They’ve always been very helpful, but under the pressure of things going wrong, they did even better.
I had a key to my car copied, which cost about $3. Naturally I wanted to make sure it worked, so I stuck it in the ignition and turned it. Well, it worked fine to turn the car on, but then, not only could I not get it out–I couldn’t turn the car off. I could not move the key.
Now, I could have stopped the car by putting it in gear without using the clutch. But I had to pick up my kid…on the other side of town…in about 45 minutes, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get the car started again.
So, leaving the car running, I went back into Ace and explained the problem.
The guy who cut the key came right out and tried a few things, which did not work. He called up a coworker who wasn’t there that day, and that coworker showed up and also tried to turn off my car. And also failed.
At that point they said they’d call a locksmith. But by then I needed to hit the road to go pick my kid up. So they asked when I’d be home and said they’d send the locksmith to my house.
Off I went. Got the kid. Went home. The locksmith was at my house, waiting. He got the car stopped, got the key out, fixed the key so it would actually work. Ace paid for it all–about $90. Ace called me later to ask how it all came out.
And they said to come by the store and they’d give me a refund for the key.
I’d like to put in a good word for Big O Tires. I had a flat, so put the spare on and the flat in the trunk and drove to Big O with a coupon for a free flat repair.
They fixed the flat, put the tire back on the car, pulled my hubcap out of the trunk and put it back on, and put the spare back where it’s supposed to go. All for free.
Always been happy with Discount Tire and Les Schwab Tires. And the Apple Store is always a pleasant experience.
But the best customer service I’ve ever seen was from Delta Airlines. We were returning from Europe on the Air Trip From Hell–every flight late, every flight missed, insane long lines, friggin’ horrible in every way. One of our legs was on Delta, and we were late getting in, and we’d missed our connection. A Delta agent was there at the gate as we got off, asked our name, and pulled boarding passes for another flight out of a stack she was holding. They had rebooked everyone on that flight and printed out boarding passes already.
Green Tree, Ltd., a mortgage servicing company. They bought my second mortgage from Bank of America, which is at the top of my list for worst customer service (right up there with Sirius XM radio), and I cried with joy both times I’ve had to call. Courteous, efficient, polite, and native speakers of English. I thank them for buying my mortgage every time I speak with them.
Land’s End: UPS misplaced a package containing a nice button-down shirt I’d ordered for a specific event. I called Land’s End and was talking to someone immediately. They overnighted me a replacement, at no cost, and then sent me a coupon to apologize. And their return policy is fantastic (if you don’t like it/want it at any point, go ahead and return it).
Apple: “Hello, Apple tech support. I am having a problem which is bad because I need to write my senior thesis. I have tried doing this, this and this to remedy it and it has not been remedied.” “Okay, well, since you’ve done those things already, let’s try one more thing.” tries it. “Okay, since that didn’t work and there’s no Apple store nearby, let me call the stores certified to do warranty work in your town.” on hold for a few minutes. “Okay, these two stores have that part in stock and are open tomorrow. Store A is at 123 Street Rd and opens at 10 tomorrow, here is their phone number. Store B is at 321 Road St. and opens at 10 as well, here is there phone number. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
Bank of America - I know they get a lot of complaints but I’ve always had good experiences with them. I have a bank account, car loan, and credit card through them and every experience I’ve had has been overwhelming positive.
MINI - I just thought of them because I had to take my car in for servicing. I actually LIKE to take my car to the mechanic because they are almost nurturing when I go there - scheduling appointments, getting the rental car for me, friendly staff. Today I saw my sales woman from TWO YEARS AGO and she saw me, stopped, recognized me and asked about me and my car and my teaching job and then invited me to the upcoming MINI birthday party.
Starbucks - out of the 4 Starbucks near me, 3 of them know me by name and by order, and the last is coming along now that they are getting over their staff turnaround issues. I love it when they come out for their breaks and sit and just chat with me, or ask about my vacation or my students or whatever when I come up to the counter.
I agree. And you’d think it would be a “general amusement park attitude” but it’s not. The other big amusement parks don’t even come close to the customer service that you get from Disney.
But I actually came over here to say “Toyota”. We have a Prius and the Touch Display Screen recently died, in what I thought was way too early in its life, although it wasn’t under warranty any more. The replacement costs about a third of what the whole car cost new! I called Toyota and griped and the rep politely went over all the details with me. He then called the dealer that was working on our car and went over the details with them. He called me back and said Toyota would pick up the entire cost of the replacement and the labor. I told him I would shout “Toyota” from the rooftops for their great customer service.
If you’re in California and looking for DSL service, I can’t plug Sonic.net highly enough. They’ve grown over the years from a small provider only in the 415 area code to a full-fledged CLEC serving the entire state. I’ve had service with them at several different addresses and phone numbers, and have run into the occasional snag, but they’ve always been able to put things right quickly, even when the problems have all been with Pacific Bell/SBC. Tech Support is smart and clever, and almost always anwers by the second ring.
If you’re looking to take a cruise, Holland America Lines has some amazing people. You’d think they breed their staff from birth specifically for customer service excellence. On our last cruise with them, they wowed us with their unobtrusive but spot-on service. Everyone from baggage porters on up to the Captain was friendly, personable and had startlingly good memories.
Mine are mostly repeats:
LLBean has always been great, for many years now. They have several styles that fit me, and is better quality than anything else I’ve been able to find that fits me, for the price .
Zappos’ - I love them.
USAA - all my finanical business has been transferred there because they are so efficient and so helpful. And their rates are good too.
Elderly Instruments - (many years ago) I went to college across the street from them. Spent many happy hours in their store playing everything I could get my fingers on, and the store people were always enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and kind. I actually only bought one guitar from them and not an expensive one (I was broke at the time), but they didn’t mind. Spent hours discussing the pros and cons of everything remotely in my price range.
What don’t you like about Sirius/XM? I call them up every year and get the 15-week “introductory rate” for football season, and then let it lapse until football comes back again. Works perfectly, and they know I’m gaming the system and don’t mind.
My father used to own antique cars (Model A Fords with the rumble seat, that sort of thing.) One Easter about 30-odd years ago we dressed up in era clothes and walked in a parade at Disney. I remember sulking because my sister got to ride in the Model A Ford while I had to walk next to it with my mother, who was wearing a flapper outfit and carried a cigarette in a long holder.
It was very hot, and the car overheated and caught on fire. My mother is pulling my sister out of the car through the window and my father, dressed in spats and a bowler, is grabbing a fire extinguisher. I don’t remember this, but my father said before he’d gotten around to the engine to put the fire out he was surrounded by Disney employees.
The other thing I’ve noticed about Disney is that it’s always very clean. Litter is picked very quickly.
The customer service. (I’m not fond of the playlist Top 100 chart format they’ve gone to since the merge, but it seems to be improving based on listener feedback.)
Okay, so I had an old XM radio and upgraded to a new one. I pay for my subscription for two years in advance because you get a much lower monthly rate that way. So I called to transfer the subscription from the old radio to the new radio because I had (let’s say) eight months left on the old one. Can’t do that, says the lovely Indian person on the other end of the line. You cancel the old subscription, but you do not get a pro-rated refund for the remaining 8 months that you paid in advance, nor will they offer a credit 8 months toward your new two-year subscription. I learned this the hard way. Had I known that was the policy, I would have waited to upgrade until my 2 years was about to expire and then I wouldn’t have lost out on the 8 months I paid for.
It’s all well and good, if you pay ahead, until you smash your car or your home receiver gets zapped by lightning or something and then you are just SOL.
Also, every time it rains, I lose the signal until it hasn’t rained in about a week. Here in Florida, it rains every day during hurricane season. I haven’t had satellite signal in the car for about three weeks. I’m getting seriously sick of my CDs (terrestrial radio in this city sucks rocks). This is not, however Sirius’s fault: I think I have a bad antenna thingy and must get that replaced, which I can’t afford to do right now. At least that’s what the lovely Indian CS rep told me. :rolleyes: No tellin’ if I actually need a new antenna or not, but I lean toward “do” because the signal in the truck is fine regardless of rain and the signal in the house receiver is fine, regardless of rain. It’s just the one in the car with the leaky roof.
I thought there was a little chip doodad which had the XM ID on it which you could yank out of the old radio and drop in the new one?
Your terrestrial radio can’t be worse than mine. I live in Orlando. Weird that you lose signal in the rain, though. I get crappy reception when there’s lightning out, but rain doesn’t seem to affect it at all.
The difference might be that my system was originally XM- was yours originally a Sirius one?
I dunno, the old one was from, like, the first year that XM existed (answers your other question – all radios in question have been XM units). I went to the sort of portable one that you installed yourself to a custom header unit that I had to have installed, so I had AM-FM-XM + CD + MP3 capability all in one unit. It never occurred to me that such terribly different units might have a single compatible chip. They’re not cell phones, but I’ll look into that next time I have to upgrade.
And yes, my terrestrial radio can be, and is, worse than yours. I’m in Tallahassee. Beat that. I think what’s going on is bad installation + poor body work on my old car. The rubber gasket thingys are all wearing out, right? So when I had the new radio installed, the audio guy ran the antenna wire through my dash, up through that bit of the door next to your windshield, and it comes out in the front part of my targa top (Honda del Sol). Because the rubber bits are degrading (body shop would not replace them), I think the antenna sits in water for a couple of days and shorts out and doesn’t get a signal. Or something.
Note that I did not nominate my body shop, nor the car audio installation shop for “best company I’ve ever dealt with.” Both did not really do very well at customer service, IMHO.
I believe they said, on average, litter is picked up within 15 seconds of hitting the ground. Also, you’ll notice they don’t sell gum anywhere, so that’s less of a problem.
Also, they have a paint crew that comes out EVERY night and touches up (or totally repaints) all the high traffic areas, which again adds to the cleanliness of the place.
I don’t think any of them have a chip that you can move from one unit to the other. I’ve had two of them and both of them have their own ID. Besides, one of the things that I’ve always liked about them is that I don’t have to hide it in my car since I know that if someone steals it, it’ll be useless as soon as I report it stolen. What you might be thinking of is that some cars come all ready to work with XM, but you have to by a chip to make it work.
As far as the reception in the rain, I was having that problem for a while, a new antennae fixed it.
I think what’s going on is bad installation + poor body work on my old car. The rubber gasket thingys are all wearing out, right? So when I had the new radio installed, the audio guy ran the antenna wire through my dash, up through that bit of the door next to your windshield, and it comes out in the front part of my targa top (Honda del Sol). Because the rubber bits are degrading (body shop would not replace them), I think the antenna sits in water for a couple of days and shorts out and doesn’t get a signal. Or something.