Your best and worst customer service experiences [rant & praise]

rizzla · 18-11-2014 11:24pm

Smyths Toys: I ordered something online, was to arrive on Tuesday. Didn't turn up, contacted them on Thursday via email. They refunded my card an gave me 10% off my next order on Friday. A real stand out performance.

Microsoft: I noticed a dupe charge on my card. EA Access membership got charged twice. I rang up, guy said he wasn't sure how it happened but he could see a credit was due to me. He pushed it through and was back on my card the next day.

Emobile: Any time you need to contact them it seems like a battle and your the enemy. Will not be with em in Feb.

thesandeman · 19-11-2014 5:57am

ABajaninCork wrote: »

On the other hand. I went into Eason's on Patrick St. The assistant was sitting at the till with a face like a well-slapped arse. I wandered up, smiled and said hello, asked for a Lottery ticket and a packet of fags.

Easons sell smokes??

BnB · 19-11-2014 1:03pm

Argos - In Athlone.

I went up there last Tuesday on the last day of their 3 for 2 deal on Toys. Being the man that I am I had only reserved 2 of the bits that I wanted because there were loads of the 3rd one in stock the night before.... And of course with the shop packed with fools like me, by the time I got there the 3rd one was out of stock.

The girl that I dealt with in Athlone couldn't have been more helpful. She sourced and reserved the third part in another store for me. And when she couldn't get them on the phone, wrote me a note to give to them explaining that she wanted them to give it to me as part of a 3 for 2 offer.

It wasn't just what she did - It was just the simple, friendly, matter-of-fact way she went about it. I was feeling like a right fool for leaving it till the last minute and not reserving and she just had a real "That's no problem - We'll sort it out" way about her.

To be fair - When I went to the next branch (Argos in the Cresent in Limerick) the young fella I dealt with there was pretty much the same. No bother - Gave me the bit I needed - Have a nice day

ABajaninCork · 19-11-2014 1:36pm

thesandeman wrote: »

Easons sell smokes??

Yes.

L1011 · 19-11-2014 2:11pm

thesandeman wrote: »

Easons sell smokes??

They're a glorified newsagents these days - they also sell Coke and mars bars.

hillbloom · 19-11-2014 3:16pm

Argos Athlone are very efficient, friendly & very helpful.

Snoopy1 · 19-11-2014 3:20pm

Laya healthcare lost my application to switch to them.
Oh well their loss

Dozen Wicked Words · 26-11-2014 8:20pm

City Air Express have to be the worst courier firm I've come across in Ireland. They wont wait 2 minutes, 2 minutes! to redeliver, say they will deliver next day and don't because they say they can't find the house (you know, the one they found the day before) and can't give a time of day, or even Morning or Afternoon for delivery. So 3 days of arsing around and might possibly get what I ordered tomorrow, maybe.

Fey! · 27-11-2014 2:52pm

A huge thumbs up for Frank Byrnes Autobody in Oranmore, Galway.

I went in to them with my fathers car this morning which had damage to the rear nearside wheel arch. I was expecting to have to get it resprayed, and went in for a quotation.

About an hour later I was back on the road with the damage polished and touched up, along with minor damage to the front bumper and the drivers door, for significantly less than I thought it would cost me.

It is little wonder that they have won the bodyshop of the year award so many times, as well as the approval of Mercedes and Honda.

http://www.frankbyrnes.com/

Avaya79 · 02-12-2014 1:18pm

Is there any way to leave feedback on ARGOS' website for goods purchased online ?

2 weeks ago I purchased a mattress from argos. (Airsprung Penryn Comfort Double Mattress. 239/3650)

Very disappointing product – and service! Item is very short of being the quality comfort mattress described here, it really is just a bag full with metal springs. 11 days (!!) after placing my order I finally received it yesterday, 1st Dec 2014.

As soon as the mattress arrived, I helped the delivery man pass it through the door, but I could see the mattress looked suspiciously thin (after taking measurement, it is 16cm wide and not 18cm as advertised, pictures available) and as soon as I placed my hand on it I could feel the springs. In fact my old mattress worn out mattress is in almost more comfortable than that new one. The delivery man himself acknowledged it didnt look like it was worth the discounted price I paid (175 eur). It is incredible that such a mattress was originally priced at almost 500 Euro!!

I wanted to have it sent back to Argos straight away but the delivery man said he couldn’t take it and that I needed to make arrangements by phone with Argos to have it collected.

So not only you have to wait for more than 10 days to get your item delivered but now (and after spending more than 50 mins on the phone being transferred from one person to another), I will have to wait another 16 days to get it collected and hopefully receive my refund. This also means that I have to make room somewhere to store the mattress until it gets collected, and take time off work again to meet the collection team..how great.
ARGOS customer service was most frustrating, you ring an irish number from Ireland (015245387) and after a 10 mins listening to an answering machine, your call ends up being picked up by a UK team who tells you they need to transfer you to the Irish team, and there you go through the answering machine farce again.

This is arguably the worst shopping experience and the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I will never buy any further items from Argos Home delivery again, and neither will I recommend it to anyone.

I purchased this item on the back of the 5 stars reviews I saw for this item on their website but I really question the credibility of these ratings now, which is why I feel compelled to share my experience.

The mattress I received does not look like the one on the picture and is a very low quality item, the springs have definitely not the strength to support the weight of an adult person comfortably, let alone a couple sleeping on it.

This is the first time and the last time that I will ever buy or have anything to do with Argos’ home delivery service again. Stay away from this item. I wish I had known better.

vicwatson · 02-12-2014 1:34pm

Bargain coming soon?

Maybe repost in consumer issues

Sleephead · 02-12-2014 1:37pm

Avaya79 wrote: »

Is there any way to leave feedback on ARGOS' website for goods purchased online ?

2 weeks ago I purchased a mattress from argos. (Airsprung Penryn Comfort Double Mattress. 239/3650)

Very disappointing product – and service! Item is very short of being the quality comfort mattress described here, it really is just a bag full with metal springs. 11 days (!!) after placing my order I finally received it yesterday, 1st Dec 2014.

As soon as the mattress arrived, I helped the delivery man pass it through the door, but I could see the mattress looked suspiciously thin (after taking measurement, it is 16cm wide and not 18cm as advertised, pictures available) and as soon as I placed my hand on it I could feel the springs. In fact my old mattress worn out mattress is in almost more comfortable than that new one. The delivery man himself acknowledged it didnt look like it was worth the discounted price I paid (175 eur). It is incredible that such a mattress was originally priced at almost 500 Euro!!

I wanted to have it sent back to Argos straight away but the delivery man said he couldn’t take it and that I needed to make arrangements by phone with Argos to have it collected.

So not only you have to wait for more than 10 days to get your item delivered but now (and after spending more than 50 mins on the phone being transferred from one person to another), I will have to wait another 16 days to get it collected and hopefully receive my refund. This also means that I have to make room somewhere to store the mattress until it gets collected, and take time off work again to meet the collection team..how great.
ARGOS customer service was most frustrating, you ring an irish number from Ireland (015245387) and after a 10 mins listening to an answering machine, your call ends up being picked up by a UK team who tells you they need to transfer you to the Irish team, and there you go through the answering machine farce again.

This is arguably the worst shopping experience and the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I will never buy any further items from Argos Home delivery again, and neither will I recommend it to anyone.

I purchased this item on the back of the 5 stars reviews I saw for this item on their website but I really question the credibility of these ratings now, which is why I feel compelled to share my experience.

The mattress I received does not look like the one on the picture and is a very low quality item, the springs have definitely not the strength to support the weight of an adult person comfortably, let alone a couple sleeping on it.

This is the first time and the last time that I will ever buy or have anything to do with Argos’ home delivery service again. Stay away from this item. I wish I had known better.

is it not as described in the catalogue/Site? I'd be suprised if they missold something like that

brightkane · 02-12-2014 2:24pm

I have no experience with home delivered items but in store customer service is usually superb

Avaya79 · 02-12-2014 2:26pm

Thank you I have moved this to the consumer issues forum. Thanks

Avaya79 · 02-12-2014 2:31pm

it is true, never had an issue in a store. What is really annoying is the fact that you are not allowed to leave a review for the items you buy online, on their website. Therefore I can only think that the reviews showed on the product page are handpicked by themselves. No way would I leave 5 star for that mattress

Berty · 02-12-2014 2:32pm

Experience from last week. Ordered a table and chairs. Asked to be first delivery. Driver rang about 7:30am and arrived at 8:45. Helped them take stuff into the house and off they went and I could get to work at a reasonable time rather than waiting around all day.

Very happy with overall price and service and the table n chairs were worth the price I paid. "Less than half price"

dudara · 02-12-2014 2:41pm

vicwatson wrote: »

Bargain coming soon?

Maybe repost in consumer issues

Please don't tell a poster to repost in another forum. This causes duplicate threads - which is exactly what happened here. Please use Report Post so that the thread can be moved by a moderator.

dudara

OP - is there any outstanding Consumer Issue here? It looks like Argos are dealing with the issue, albeit slowly.

Avaya79 · 02-12-2014 2:57pm

I am sure there are good experiences, of course I had tried and asked to get an earlier delivery but they had no other alternative, I guess I should have requested them to cancel my order at that point but I didnt think of that. as for the collection of the item, same thing they could not offer anything sooner, So i am left with that mattress taking up space in my house..

vicwatson · 03-12-2014 12:10am

dudara wrote: »

Please don't tell a poster to repost in another forum. This causes duplicate threads - which is exactly what happened here. Please use Report Post so that the thread can be moved by a moderator.

dudara

OP - is there any outstanding Consumer Issue here? It looks like Argos are dealing with the issue, albeit slowly.

My apologies

loopymum · 03-12-2014 12:34pm

I find their home delivery customer service rubbish too, waiting on the phone for ages, etc.
An item I had ordered couldn't be delivered as out of stock, they kept telling me I would have to go to a store for refund to be put on my card despite me telling them that was not possible as too far away, insisting I had purchased in a store when I had bought on the phone.
Also I bought online first and they told me that had not gone through and took payment over the phone and I ended up charged twice by them.

Eventually got refunded over the phone after about the 10th time telling them I had bought over the phone and I would only go to the store if they would compensate me for a days work and pay childcare and expenses.

dudara · 03-12-2014 2:48pm

Merging the Argos thread into the Best/Worst Customer Service thread, as I don't see a specific consumer issue here anymore.

dudara

twins2020 · 10-12-2014 10:56am

Utterly disgusted with the service of little woods online. I ordered a frozen bike for my daughters Christmas present the start of dec and told it would take 10 days to arrive. Called yesterday to check on the arrival date to be told it's out of stock and won't arrive until after Xmas. No one contacted me regarding this and now I have no Christmas present from Santa. Thanks Littlewoods for your customer service and for letting down a little girl at Christmas time. I will never be Ordering from you again.

jetsonx · 10-12-2014 1:13pm

twins2020 wrote: »

Thanks Littlewoods for your customer service and for letting down a little girl at Christmas time. I will never be Ordering from you again.

Littlewoods would rather spend money on prime-time TV advertising telling us how amazing they are than offer good service. When in reality they are a second-rate e-commerce site. Nothing unique about them, a hum-drum selection of products but with Brown Thomas prices.

Woshy · 11-12-2014 3:43pm

I ordered from Littlewoods recently and they accidentally sent me two of an item when I only ordered one. It was a pack of two pillowcases and it they arrived in one big package with other bed linen I ordered. Then the next day one little package arrived with another set of the pillowcases. Very bizarre, they seem all over the place but it worked in my favour anyway!

My good customer service experience recently was Dominoes in Glenageary. We ordered a pizza for collection and when my husband went to collect it they couldn't find it. Eventually they did find it put away on a shelf under the till. As it wasn't under the heat lamp it was stone cold when we got it home and almost inedible. I emailed dominoes head office who forwarded it to the franchise owner who was very apologetic. He called me to apologise, refunded me the money and gave me €50 in vouchers which he dropped into my house. I thought it would be €50 worth of buy one get one free vouchers but they were actual gift vouchers worth €50. Great to see a company take complaints seriously!

squonkie · 14-12-2014 6:30pm

Another thumbs up for Dominos. I ordered over 25 euros of an order online and tried to pay with Paypal. I got a message that the transaction failed so I said stuff it I will pay on delivery and placed the order. @ minutes after I got a message from Paypal that the transaction was complete. Called the store and they had no record. Called Paypal and they said it was confirmed. Called back the store and the manager dont worry about the order just take delivery and you dont have to pay the driver. I was happy with that but the icing on the cake was a few days later my Paypal transaction was refunded and I received an email from Dominos apologising for the inconvenience.

mikom · 14-12-2014 6:33pm

twins2020 wrote: »

Utterly disgusted with the service of little woods online. I ordered a frozen bike for my daughters Christmas present the start of dec and told it would take 10 days to arrive.

Let it go...

Grab All Association · 16-12-2014 12:32pm

Where do I start.

Firstly I know all the staff in this store and they are nice polite hardworking people and the nicest most helpful staff out of all the Tesco stores I have ever shopped in the Ireland and the UK. ITS 100% NOTHING TO DO WITH THE STAFF

You walk in looking for something and they are always out of it. Sometimes even the basics. The staff really do try their best to order it in but its not up to them how many or when these products come in.

The floor is tired old and in one part of the supermarket the floor is actually coming up. That store was built back in the 1960s and extended in the 70s and hasn't changed since. Was actually one of the last Tesco stores to be rebranded from Crazy Prices. No wheelchair access to the drapery department upstairs. Two years ago the freezer doors wouldn't close and last year the upstairs (clothing/electrical) part of the supermarket was closed for weeks due to an electrical fault.

Parking. Yes its the only supermarket in the town that charges for parking. Free parking in all the other supermarkets Aldi, Dunnes, Lidl etc.

To be fair they did extend the opening hours to 9pm on a Saturday but closing at 7pm Sunday, Monday and Tuesdays ffs when the newsagents are still open and the square is still pretty busy is just stupid. The square is on 2 busy national roads. In the smaller towns nearby Roscrea, Cashel, Tipperary etc stay open until 10pm. I used to shop in this Tesco store late on a Sunday night when it opened until 9pm. It used to be packed. Cashel a few nights ago the store was empty at 9pm.

To be fair again to Tesco they put in 2 applications to NTCC to build a new Extra store identical to one in Clonmel outside the town but thanks to the small traders in the town objecting they withdrew them.

The store needs a lot of work and the opening hours Monday-Friday should be extended to midnight.

Rant over.

Grab All Association · 16-12-2014 12:34pm

And I wasn't sure where to post this. Consumer Issues seemed the best place

slimjimmc · 16-12-2014 1:28pm

Merged into best/worst experiences thread.

jimb433 · 16-12-2014 7:31pm

I THINK " THREE " AND VODAFONE TAKE THE BISCUIT

Your best and worst customer service experiences [rant & praise]

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