Use Facebook and Twitter as they actually don't like it. The lousiest company of all is WH Smith. Always trying to sell you a bar of out of date Galaxy and then refusing to let you have a bag for free as they are 'giving the profits to charity '. This of course means they keep the cost of the bag ( that in the past has been an overhead) and then add some profit ( which you obviously contribute ) which they decide you will give to charity. Staff are always crap as well.
I agree about WH Smith, the shops are always a mess, they reduce the range of magazines they stock and then display a load of piddley crap, they no longer have anyone on the till at my local one and instead require that customers use the self service tills which are slow and which the elderly struggle with, then "do you want to buy todays special offer?" (no, or I would have already picked one up!), they often seem to have wideboys trying to flog you something when you walk in (Bluewater) and then they give you five slips of paper for all kinds of useless offers and no bag to put them in...... It Makes me Maaad
Use Facebook and Twitter as they actually don't like it. The lousiest company of all is WH Smith. Always trying to sell you a bar of out of date Galaxy and then refusing to let you have a bag for free as they are 'giving the profits to charity '. This of course means they keep the cost of the bag ( that in the past has been an overhead) and then add some profit ( which you obviously contribute ) which they decide you will give to charity. Staff are always crap as well.
I agree about WH Smith, the shops are always a mess, they reduce the range of magazines they stock and then display a load of piddley crap, they no longer have anyone on the till at my local one and instead require that customers use the self service tills which are slow and which the elderly struggle with, then "do you want to buy todays special offer?" (no, or I would have already picked one up!), they often seem to have wideboys trying to flog you something when you walk in (Bluewater) and then they give you five slips of paper for all kinds of useless offers and no bag to put them in...... It Makes me Maaad
Customer service is alive and we'll and lives at Samsonite. It has a golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do to you. If you call them and ask for a set of wheels or a handle for a 20 year plus hard shell case, they will send them. They won't charge you or ask you to pay P & P. If I ever need a new case, I know where I'll get it. (And therein lies the problem I suppose, with the "if".)
To add to the good customer service experiences here, I'm very happy with Swatch. Took a watch in that had a small fault with the winder caused by me dropping the watch on the floor. The only words I said were: "Hello, I bought this watch from you a while ago and the winder has come a bit loose..." I expected to have a conversation about how it happened, then about sending it off for repair and the charge for the service. (Which would've been fair enough IMO.) Instead, the guy politely took the watch off of me, looked it up on his computer and said "I'm really sorry, but we don't stock this watch anymore. If you want you can choose from any of our current stock up to the same value." Their default position seems to be to take the attitude that you're an actual customer rather than a conman. I wrote to them about their service (pointing out that the fault was down to me) and told them that I can't afford to shop for watches at Rolex, Tag Heuer or Omega, so Swatch will be getting my custom for the foreseeable. They sent me a thank you and a gift voucher.
I must give credit to Appliance Online. I ordered a washing machine cancelled the next day (miraculous recovery) spoke to someone on a Sunday and everything was sorted. Very impressed.
I must give credit to Appliance Online. I ordered a washing machine cancelled the next day (miraculous recovery) spoke to someone on a Sunday and everything was sorted. Very impressed.
I was impressed with AO when I ordered a hob and oven from them, booked a timed delivery, everything arrived on time. I had to ring them to remind them of the £200 cash back for the old ones they took away, other than that, excellent.
Use Facebook and Twitter as they actually don't like it. The lousiest company of all is WH Smith. Always trying to sell you a bar of out of date Galaxy and then refusing to let you have a bag for free as they are 'giving the profits to charity '. This of course means they keep the cost of the bag ( that in the past has been an overhead) and then add some profit ( which you obviously contribute ) which they decide you will give to charity. Staff are always crap as well.
I agree about WH Smith, the shops are always a mess, they reduce the range of magazines they stock and then display a load of piddley crap, they no longer have anyone on the till at my local one and instead require that customers use the self service tills which are slow and which the elderly struggle with, then "do you want to buy todays special offer?" (no, or I would have already picked one up!), they often seem to have wideboys trying to flog you something when you walk in (Bluewater) and then they give you five slips of paper for all kinds of useless offers and no bag to put them in...... It Makes me Maaad
Self-service tills - arrrrrggggghhhhhh!
Unidentified item in the bagging area!!!!!!!!!!!"....................
At one stage they used to operate a "Honesty Box" so that people could drop coins in to pay for their newspapers quickly...................that didn't last long, must have been full of washers, drachmas and bottle tops.
At one stage they used to operate a "Honesty Box" so that people could drop coins in to pay for their newspapers quickly...................that didn't last long, must have been full of washers, drachmas and bottle tops.
Haha I've been to a few hotels where they have an honesty bar. And honestly they get ravaged!
Use Facebook and Twitter as they actually don't like it. The lousiest company of all is WH Smith. Always trying to sell you a bar of out of date Galaxy and then refusing to let you have a bag for free as they are 'giving the profits to charity '. This of course means they keep the cost of the bag ( that in the past has been an overhead) and then add some profit ( which you obviously contribute ) which they decide you will give to charity. Staff are always crap as well.
I agree about WH Smith, the shops are always a mess, they reduce the range of magazines they stock and then display a load of piddley crap, they no longer have anyone on the till at my local one and instead require that customers use the self service tills which are slow and which the elderly struggle with, then "do you want to buy todays special offer?" (no, or I would have already picked one up!), they often seem to have wideboys trying to flog you something when you walk in (Bluewater) and then they give you five slips of paper for all kinds of useless offers and no bag to put them in...... It Makes me Maaad
WH Smith is such a shit shop. Overpriced, rubbish, cluttered, but without a decent collection. There is nothing that WH Smith is best at, and they have shit service to boot. I think their self service machines are the worst on the high street, but can't say for sure as I try to avoid the place. I have no idea how they manage to have so many shops. The extra 20 slips of paper vvouchers giving crap offers for rubbish you don't want is a bonus.
As a grumpy old git I often rue the changes in society. One big hate of the world today is how everybody wants your money but also want to do as little as possible for it. Just come back from holiday and park and ride company damaged my car, mother (who is in a wheelchair) phoned today to say carers she relies on and pays for hadn't arrived, after cancelling CAFC player, rejoined so that I could listen to games on my holiday - waste of time as was yesterday - service terrible- several minutes behind and kept stopping!!! Is it me or is everything now completely sh*t?
It's not you. The ethos of increasing numbers of businesses these days is to extract as much money has possible for as little service as possible from customers they contemptuously regard as 'mug punters.'
I think all the Bertie Bigbollocks management consultant types who encourage this practice refer to the resulting dissatisfaction as 'customer churn' and regard it as an acceptable cost / risk.
The Chairman does it his way and you have to understand that or similar.
The only way to fight back in my experience is publicise (without being libellous or slanderous) these examples of extortion for no service and shame organisations into actually carrying out the service they have taken your money for.
I find the so called accountable Public Sector is worse than the Private Sector in general myself and loves to avoid responsibility with bureaucratic wild goose chases which lead you back to where you started!
'Complaints Policies' are an obfuscation tactic masquerading as customer service. Ignore them and go to the top.
Unsurprisingly I disagree Len and it's interesting that all of that the list of miscreants so far are from the bigger companies not the public sector (although I am sure there remain plenty of examples too, that's not what I'm saying).
The public sector is often labelled unaccountable. I've thought about this in the past and who I am accountable to. It's a pretty long list including:
The residents themselves or member of the public or the business primarly concerned with the issue of course Their family, solicitor or other representative Local community and pressure groups
My line manager My head of service My service director The Chief Executive
The authorities internal complaints monitoring officer Those officers dealing with FOI/DPA requests received The Ombudsman
Councillors Local MP's The local MEP
My professional institute Colleagues within the same authority Colleagues outside the authority who could be based anywhere in the UK
Numerous central government agencies At least one european government agency The police
Social media The local media The national media...
...I doubt someone working in the private sector would have a similarly lengthy list tbh and if I broke it down further I could be here all night. But the point is any of the above can, do and have asked for further clarification, explanation or justification as to why I took (or didn't take) a certain decision or course of action in response to the issue being dealt with. I've seen this in action every working day for getting on for nearly 30 years now and IMO customer service has improved massively within local government during that time. I'm sure it's not perfect by any stretch and no doubt some officers and some services still have a long way to go but when I think about the levels of customer service me and my colleagues provide in what are increasingly difficult and often confrontational circumstances and under that much scrutiny I think we do a pretty bloody good job tbf.
I don't doubt that there are good people such as you within the Public Sector but they are rarer than hens' teeth within HMRC, an organisation I have had the misfortune to need to deal with often, and that is why I made the comment I did.
Trying to get my mobile fixed through my insurance, just useless.
Absolutely useless, had to wait a week for the company to update my policy, then find the email of acceptance of the claim was emailed to the wrong email address...i can understand a typo, but my name Andy in the email address but they put Adam. The ball sack on the other end of the phone tried to say it's what was originally put down on the policy, which is a huge lie as I only got the email address a year ago and the policy is 4 years old. If the email has been sent out with any personal details on I am going to be fuming.
Apologise and don't pass the blame and it's fine, insead im pi55ed off and am going to cancel the policy. 3 weeks waiting for a cracked screen to be fixed and the guy is shocked i'm annoyed because its taken 3 weeks to get to stage 2 of 4.
Unfortunately the situation has worsened due to the move towards large stores in shopping malls, and the gradual disappearance of the local often family run businesses. I work for Copier King in Tonbridge who supply printers and copiers to companies. For us the customer is King, and everyone gets a great deal, I do however agree that John Lewis are an outstanding, well run company. If I ever have a serious problem with a big company, I head straight for the top asking for the MD's PA. She or he never lets me down, and always produces results.
John Lewis deservedly benefit from their good reputation. But so many companies try to make it as difficult as possible for you to resolve issues – presumably as they hope you give up, which a lot of people probably do.
Use Facebook and Twitter as they actually don't like it. The lousiest company of all is WH Smith. Always trying to sell you a bar of out of date Galaxy and then refusing to let you have a bag for free as they are 'giving the profits to charity '. This of course means they keep the cost of the bag ( that in the past has been an overhead) and then add some profit ( which you obviously contribute ) which they decide you will give to charity. Staff are always crap as well.
I agree about WH Smith, the shops are always a mess, they reduce the range of magazines they stock and then display a load of piddley crap, they no longer have anyone on the till at my local one and instead require that customers use the self service tills which are slow and which the elderly struggle with, then "do you want to buy todays special offer?" (no, or I would have already picked one up!), they often seem to have wideboys trying to flog you something when you walk in (Bluewater) and then they give you five slips of paper for all kinds of useless offers and no bag to put them in...... It Makes me Maaad
WH Smith is such a shit shop. Overpriced, rubbish, cluttered, but without a decent collection. There is nothing that WH Smith is best at, and they have shit service to boot. I think their self service machines are the worst on the high street, but can't say for sure as I try to avoid the place. I have no idea how they manage to have so many shops. The extra 20 slips of paper vvouchers giving crap offers for rubbish you don't want is a bonus.
Was in WH Smith in Bromley this morning, seems like the tills on the ground floor weren't working and the only till available was a self service one on the first floor. luckily I couldn't find anything I wanted to buy.
They have a tie up with the Post Office so that must provide an income for them.
Unfortunately the situation has worsened due to the move towards large stores in shopping malls, and the gradual disappearance of the local often family run businesses. I work for Copier King in Tonbridge who supply printers and copiers to companies. For us the customer is King, and everyone gets a great deal, I do however agree that John Lewis are an outstanding, well run company. If I ever have a serious problem with a big company, I head straight for the top asking for the MD's PA. She or he never lets me down, and always produces results.
This is what I want to do regarding my Vodafone issue that has now dragged on for over a year but have no idea how to get an email address of someone so senior. Any advice?
You could try addressing a letter to CEO of vodaphone. It won't get to them of course, but somebody senior might get to read it and respond. I did this recently with Tesco and actually got them to resolve a problem nobody was interested in doing so before.
You could try addressing a letter to CEO of vodaphone. It won't get to them of course, but somebody senior might get to read it and respond. I did this recently with Tesco and actually got them to resolve a problem nobody was interested in doing so before.
I hate calls from companies who then proceed to ask you your details for security. No, you called ME! I had this with Carphone Warehouse last week, from a sales rep who spoke faster than a horse racing commentator.
I hate calls from companies who then proceed to ask you your details for security. No, you called ME! I had this with Carphone Warehouse last week, from a sales rep who spoke faster than a horse racing commentator.
How do you know for sure it was a genuine call and not an attempted scam?
If it is true that decision was taken to stop issuing lift passes to people in the Upper West that is ridiculous.
We used to eat in the old Keith Peacock Suite now re-branded as the Vista Lounge and the number of people walking through the lounge from the lift never bothered us at all. In fact we got very friendly with some people and miss seeing them now that the KPS has been re-located on a different floor.
I know that many of those who used the lift would find it very difficult to access the Upper West via the stairs.
My Dad has very impaired mobility and has to use the lift and we find that often the catering staff want to use the lift with their trollies at the same time as 'customers', which is far more annoying than people with a genuine need using the lift and walking though the lounge.
Carter/Dazzler - calm down, it was a joke at the expense of the wording of the post. My first flag was from someone who objected to my defence of disabled people so I actually do understand this.
Carter/Dazzler - calm down, it was a joke at the expense of the wording of the post. My first flag was from someone who objected to my defence of disabled people so I actually do understand this.
I'm calm, and I worded my post so as not to sound melodramatic. I'm not creating a fuss but you have to understand it was at best naive and at worst very insensitive. You post on here loads more than I do and I'm aware there are several posters who would be upset at that sort of wordplay so I'm sure you would be too.
Carter/Dazzler - calm down, it was a joke at the expense of the wording of the post. My first flag was from someone who objected to my defence of disabled people so I actually do understand this.
I'm calm, and I worded my post so as not to sound melodramatic. I'm not creating a fuss but you have to understand it was at best naive and at worst very insensitive. You post on here loads more than I do and I'm aware there are several posters who would be upset at that sort of wordplay so I'm sure you would be too.
Except it isn't actually making fun of anyone, just the wording of the post. I don't know anyone on here who is offended by wordplay. You need to understand that not all jokes actually need to have a victim. I could have just bolded the same sections and just posted ??? and the effect would have been the same.
Comments
"Hello, I bought this watch from you a while ago and the winder has come a bit loose..."
I expected to have a conversation about how it happened, then about sending it off for repair and the charge for the service. (Which would've been fair enough IMO.)
Instead, the guy politely took the watch off of me, looked it up on his computer and said "I'm really sorry, but we don't stock this watch anymore. If you want you can choose from any of our current stock up to the same value."
Their default position seems to be to take the attitude that you're an actual customer rather than a conman.
I wrote to them about their service (pointing out that the fault was down to me) and told them that I can't afford to shop for watches at Rolex, Tag Heuer or Omega, so Swatch will be getting my custom for the foreseeable. They sent me a thank you and a gift voucher.
I too could be here all day giving examples.
http://www.slp.co.uk/article.cfm?id=3224&headline=CHARLTON fan says the needs of spectators with mobility issues are being neglected after a decision was made to axe disabled lift passes to one of its stands&searchyear=current
No the joke doesn't get a LOL because of the joke, but because to me it is almost funny how stupid and insensitive a person can be.
There is more than one reason someone might be disabled.
(This is one post that really disappointing me.)
Absolutely useless, had to wait a week for the company to update my policy, then find the email of acceptance of the claim was emailed to the wrong email address...i can understand a typo, but my name Andy in the email address but they put Adam. The ball sack on the other end of the phone tried to say it's what was originally put down on the policy, which is a huge lie as I only got the email address a year ago and the policy is 4 years old. If the email has been sent out with any personal details on I am going to be fuming.
Apologise and don't pass the blame and it's fine, insead im pi55ed off and am going to cancel the policy. 3 weeks waiting for a cracked screen to be fixed and the guy is shocked i'm annoyed because its taken 3 weeks to get to stage 2 of 4.
They have a tie up with the Post Office so that must provide an income for them.
This is what I want to do regarding my Vodafone issue that has now dragged on for over a year but have no idea how to get an email address of someone so senior. Any advice?
No, you called ME!
I had this with Carphone Warehouse last week, from a sales rep who spoke faster than a horse racing commentator.
We used to eat in the old Keith Peacock Suite now re-branded as the Vista Lounge and the number of people walking through the lounge from the lift never bothered us at all. In fact we got very friendly with some people and miss seeing them now that the KPS has been re-located on a different floor.
I know that many of those who used the lift would find it very difficult to access the Upper West via the stairs.
My Dad has very impaired mobility and has to use the lift and we find that often the catering staff want to use the lift with their trollies at the same time as 'customers', which is far more annoying than people with a genuine need using the lift and walking though the lounge.