positive customer service stories

[gorcorps]

Everyone loves to bitch, but I've had a couple surprising CS experiences recently that makes me want to share. Good customer service can turn someone who is pissed off and bad mouthing your company into a repeat customer... so maybe more good stories will encourage companies to focus on good CS.

Garmin - I bought a vivosmart at the end of last year for $80. It wasn't a full blown smartwatch, but was a good mix of activity tracker and rugged watch to keep me happy. Unfortunately the display isn't a good one, and a known issue is dead pixels that develop early. Mine isn't unusable yet, but based on what I've read online it's a common problem. I used their "send an email" form to submit my issue, and quickly received a follow up with my options.
I could either get a direct replacement, get a refund of my purchase price, or get $150 credit in the Garmin store for a new device. $150 can get you quite a bit more than what the vivosmart offered, so I decided to give them a go again and get a new device. The one I wanted was $200, and I was asked to call a number to provide a CC# for the difference in price. I did, there was no wait and I was able to order the new watch quickly and easily. I haven't received it yet so I guess it's still in progress, but so far I'm happy with what happened.

KFC - It was late, I was hungry, and their $5 fill up boxes are a pretty good deal. By default it comes with mashed potatoes but I always ask for wedges. I don't think they heard me or punched it in, so I didn't get the wedges. I parked, walked in when they were cleaning up the inside and trying to close and told the lady at the counter what happened. She was so apologetic and happy to help that I kind of felt bad I came in to complain at all. She offered extra food that I didn't want to make up for the issue, and genuinely felt bad. I wish I got her name so I could call the company and let them know what a good job she did.

Walmart - I ordered a couple things for store pickup that were cheap online. One of which was ready the next day, the other one wasn't going to be ready for a couple weeks. I get the alert that my first item was ready to be picked up, I ran and got it and all was well. Around the time I expect to see the 2nd item, the tracking info "disappears" from my order. It's still on my order, but they no longer have information on it (whether it's in transit, at the store, or anything).
I go to the store and ask and she says they should have it but it doesn't look like it got scanned in properly. She couldn't find it in the back... I look on Walmart's website for a CS number, and instead of you calling a number, you submit your number and they just call you back. It was only a couple minutes after I entered it that I got called. In the end they refunded me the original order, then had me reorder the item to ship to my house instead and paid for the shipping charges. If their in-store pickup system worked as well as their CS system maybe they wouldn't have these issues, but it was still a pretty painless process to get things fixed.

 

[Craig234]

Long ago, turbotax took a bunch of corrupted disk files dumped onto a floppy and mailed to them, and extracted the data and put in into correct files and mailed them - all for free. Amazing.

 

[Kaido]

Had a few with my local Apple Store. Stuff like problems with my phones & they swapped them out right away or a pricedrop on equipment I had just purchased & getting the different refunded. I've heard horror stories with corporate support, but my local store has been pretty decent to work with.

Amazon has been great too.

 

[Kaido]

Good customer service can turn someone who is pissed off and bad mouthing your company into a repeat customer... so maybe more good stories will encourage companies to focus on good CS.

Well you know...there was this one time with Jeep...

 

[KMFJD]

Had to return a car rental to Thrifty a couple of days earlier than expected, looked at my cc statement a month later and they had reimbursed me for all the unused days, i never asked and figured that was on me but they still refunded me i think 4 days.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Ordered a book on amazon with my 2 day prime shipping. It processed and shipped on time, but somehow the carrier got it sent to a wrong location so it delayed my receipt of it by 2 days.

I emailed amazon just letting them know if it was late and if I could get some compensation on it. They emailed back within a few hours asking me to please not let this one incident ruin my experience with amazon. They ended up refunding me the cost of the book, extended my prime membership by 1 month, and said next time I order something, they would give me the fastest shipping for free.

 

[gorcorps]

Remembered another one from earlier in the month:

I rented a stump grinder from Michiana Tool rental for the weekend. They have a 4 hour rate, and a day rate, but since I was picking it up Saturday morning they have a weekend rate too since they aren't open on Sunday. I agreed to the weekend rate, not expecting to be done with it quick enough to get it back on Saturday. Well I was wrong... finished within a couple hours and only brought it back early just so I didn't have to deal with returning it on Monday morning. I expected to pay for the full weekend I agreed to, but they said they'll only charge me for the time I used. I have plenty more yard work to do so I'll definitely be going to them again in the future.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Bought a coat for the GF from a seller in China, didn't fit, asked them how they handle returns, she sent a size up for free, and told us to hold on to the other one until they had a seller wanting the same size/color combination in the states to save everyone the cost/trouble. Pretty spiffy.

 

[John Connor]

I haven't had any great CS experience at all. I'm trying hard to think of any but can't. Even when I called Amazon CS about Amazon Web Services, the woman who sounded Indian did know what the hell I was talking about, and had to put me on hold a few times. I knew she was digging throw hear computer for the search terms of AWS and cloud. LOL!

Perhaps I have had better experiences with some sellers on ebay. Yeah, EBAY! Hard to believe I know. I guess I can say that I bought an electrical plug from a store on ebay and when it arrived it was the wrong one. I told them about it and they told me to keep it and they would send the right one for free. Well, by that time I had already bought another instead and explained what I had done and asked for a refund instead. The refund was in my PayPal account within no time.

I hardly ever have to make a return to an online company. So my CS experience is limited in that department. I guess I know what I'm buying and do thorough research before hand. Not bragging, but that's how I roll.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Newegg. Bought parts to build a new machine, motherboard, CPU, RAM and PSU. Passed all benchmarks and stress tests, but still would not run stable. Finally diagnosed it as a RAM problem, it was fine in Prime and unstable in Windows. Not just mine, bad batch from the manufacturer. Trying to get that sorted and waiting for replacement RAM made me miss the deadline on a motherboard rebate. Asked Newegg if they could talk to the motherboard manufacturer to see if they could get the deadline extended since a lot of people who bought the same combo had the same problem with the RAM. Newegg didn't even wait, they just gave me the rebate value on my account.

Ping golf. They had a line of putters called the Specify with different hosel and weight configurations to make a few parts add up to like 20 different models. The weighted part on the back of the head didn't wear well and eventually cracked with age. Called Ping to look into buying a replacement for it since it was like 10 years old and 8 years out of warranty. Sent it in, they replaced the weight, cleaned it up, even regripped it and put on a new shaft band free.

 

[gorcorps]

Garmin - I bought a vivosmart at the end of last year for $80. It wasn't a full blown smartwatch, but was a good mix of activity tracker and rugged watch to keep me happy. Unfortunately the display isn't a good one, and a known issue is dead pixels that develop early. Mine isn't unusable yet, but based on what I've read online it's a common problem. I used their "send an email" form to submit my issue, and quickly received a follow up with my options.
I could either get a direct replacement, get a refund of my purchase price, or get $150 credit in the Garmin store for a new device. $150 can get you quite a bit more than what the vivosmart offered, so I decided to give them a go again and get a new device. The one I wanted was $200, and I was asked to call a number to provide a CC# for the difference in price. I did, there was no wait and I was able to order the new watch quickly and easily. I haven't received it yet so I guess it's still in progress, but so far I'm happy with what happened.

Got my replacement vivosmart HR+ yesterday. I never got an email with tracking information like they claimed I would, but other than that it was one of the best warranty claim processes I've dealt with.

 

[kranky]

I'm going to discount the little niceties/extras I have received from places where I am a regular customer. I'm more impressed when I get great service from a place I've never been before.

Was gifted a watch a few years ago for hitting a service milestone at work. The band needed to be adjusted so I took it to the local jewelry store to get it done. That store said they don't work on that brand of watch (something about how the band was made), and suggested Jared. At Jared, was greeted at the door, asked if I wanted some water or a coffee, and what I was there for. Took me to a counter where a woman spent about 20 minutes doing the adjustment. When she was done, I asked how much I owed since I didn't buy the watch there. She said, "No charge. But I hope that whenever you're in the market for jewelry or anything else we carry, you'll come back and see me."

When we opened our checking account at a new bank, it came with a free small safe deposit box or a credit towards a larger one, and we wanted a larger one. The rep said they didn't have any larger ones available at the time but other branches might. I asked how one might find that out. He said he would call other branches within a 5-mile radius and get me a list of which ones had available boxes in the size we wanted.

 

[twinrider1]

Genova Plastics. (They make a bunch of plastic products; plumbing, fencing, decking, etc.) And they're Made In the U.S.A.

Had to replace a toilet shut off valve that was over 20 years old. Couldn't find a local replacement at the normal places because it had square threads. Called Genova to find a dealer or maybe order direct. Nope, she insisted on replacing the part. She actually mailed me two valves, the traditional thread on style that I needed, and she also sent a push on, Gator-style valve.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Most things most days. Yay Costco.

 

[clamum]

I don't have to deal with customer service very often but the several times I've had to interact with Amazon's customer service they're been very prompt, gracious, and helpful. It always seems to be something like "Yeah we messed up, here's your refund/free shipping/expedited shipping/etc" with no questions asked, and half the time it wasn't even their fault directly. Not surprising that they're my go-to place for ordering things in general online.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I find most customer service experiences as positive. There are notable exceptions but not the rule.

The plumber that was recently working on our bathroom was recommending a new toilet. I told him it wasn't in the budget. He showed up the next day with a new one, no charge. That was above and beyond. A new crapper as a gift is under rated. It should be on everyone's Xmas list.

 

[Zee]

Squeeeeek No More floor kit. they have like different variations of the same thing and it gets very confusing. bought a set that didnt have the right floor adapter/screw holder, didnt want to buy a whole new set just for the adapter. emailed the company and asked if i can just buy the single adapter piece separately because it's not sold anywhere and i have more than enough of everything else.

They just took my address and then sent it to me on their own for free

 

[Carson Dyle]

I hit up several of the large liquor stores in town, taking advantage of weekly specials. One that I go to is huge, but they have the most antiquated sales system you ever saw. Price tags on all liquor and wine, nothing gets scanned. For beer, they look up the price in a 3-ring binder. And the clerks are miserable f*cks - never heard one of them say so much as 'Thank You'. I went to another store the other day and the kid at the checkout was the most pleasant, helpful and cheery fellow I've seen in ages. I noted his name and emailed the store owner, who replied to me rather pleasantly surprised.

 

[Brainonska511]

Iogear - I have a wireless keyboard for my HTPC. One time, I accidentally broke the receiver by bumping the front of the case where it was plugged in. I e-mailed them asking if it was possible to just buy a new USB receiver and they sent one to me free of charge instead.

 

[TheGardener]

Last month I struggle to get my PUR faucet water filter to stop leaking. I figured out that it was the plastic adapter to the faucet was faulty. Trying to get it on better, I finally and completely stripped the plastic thread. By then it was leaking at the faucet itself. Called PUR. The faucet water filter was six months out of the one year warranty, so I had low expectations. The company lowered the warranty from 5 years to 1 year. Turned out the CSR not only spoke English with an American accent, but actually worked just a couple miles from my home. PUR sent me 4 adapters at no charge. One adapter, made of metal, fit perfectly. All the leaking has stopped.

LL Bean to took back a comforter cover that developed a quarter size hole, after less than a year. I returned the comforter on their dime by UPS. I did get one call from CS asking me if I wanted a new one or a credit. I had written that on the return paperwork a new one, but the CSR was so pleasant I didn't mind. I said a new comforter cover. LL Bean promptly shipped the new one to me.

I like it when I don't have to struggle to understand the CSR. Makes my day much better.

 

[Exterous]

I don't know if this counts as great but Chase's insurance company has stepped up their game over the last couple of years. I used to have to explain their T&C to them but its been getting better and my recent claim was super easy.

Crutchfield was easy to deal with when my speaker arrived all effed up. Just a quick phone call and got easy free (expensive) return shipping with no hassle.

National Car rental is almost always super easy and no hassle to deal with

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I'd say my best customer service experience was with Andersen Weight Distribution hitches. We were coming home from a camping trip and a piece snapped off on a really tight turn. Had to have a friend tow my trailer the rest of the way home. Contacted Andersen and they not only replaced the part that snapped, but sent me a new ball and housing and some newly designed bushings no charge. It was one of the first times I've towed anything before, and they were always helpful every time I've contacted them with questions or issues.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

My faithful mystery van finally gave up the ghost after 300k and 30 years. We were searching for a used vehicle to tow a trailer and get me to work. The little town I live in has a dealership and a used car that fit the bill but, it was over our budget so, we went to talk to the local bank for a loan. Meanwhile, the gentleman we'd been talking to at the dealership knows I'm in a bind for a way to work and tells me to go ahead and use the car till we hear from the bank. I work during regular business hours and the bank let us do the whole thing by phone and fax. This with having piss poor credit. Both the dealership and the bank went out of their way to help us. You can bet they've got our future business.

 

[nerp]

Phanteks.

I bought a new Eclipse p400. Love it. Made the mistake of causing a small scratch in the window. Wrote them an email asking if they sold extra parts, said I scratched mine and would like to BUY a replacement. It was my fault, after all.

They asked for a copy of my invoice. I heard nothing for a few days. Suddenly I get an email with a tracking number. They just sent me a new shiny panel without even asking.

 

[Squisher]

Roku sent me a whole new remote for free when I called inquiring about buying a new battery cover for my remote which broke the tab off that holds the cover closed. I was sick of the scotch tape on the back of the remote and ebay turned up nothing, not even a broken remote of the same button config. for cheap.