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

Esoteric_

No matter how rude someone might have been to you, by reacting in the exact same manner, you lost all credibility tbh.

I work in retail. I've dealt with customers who are twats, for want of a better word. I smile, stay polite, and help them as best I can.

I've obviously been a retail customer many, many times. I've dealt with many bad retail staff. If they get rude with me, I remain polite but firm. At least that way, I maintain my dignity, rather than basically giving them a reason to be even more rude to you.

Diemos

Best:
xprintcanvas.com(based in Liffey St. Dublin - very quick, great communication
Kelly's Garage Rathmines - very helpful.
UPC - credit where it's due they have improved massively since the old NThelL days.

Worst:
PC World: asked a friend who was close by them to pick up a cable for me, refused to sell the cable and told her "she did not understand what she was asking for"
A relative ordered a PC from them online, they shipped it with a crt instead of a flat screen, her local PC World said she'd have to bring it to Blanchardstown as they where the online store. I took it back for her, they argued with me, accused me of photoshopping the receipt, I showed them the offer, which was still online and the handed me a monitor. I asked to see it working, I did not want to have to bring it back if it had dead pixels, the girl told me we have no power points to plug it into. I looked around at the the displays everywhere and just lost to will to argue further.
AIB:Tried to move my savings to another bank which was offering a much better rate. AIB had been offering a good rate, but once the 12 months were up they dropped it to 1% which was under hand I thought (Another bank, who I had a small amount of cash with, had called me to say they had a better rate account than my current with them, so I decided to take them up on the offer and move all my savings there also ). The 24/7 phone centre said I'd have to go into a branch to move and close the account. I went in and the girl at the desk was less than helpful "You are not taking this money today are you?" "Yes, I am." "You are supposed to give us notice." "Not according to you phone banking I don't, it's my money, I would like to leave with it today". "I'll have to talk to our manager, but he's busy can you come back in an hour". I return an hour later, she says "Ok, but will you talk to one of our sales reps before you move." (Me thinking, after your attitude, you've got a neck) "No thank you, I'll just take my money please."

dudara

Diemos wrote: »

Kelly's Garage Rathmines - very helpful.

If this is Kelly's Garage just off Mount Pleasant, then I agree. Nothing but good experiences there.

fasttalkerchat

Diemos wrote: »

I went in and the girl at the desk was less than helpful "You are not taking this money today are you?" "Yes, I am." "You are supposed to give us notice." "Not according to you phone banking I don't, it's my money, I would like to leave with it today". "I'll have to talk to our manager, but he's busy can you come back in an hour". I return an hour later, she says "Ok, but will you talk to one of our sales reps before you move." (Me thinking, after your attitude, you've got a neck) "No thank you, I'll just take my money please."

This used to piss me off but it actually makes sense but they should of course have told you to give notice when you called initially.
The insurance costs from holding large amounts of cash is very high. Having seen the figures from my local Credit Union I understand that reducing cash holding decreases costs so I should get a better interest rate.
The issue with most banks is that they don't communicate this to customers and encourage people to give a few hours notice.

MOH

Good

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

This used to piss me off but it actually makes sense but they should of course have told you to give notice when you called initially.
The insurance costs from holding large amounts of cash is very high. Having seen the figures from my local Credit Union I understand that reducing cash holding decreases costs so I should get a better interest rate.
The issue with most banks is that they don't communicate this to customers and encourage people to give a few hours notice.

I don't think it's a cash thing, or just AIB - if it's a savings account they'd probably be handing out a cheque. They just don't want to lose the money, they'll get a sales person to badger you into leaving the money there, they'll even offer a "special" rate.
The gas thing is, they'll usually give better rates for new accounts. So even if you want to stay with them, you're often better off closing the account and walking back in and opening a new account.

wmpdd3

A relative tried to move their money, same lark, you have to see a sales person etc. Then, in the end they offered her 'Free Banking' for Life!

She's already got that, she's over 60.

daenerysstormborn3

If I had 10 thumbs I would give them 10 thumbs up.

The woman who dealt with us, and her colleague, made my sister and I feel like we were their main focus. They were so pleasant, so helpful, so good at their jobs and made the experience so enjoyable.

The woman who helped me with trying on dresses was so discreet and everything was handled so perfectly.

I know it is a bit of a distance to travel but it was so worth it. Compared with 2 shops in Dublin that I rang, who basically couldn't give a hoot about gaining a customer or not, it was the most enjoyable experience.

Highly recommend them.

Gillo

Polar, they make heart rate monitors for use in sports training.
Anyway I purchased one from them about two years ago, at the time I did a lot of research into which model would suit me best. My only concern was that the strap was intregrated (ie. strap and housing is all the one unit), so if I broke I wouldn't be able to change it.

Just under two years later the strap has started to crack, I did a search on google and it seems they cover this in the warranty, the only problem was I could't find the reciept, so I sent it to there service centre in the UK with a letter explaining that I couldn't find the reciept however I was giving my contact details so they could contact me with a quote to replace the strap. Roll on a week and it arrives back to me with a replace strap fitted appearently under warranty.

I have to say I was seriously impressed not just service but the also the speed of the repair, considering that posting it back and forth would have taken at a guess four days, they were incredibely fast.

wmpdd3

Had to get a present for a friend in Next.
2 steps in the door I'm asked what if I need help!

I respectfully tell them I need the kids dept and I know where it is.

2 steps into the kids dept, same thing, 'is there anything I can help you with today?'

I may as well have bought online as I had no chance to see any products.

So I say fine, 'yeah, I need a dark coloured blazer for a girl age 5, I want it to be machine washable and my budget is €22.'

So yer one calls someone else off the till and relays what I repeats exactly what I have said. Yer one goes on to annoy every other customer who ventures into the kids dept.

I'm handed my blazer and bought to the till. I see no other items even though I have 2 other kids with me and I might have made a another small purchase as I had another €7 in my wallet.

Way to increase sales, not!

What a waste of staff.

ibarelycare

wmpdd3 wrote: »

Had to get a present for a friend in Next.
2 steps in the door I'm asked what if I need help!

I respectfully tell them I need the kids dept and I know where it is.

2 steps into the kids dept, same thing, 'is there anything I can help you with today?'

I may as well have bought online as I had no chance to see any products.

So I say fine, 'yeah, I need a dark coloured blazer for a girl age 5, I want it to be machine washable and my budget is €22.'

So yer one calls someone else off the till and relays what I repeats exactly what I have said. Yer one goes on to annoy every other customer who ventures into the kids dept.

I'm handed my blazer and bought to the till. I see no other items even though I have 2 other kids with me and I might have made a another small purchase as I had another €7 in my wallet.

Way to increase sales, not!

What a waste of staff.

While I agree that staff constantly interrupting you while you're just browsing can be annoying, your experience sounds like a dream to me. You knew what you wanted and you were in and out with no fuss. If you wanted to look around to spend the rest of your money why didn't you just say? Sounds like the staff did a great job.

OldNotWIse

2Mad2BeMad wrote: »

first off
ITS NOT STORE POLICY
dont know where you got that from so read my post again mate.....

i clearly outlined saying its not store policy
i said "its store policy for used games , if they are broken upon purchase or faulty in anyway i can get a the same game again but a different copy or a refund" i clearly said in a very polite manner to the person that the game disc was faulty can i have a new one please
i always use good manners

but if some <SNIP> (excuse my french) trys to embarress me in front of the public when im been very polite and ok about the game being faulty and has the cheek to actually test the thing in the public view WHICH IS AGAINST STORE POLICY( I CHECKED ) deserves to have at least 1 curse word said about him
hes lucky thats all i did ,

he didnt just have a bad attitude , he was rude, snobby , made accusations against me trying to get money back for a game i apparently broke( was a used game so i have 28days to get a different copy of the game ) and on top of all that tried to humiliate me infront of people , the store manager most likely saw all this on cctv and obviously knew he was in the wrong and he lost a job over it , and im delighted he did, and hopefully i run into more people like this who generally treat people badly because il give them the same treatment and make sure i put a complaint in , in person to a manager in the store
and btw mate , i never asked for a sealed copy of the game , i asked for a used one of the manager , she was just embarressed for her store and gave me a new one which i accepted if you have a problem with that keep it to yourself because this part here aint for debates its for experiences

he didnt deserve his position, he started all of it, when i was been polite , their is no way anyone and i mean ANYONE should let snobby pricks who think their the boss just because their behind a counter get away with treatment like this

my girlfriend had a similar experience with this before
she was in town doing christmas shopping
went into boots (normally everyone in their are top notch people, always friendly) and yet their always has to be one bad apple... was most likely a temp stepping in for the christmas holidays
was a young fella, my gf (her story i was not their for the start of it) asked the person where is ....cream (some cream for a tattoo she got to help it heal cant remember it) fella at the start is all happy to show her to a cream and begins to walk off after my gf said thanks , she called him back straight away and said sorry i also forgot were is the ..... (some other girly stuff ) fella told her their are other customers so wait in line for help , she told me he said that in a very rude manner
my gf can take stuff on the chin and move on she aint sensitive but the store was basicly empty and no one asked him a question before or after my gf called him back , he just went into the back room ? probably for lunch
so i decided ok il head in now see if he will apologise
again , i dont like rudeness especially if your working in a top store , cause if you have terrible customer service and dont like dealing with the public then your in the wrong job
dont get me wrong i worked in retail and sometimes you feel like punching the guy out but all ya can do is help them , and move on
so we went back into the shop , i went over to the fella, i said "sorry mate not too long ago you told my girlfriend to wait in line when she was asking you a question, and you just walked off into the back room" he just looked at me and said "so?"
i mean all he had to do was say sorry , and he replied by getting smart with me? i just looked at him and said "ok" walked over to the counter his boss was their , i asked for manager and got the assistant manager was their , told her what happened , now to be fair with the chap it was christmas and he was probably saving money, i didnt mention to much about it to the assistant manager i just said he seemed abit rude to my girlfriend and told her all i want is him to apologise to my gf and we can move on ( even though he was rude altogether ) she went over to him and talked to him quietly infront of us so no other customers would hear , he just told the manager to f off as well as myself and the missus and he stormed out
at least that was one less muppet working in retail were they do not belong
if you havnt got patience then theirs no point working retail because i know how customers can be, hell im sure theirs times ive been one of those type of customers that you'd like to punch but still customer service is what makes or breaks a business , if teenagers cant handle it then why bother

I think its ironic that you call someone snobby yet after this when your gf experiences bad customer service you assume they are a temp.

Also, please sort out your theirs and theres. I tried to ignore it because I dont like grammar nazis but its so annoying after 50 mistakes

Dfmnoc

three broadband

always a problem with the fecking mast

OldNotWIse

That advert that comes up at the start of 90% of youtube videos now (I always skip after the requisite time) but it starts with a girl hiding behind some clothes or other and a voice singing, "why aren't we living" - then I skip

I think its ikea or something.

Pink Fox

I went out for a birthday meal with some friends to Joel's on the Naas Road and we brought a birthday cake (as you do). They said it was OK to light the candles and blow them out, but we could not eat it there - it's their policy! We were spending a couple of hundred euros among the lot of us and were amazed to be told this. None of us have gone back.

The_Conductor

Pink Fox wrote: »

I went out for a birthday meal with some friends to Joel's on the Naas Road and we brought a birthday cake (as you do). They said it was OK to light the candles and blow them out, but we could not eat it there - it's their policy! We were spending a couple of hundred euros among the lot of us and were amazed to be told this. None of us have gone back.

You brought a cake into a restaurant and expected to eat it- without clarifying with them first that it was ok? Most establishments have strict policies against allowing people bring cake and/or wine with them- you can't assume its allowed- some places allow it, many don't. I don't understand why you were so amazed- I'm amazed no-one thought to ask whether it was allowed in advance.

caprilicious

smccarrick wrote: »

You brought a cake into a restaurant and expected to eat it- without clarifying with them first that it was ok? Most establishments have strict policies against allowing people bring cake and/or wine with them- you can't assume its allowed- some places allow it, many don't. I don't understand why you were so amazed- I'm amazed no-one thought to ask whether it was allowed in advance.

Often it can be a HACCP + insurance issue. If you become ill after eating the cake, because it was eaten on their premises they might be accountable.
As they don't know if it was prepared/stored to HACCP standards prior to serving it, it's not a risk they would want to take.

It sounds a bit far fetched, but I worked in hotels in the past and it's not the first time I've come across it.
Seems pedantic, but it's not worth it from their point of view.

My Best customer service experience of late has to the Tesco online delivery service.
I have been using it for over 3 years in South Kilkenny and the drivers are friendly & courteous, if they're running late they always ring and are genuinely apologetic.

Pink Fox

I can understand about the wine and nowadays restaurants are probably afraid of being sued if someone gets food poisoning. I have been at dozens of celebrations where people brought birthday cakes into restaurants, hotels and pubs and were given plates to serve it but I suppose that is against Health and Safety now. I consider myself rapped firmly on the knuckles by smccarrick.

Pink Fox

Just thinking, what happens at weddings, christening parties, anniversary parties, 21st birthdays, etc. when the cake is not made on the premises - do you have to come to some agreement with the management of the venue not to sue them if the cake makes the guests sick? I'm not being facecious (?) just interested.

Pink Fox

Sorry, have I gone off the topic?

caprilicious

Pink Fox wrote: »

Just thinking, what happens at weddings, christening parties, anniversary parties, 21st birthdays, etc. when the cake is not made on the premises - do you have to come to some agreement with the management of the venue not to sue them if the cake makes the guests sick? I'm not being facecious (?) just interested.

I can't comment for everywhere, but anywhere I worked they didn't allow any cakes except wedding cakes.
In the case that the wedding cake was to be served as a dessert or for afters, there was typically a plate charge of €3-5 (per person!!! )for them to serve the cake (similar to charging corkage on wine I guess).
I assume part of this additional charge would be to cover insurance in the event there were any issues.


It does seem really silly, especially when you're spending a lot of money but I think the liability risk is not worth it. even if you don't sue them, say you have a party of a dozen people for a meal and they get sick from the cake.
That's a dozen people that will most likely tell their friends/family they got sick from a meal they had at the restaurant thus running down the restaurant reputation for something beyond their control.

It's an extreme example I know but it's the mentality behind it in some places.

Pink Fox

I know a few people who had their wedding cakes made for them as a present by a family member or friend in a domestic kitchen, although clean probably not up to professional kitchens standards.
Many thanks for your interesting posts.

wmpdd3

I remember the hotel waiving a plating charge when my friend was getting married, I had never heard of it, but it does make sense.

lazygal

I wanted to give a shout out to Tony Kealys, purveyors of baby equipment for those in the know. We've be humming and hawing over a double buggy purchase. I got no 'service' in Mothercare (despite having an excellent experience here every other time so it was a rare lapse), Smyths, and Bamba toys, no one came near me to offer any demos or help, even though I was obviously interested in a purchase.
We went to Tony Kealys on a whim. We bought there before and as soon as the assistant heard this she looked up our details and said she could do a deal. We needed a few things, got great demos of the buggies, got told about all the features, good and bad, never felt rushed and were given loads of time to decide. They did us a great deal, again no pressure as we could return any time for the package deal, and we put a deposit down there and then. Give that we ended up spending over 1.5k in total (or will be when the purchase is paid off in full, buggy, car seat and base and some extras) I'm wondering how many such sales the other places are missing out on with their rubbish service.

The Big Red Button

Pacinos on Suffolk Street (at the bottom of Grafton St) has fantastic customer service. I've been there many times, never a bad experience, and the food is amazing too!

I once had a complaint, that my food took too long to arrive. They were very apologetic - did not charge me at all that day - and have given me a 20% discount many times since.

Would very much recommend them for lunch, for anyone working in the area.

dm1979

cost plus sofas, their staff must never have been trained in customer relations or been told there are consumer rights, have yet to hear of anyone who has gotten good service when dealing with a complaint or received a refund.

maggy_thatcher

We don't normally head to Superquinn, as they're that little bit more expensive than Dunnes/Tesco/Lidl/Aldi; however we had some €10 off vouchers so popped down. The quality of service every time we go there is so much better - all the staff are very friendly, and is great having somebody there helping you pack your bags together by somebody who knows what they're doing unlike the charity crowd that may or may not be there at the other stores.

The only problem with it really is that the quality of the food (particularly bread & meat) is so much better that we end up eating like savages for the next few days!

endofrainbow

Paypal: my account was hacked and funds removed/password changed/bank details removed. I rang them as soon as I got the e-mail- I was transferred from Billy to Jack to George, back to Jack and back to Billy was told the funds would be re-deposited in my account within 24 hours and that they would open a fraud issue.

4 days later the funds were still not credited so I rang again, the same thing, being transferred around the house (4 different reps) and having to repeat the problem with each person I was transferred to. I asked for someone to call me back (I had been on 20 minutes without resolution) but was told that they don't have outgoing lines? I can understand that in a call centre but surely the supervisors and fraud investigators can make out-going calls?

kristian12

I recently bought some flooring and ended up with far more than was needed, I'd given the guy the room measurements and allowed for extra but was way out. Not knowing at the time and trusting the guy in the shop we went ahead and as i said added an extra box to be sure. Turns out we were out by 5 boxes. We went up at the weekend and they had a sale on but we went into the main store and picked out this flooring not in what we were led to believe was the sale area.

I phoned up and asked about taking the spare flooring back for a refund as all work is now complete and also checked on the facebook page and was told it was fine. Went up and tried to get a refund and was told no chance as it was bought in the sale. I pointed out it is still the same price as i paid and they were still selling it so its not like they were going to be stuck with it but they were adament. The guy in the shop was nice about it and said it was just policy not to refund.

I commented on the facebook page even saying i liked the flooring it was just the policy i was disappointed with and now with no reply i have had the comment removed and can no longer post. Poor customer service means i'd tell others to be wary when buying and make sure they don't overbuy as there is no moving them from customer policy.

The Big Red Button

I went to Homestore & More in Blanchardstown yesterday, for the very first time, and they really do have everything you might ever want and need for your house, as well as a lot of stuff that you didn't even know you wanted and needed!!! And really good prices too.

Was very impressed by the staff while wandering round the store. I spent quite a while there, and while I hadn't intended on buying anything, I ended up picking up quite a few items. In each 'department', I was asked once (and only once) by a staff member if I needed any assistance. I said 'No thanks', they disappeared. I like that. The staff are not pushy, and in no way interfering, but are there and available if you need something.

One thing that badly let them down. After having had a lovely experience in the store, I went to the till, and the girl crammed my purchases into several paper 'sleeves' as opposed to bags. I asked had she any bags, she sold me a crap plastic one (which tore on the way to the next shop) for 22c.

I would've expected a shop like that to have decent durable paper bags with handles. Especially when you're buying quite a few large-ish items. Maybe they were out of them at the time - if so, the girl on the till didn't mention it. Either way, it left a bit of a bad impression on me. Despite the fact that I was otherwise impressed by the shop and by the customer service.

ger vallely

I bought a pair of Doc Marten sandals for my wedding in 2008. Last autumn-2012- the buckle on one broke. I e mailed the doc web site to find out if I could buy a replacement and received a reply within minutes. I was asked to forward a picture of the sandal and my address. Within a week I had two replacements and a 10 per cent discount voucher for future use!!That is amazing customer service.