Not going anywhere for New Year’s Eve, we called them up and ordered a mess of food to go. That way we’d be off the streets well before the crazies came out. The wife left the order under just her first name. When we went by to pick it up, the owner beamed and said “I thought that was you on the phone. I put in something extra as a treat - no charge.” That turned out to be a complete order of lo mein, which my wife loves but we didn’t order this time. All because we are regulars and tip well, I guess. Thanks, Tangs! You get our “Good Guys” award for the month.
I went to Duke of Oil to have my oil changed and get new wipers. For some reason, I go through wipers like tissues and I wanted to get good ones. I was going to pop for the RainX ones but the guy said they weren’t very good on snow and ice and recommended ones that were on sale for about half the price and which he said were much better. Plus he gave me some chip bag clips. It made me less surly, it did…
Best Buy:
Returned product I bought new since the screen was shattered. BB refused to accept it, wouldn’t give me a refund or exchange, accused me of cracking the screen myself so I could (presumably) have the pleasure of driving an hour and a half to exchange it, and the manager ordered me to leave or he would call the police.
Crap service.
Pandigital:
Replaced the item I bought at Best Buy with a new one, no questions asked. The one they sent was even upgraded with the latest Android OS.
My church choir director gives us all $10 Panera gift cards every year for Christmas, so my son and I went there on Friday to use said card. We order, I hand over the card, the order person swipes it and says there’s nothing on it. I was very puzzled, explained it was a gift, and said it should have had $10 on it. Another order person came over and tried it. Same result. Finally, the manager comes over. Same result. They were very apologetic, wrote down all the numbers from the card, took my phone number and said they’d check into it. Then they took the $10 off anyway. I really wasn’t expecting that.
Apple
I received an iPad for my birthday this year. I’d had it about 6 weeks when I tripped and fell on it in a parking lot (it was in my purse). It ended up with about a 12° bend in it with the glass damaged and the back panel popped loose.
The next day I took it to the local Apple Store. I didn’t really expect them to be able to do anything to fix it or to replace it but was astounded when they said they would replace it free of charge!
".I actually trot out Cabela’s customer service as one of the best customer service experiences of my life.
Before my son deployed, I wanted to buy him a good scope. A $2,000 scope. (Leupold, for those that means anything to). I tried to deal with multiple small, mom-n-pop gun stores to get this scope, and apparently none of them wanted to take my money.
In frustration, I called Cabela’s, who carried Leupold scopes, just not the specific one I wanted. They were very happy to deal with me, ordered the scope, and called me back multiple times to inform me of the status of the order, to inform me it had shipped, and then finally to make sure the scope had arrived in and timely manner and satisfactory condition. In my experience, Cabela’s customer service rawks."
Automated Pet Care Products - home of the Litter Robot (Ugly as sin, but one of my favorite gadgets)
I have a house full of cats, so I thought I’d give this a try. I got a refurbished one which is a good bit cheaper than the brand new, shipping was included in the price, plus I hit a sale day they had. It arrived in a couple of days, was really easy to set up, and then promptly didn’t work quite right. With fiddling I could get it to go, but it was hit or miss.
Called the company, spoke with a very cheerful and helpful midwestern sounding gal who listened to what I had to say, and did not make me jump through basic trouble shooting hoops again (I’d told her I’d done all that the booklet suggested). She said she’d send out a brand new one -not another refurbished unit- via FedEx and that when I got it I should call back to get a pickup date, and FedEx would come get it. No charge.
I had a great experience just yesterday with Diapers.com. I’d ordered some jammies for my kiddo from them in early December, and one of the footie jammies got holes in it after like 3 wears. The holes were in the fabric itself, not just a popped seam - I wouldn’t be able to sew it back together.
I called them yesterday, and the lady was very helpful and apologetic, and is sending a new set of jammies out (my son got to pick, since they were out of the same design) for free- they should arrive tomorrow!
They’re fantastic anyway - you get free 2-day shipping with a $50 purchase (easy to do with diapers and other kid gear) and their prices are good. And if you purchase from one of their sister sites you can get free shipping for even less! They’re just awesome.
