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

i71jskz5xu42pb

the groutch wrote: »

PC World & Currys are both owned by the same company, you should have found somewhere else (Harvey Norman, Power City, etc) to buy it imo.

The girl from Curry's walked him back into PC World to complete the purchase. I think OP, and anybody else that actually read the post, would know that they are the same company.

downey2003

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I have seen this more than once in Waterford, I supposed I'd be more lightly to notice because I work in a supermarket. I just visited the stores in Gorey and Arklow for the first time after Christmas and I couldn't believe how different they are. They are more like M&S compared to out Dunnes. The managers and staff I encountered were lovely.

I think you did the right thing but I seriously doubt they will take any notice. They way it works there, if your a 'soft' manager, they will get someone else to eat your staff our of for you then they will either transfer you out or let you go. By 'soft' I mean human!

dudara

hellboy99 wrote: »

Worst customer experience ever, and I don't say that lightly.

Myself and a friend where in PC World Dundalk last week, looking to purchase Windows 7 Home Premium. Before going to the store I checked the price on your site and then rang customer service to verify if there was a copy in the store and the shop floor price, I was told there was 3 copies available and the in-store price was €139.99 (same as your website).

We went to the store to purchase it and when the sales guy scanned it in it came up as €149.99. With that I told him the above and off he went to the girl in charge to get a price change done as he didn't have the authorisation to do it. Before I get into the rest of my experience I have to say that the sales guy that I was dealing with I found very helpful and a pleasure to deal with, apologies as I can't remember his name, he was a tall foreign person and his name begins with an "L".

So he comes back from speaking to his work colleague, I presume she was the manager (her name is <SNIP>) only to be told he could not do a price change as €149.99 was the in-store price and the price of €139.99 on the PC World website was the online price. I questioned him on this especially after being told over the phone that the in-store was €139.99. He asked for the same person to come over and she just ignored him, this went on for a couple minutes. Now fair enough if the store was packed but it wasn't, there was about three other customers in the store and she was clearly ignoring him. He ended up printing off the product and price from the site and brought it over to her, when he came I was told the same again that €149.99 was the price.

I then went off to ask her for myself and as I went after her she started to walk off, I eventually caught up to her and asked about the prices only to be told that the store price and online prices were different and before I could question why she just walked off and went out the back. Needless to say I was not a happy customer and I also felt sorry for the way she treated the sales person.

I left the store and went next door into Currys looking for the same product, thankfully <SNIP> was there who I have always found a pleasure to deal with. I told her what I was looking for and the treatment I received next door, she was shocked to say the least. She checked the PC World website and said that the price was indeed €139.99 and that would be the price I pay in-store. As it was near closing and the one copy they had would be a bit of a job to find she personally took me back next door into PC World asked the girl there what was going on, to which she replied; "she didn't like the way I spoke to her!", I didn't even get a chance to have a conversation with her and neither did the sales guy who tried to help by doing his job!

In end <SNIP> from your Currys store sorted out the purchase for me by going beyond that "extra mile for a customer".

I don't like to come back with bad feedback but in this instance I really have to, coming from both a customer and work colleague perspective. I have worked in various retail over the years, from sales person, to supervisor, to manager and I'm shocked at the behaviour from this one person, especially from someone in charge. It is no way to treat a customer and a work colleague.
There is really no excuse for it, it's certainly something you don't want to see happening on a shop floor in front of customers. Not only that but given the times we find ourselves in and the level of unemployment, when you see something like this happening you can't help but think that there are plenty of people out there more deserving of the job.

Just to point out that this was already posted in Curry's & PC World, where Declan apologised for the incident (Link)

downey2003

christineh wrote: »

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.

I trust you will be expecting the bus company to pay for repair of lawn?

Gold Leaf Tea

Had a most pleasant experience in Cunniffe electrical in the Galway shopping centre the day after Stephens day. It was 5.30pm, and, en route from Tesco, we decided to pop in for a look, having been toying with the idea of buying a new TV for the past while. Spotted a model we had looked at in Currys and online, but at a much better price(and with a super warranty for free!). Decided there and then to just buy it, so got the attention of the salesman. He went out back and came back a moment or so later to say that they were out of stock of them in the shop as they had sold a few of them that day, but could deliver one for free to us the following morning from their warehouse. Seeing we were a bit disappointed(tho we didn't really mind waiting until the morning, and we told him that), he said he would ring the warehouse then(about 5.40) and have them drop one down that evening, and deliver it to our house on his way home from work. As we had the means to bring it home ourselves, we said that we would go for a coffee, and come back and pick it up ourselves. Their warehouse man dropped the TV down ten minutes later, and we then brought it home. Great service, and a price substantially less than Currys; it does pay to shop local! And if we need anything else electrical in future, we'll be going back!!

sgt.bilko

I had the misfortune of having to contact Sky technical support today on behalf of the MIL who has had sod all tv since November.

I had to ring twice as the agent hung up on me after 18 minutes the first time without even getting as far as switching off and rebooting , the second time I got as far as disconnecting the satellite cables before he too hung up after 27 minutes.

Me thinks tis time to hang upon SKY and go to UPC !

wmpdd3

Wait till you have to call them to cancel, you'dd get a crystal clear call through in 3 seconds to the retention dept.

sgt.bilko

wmpdd3 wrote: »

Wait till you have to call them to cancel, you'dd get a crystal clear call through in 3 seconds to the retention dept.

That's something that I'm looking forward to :D

daenerysstormborn3

Meteor Customer Service - absolutely appalling!

Have spoken with about 5 different people and they all show the same level of indifference to their mistakes causing me inconvenience.

It's all buttering you up when you're buying a phone but when it comes to any sort of after sales service they're about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Basically I left money in my bank account for my phone bill (it's a fixed amount) throughout Christmas, it came to the beginning of January and still no sign of the money being debited from my account as normal on or around 28th December. So I contacted Meteor (by e-mail as I couldn't get through by phone) and was told due to a technical error my direct debit had not been processed correctly and I was told I would have to go to either a Post Office or a Meteor store to pay my bill. Aside from that being highly inconvenient it annoyed me that the onus was being put on me to sort out their error. Eventually the person I was corresponding with by e-mail agreed that I could pay my bill through an EFT. I did so on Wednesday and advised her that I had made the transfer and that was the end of the matter.

I checked my online banking yesterday to see that Meteor had then gone and requested the bill amount from my bank. I contacted them by phone and actually got through to somebody after being on hold for what seemed like forever. I had to explain a few times what had happened and eventually he copped on. He then told me I would be waiting a couple of weeks for my refund. I asked to speak to a manager, he said he was putting me onto his supervisor, supverisor was too busy and would call me back on Monday.

So then I started corresponding with someone else by e-mail, this same person basically gave me a telling off for daring to contact different people within Meteor. So I was then told, contrary to being told before I made the transfer that it was not possible to re-apply for a direct debit, that when direct debits are re-activated they sometimes automatically re-apply for the direct debit. I then demanded that they sort out my refund, which I think I was perfectly entitled to do, and was told this could not be done as they had no proof of my bank transfer. I had to send them a screenshot of the bank transfer before they would consider processing my refund. I still have to wait over a week for my refund.

Is that anyway to treat a customer? Meteor made a mistake, I obliged by helping them correct their mistake, Meteor then made another mistake and I am the one that is inconvenienced again. Absolute joke!

_AVALANCHE_

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Basically I left money in my bank account for my phone bill (it's a fixed amount) throughout Christmas, it came to the beginning of January and still no sign of the money being debited from my account as normal on or around 28th December. So I contacted Meteor (by e-mail as I couldn't get through by phone) and was told due to a technical error my direct debit had not been processed correctly and I was told I would have to go to either a Post

I don't get it.....Your phone wasn't cut off was it, before you contacted all these people??

daenerysstormborn3

_AVALANCHE_ wrote: »

I don't get it.....Your phone wasn't cut off was it, before you contacted all these people??

No my phone wasn't cut off.

I got a text saying my bill was overdue, checked my online banking to see they had never tried to take the money so I contacted them to see what was going on and was told the direct debit had not been processed as normal due to a technical error on their part.

I need my phone for work so I can't risk it being cut off that's why i was keeping an eye on the direct debit over Christmas.

_AVALANCHE_

pixiebean22 wrote: »

I got a text saying my bill was overdue

Ah right! I thought all this started because they just didn't take your money!

daenerysstormborn3

_AVALANCHE_ wrote: »

Ah right! I thought all this started because they just didn't take your money!

Well if i hadn't received that text i probably would've contacted them anyway. There are set billing dates for a reason, i don't want any company taking money at random from my bank account whenever it suits them.

dudara

pixiebean22 wrote: »

No my phone wasn't cut off.

I got a text saying my bill was overdue, checked my online banking to see they had never tried to take the money so I contacted them to see what was going on and was told the direct debit had not been processed as normal due to a technical error on their part.

I need my phone for work so I can't risk it being cut off that's why i was keeping an eye on the direct debit over Christmas.

The 28th Dec would have been a dodgy day for processing direct debits etc due to the banks being largely closed over the Christmas period. I would have given them a few days grace to take the direct debit at this time of year.

When direct debits fail due to an error on the company's part, they will always try to retake them at a later point. The onus is not on you to pay the bill if it's their fault (obviously it's a different story is the direct debit is presented but rejected due to insufficient funds).

daenerysstormborn3

dudara wrote: »

The 28th Dec would have been a dodgy day for processing direct debits etc due to the banks being largely closed over the Christmas period. I would have given them a few days grace to take the direct debit at this time of year.

When direct debits fail due to an error on the company's part, they will always try to retake them at a later point. The onus is not on you to pay the bill if it's their fault (obviously it's a different story is the direct debit is presented but rejected due to insufficient funds).

Yes, I know that, that's why I gave them a few days, then I received a text telling me my bill was overdue eventhough they hadn't tried to take the money at all from my account.

Well according to the brainiac in Meteor that I spoke to direct debits can never be re-applied for manually but she then later found out (after Meteor had taken my money without permission) that the direct debit sometimes automatically goes through when a direct debit is reactivated.

I acted upon her information which was that the only way I could pay my bill for December was to either go to a Post Office, a Meteor store or by EFT (which was the method I chose because it caused me the least inconvenience) and there was no other way for this bill to be paid according to her.

tsoparno

Why oh why is Irish customer service so Appalling. Was thinking about leaving three, but looking at threads just on boards, it doesn't matter which company you go with. They're all as bad as each other. Its amazing there's never a problem when you're signing up.

Millicent

tsoparno wrote: »

Why oh why is Irish customer service so Appalling. Was thinking about leaving three, but looking at threads just on boards, it doesn't matter which company you go with. They're all as bad as each other. Its amazing there's never a problem when you're signing up.

No, from what I've heard, Three is definitely the worst.

Glico Man

I don't know if they do deliveries down south but Yodel are by far the worst delivery company I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

I was supposed to receive a package from amazon yesterday via Yodel, so I stayed at home in case I missed their delivery. Was watching t.v in my room around noon yesterday to hear a van pull up. It was Yodel. However, the van driver didn't even get out of the van and instead drove off... without so much as a knock on the door or a card through the letter box to say that I missed the delivery.

Tracking my package now, the site says "delivery tried, awaiting instructions". Delivery tried my bollocks :mad:

And now I've to try and get it redelivered without talking to a human person, as apparently they don't employ them to answer phones, and I also have to try and get it without a number on the card they were supposed to leave when I "missed" my delivery.

Disgraceful carry on

Ronin247

My best customer service was in USA. Wife and I arrived off the plane and into the train station,went to the ticket booth and asked what was the next train to washington,clerk replied "2 minutes on platform 3,run and you will make it" I explained I had to call my brother (pre mobiles) to meet us so would take tickets for the next train in 1.5 hours.She said "give me his number I will call him" We got the train and he met us at the station with a story of the nice girl who called and explained we were on the train and she was calling on our behalf.Class act.

Wanted to write to company praising her but was afraid she may get done for using company phone!!

booboo88

Ronin247 wrote: »

My best customer service was in USA. Wife and I arrived off the plane and into the train station,went to the ticket booth and asked what was the next train to washington,clerk replied "2 minutes on platform 3,run and you will make it" I explained I had to call my brother (pre mobiles) to meet us so would take tickets for the next train in 1.5 hours.She said "give me his number I will call him" We got the train and he met us at the station with a story of the nice girl who called and explained we were on the train and she was calling on our behalf.Class act.

Wanted to write to company praising her but was afraid she may get done for using company phone!!

you dont have to mention the phone, just that she went above and beyond for you and made the journey alot easier.

dillo2k10

Argos.

I bought a laptop there (got a great deal).

But unfortunately during the first week of use it decided to would not longer power on.

Went up to Argos with it expecting to go thought all the trouble that you would get from Power City or PC World, but when I got to the store I just explained the problem. They apologised and got me a new laptop immediately and gave me a free Norton Internet Security.

So pretty good customer service

_AVALANCHE_

dillo2k10 wrote: »

Argos.

I bought a laptop there (got a great deal).

But unfortunately during the first week of use it decided to would not longer power on.

Went up to Argos with it expecting to go thought all the trouble that you would get from Power City or PC World, but when I got to the store I just explained the problem. They apologised and got me a new laptop immediately and gave me a free Norton Internet Security.

So pretty good customer service

:eek:

Josephine O Beirnes

As a nail technician i have some dooseys that i deal with, but the best has to be when i was doing a manicure on an eldery ladie, god love er she had lost two of her fingers from smoking, her blood circulation wasnt the mae west, and after i finished doing her nails she asked me could she have a reduced price due to the fact she only had 8 fingers, stunned wasnt the word,

Millicent

Josephine O Beirnes wrote: »

As a nail technician i have some dooseys that i deal with, but the best has to be when i was doing a manicure on an eldery ladie, god love er she had lost two of her fingers from smoking, her blood circulation wasnt the mae west, and after i finished doing her nails she asked me could she have a reduced price due to the fact she only had 8 fingers, stunned wasnt the word,

You should ask for access to the Ranting & Raving forum. There's a thread called "Cries of Retail" that you would love.

lazygal

I wanted to praise two recent customer service experiences.
First is Arnotts electrical department. The sale assistant helped me pick a better item than I had chosen and also gave me a discount. A pleasure to deal with. Second is a small electrical repair outlet in Killester, Dublin 5. We had a small household appliance we were going to replace but the man helping us here had the item repaired in no time and suggested just buying a couple of accessories instead of a whole new model. Saved us a fair amount of money.

thesandeman

Dunno if this belongs here but I think customer service has really improved everywhere in the last year.
Simple example: Euro2 Eglinton Street in Galway earlier. Bought a pack of lighters. Just mentioned that the last lot I got were crap/fell apart etc. (as they do). Girl immediatly said if I have a problem with this batch to bring them back and she would replace them. Now I know Im not going to bring back six lighters that all have worked for a while before ejecting their springs or whatever but it was nice to know the option was there.
Same with the local convenience shops. They all seem to have gone back to the old ways and appreciate their customers. One girl even came outside to have a chat with my dog while I was picking up my milk and stuff.
Dont know if the Celtic (stuffed)Tiger has anything to do with it or not but I like it.

Kalimah

Dunnes Kilnamanagh for rude unhelpful checkout supervisers. I had a prepaid Visa card and wanted to use it to pay for groceries and pay the remainder with my laser. "No" said the superviser as though I'd asked to pay in yen or something. Go to the ATM she said. Off I went and it took a while to get cash as there was a queue. I came back,apologised, and got filthy looks from her and the waiting custoners.
Not pleasant at all.

The_Conductor

Kalimah wrote: »

Dunnes Kilnamanagh for rude unhelpful checkout supervisers. I had a prepaid Visa card and wanted to use it to pay for groceries and pay the remainder with my laser. "No" said the superviser as though I'd asked to pay in yen or something. Go to the ATM she said. Off I went and it took a while to get cash as there was a queue. I came back,apologised, and got filthy looks from her and the waiting custoners.
Not pleasant at all.

While she could have been more polite- their systems cannot split a payment across multiple cards. If you wanted to do this- you really should have split the shopping up into two separate batches- or used cash to cover the balance due from one or other of the two cards.

Its poor form to be so rude to customers- if she'd taken 20 seconds to explain things to you- all would have been fine- she could even have scanned in x amount of your groceries until you bankrupt the pre-paid card for example. It was ignorant of her to be rude like that........

Millicent

smccarrick wrote: »

While she could have been more polite- their systems cannot split a payment across multiple cards. If you wanted to do this- you really should have split the shopping up into two separate batches- or used cash to cover the balance due from one or other of the two cards.

Its poor form to be so rude to customers- if she'd taken 20 seconds to explain things to you- all would have been fine- she could even have scanned in x amount of your groceries until you bankrupt the pre-paid card for example. It was ignorant of her to be rude like that........

I'm not sure about Dunnes but it could definitely be done in the supermarket where I worked, at least if the cashier had the slightest bit of cop on.

Graciefacey

Good

Have to mention stauntons fuji centre in castlebar. I usually go in there to print off my photos, this time i'd left it for ages so I had a load to print. 90-odd pictures were costing me 38euro on the machine, when the girl came to key in the machines code she let me know that I could print off 100 pictures for 12.99 if I left them to develop in the lab for an hour. Needless to say I was thrilled. Excellent customer service!