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

Le_Dieux

pappe wrote: »

Of course...this is why Ireland bankrupted and nobody said anything or protested neither. All is fine for Irish people. Ireland provides excellent services and well managed. If Irish could wake up a little they could see that AnPost is plenty of debts, it is the most expensive postal service in Europe (and probably the less efficient) and they are stealing the money from all of us because of their ineptitude (AnPost bankrupted already infact). Wake up people...

Now you are talking crap. Ireland is NOT the most expensive in europe. I can't find a site where they list all prices within the EU, but I did come across this: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Postal_statistics#Prices_for_posting_a_standard_letter
If you click on 'prices for posting a standard letter', You will see in 2007 it cost 70c or more in three Scandinavian countries.

As for satisfaction, An Post's satisfaction rate is 74%..which the average of all postal services within Europe: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/post/facts/index_en.htm

If You are going to make accusations have PROOF, or else don't post such drivel!

Le_Dieux

OP

Having just checked Your history, it seems You are on a mission...6 posts in total, 4 on An Post, and 2 on THREE.

I think it's time You woke up. I have never had a problem with An Post. Yes, they could do more in their counter sales by accepting credit cards, but as regard the postal service? No complaints from me.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Good

You only have to go up the road to Newry and postage is more expensive.

Small envelope 60p which is 71c compared to An Post at 60c (France 63c Finland. 78c BTW)

Large envelope up to 100g is 90p or €1.07 in UK versus 1.05 here.

She's talking claptrap!

Le_Dieux

Alejandra Defeated Spine wrote: »

You only have to go up the road to Newry and postage is more expensive.

Small envelope 60p which is 71c compared to An Post at 60c (France 63c Finland. 78c BTW)

Large envelope up to 100g is 90p or €1.07 in UK versus 1.05 here.

She's talking claptrap!

It's a she? Ok, She is talking crap, but alas, she's not alone, so is the Examiner - see:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2007/0728/ireland/irish-postal-service-one-of-eus-worst-most-expensive-38482.html

I do note this report is 6 years old, but it's all I can find. But it just goes to prove both the Examiner and this SHE are talking nonsense.

Oh, and I don't work for the PO. Wish I did TBH;-)

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Good

Sorry, I just assumed it is a She because of the style of writing. I may be completely wrong.

Nonoperational

pappe wrote: »

Of course...this is why Ireland bankrupted and nobody said anything or protested neither. All is fine for Irish people. Ireland provides excellent services and well managed. If Irish could wake up a little they could see that AnPost is plenty of debts, it is the most expensive postal service in Europe (and probably the less efficient) and they are stealing the money from all of us because of their ineptitude (AnPost bankrupted already infact). Wake up people...

It's extremely difficult to understand what you are trying to say because your English is not good.

I send and receive about 10 packages worldwide every week, I have experience of the postal service in the UK, USA, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, France, Germany, Italy and many more. I can tell you for a fact, that An Post provide a service equal to or superior to almost every other service I've dealt with. They are often cheaper too.

They may not be the most polished, I'll concede that, but for getting letters and packages delivered they are decent.

keithclancy

Le_Dieux wrote: »

It's a she? Ok, She is talking crap, but alas, she's not alone, so is the Examiner - see:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2007/0728/ireland/irish-postal-service-one-of-eus-worst-most-expensive-38482.html

I do note this report is 6 years old, but it's all I can find. But it just goes to prove both the Examiner and this SHE are talking nonsense.

Oh, and I don't work for the PO. Wish I did TBH;-)

Well compared to the Dutch Postal service its much better.
They privatised it and since TNT took it over the price has gone up and the service has gone down.

brady73

Whatever about the An Post delivery service, I had THE WORST customer service experience in one of the branches a few weeks ago. Acting on a letter from An Post to go to ANY branch with my old post office book I go to my local branch to reactivate my "about to be dormant" account. To say that I was met with a total lack of communication skills and co-operation is an understatement. I left there with no transaction completed... I phone the telephone number on the letter to be told that my transaction absolutely should have been dealt with and I return to the same branch. This time I am shouted at and the teller is quickly backed up by her "manager" who immediately goes on the defensive and accuses me of not listening on my first visit!!

Thankfully I stood my ground, insisted that they call the number that I had been given and what do you know? Now, they say they can do this transaction for me - and they told me this on my last visit!!! I took both their names and I intend to write a letter of complaint to Head Office.

pappe

I changed several addresses in Dublin and I am tired of not receiving deliveries, I am tired of such letters “Sorry we missed you” when I am actually at home and nobody rings the bell, I am tired of commuting to their depot because they don’t make the effort of ringing the bell. I always lived in apts where the ringbell is perfectly accessible to anyone. I am sure that I am not the only one suffering for this, it cannot be a coincidence. In the last years I used to miss most of deliveries (I estimate 80-90% of them). Parcels from shop online, important letters etc simply don’t get delivered. In a couple of occasions I was able to stop the postman posting the letter “Sorry we missed you” (as I could hear the noise from the door, not for the sound of the bell!) and I was told from him that parcels are not delivered to personal addresses (unbelievable).
The other day for the very first time I asked for an investigation for a failed delivery (through Arnott’s) and the result of such shows how inefficient is AnPost service. Compared with other Countries in Europe I lived previously this is the worst service and the most expensive one (I have no docs to proof it, alright). For the one complaining about my English, I am sorry, I am not a native speaker and I speak several languages, cannot be good in all of them

pappe

I should also list my best experiences, as this thread is about the best and the worst customer experiences.
My best customer service experiences in Ireland are:

Saba restaurant, Dublin 2
Govinda’s restaurant, Dublin
Arnott’s store, Jervis st, Dublin 1
Thrifty / Dollars car hire
Irish Rail
Luas
Dunnes Store

Newaglish

Poor

Alejandra Defeated Spine wrote: »

Sorry, I just assumed it is a She because of the style of writing. I may be completely wrong.

I assumed it was a woman because she also goes by the name Barbarela.

Le_Dieux

pappe wrote: »

I changed several addresses in Dublin and I am tired of not receiving deliveries, I am tired of such letters “Sorry we missed you” when I am actually at home and nobody rings the bell, I am tired of commuting to their depot because they don’t make the effort of ringing the bell. I always lived in apts where the ringbell is perfectly accessible to anyone. I am sure that I am not the only one suffering for this, it cannot be a coincidence. In the last years I used to miss most of deliveries (I estimate 80-90% of them). Parcels from shop online, important letters etc simply don’t get delivered. In a couple of occasions I was able to stop the postman posting the letter “Sorry we missed you” (as I could hear the noise from the door, not for the sound of the bell!) and I was told from him that parcels are not delivered to personal addresses (unbelievable).
The other day for the very first time I asked for an investigation for a failed delivery (through Arnott’s) and the result of such shows how inefficient is AnPost service. Compared with other Countries in Europe I lived previously this is the worst service and the most expensive one (I have no docs to proof it, alright). For the one complaining about my English, I am sorry, I am not a native speaker and I speak several languages, cannot be good in all of them

Please, read above, AnPost is NOT the most expensive. As Srameen says above, just drive 100kms north of Dublin for a more expensive postal service. Yes there are unsatisfactory aspects of An Post and the service they provide ( nothing serious as far as I can say though) but the one thing I can say is they are NOT the most expensive in Europe. And as for my local Postie? TOPS!

RadioRetro

I'm with Le. An Post rock.

Graciefacey

Good

Have to mention costa coffee in castlebar (in the tesco store). Was delighted costa opened in castlebar because i usually had to wait for trips to dublin etc for my fix, and i am even more delighted at the wonderful manner of the staff, friendly welcoming and always cheerful. My 4 year old daughter always gets a lovely welcome. I have seen today an elderly customer who could not decide what she wanted, instead of getting impatient with her the charming girl behind the counter came out and went through all her choices with her. Great to see such wonderful service!

Uberbeamerman

Few rants after the weekend unfortunately,

First off to Irish rail, arrived at a station yesterday with a bike and bought a ticket for it (a tenner). Went from the ticket office onto the platform and was told by the guy checking tickets that 'by right we shouldn't be allowing you bring your bike on this train as there is no set space for bikes...now the train driver is one of the nicer ones and he might turn a blind eye, but I won't stamp your ticket just in case.' This happened after 1/ I checked it out on the online booking system on their website (no problem with paying for a bike) and 2/after I bought a ticket of an Irish Rail employee, and not a machine, approx. two minutes earlier....wtf? (I seriously hope it was a joke)

The second is to Tesco, the self service machines were out of action so I said I'd go to a checkout instead...
Arrived at a checkout anyway and yer one scanned my goods through....the amount came to 5 euro which I paid...she proceeds to fling the receipt onto my shopping and move onto scanning the next persons goods, no account of the change I was owed, she got pissy and narky then when I asked her for my change.

In comparison Lidl in the same town is the opposite.....the staff are helpful and cheery, and its where I will be going in future

Cork24

Meteor.. Keep you on hold for about 17 mins before someone picks up the phone, i once waited 15 mins some one pick up and then cut the call.. i had to ring back again.

pleasant Co.

I might as well post a couple of good meteor stories.

I'm on the sim only €15 p/m offer with 200texts/mins and 1gb data - it expired so I gave them a quick ring, took maybe 5mins of annoying button pressing (menus) and listening to crappy "snow patrol" but I got through to a pleasant lady, explained my situation and she had me back on my deal plan within a few moments. No real bother whatsoever.

Next up, my free texts/calls to meteor expired a month later, again I called up, this time I waited maybe 7 minutes and got through to a less pleasant, but not rude - gruff is a better description, woman. I explained my situation and she had my free texts/calls setup for my next bill within a few seconds.

All in all, I've no real complaints, but I do like dealing with irish call centres (not because I'm overtly patriotic, convenience is key) so fair play to meteor for keeping them here.

the groutch

it's not even to do with being an irish call centre or not imo, it's about staff who know what they're talking about, and not just reading off a card.

xpletiv

I think you got off lightly there pleasantCo. Ive had absolutely awful interactions with Meteor several times for various reasons, and never once did I feel like my issues were dealt with (at all!). Heres some things I had issue with Meteor:

• They literally <SNIP> money from me due to a bill gone wrong, wouldnt refund, had to take it off the next bill instead
• wanted me to WRITE to them, a phone company, to get something sorted out
• Sim would 'deactivate' if I ever went outside of Ireland - had to ring CC and get it fixed, once took 4 goes of calling them to fix it.
• Always dropped calls, nearly on every phonecall. It wasnt the phone; I have had a few phones on Meteor, always the same. I live in Dublin as well.
• Never felt once that I was a valued customer.

I left them a number of months ago and went to 3. Never had an issue with them since; great phone, efficient CC in India (yes but they are actually good), no dropped calls, much much better overall. Though I think from what I hear about horror stories about Meteor, every single other mobile operator in IE has better service/value/appreciation.

pleasant Co.

different strokes I guess, I've personally heard horror stories about all the irish networks - I take 'em with a pinch of salt :P

The_Conductor

I was charged a termination fee for cancelling my Meteor contract because there is no coverage where I live (in Co. Dublin).
I had over EUR600 removed by direct debit from my bank account by Eircom, for supply of broadband services- when I never had a connection from them. A portion of this was eventually returned, when I sent a solicitors letter to them- having spent over EUR200 on phone calls, time off work and the solicitors letter to get this resolved. The portion that was returned, was only after I wrote of my experiences here on Boards- and a company manager contacted me directly by PM via boards.

DPD- left my new laptop with neighbours (our local chapter of Jehovah's Witnesses- I'm not joking). Between their evening calls elsewhere- and the fact that I work during the daytime- it was over a week before they managed to catch me and enlighten me as to where my laptop was. They had taken impeccable care of it- however, I didn't have it.

RTE- their engineering department have informed me I need to erect an external antenna to pick up RTE post the analogue switch off. Apparently Lucan village can no longer pick up 3-Rock- I need a directional antenna for Kippure. The fact that I'm in an apartment- and the management company disallow all external aerials and satellite dishes- is 100% irrelevant. They keep parroting- they have to let you......... Apparently, they don't. South Dublin Co. Co. doesn't allow them, and they in turn don't allow owners.

Airtricity- no, I'm not a customer, never have been and never will be. Yes, I am continuing to shred all correspondence from you.

Bank of Ireland- paying direct debits 3 days early because of a bankholiday- and not holding them over until the next working day, despite my salary being held over- and thus incurring an unapproved overdraft charge.

Bank of Ireland- somehow they managed to send me a chequebook with no routing numbers on it. 3 or 4 cheques bounced, before they decided to let me know why they were refusing to honour them despite plenty of funds in the account.

An Post- refusing to allow me post a package in my local post office, because it was a social welfare day.

Trekstore- refusing to honour a warranty on one of their products- because I bought it in Ireland. Apparently the retailor was supposed to honor it- however they closed in the interim.

Vodafone- refusing to repair the broken screen on a phone (which was otherwise working perfectly) because apparently there was a trace of water damage inside the phone. The phone had not be wet, it had accidentally been sat on- and was actually working- just had sharp glass.

Ilovemyfire

I would like to thank Lidl for their wonderful customer service.

Bought a hand blender last year (no receipt) and one of the kids broke a little bit off it but it was the bit that the attachments get locked on to the main body with so was fairly important. Anyway used it for a while holding attachment in place but eventually it gave up. So before I threw it in the bin and waited for the blender to come back in store, I rang Lidl Customer Service and explained what happened to them.

The girl said she would send me out an envelope to put the broken part in and they would send a courier to my house to collect it. Courier arrived 2 days later and the very same day (Lidl had not received the broken one yet) a brand new part arrived by post!! I couldn't believe it-talk about Customer Service!

dohouch

Arguscarhire.ie

1. On Sunday 12 May reserved a car for September in Spain, paid deposit.
2. On Friday 17 May, cancelled.
3. Deposit refunded to credit card on Tuesday 21 May.

4. There is an Irish telephone number on the website. Out of pure curiosity I rang this number
at 6.30 AM on Friday 17 May and was amazed to get a real person at that time of the day.

I get really annoyed with companies who can debit your card within 2 days, but take weeks to refund when I cancel or they can't complete the order.

Sportsmad_Mick

Snapfish.........broke my heart they did when there was an issue with some prints and i was supposed to get a discount which I had to chase for 6 weeks before I got it back.....then the pics were terrible quality which was unusual...reckon the wagon in customer service sabotaged them after all the angry emails from me!

quaalude

Praise for Lidl:
I threw out two bits of my barbecue by mistake, and when I contacted Lidl to find out about buying spares, they sent replacements on to me, free of charge! So decent of them seeing as it was *totally* my fault.

The_Conductor

quaalude wrote: »

Praise for Lidl:
I threw out two bits of my barbecue by mistake, and when I contacted Lidl to find out about buying spares, they sent replacements on to me, free of charge! So decent of them seeing as it was *totally* my fault.

+1 - they organised replacement rollers and hinges, a full set, for me for some flatpack drawers and bedroom tables I bought. They could seriously teach customer service to other companies, they are a joy to deal with.

Ken.

Good

Aldi are also good for stuff like that. Got a car radio in the aldi in Kildare town. Got it wired up and there wasn't a kick out of it. Went back to the shop and explained to the manager and told him I still had it plugged in and he could check if he wanted. He said I believe you, bring it in and I'll get you a new one out back while your getting it.

Amazing how 3 little words (I believe you) can have such an effect on you.

The_Conductor

ken wrote: »

Amazing how 3 little words (I believe you) can have such an effect on you.

This +1

A lot of companies are so bolshie and make you feel so small, that the easiest thing to do is simply bitch about it to your friends, than get something done. More companies should behave like Aldi and Lidl

Soundman

Good

dohouch wrote: »

Arguscarhire.ie

1. On Sunday 12 May reserved a car for September in Spain, paid deposit.
2. On Friday 17 May, cancelled.
3. Deposit refunded to credit card on Tuesday 21 May.

4. There is an Irish telephone number on the website. Out of pure curiosity I rang this number
at 6.30 AM on Friday 17 May and was amazed to get a real person at that time of the day.

I get really annoyed with companies who can debit your card within 2 days, but take weeks to refund when I cancel or they can't complete the order.

I'm confused... Are you complaining about them or commending them? To me it sounds like they did good, refunding you in 2 days, yet your final paragraph seems to contradict that.

thesandeman

They are saying the company refunded them almost immediately whereas some other companies take weeks to process a refund.