I had to cancel my Gevalia coffee subscription a couple of months ago (I know, it’s overpriced, but it’s good and I don’t have to remember it at the store). Yesterday, lo and behold, I find a package of the “limited edition” coffee on my porch with a note that they’ve charged my card and a special free bonus gift of a coffee travel pack (kinda cool–mugs, a thermos, cream & sugar holders, spoons, all in a backpack).
I called this morning and told the lady that I had canceled my membership, and needed my card credited and a UPS call-tag to return the shipment. She told me that for some reason that one hadn’t been canceled, but she would cancel it now and refund my card. Oh, and go ahead and keep the coffee and bonus gift.
If only the rest of the business world would follow that model. I guarantee that when finances improve, I’ll be calling Gevalia again.
Thats neat! Its great to come across a nice customer service person one in a while. I’ve actually had good service from Sympatico a couple of years ago when I was on dial-up in another town. The central server for that area was chronically F*cked Up, and at one point I had been unable to access the internet for about 3 or 4 days, so I finally called to ask them what the problems were, and if there was anything I could do to get internet, since I WAS paying for it an all.
The guy was nice and polite, but told me that it was a server problem, and to just wait it out another day or so, it should be fixed. I hung up quite frustrated at not being able to get my email and read the boards, but figured I’d live with it til the next day. About 30 minutes later, however, the nice guy calls me back to say that he investigated a little more, and that there had been changes made to the server and that the dial-up number had changed. He told me to change it, and to test it out, and that he would call back in 10 minutes to see if it worked.
I was able to log on, and all was fine, and then he actually did call back, so I thanked him quite a lot! I was surprised that he was so nice to me, since he really didn’t have to go through the extra trouble.
A few years back, I lost the manual to my automatic coffee maker in a move. I couldn’t figure out how to re-program it, so I called the manufacturer to get a new manual. (I fully expected to pay for it.) To my surprise, after taking my name and address, the customer service rep said she was sending me a new coffee maker for free. I protested I only needed a manual, and she said, with a smile in her voice, “Oh, I’m sure there’ll be one in the box!”
I absolutely hate my Gevalia coffee maker. It’s a piece of crap that I can’t leave unattended. I’ll fill the reservoir, throw in my filter, add coffee, hit the button and walk away . . .
. . . only to return 10 minutes later to a puddle of coffee on my countertop and kitchen floor. :mad:
Piece of crap flip-out basket won’t stay put, the plunger valve thing that plugs the bottom of the basket works half the time, and the damn thing is a pain in the ass to clean.
I’m not buying any more Gevalia crap. If they would put half as much attention into the design of a decent coffee maker as they put into their advertising . . .:mad:
Tripler
I’m buying a new coffee maker this week. That’s it. :mad:
My windshield wiper broke a few years ago in the middle of a snowstorm. I pulled into PepBoys and showed them what was wrong. Instead of trying to sell me a whole new windshield wiper, the guy said he had an extra little part sitting in his drawer that he’d just give me for free. Then he went out in the snow and put in on for me, for free.
I sent a letter to his manager and the district manager telling them that this guy had won a loyal customer and I continue to go to PepBoys. I also tell this story to a lot of people.
My flatmate was going on the other day about the great service that Mercedes provides. He was telling me how his mother took his car back home to be serviced (he was flying home for two weeks). She had it serviced, and then on the way home the car broke down. She called Mercedes, they came out immediately, and repaired the problem. He was so impressed! Pffft. If the car was just serviced, why the hell did it break down?
We used to get Gevalia Kaffe, but we cancelled after they made things too difficult.
We were on the European Coffeehouse Tour, and each shipment would feature coffee from a different European country. Then, one shipment, we get Germany again.
I call CS, ask about it, and they said they’d note it and send out the next country with the next shipment.
It arrives, and again, it’s the German coffee. I call up, and they said they changed how they do their tours, and if you want a different coffee, you have to call up and request it. It doesn’t automatically cycle through the countries like it used to.
Too much trouble, so we cancelled and are ordering from Starbucks. Ivylad isn’t too impressed, so we may be switching to Barnie’s.
I subscribe to the New York Times under the student discount rate (40 cents/issue), and they sometimes miss a delivery (or it gets stolen before I get to it). In this case, you just call a number and they credit your account for the missed delivery. I mentioned to the representative once that if I still want to read the paper, I have to pay the full price, not just the 40 cents they refund me. She offered to refund me the full price of the paper!
Granted, it’s a difference of about 60 cents, but the point is that refunding for a stolen paper is excellent customer service as it is; refunding more than twice what I spent on the missing paper is above and beyond anything I’d ever expected.
