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

dudara

istevenson - that is the point of the Best/Worst Customer Service thread - so don't get put off. Just try to remember how posts appear to other readers.

Good luck - dudara

aglo99

I purchased a couch on sale (over 3k) from Frank McGowans and when it arrived I noticed scratches on the arms, sides and back. When my partner turned it over a mobile phone and money fell out of it. This certainly was not the new couch I had purchased.

I rang Frank McGowans the lady I dealt with was extremely rude, tried to tell me it was new and when pushed then stated I bought a store model on sale. There was no sign indicating this on purchase, we were never informed we would be purchasing a used couch, and why would anyone buy a used couch for over €3k?? The arm chairs that arrived were brand new as expected. After several calls (my father in the end had to contact the owner as they had also received a soiled bed) I received my new couch and a voucher for €100 as an apology to use in their store. There is no furniture or rugs in this store for less than €100. I sent €55 on bed sheets just to use up the voucher but I am now stuck with a €45 that they have refused to give cash for and I certainly do not want to give them anymore money for something I dont want or need.

I am so frustrated and angered by my dealings with Frank McGowans. I have spoken to other people who have had similar bad dealings with them.
They have a store full of staff standing around chatting and not one of them has the authority to help you, and you'll be waiting for a return phone call. Their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

I will certainly never shop there again and advise others not to do so.
I have purchased my remaining furniture in Navan - better value, more variety and good customer service. I live in Malahide and yet the furniture arrived quicker from Navan than Swords!!

jimoc

Why didn't you just tell them to come and collect their second hand couch and demand the new one you paid for?

Should have had my coffee before i read that, didn't realise you got a new couch as well as the voucher.

jor el

Is there an issue here still? Looks like they sent you the wrong thing, then (eventually and after some hardship) replaced it, as they should have. While it was bad service, they have resolved it now.

SueWho

That's brutal. I suppose technically they went further than they had to because not only did they eventually send you a new couch but they also gave you a voucher.

Now I wouldn't be impressed either. The whole story sounds disgraceful. I'd just spread the word of your experience to as many people as possible and just stay away from them. You might find something in the shop you can buy for that amount of the voucher or even put a little of your own money towards it too.

There are so many excellent furniture shops around, that places like this really should be named and shamed IMHO.

aglo99

I did but it took time and I'm just frustrated with their attitude. Wonder had anyone else on boards had similar difficulties and what am I to do with €45?

jor el

aglo99 wrote: »

and what am I to do with €45?

Bin it? It's not your money, and it won't cost you anything. In order to use it, you'll have to spend money with it, so just forget about it.

SueWho

If you really wanted to make them "pay", then you should have demanded they take away the second hand crap they delivered to you and refund you in full as they did not provide the product you agreed upon when you made the contract with them.

You'll know for the future.

neilthefunkeone

i hate when company's give me a 100 euro voucher.. im always so annoyed with them!!!

You got a replacement couch and a voucher to apologise for the mix up.. and by the sounds of it a mobile phone and some loose change.. and new bed sheets..

I think you were slightly put out by having to make a few phone calls..

This is not a bead experience imo from the way you have described it...

jimoc

You could always sell the mobile phone to one of those web sites that gives you cash

dudara

You don't actually have a current specific Consumer Issue with the store, right?

I'm going to move this to the Best/Worst Customer Service thread

They sent you a used model, which they then replaced with a new one, and gave you a voucher as an apology. TBH, I don't really see why you're bad mouthing them so much.

dudara

sarahn11

Johnston Logistics

Normally as we all know, when something goes wrong i for one DREAD ringing up any customer service. Some person on the other end having a bad day and who really doesnt give a toss about whatever it is your ringing in about!

These guys i had to ring today and yesterday and were such a pleasure to deal with! Also they went out of their way to make phonecalls on my behalf!
Now i know this is their job, but these days, in this country Customer service seems to be a joke and these guys were the first company i have delt with in months that had the Right attitude!

Not really a rant, but more of a kudos to these guys! Not enough positivity anymore, We spend alot of time b!tching when things go wrong, I decided to Take the time and give these guys credit!

Well Done Lads and Lasses!!

aveartist

I sympathize with anyone who has to deal with Chorus ntl support team they broke my laptop ( very bad tech support) and my heart. I changed to Sky and O2 Broadband, because of problems with chorus t.v and broadband. Was most displeased with broadband but canceled the whole lot because of their bad attitude I unsubscribed via two emails and numerous phone calls they were paid up to date but still it goes on!!!Last month received a bill demanding 100 euro 'in contract' fee as you have to pay for 30 days service that you don't get. Told them on phone that they breached contract first by not supplying a good service and who was going to pay to have my computer fixed not to mention phone charges to tech support @ 2.50 per min!Last week got a lovely threatening letter demanding said money except changed to 105 euro. Phoned them up and spoke to nice lady explained it all AGAIN explained would have my solicitor get involved if letters didn't stop. Today woke up to dept collectors letter phoned them and another nice lady said she will talk to them and try to resolve this whole thing. What a dose !They cant just walk over people like this what about my consumer rights they did not provide a proper service and did not fix problem when asked it,s just not on. I love Sky no probs

els27

I had to do some DIY in my apartment and got some paint in Gerry Keane's in Talbot Street..

Well I am no expert when it comes to DIY and only had a rough idea of what I need but the help I received there was excellent. They knew I had not much knowledge but they didn't try to sell me the most expensive product and the young lad there is a sunshine, really really helpful, doublechecking I got everything I need, offering extra packing and seems he learned a lot from his Dad. He is still a teenager but I think many people working in retail could take an example on him regarding customer service.

Lollipops23

Was at a Hen Weekend juts there and had dinner in Bisto Sola on the 2nd night. While the food was lovely,the service was god-awful.
We had to wait in the first place to be seated as they were clearing tables etc for us, but we didn't really mind as there were 30 of us and it's a small restaurant.
However after ordering all 3 courses we had to wait an hour and a half (that's right!) to get our 1st course!!So basically: ordered at 9pm....our salad showed up at 11.30. We had to wolf down our mains and couldn't even have our desert as our coach was coming back at 12am.
On top of this, the waiter told us he was rowing with the chef when we questioned the length of time between ordering and eating...eh,don't tell the customer that!
The hostess also told us to be quiet...now I know a lot of hen parties are obnoxious drunken eejits falling about the place,but we were seated around 3 different tables and were chatting amongst ourselves when she said this...and we had gotten out 1 st bottle of house wine not 5 mins previously so we certainly weren't drunk!!
After several complaints by members of the party then agreed to take the starters off the bill. The whole experience was just dreadful though,the manager looked like he couldn't give crap about upsetting the bride to be.

Didn't let it ruin the night though,thankfully!!

anewme

Having heard some bad reports about Pixmania, had ordered off them in the past so decided to again.

Ordered a camera at 10.45pm on Tuesday night 16th, as they were having an extra 5% off until midnight. Got a call yesterday morning from customer service (security call) verifying my CC, etc.

Camera arrived this morning at 10.30am from Fedex(did not pay extra for 48 hr. delivery)

Camera and bundle all packaged well and in perfect condition. Saved 100 over the cheapest Irish retailler.

Excellent customer service in this instance.

Degsy

Fagans in drumcondra used to do really good food and i dropped in a while back for some grub.
The menu was exactly the same as it always was but the food was terrible,a huge disimprovement on what it used to be.
Waiting staff arent friendly in the slightest,a trait i noticed in barmen in that pub too.

padz

saw an ad in the paper for 3Mobile, looked good but oviously when buying something you need to get all the terms and conditions so rang up the sales number explained to them that im just inquiring, got all the info i needed cost of goin over the download limit etc&how long the contract is for, was hanging up when the indian lady on the phone asked if i wanted to purchase the 3mobile broadband, i declined and she persisted,she sounded bit of a numpty anyway it was grand for me i was pleasant and she said shell call me back in a few weeks i replyed saying im only enquiring but if thats what she wants to do thats fine, i dont get many people ringing me so its a bit of a laugh when sumone trys a sales pitch on me as
the main point is im not buying at the momemt, anyway time has passed and this person keeps ringing,i awnserd the last time and told them im not interested and she said will i ring you again in a few weeks, not wanting tell her to F**K off i said if you feel u want to ring me, but im not buying at the moment, i have the number saved on my mobile so i dont have to awnser it some times i let it ring out sometimes i awnser it and leaved the phone down but today this girl rang me from india 5times, i think thats a bit much, has anyone ever had 'problems' with indian customer service or sales, ive read articles before talkin about these 24hour call centres, its like 15% of indias GDP these call centres anyway, ive had a run in with a dell indian guy before who urged me to reformat my hardrive when i had infact blew my motherbord, im not computer expert but i know when the computer dosent start its not the hard drive its more than likely a hardware issue&this F&&&ker wanted me to erase me 80gigs of music and films not a chace, spoke to an irish tech guy about what it was doing when i booted it up and he sent out a guy to replace the motherboard,

just putting this out there as ive had a few problems before with some of these 24hr call centres, my main gripe is that a lot of them dont listen, they just spout of the lines and havent a clue as to how to problem solve, im sure this is the case for irish based service desks also, its just very annoying when ur speaking to somone in bengal about ur broadband in bantry bay u know

Random

The next time she calls you ask for her name. Then ask for her supervisor / manager. Ask for their name. Request to be removed from their marketing / sales / outgoing calls lists. Confirm that they agree to do this and how soon.

If you want to follow up then find out the postal address / email address to send it in writing to and send all details.

Escalate to a complaint if you wish from there and ask for a reference number.

dudara

Threads merged

dudara

tmurph

The company i work with hired and paid a company years ago to design the website, my company is now under huge financial constraints and we want to update the website ourselves but the web company are refusing to give us full access and sent us on a proposal with costs higher than if we were to start a website from scratch, has anyone any idea what our entiltements would be in a case like this.

Jev/N

tmurph wrote: »

The company i work with hired and paid a company years ago to design the website, my company is now under huge financial constraints and we want to update the website ourselves but the web company are refusing to give us full access and sent us on a proposal with costs higher than if we were to start a website from scratch, has anyone any idea what our entiltements would be in a case like this.

That's business to business, doesn't belong here

friendface

I purchased a Toshiba Satellite laptop from Harvey Norman (HN) in August 2009. I also purchased a 3yr extended warranty from HN on the same date.

Recently my laptop charger stopped working so I called HN to inquire about getting it replaced under warranty. According to the representative on the phone (and his manager at the Limerick store) my laptop charger would not be covered under Toshiba manufacturer warranty nor would it be covered under HN extended warranty. Instead, he offered to sell me a generic adapter for €80 discounted to €60 since I purchased the laptop from HN in the first place.

Needless to say, I was disappointed with this response so I decided to phone Toshiba directly. I was informed that my charger was indeed covered and, after answering a few basic questions about the nature of the problem, I was told a new charger would be sent out in the post within 3 working days.

I tried calling back HN to explain the situation and to ask why they might be misinforming customers about what their warranty covers. I was left on hold until the line went dead.

While I was less than impressed with Harvey Normans response, I have to say I'm very impressed with the speed and professionalism with which Toshiba dealt with the problem.

gerrycollins

most companies in the face of "current econimic climate" will bend over backwards to get a good name for theselves out there however HN imo were just trying to do you or they are useless and totally uninformed bunch of you know whats

IrishTonyO

Write Harvey Norman a very strongly worded letter of complaint, explaining the whole situation. Ask why you were given false information and why they tried to sell you the adapter in the first place. Tell them you are sending a copy to Toshiba and to the Consumers association as well.

Kensington

Have you put it in writing to Harvey Norman?
Seriously, unless people complain about it they will just carry on as they did with you.

friendface

This has literally only just happened. As an experiment, I may try calling a number of HN stores tomorrow to see if I get the same result. Best case, I might get another replacement charger Do ye think it's worth writing a letter to HN so? Considering, they are one of Toshiba's authorised resellers, I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't know the basic items covered under Toshiba warranty.

Antigone05

thats if it was covered.

it should have been viewed or tested at least to determine the fault. if it was a faulty charger and no physical damage done to it yeah they should have helped you out.

poor service there. write to the store manager or HO

Dotsyx

Yeah, wouldn't have been covered under their own extended warranty as consumables like batteries and chargers aren't covered (assuming their warranty has similar terms to other stores where I've read them in detail...). Be wary of that for the rest of your 3 year cover.

Still, it's absolutely ridiculous that he tried to sell you a new charger if your one stopped working after only 7 months. The shop should have taken the item in, got on to Toshiba or a 3rd party tester they have a contract with, and had your charger inspected within a reasonable timeframe. A letter will at least mean the next person might get better advice.

The Lovely Muffin

Gerrycollins is correct, HN's are a bunch of you know whats.

Here is a post I made about them, it should give you a clear idea of what they are like.

Here is a post I made about them.