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

Guy:Incognito

I went in to buy a bed on a busy Saturday. Went up to the guy at the computer in the bed section and he spent ages checking different ones for me and going through options till I got sorted. It's my only experience of having to use a staff member there and he was great. Cant complain.

Bepolite

Good

If you want Harrod's service go to Harrod's and pay Harrod's prices. If you want cheap flat pack at bargain basement prices go to Ikea. It's AFAIK the largest single retail space in Ireland, it's not going to be chockablock with staff. That said when ever I've gone in I've been more than happy with the service.

Rebelheart

Bepolite wrote: »

If you want Harrod's service go to Harrod's and pay Harrod's prices. If you want cheap flat pack at bargain basement prices go to Ikea. It's AFAIK the largest single retail space in Ireland, it's not going to be chockablock with staff. That said when ever I've gone in I've been more than happy with the service.

1) Since when was there a Harrods in Ireland?

2) Since when is a speedy service an unreasonable expectation when giving your custom to a business? They are making a fortune, and yet still expect people to stay in obscenely long queues and to have the place understaffed.

3) Despite the myth, IKEA prices are not especially low. They are selling ideas to people and that's their principal niche, not their prices (which are often much higher than places like Woodies). They are not some sort of LIDL/ALDI.

cali_eire

I have found Ikea in Ireland harder to a track staff member down in and popular items out of stock often compared with my experience in LA/SF where the time waiting to check out or time waiting to return and item were the major issues.

Bepolite

Good

Rebelheart wrote: »

1) Since when was there a Harrods in Ireland?

Fly to London, presumably on a private jet.

Rebelheart wrote: »

2) Since when is a speedy service an unreasonable expectation when giving your custom to a business? They are making a fortune, and yet still expect people to stay in obscenely long queues and to have the place understaffed.

Queues happen. I've never been in an unusually long queue in there but it does happen in all retail, even Harrod's. This doesn't mean somewhere is understaffed.

Rebelheart wrote: »

3) Despite the myth, IKEA prices are not especially low. They are selling ideas to people and that's their principal niche, not their prices (which are often much higher than places like Woodies). They are not some sort of LIDL/ALDI.

Woodies have neither the range or the stock that Ikea do.

Your own poll has shown you you're of on a rant on this one. If you don't like a retailer vote with you feet.

ButtersSuki

I can see noth sides of this argument:
I was there yesterday and spent 45mins queuing to pay, which in my book is unacceptable, particularly as a number of tills were closed.

That said, anytime I've ever needed help there I find the staff friendly, knowledgable and genuinely helpful.

dudara

As there is no direct Consumer Issue here, this has been merged into the Best/Worst Customer Service thread.

dudara

Going Forward

I had an extremely bad experience with Aldi whilst returning an electrical item which developed a fault.

I was being pushed into contacting the "manufacturers helpline" even though the item was less than 12 months old. I bought it from Aldi, not the manufacturer.

I felt the staff were warned to avoid offering a refund at all costs and no one had a clue or regard about consumer protection legislation.

Very poor service, which will make me reconsider doing my weekly shop there, and not the usual smooth service which to be fair, I have seen others reporting.

It makes me wonder if the 3 year manufacturers warranties advertised are worth anything at all if you have to pay to have a vacuum cleaner or a welder sent back to the UK for repairs?

Bepolite

Good

Going Forward wrote: »

I had an extremely bad experience with Aldi whilst returning an electrical item which developed a fault.

I was being pushed into contacting the "manufacturers helpline" even though the item was less than 12 months old. I bought it from Aldi, not the manufacturer.

I felt the staff were warned to avoid offering a refund at all costs and no one had a clue or regard about consumer protection legislation.

Very poor service, which will make me reconsider doing my weekly shop there, and not the usual smooth service which to be fair, I have seen others reporting.

It makes me wonder if the 3 year manufacturers warranties advertised are worth anything at all if you have to pay to have a vacuum cleaner or a welder sent back to the UK for repairs?

Deal with the retailer directly, they are under no obligation to give you a refund though - they can repair or replace the item.

A polite post on their facebook page might also yield some results.

Going Forward

Bepolite wrote: »

Deal with the retailer directly, they are under no obligation to give you a refund though - they can repair or replace the item.

A polite post on their facebook page might also yield some results.

As any retailer worth their salt will know, the wisest thing to do initially is to simply apologise for the inconvenience and take the unit in "for repair"; this then buys them some time to get the customer out of their hair, and complies with their statutory obligations.

Instead of this carry on of the blank faces and empty boxes and an English help liner asking me to send it over mate:rolleyes:

Bepolite

Good

Going Forward wrote: »

As any retailer worth their salt will know, the wisest thing to do initially is to simply apologise for the inconvenience and take the unit in "for repair"; this then buys them some time to get the customer out of their hair, and complies with their statutory obligations.

Instead of this carry on of the blank faces and empty boxes and an English help liner asking me to send it over mate:rolleyes:

I have very little idea of what you're saying in the above post.

I was a retailer for the better part of two decades and very rarely if ever fobbed off a customer. There was probably the occasional exception with the mentlers.

I've rarely had an issue getting a retailer to provide a remedy, including Aldi and their helpline.

Going Forward

Bepolite wrote: »

I have very little idea of what you're saying in the above post.

I was a retailer for the better part of two decades and very rarely if ever fobbed off a customer. There was probably the occasional exception with the mentlers.

I've rarely had an issue getting a retailer to provide a remedy, including Aldi and their helpline.

Am I not outlining how a retailer when presented with a faulty item should act?

The statutory requirements are there primarily to protect the consumer, but also allow the retailer a little bit of reasonable breathing space to rectify the problem.

I know, I sold brown goods for 15 years, so I well appreciate that goods do go faulty.

I was fobbed off for 9 days as the staff did not know their employers statutory obligations, hence the blank faces, telling me they could do little because I had thrown out the box for it, and telling me to ring a help line.

If they did know the 3 R's the did a good job of hiding the fact!

A helpline suggesting that I post an item to the UK for a repair under warranty is not much help is it?

As I said earlier, I was surprised because I've never seen such incompetence and as I had heard genuinely only quite good stories about Aldi's after sales service.

johnogog88

D.I.d will never go their again.bought two TVs their, both gave trouble and they made the whole thing a nitemare just settled for bad merchandise in the end because was becoming hassle day in day out.

Bepolite

Good

Going Forward wrote: »

Am I not outlining how a retailer when presented with a faulty item should act?

The statutory requirements are there primarily to protect the consumer, but also allow the retailer a little bit of reasonable breathing space to rectify the problem.

I know, I sold brown goods for 15 years, so I well appreciate that goods do go faulty.

I was fobbed off for 9 days as the staff did not know their employers statutory obligations, hence the blank faces, telling me they could do little because I had thrown out the box for it, and telling me to ring a help line.

If they did know the 3 R's the did a good job of hiding the fact!

A helpline suggesting that I post an item to the UK for a repair under warranty is not much help is it?

As I said earlier, I was surprised because I've never seen such incompetence and as I had heard genuinely only quite good stories about Aldi's after sales service.

No it's not (the helpline) so why use it? If you don't get any joy in store contact the head office. If you don't get any joy there, and it's worth the €25 charge go to the small claims court.

There is a different between consumer rights under contract and warranty.

Going Forward

Bepolite wrote: »

No it's not (the helpline) so why use it? If you don't get any joy in store contact the head office. If you don't get any joy there, and it's worth the €25 charge go to the small claims court.

There is a different between consumer rights under contract and warranty.

This was like Fawlty Towers, I had to ask the DM if he knew what 3 avenues of redress that the shop could offer me. He said he didnt know! I told him. I mentioned the small claims court.

I asked him for the head office number and he gave me an 1800 number.

I began typing it into the phone and realised it was the UK helpline number which I had already rang. I asked him who does he ring if he has a problem in the shop. Blank face. Can I have the head office number please?

At this stage another employee looked over and winked at him to go into the office. Came out and offered refund and sorry for all the bother.

"No problem, these things happen, says I."

ThisRegard

Rebelheart wrote: »

I looked for a "10 items or fewer" till but no such thing existed.

They actually do have express tills in there.

After just doing a pile of DIY we had a lot of recent visits and never really found the lack of staff a problem. We've seen some serious queues though, but every till was open so there's nothing that can really be done about the number of people buying things. I popped in during the week for one item as was queueing only a couple of minutes.

Irishder

Have to share this. I was in PCworld today buying a tablet, they had a good deal on the Samsung Tab 10.1. So after shopping around i said i would go in and pick one up. All fine, very helpful girl explaining the tablet and i said i'd take it. I was going to haggle for a free cover but said i wouldn't bother.

She came back with the tablet, i said thanks and took it off of her. She then started trying to sell me McAfee. I said no i'm fine thanks, she went on the real hard sell then said, i quote "9 out of 10 Apps have a virus". :eek: . I said do you even know what you are on about. She back tracked and said "Well 10 out of 100 have a virus" i just laughed and ok.

After this she tried to sell me insurance for 4.50 Euro a month, again i said no thanks. She was really starting to p!ss me off and said i need it if i have kids in the house, i said that why i have home insurance. To this she said "Yes but that has a 500 Excess" I couldn't believe she was my insurance broker as well and knew all details.

Think i'll stick to online shopping in the future.

Leitrim Lady

I totally get where you are coming from..it can be annoying when you know that all you want is what you've asked for BUT sometimes people don't realise the added extras available and they get home And wish the'd been offered this stuff.And I would say the sales person is being monitored on selling this added extras that probably have more profit in them..
With regards to the insurance it sounds like she may have struggled to explain it and just blurted out what is probably the average excess on a house policy.They can be expensive but the beauty of these in store insurances are that most of the stores replace the product there and then and that's the policy over.
The Christmas season if fast approaching and I think you should understand that she was probably just trying to sell....We're not all naturals at it.Good luck with your purchase.:D

dudara

No Consumer Issue here so merged with Best/Worst Customer Service thread.

dudara

take everything

Irishder wrote: »

Have to share this. I was in PCworld today buying a tablet, they had a good deal on the Samsung Tab 10.1. So after shopping around i said i would go in and pick one up. All fine, very helpful girl explaining the tablet and i said i'd take it. I was going to haggle for a free cover but said i wouldn't bother.

She came back with the tablet, i said thanks and took it off of her. She then started trying to sell me McAfee. I said no i'm fine thanks, she went on the real hard sell then said, i quote "9 out of 10 Apps have a virus". :eek: . I said do you even know what you are on about. She back tracked and said "Well 10 out of 100 have a virus" i just laughed and ok.

After this she tried to sell me insurance for 4.50 Euro a month, again i said no thanks. She was really starting to p!ss me off and said i need it if i have kids in the house, i said that why i have home insurance. To this she said "Yes but that has a 500 Excess" I couldn't believe she was my insurance broker as well and knew all details.

Think i'll stick to online shopping in the future.

LMAO.
Sounds like you had difficulty getting out the door without telling her to feck off.

take everything

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

I went in to buy a bed on a busy Saturday. Went up to the guy at the computer in the bed section and he spent ages checking different ones for me and going through options till I got sorted. It's my only experience of having to use a staff member there and he was great. Cant complain.

It is amazing how much of a difference a nice customer experience like that makes.
People who actually give a crap about helping you out is always refreshing and never goes unnoticed (by me at least)

ABajaninCork

Yesterday, I had two wildly differing experiences of customer care...

Yesterday afternoon, I was shopping in Dunnes in Blackpool. It's one of the larger branches of Dunnes, but I rarely shop there as it's so hard to get anyone to help you if you need it. Anyway, I saw a large display of Fairy Liquid with the 'Special Offer' tickets sticking out of the shelf. But it did not say what the special offer was. So I asked the sales assistant stocking the display. She didn't know -ask Customer Services. So up I went to the desk. The assistant there didn't know either and didn't seem interested in finding out! So much for the special offer...

On the other hand. Amazon once again have come up trumps! I bought a new HDD for my laptop in July. Laptop wasn't working properly, so I brought it for repair. Techinician tells me the hard disk is faulty. Tried to return it, but the disk was outside the 30 day return period. Had a nice online chat with the very helpful customer service adviser, who was very apologetic and immediately asked if I'd like a replacement. Got a mail this morning to say the replacement was on its way.

Great service once again from Amazon. Dunnes? Must do better!!

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Daemos

ABajaninCork wrote: »

On the other hand. Amazon once again have come up trumps! I bought a new HDD for my laptop in July. Laptop wasn't working properly, so I brought it for repair. Techinician tells me the hard disk is faulty. Tried to return it, but the disk was outside the 30 day return period. Had a nice online chat with the very helpful customer service adviser, who was very apologetic and immediately asked if I'd like a replacement. Got a mail this morning to say the replacement was on its way.

Over 4 years I've used Amazon, only in the last few weeks did I have my first problem with them. I bought a Lego set that was dispatched, but never arrived. I get in contact with customer services, and they agree to send a replacement, no questions asked. Today, less than a week after I contacted them, the replacement arrives at my doorstep

Perfect customer service as far as I'm concerned. A company that makes little or no mistakes, and whose customer reps are happy to help with any problem on the rare occasion one does arise. They may draw business away from smaller companies, but for such excellent service it's hard to criticise

hdowney

Pretty darn annoyed with Vodafone at the mo. Last Thurs I ordered a phone for the mammy off their website. They also asked when I wanted her number transferred and I picked Monday afternoon (expecting the phone to be here by Mon, since if you order before 1pm Mon-Thurs it's next day delivery if not it's 2 day). Well it is Wed of the following week. Her number has NOT been switched. And as for the phone. According to the online tracking system this morning it has FINALLY changed to preparing for dispatch. PREPARING!!! It'l be over a week to get me a phone they claim they send lickety split :mad:

Going Forward

hdowney wrote: »

Pretty darn annoyed with Vodafone at the mo. Last Thurs I ordered a phone for the mammy off their website. They also asked when I wanted her number transferred and I picked Monday afternoon (expecting the phone to be here by Mon, since if you order before 1pm Mon-Thurs it's next day delivery if not it's 2 day). Well it is Wed of the following week. Her number has NOT been switched. And as for the phone. According to the online tracking system this morning it has FINALLY changed to preparing for dispatch. PREPARING!!! It'l be over a week to get me a phone they claim they send lickety split :mad:

So you have ordered something from a website that's a few days late arriving.:rolleyes:

It's not faulty or broken, it's just late.
I'm sure it'll arrive and everything will be OK.

Perhaps there's a little fine print or clause somewhere on their website alluding to deliveries, payments being processed or stuff just being out of stock for a few days. Unforeseen circumstances etc? There are a lot of variables.

Despite the best efforts, sometimes things still do go wrong.

From experience, I always take uber fast delivery promises with a pinch of salt. If it arrives tomorrow great, if not, I'm not too surprised, or disappointed!

blazermel

This did happen during the summer which is awhile ago now but it was the single worst customer service I have experienced..

Called into Tesco Carrick on Shannon during the summer after work, seen 6pk of Bavaria on offer and also picked up something to eat.. Now I cant remember exactlywhat price the Bavaria should of been but anyways he scanned all through and said : €3.89 please.. I was shocked and knew he had scanned it incorrectly because the meal I had gotten cost over €2 so he must have scanned a bar code on the can.. Being honest and all I said 'oh are you sure thats right, thought the cans should be more than that?' .. I regret that. He proceeded to humiliate me in front of customers, going 'hey, these are on offer but this girl wants to pay more' .. My face went redder and I was so embarassed.. But I still made him check, guess what? He HAD just scanned a single bar code on a can and NOT the entire pack.. Did he apologise? No. Ive never felt so humiliated in a shop before. I should have just paid the €3.89 for the lot and done them out of the money! :mad:

hdowney

Going Forward wrote: »

So you have ordered something from a website that's a few days late arriving.:rolleyes:

It's not faulty or broken, it's just late.
I'm sure it'll arrive and everything will be OK.

Perhaps there's a little fine print or clause somewhere on their website alluding to deliveries, payments being processed or stuff just being out of stock for a few days. Unforeseen circumstances etc? There are a lot of variables.

Despite the best efforts, sometimes things still do go wrong.

From experience, I always take uber fast delivery promises with a pinch of salt. If it arrives tomorrow great, if not, I'm not too surprised, or disappointed!

No I was more annoyed that they asked specifially when we wanted the number switching - as they tell you to pick a time you don't need your phone as the number will be down - and picked Monday afternoon. Well that was helpful since they did it yesterday instead. At a time when she DID possibly need her number. And I understand things being delayed. Bitta common courtesy though would have them email to say there was a holdup?

Thanks for the rolleyes though. They were soooo necessary.

Going Forward

hdowney wrote: »

No I was more annoyed that they asked specifially when we wanted the number switching - as they tell you to pick a time you don't need your phone as the number will be down - and picked Monday afternoon. Well that was helpful since they did it yesterday instead. At a time when she DID possibly need her number. And I understand things being delayed. Bitta common courtesy though would have them email to say there was a holdup?

Thanks for the rolleyes though. They were soooo necessary.

My eyes go like that every so often, medical condition y,know;)

Have you contacted them to find out what's happening?

hdowney

Going Forward wrote: »

My eyes go like that every so often, medical condition y,know;)

Have you contacted them to find out what's happening?

I was going to, but the number finished transferring today (and the phone turned up) so I guess there'd be nit much point since it's not something I'm gonna go through again anytime soon. Sorry for snapping btw, bad day