Just how far would you go for good customer service?

Perhaps we should come up with general terms & conditions for consumers and ask companies to agree to them before they accept our business. For example, not using our contact details for marketing or passing on to other organisations, not charging existing customers more than new ones, and not ignoring whatever criticism is frequently made of your company.

I want to deal with companies that publicise details of how to contact them directly – email, address and landline phone – so if things go wrong I can easily talk to someone. I prefer an email address rather than a form on the web so I can attach a picture or document if need be, and keep a record.

I see a balance sometimes between getting a good price and tolerating a bit of “difficulty”. I do deal with some companies with allegedly poor customer service – Scottish Power for example – but have used them because of a more competitive deal. As I don’t normally need to contact them I can tolerate some hassle, but I usually find by approaching the right person when I have had a problem it gets dealt with satisfactorily. I use ceoemail.com if I need to escalate a problem – finds company directors’ details – start at the top!

I judge businesses not so much on whether or not things go wrong, but instead their approach when things do go wrong.

I’m in the middle of a nightmare having bought brand new Mini Cooper at the end of March that unfortunately has a fault that has not been solved. I have said time and time again over the months that buying one rogue car would not put me off buying another of the same make but what has put me completely off is the treatment I have received. I have been fobbed off by the dealership, by Mini Uk and by Mini Financial Services. Hours of my time has been taken up and still no resolution. I want my money back, it seems very simple to me if they value my custom. As is stands, I have no car to use as the dealer and Mini Uk both say each other is responsible for loaning me a courtesy car. I have had my request for payments (under the PCP agreement) to be frozen refused. I wrote to Mini Financial on 4th August formally rejecting the car (having taken advice from Which legal) and am still waiting. The whole experience is causing me unbelievable stress and I cannot see that I will ever try to buy a brand new car ever again as customer service doesn’t seem to exist in the motor industry. If I wasn’t a member of Which legal service I would have found consumer rights far too complicated to understand and in any case it still hasn’t led to a resolution. It just shouldn’t be like this.

I have now got 3 watches , I cannot get a battery renewed for less than £40.!!! Dos the name Ratner spring to mind !

I am with British Gas and British Telecom. In fact since time began and never with any other supplier. I am not stupid and always seek to achieve the best value for money. I have never had an issue with BT that was not fixed within a matter of hours. British Gas is slightly different but they too have sorted stuff out to my satisfaction. I prefer if possible to avoid excessive administration of household services so switching regularly would only be an option if they were both absolute rubbish. My current personal calculation is that a change is not warranted (YET!)

I’ve tried and tried and tried with Scottish Power,

What they do is give potential customers low rates- then hike up their direct debits .

First year they hiked up my direct debit so that they owed me over £400
Second year over £200.

So I fixed the oayment and came to ( I thought an agreement ) that they would not hike it up again.

Yes.. You’ve guessed it. They did it again.

I’m gone- to Ovo.

Ever bought from Dreams? I have in the past and the service was always good. This time thought it was rubbish. We ordered a Divan bed which we thought judging by the headboard in the picture would come with a headboard. But it didn’t. In the small print which we obviously missed because it was so small it says “headboard not included”. There is no link to the headboard on the webpage and no advice from their customer service team. Their website also says we will assemble your bed for you. It took almost 5 weeks to arrive and then it was dumped in my hallway. However when you get to fine detail you actually have to pay almost £40 for the service which takes as long as five to ten minutes. Thankfully I didn’t sign up for this. The headboard will now take another 4 weeks to arrive because their factory is supposedly at ‘full capacity’. They couldn’t fast track and there was not even the slightest hint of a reduced price for the headboard despite my clear dissatisfaction with their customer service and clarity of their website. I also phoned yesterday and made my complaint know. The agent I spoke to said someone would contact me in 20 minutes. By lunch time today no-one had contacted me so I phoned them again. Customer satisfaction for online ordering through Dreams is 0 out of 100. Be cautious when using their website it is misleading!

I would like to see this survey backed up by one of employees of all the companies listed to see if there is correlation between customer service and how valued the employees feel by their respective employers.

In your customer service survey the sample size shown for every brand is between 92 and 101. That sounds mighty suspicious to me…

Moving house has given me more experience of several customer service centres than I ever wanted. Worst offenders have been Amazon, where one simple delivery needed ten separate phone calls, about twenty e-mails, delivery still went to the wrong address, and then they accused me of posing as an Amazon vendor! And Plusnet, where an attempt to install phone line and broadband took weeks longer than it should, with two missed installations dates, and in between kept me on their customer service line four or five times for an average of one hour — with loud infuriating music — then another hour while they put me through to someone who could help. In all, about ten hours on the phone, plus more on email and chatlines. Runners-up have been John Lewis, whose delivery people ignored specific instructions and just left an expensive carpet in an open unattended hall for two days; hey then refused to print my product review because it mentioned this. And two companies which are proudly touting Which? awards, AO.com, whose first deliverer/installer made an immense amount of trouble about doing any of the promised product installation, and refused to deliver one item downstairs, and customer services refused to do anything except send another driver (taking another two days); and DPD, whose customer services, after two website visits and five separate phone calls, first couldn’t trace a parcel from their own tracking numbers, then faithfully promised me they’d deliver it between 9 and 5 o’clock — not exactly a slot, more like a chasm — and then after I’d waited in all day, didn’t. And still haven’t; they can’t explain why. If these are the best, what’s the worst? Apart from Hermes, who have no customer service contact at all — which given their record with me is probably very wise of them.