never
in my life have I experienced such rudeness - I am from Ireland and my
two friends are British, but it was a collective conclusion. We
certainly won't be returning. I had hoped to put this review up on
tripadvisor but there does not yet seem to be an entry for this
establishment - yet. Perhaps such rudeness is the reason the place was
half-empty when we were there? I can only hope a manager gets this
email rather than the employees in question. In fairness on the night
there was one male waiter who was busy cleaning up and sweeping the
place, who looked like the only productive member of staff that
evening. I rarely complain but the pure cheek of these two members of
staff compelled me to.

Yours etc. blah blah blah

They got back to me and apologised at least but no free stuff

Spiderbob

almanu wrote: »

sounds to me your a bit pi*sed you also didnt get a full refund, 50% discount and complaining , maybe you should read tru some other posts here and feel some real hardship.

This is not about hardship! Its about the possibility of what could have happened! Read the papers!

Dues Bellator

Spiderbob wrote: »

This is not about hardship! Its about the possibility of what could have happened! Read the papers!

why did you not explain this more in your post , rather than complain about how another customer got more of a discount than you?

Devilman40k

Le_Dieux wrote: »

Worst

1) Carphone Warehouse

I don't think anyone else could be on the same list as these guys ,they are at least 10 times as bad as the next nearest company!!

RedXIV

Just for a bit of optimism, can I say IKEA have the best customer service I've ever dealt with? Would go back to them ten times over for the great treatment I got

The_Conductor

Devilman40k wrote: »

I don't think anyone else could be on the same list as these guys ,they are at least 10 times as bad as the next nearest company!!

You've obviously never had issues with Eircon..........

Devilman40k

smccarrick wrote: »

You've obviously never had issues with Eircon..........

I have but it never took six weeks to get anything done, or the threat of a court case (and still nothing done!)