Customer service gone good

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

A thread for Dopers to report about good customer service experiences so we can all know which companies to frequent. Personally, I love threads like this, so I figured I’d start one, what with my recent experience.

On to my tale, which starts as a BAD story, but quickly turns good :slight_smile: :

I semi-frequently rent with National Car Rental. In fact, I have their little “Emerald Club” card (which normally is $50, but I got for free), which entitles me to free upgrades and other such fantastic and wondrous luxuries;) . I’d say in the last 6 months, I’ve rented from them maybe five times.

A week ago Sunday, I needed to rent a car on somewhat short notice. I went through the Emerald Club website, found what I wanted, and booked it at a total rate of $120. Long story short, when we went to pick up the car three hours later (the designated pick up time), we got held up by about 30 minutes. When I got to the counter, the agent told me my total was $202. I handed her my iPhone and showed her my confirmation email-- the one that shows I already held the rental on my credit card, with a deposit of $120. The agent explained to me that because I was late, that price was void. She finished by saying, “Yeah, they like to gouge you any way they can.” Gee, thanks lady. :rolleyes:

Needless to say, the next day I wrote an email to corporate. I very calmly explained that this experience made me reconsider using them in the future. After all, planes are delayed all the time– what’s the point of making a reservation if a 30 minute delay will mean I have to pay a premium fee? In this instance, I said I’d pay the (about) 70% increase because I was left with no choice, but because of that, I’m can’t say I’ll use them again.
Anywho, corporate got back to me almost immediately and apologized for what the agent said. Corporate said that the agent was incorrect in telling me that they charge more if you’re late on a held reservation and that she should have never charged me the excessive price. They issued an immediate refund on my card and gave me a credit for a free rental.

Way to save the day, National. Though I will say, that rental agent just has a hair up her ass: I’ve rented from her before and she refused to give me an upgrade (despite the fact that she said they had no other standing reservations for the day — this is a small local airport-- and a lot full of cars). Oh well.
So, Dopers, what companies have done right by you lately?

2

Amazon.com. I ordered a book for my wife for Christmas, and discovered after it had already shipped that her mother had already bought the same book at a thrift store.

Even though the one I’d ordered was, by this time, “out for delivery”, I went to the website and clicked the “return order” button, expecting to be charged restocking fees and other miscellaneous hassle.

Instead, an immediate notification saying something like, “The purchase price for the item will be refunded to the form of payment used. As a good customer, you do not need to return the item - please keep it!”

I realize it might be a purely commercial decision, i.e. it would be a net loss for them to process the return, but it still left me feeling warm and fuzzy for Amazon. Fortunately, given the amount I’ve spent with them over the holidays!

3

Wow! That’s pretty cool of them, actually. I ordered some new pans from Amazon the other day and, of course, I ended up getting a set for Christmas. While it was too late for me to cancel the order, all I have to do is refuse the delivery. Amazon said as soon as the shipper updates the status as refused, Amazon will credit me back for the price. FAR more hassle free than anticipated.

4

Last year I purchased a subscription to the for-pay components of photo edit site http://befunky.com . Some time before the first year was up they sent me a reminder about the upcoming renewal - somewhat usual so far, but they expressly mentioned that I might prefer to cancel the subscription, and included a link to an easy cancelling process. Nice.

5

Amazon’s customer service is excellent.

My most noteworthy experience is from a local store, but I’ll share anyway. When we moved to this house, I bought a new fridge without measuring the space. Sure enough, the delivery guy bring sit in and it’s a couple inches too tall. They delivered a fridge that fit (the same day), without charging for either delivery. And they did it without any eye rolling (in my presence anyway) about buying a fridge without measuring first.

Sears and BestBuy might be cheaper, but I’m staying loyal to the local.

6

I have to agree. I had a computer monitor stolen out of my front yard in the short window between when it was delivered by UPS and I checked for it. Amazon ate the cost, cheerfully refunding my money. They didn’t even ask for a police report.

7

I’m sure others will back me up here…American Express has very good customer service. I’ve never had them not fix a problem when I called them even when it would have perfectly acceptable for them to (in more words then this) say “It’s not my problem.” I’ve had them stay on the phone for quite a while with me explaining how a specific program or package worked…and I actually mean explained…like a person, not a bot reading a script. They really seem to do everything possible to leave you satisfied and smiling. Now, here’s the kicker. For everything they do for consumers…they’re do it 10 fold for us with merchant accounts.

8

Newegg:
Returned product subject to shipping & restocking fee when it did not work out, posted review with the details. Customer Service tracked back to my order, refunded shipping and restocking fee. I was not asking for or expecting this.

Garmin:
iQue 3600 replaced TWICE after well out of warranty. Granted it was a fragile product, but Garmin could have declined to do the two replacements. They included map updates each time.

9

I just went out for brunch on Christmas Eve to Masak, on 13th St in NYC. Even though the restaurant was empty and the poor waiters would probably have rather been at home, the food was stupidly delicious and the service was awesome. What really took it to a whole different level, though, was that my friend asked for some mayo to dip the scallion-ginger french fries into (she’s a philistine, what can I say?). It’s taking a while to arrive, and so my other friend glances over into the kitchen, and figures out why: one of the cooks is making the mayonnaise, fresh, from scratch, with a hand whisk!

It was delicious.

10

I think in 2002 sometime I called IBM customer service about some prob with a refurb ThinkPad (probably three or more years old by then) and the cat on the handle told me exactly how to fiddle with some dipswitch or something inside. Cat let me know the box wasn’t under warranty and we shared a tender moment.

I haven’t had GAS (=‘gear acquisition syndrome’ for the benighted) since 2007, so more recent I can’t tell you, but that’s my tale of happy memories.

ETA fix spelling and it was older than three years by then – maybe four or five – the notebook.

11

Those are words I seldom use together.

I bought a bunch of stuff at Lowe’s early this morning. When I got home I noticed that I had forgotten to use my one time 10% discount coupon for moving. I also noticed an important item was broken and had to be returned. I returned the item (never a problem) and the clerk gladly applied my 10% coupon to the earlier purchase so the return trip was profitable.

Lowe’s=products not always up to snuff
Lowe’s=service always over the top

12

Delta Airlines

At Thanksgiving, my wife left iPad on the plane.

Before she realized it was missing, I got an email telling me they had it and that I could pick it up at the airport.

13

Jiffy Lube has this annoying practice of trying to get you to add on replacement parts and what not to your oil change. (example - they’ll bring your air filter out to the waiting room and try to convince you it’s dirtier than it is so you’ll replace it.)

Well one time the serviceman came out and asked when was the last time I had my radiator flushed* because you’re supposed to do it every blah-blah years. I couldn’t remember ever having it flushed so I told him to go ahead. After he was done with the car he told me “Your fluid actually looked all right, so I didn’t change it.”

How honest was that? He could’ve done nothing and charged me for it anyway - how would I have known?

I wrote a nice letter to the company using the address on my receipt but it came back as undeliverable. Too bad.

*Or brake/transmission fluid. I forget.

14

On December 18, at approximately 9pm, I ordered my son’s Christmas computer from NewEgg.com. On December 20, when I arrived home from visiting family, it was here! And that was with the free shipping offer - I was amazed! Then, on December 23, I made a last-minute mad dash for the last few gifts and groceries. The staff at the local Books-a-Million and Claire’s could not have been any more helpful or pleasant - to the point that I phoned both stores today to speak to managers, complimenting two clerks by name.

15

I ordered 3 pairs of pants from a catalog/site called Woman Within. I washed and then wore them once before I realized they did not fit right. I also threw away the return label. Their return policy on their site seemed really liberal so I called them up and got a new return label sent to me. I just got credited for the return too. No one cares that they were washed and worn (and washed again)!

I’ve told this before but a plastic part on my American Standard vanity broke. The part that holds up the drawer. I hadn’t bought the vanity, it was in the house I bought. I took photos and send them to the company via their site, and within a week they sent me a replacement part for free. About a year later the same thing happened to the other drawer and they sent me another part for free.

A few weeks ago two casters on my expensive-ass Sitmatic chair broke clean off. After extensive research into getting new casters from the store, I just emailed Sitmatic and got 2 replacement casters sent to me.

Amazon is really good, I agree. I ordered that 99 cent Lady Gaga album for my mom and the download was broken somehow. The offer was only good for a day so I couldn’t just go buy it again. The customer service rep had me buy it new for $7.99 then credited my account $7.99 so I could get the album for the original 99 cents I had paid.

16

Twice I have left positive feedback on a company’s website to compliment their products and both times they sent me a freebie in the mail. Field Day snacks and groceries sent me a coupon for any item and Brooklyn Brewery sent me a ball cap with their logo.

Airlines: Ho boy, you name it, I’ve had a problem with flying. JetBlue has probably the best crisis management of any airline. They are very good about rebooking flights and trying to get you the best flights you can. I was once stranded in Syracuse for several days due to the weather and they paid for my hotel.

Razer (makers of gaming mice and peripherals) has very good customer service. Every time I’ve spoke with them on the phone they have been friendly and helpful. I also had to RMA a mouse and they did that for free of course.

17

Target.

Brought several Christmas purchases up to the front including a set of DVDs that is normally very expensive but was priced $29.99 (according to the shelf label). It rang up as $80. I said I had only decided to buy because of the low price and before I could say I wouldn’t be taking it, the cashier (a teenage boy) had spoken to his supervisor and was typing in the price change. Unbelievable. I was speechless and decided to go with it to speed up the Christmas Eve shoppers behind me. Thank you, Target! My kids love this quality programming and I couldn’t have spent more time picking out another DVD at that point.

18

Sierra Trading post - A couple years ago a shipment was stolen from my building’s lobby (driver left it in the unlocked section for some reason), and as soon as I notified them, they re-shipped everything at zero charge. No questions. There was an inquiry from UPS about 6 weeks later, but that was it. Last week - Ordered items on Wednesday, chose free ground shipping, expecting delivery after the weekend, and received everything Friday. Nice.

DayDeal.com - Last month I ordered two cell phone cases. Both ended up unsatisfactory, each for a different reason. I fully expected to need to send them back and eat the shipping. Nope. Since I’ve been ordering once or twice a year for a while, they said to pick out two more and they sent them the same day, keep them all. Thanks! I’ll still be throwing the first two out, but it’s really nice not to have to ship them back.

I love online shopping!

19

Five Guys - Family placed order, I handed over a debit card to pay. Cashier swipes, frowns, swipes again, frowns again, then calls over his shoulder, “It’s doing it again.” I was prepared to give another card or pay cash, but the manager said, “That’s no problem, I’ll fix it.”, pushed a few buttons, and handed me my receipt. While we were waiting for our food, I just happened to glance at the total — $00.00. I immediately went back to the register and pointed out that I hadn’t been charged for our food, and the cashier said that the credit/debit hadn’t been working for a while and the lack of charge was their way of dealing with it. I then put a $20 in the tip jar. That’s my favorite good service story.

I’ll second the newegg fast shipping - I have received orders in less than 24 hours even when using free shipping.

Amazon just replaced my wife’s broken Kindle at no charge, even though it was her fault that it was broken.

Netflix is so proactive with service issues that it’s scary. They routinely make bill adjustments for very slight service issues, even when not asked. They also provided an extra DVD rental as a Christmas present.

Apple has, more than once, replaced older, malfunctioning devices with newer models at no charge.

Roku replaced a bottom-of-the-line malfunctioning device with a top-of-the-line working device and shipped it Fedex at no charge.

I worked in retail for so long that I know how to be a “good customer” and be extra ultra nice when there’s a problem. People will bust their butt for you when you’re nice. Complaining and threatening get you nowhere, in my experience.

20

Five Guys - Family placed order, I handed over a debit card to pay. Cashier swipes, frowns, swipes again, frowns again, then calls over his shoulder, “It’s doing it again.” I was prepared to give another card or pay cash, but the manager said, “That’s no problem, I’ll fix it.”, pushed a few buttons, and handed me my receipt. While we were waiting for our food, I just happened to glance at the total — $00.00. I immediately went back to the register and pointed out that I hadn’t been charged for our food, and the cashier said that the credit/debit hadn’t been working for a while and the lack of charge was their way of dealing with it. I then put a $20 in the tip jar. That’s my favorite good service story.

I’ll second the newegg fast shipping - I have received orders in less than 24 hours even when using free shipping.

Amazon just replaced my wife’s broken Kindle at no charge, even though it was her fault that it was broken.

Netflix is so proactive with service issues that it’s scary. They routinely make bill adjustments for very slight service issues, even when not asked. They also provided an extra DVD rental as a Christmas present.

Apple has, more than once, replaced older, malfunctioning devices with newer models at no charge.

Roku replaced a bottom-of-the-line malfunctioning device with a top-of-the-line working device and shipped it Fedex at no charge.

I worked in retail for so long that I know how to be a “good customer” and be extra ultra nice when there’s a problem. People will bust their butt for you when you’re nice. Complaining and threatening get you nowhere, in my experience.