Positive Customer Service Experiences?

[Death Metal Moe]

Since I'm so fucking quick to complain when shit goes wrong I figured I'd start a thread about positive experiences dealing with a company's customer service.

I've had a problem with my DSL for like 6 weeks now. It was slow as shit and there was a noise on the phone that is on the same line that went away when you turned the DSL modem off.

1st time I called Verizon they said there was a problem on their end they would fix, it went away the next morning and I thought that was it.

2nd time I called them they said they would send a tech out. He showed up on a Saturday when I wasn't there. But he ran his checks and found nothing at the time and just left.

3rd time it happened was, of course, on a Friday where I'm running around like an asshole. But I know if I don't call Verizon and set up something it's only going to take longer. So I buckle in and waste a half hour just setting up an appointment.

Fast forward to today. I was very glad that the DSL was running like shit so I had an actual problem to show him. Also, the problem has been getting progressively worse and worse and I had to reset my modem 3 times last night.

The dude was awesome and fast. He found a problem in the box on my house and wanted to change something on the pole. He even admitted he's not sure why the last guy didn't see the obvious problem with a splitter in the box on my house. Everything works great now, did a few speed tests and I'm getting my advertised speeds.

Also since it seems I've turned into "Write angry E-mails" guy when something goes wrong, I'm going to make sure I write a positive E-mail or just call the phone number and get to the dispatch to make sure they know John did a great job.

Just wanted to share a positive since I feel I usually just post when I have problems with companies. Anyone else have a good experience they want to share?

[Ritalin]

I was just saying the other day that I've always had great customer service from Time Warner Cable.

[Jujubees2]

Every once in a while, I get these "coupons" from Stop and Shop that I can give to employees who demonstrate good customer service. I assume that the store has a contest to see who can get the most. I'm sure to hand them out whenever I go shopping, especially to the bagger (so long as they don't put my bread in the bottom of the bag).

[Furtherman]

A few years back there was something wrong with my phone bill - I don't recall what exactly, but I called Verizon, they found the problem and then gave me my next month FREE for my problem!

I was really surprised and happy about that, so Verizon is OK by me.

[boosterp]

T-Moble, Green Mountain Energy (my power company), the people in my apartment main office, the people from Lenovo, and customer service from Newegg all make my A+ list.

[angrymissy]

Every year I buy these dumb sets that MAC (Makeup company) put out 1-2x a year. 2 years ago I bought a set of makeup brushes and they were really shitty quality. I returned them, got my $50 back, and wrote them a nasty email. They sent me an apology letter and a check for $50.

Sephora - will let you return ANYTHING if you decide you don't like it, even after you've used it.

[Fallon]

XM over the phone is surprisingly good, my radio store and comcast too.

Those are my only recent dealings.

The dude was awesome and fast. He found a problem in the box

Ewwwwww.

[Death Metal Moe]

Ewwwwww.

I was gonna start a different thread about that called "Working REALLY hard for a tip."

[Devo37]

AT&T has been pretty good for my personal phone. english speaking and pretty helpful and courteous.

for business, on the other hand, it's a nightmare (they're our network provider at work). the business customer service is outsourced to india, they put you on hold forever (with a 10 second guitar sound-bite that plays over and over and over). when you finally get through to "Steve" or "David" or any of the other fake names they give, it takes forever for them to understand what you're talking about.

[SatCam]

Also since it seems I've turned into "Write angry E-mails" guy when something goes wrong, I'm going to make sure I write a positive E-mail or just call the phone number and get to the dispatch to make sure they know John did a great job.

John came to your house? Dude John is my uncle!

[PapaBear]

I'm so happy! Over a year ago, my Nikon Coolpix 5400 started taking shitty photos. The color was all purplish, and the image was distorted. It's only a 5.1 megapixel camera, but it took very good photos, could be used in full manual mode, allowed for RAW image output, and had a hot shoe so I could use my good flash.

A week and a half ago, I was looking at eBay to see how much broken ones were going for, just to get a few bucks out of it. I noticed quite a few that were listed as "for parts", and they were going for unusually high prices for broken cameras. So, I did a Google search of my camera's problem.

As it turned out, it was caused by a defective CCD (made by Sony), and Nikon would fix any camera that had the problem! I shipped it a week ago Friday. By Monday, I had an email that asked me to approve the repair estimate of $0.00. By Wednesday, it was in the shop (they have a link where I could check the current status). Yesterday, it was marked "shipped". I just checked the UPS tracking, and it will be in my hands TOMORROW!:clap:

[opie's twisted balls]

Ya, I'm a raging asshole when it comes to poor customer service.....it just pisses me off that I have to pay a company for the privileged of being treated like garbage.

That said there are a few businesses that come to mind who have actually impressed me in how they treat their customers.

1) Shaw Communications; They're a cable co located in Western Canada who also provide high speed internet and telephone service. All their call centers are based in country so you get someone who speaks english and rarely more then a minute wait, their staff never pressure you to add additional features, their techs are courteous and if you need an onsite visit can usually be set up in a couple of days. A few months ago I upgraded to their 100mbps internet service and for the first couple of weeks was only getting ~25mb download. They tested everything in my house, their inside/outside plant and couldn't find a problem. Finally figured out that it was how the modem was programed, made the change and I was running at full speed. Despite it only being 2 weeks that I didn't get the full service they gave me 2 months free service.

2) Rogers; Big phone/wireless/media company who I've recently switched to for my cell service. Even though I spent a good portion of my career working for telco's I still loath them for their arrogance and generally piss poor customer service. I've recently moved my personal cell service to Rogers and I've been very impressed. I signed up with them in November of last year and shortly after it made the tech blogs that the device I went with wouldn't be receiving any future Android OS updates. Needless to say I, along with everyone else who had that model of handset, was quite pissed off. After what I'm sure was a barrage of complaints Rogers made the decision to upgrade the effected customers to a handset that's capable of upgrades at no cost plus you get to keep your old phone. Sweet!

[FUNKMAN]

Edy's Ice Pops - supposed to get 6 in a box and only got 5. called them up they sent me a coupon for a free box, lost the coupon...

you ever get an empty Splenda packet? i did a couple times

[TonyStark]

Calling Microsoft to exchange my xbox after it RRODed was a pleasant experience all three times I did it. It was really easy to do and they were responsive and accommodating and pretty nice throughout the process.

It was fast as hell too and I wasn't without a box for long.

[Don Stugots]

any time i have a problem with my cell bill, i call up Verizon and they are always very helpful. to the point that i make sure to thank them for it since it is so rare.

[sr71blackbird]

So far, the best I ever experienced is with Zappos for buying shoes. They make it so easy and if anything goes wrong, they bend over backwards so you have a good experience.

[lleeder]

I ordered a large soup from Panera Bread with my half a sandwich. They started to give me a small and I told them I wanted a large. They didn't charge me any extra money and just gave me a small and a large.

[Death Metal Moe]

Since this thread is getting topped again, I just wanted to add that Nintendo's customer service was outstanding. I had a failed DS a couple years ago, called, got no problems at all. They mailed me a mailer box with included packaging and even tape strips. Got it taken care of fairly quick. The same problem did happen again. I got a little annoyed but not at the phone people, they were cool.

[KC2OSO]

any time i have a problem with my cell bill, i call up Verizon and they are always very helpful. to the point that i make sure to thank them for it since it is so rare.
yep. every call I've had with Verizon customer service has been a good one.

[Space Edge]

Apple has some of the best customer service around. Problem with my computer all I have to do is go on their website and put in my account info and they will call me within 5 minuets. I have sent my computer out to be fixed called them and they overnighted a box and fixed the computer and had it back all within 3 days.

[hanso]

And shell out 15 hundy.

[Death Metal Moe]

Apple has some of the best customer service around. Problem with my computer all I have to do is go on their website and put in my account info and they will call me within 5 minuets. I have sent my computer out to be fixed called them and they overnighted a box and fixed the computer and had it back all within 3 days.

That's why I can't deal with Apple products. I can work on a PC myself all day. I can shop for the best price on parts. I can buy a lower end machine and upgrade it to the point where the motherboard can't be upgraded anymore then get a new motherboard and reuse some of the older components that might not be outdated yet.

An Apple is as it was bought. Plus their stuff is just way too overpriced. It looks great, seems to work well and I've heard generally good things about their customer service but I just can't roll with a super expensive machine I can't work on myself.

[sr71blackbird]

Honestly Moe, there is something really nice about having my iMac and not ever really even need to have anything done to it. It just always works for me, never gets corrupted. I paid $800 for my iMac, and I bought it used on eBay and its been great. Nothing on mine has broken or needed any repairs. I even went and got myself a Macbook Pro because I wanted a laptop and thats been really nice too. I remember when I was contemplating the Mac because I had gotten screwed a few times when my PC got corrupted and lost all my shit, everyone was telling me not to get this, that no one I knows knows how to tinker with it and fix it etc. But since getting it, I havent needed anyone and that feels good. To me, that comfort is worth the extra money.