:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/2ZTTICRPLIKMFB2NYU3WJNDCC4.jpg)
Pricewatch is not unaccustomed to handling complaints from readers about companies of all shapes and sizes. Every single day of the year readers contact us with examples of customer service which range from the simply inept to the downright immoral. We can only highlight a small percentage of the horror stories we are sorry for that.
But this week we are going to do something different. Because it is the season to be jolly and a time for good will to all, we thought, for one one day only, we would highlight some customer service stories which range from the sound to the stellar. We wish we could say all these good news stories arrived entirely unsolicited. But we can’t say that because they didn’t. We had to go fishing for them in the sometimes murky waters of social media. We’re happy enough with what we caught mind you. If nothing else it tells us that not everything is bad.
"I just wanted to highlight some great customer service in Boots Jervis Centre," writes Caroline Judge. "I had to wear a heart and blood pressure monitor for 24 hours and every few minutes it started buzzing and pumping which was a little unsettling."
She was paying for something in Boots and it started to go off “so I just tried to pay as quickly as I could and walked away to settle myself,” she says.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/E4XWPGYITEGEFVBMGSOCCNSEEY.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/TWLTH3234H3BYQUX54UQK4DJ2E.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/RTBOKAVWU4BK65NOXDRTSG7IXY.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YONOM3E752KM2MPIJF3G2OCBCE.jpg)
“The lady who had served me came up to me to see if I was okay and if I needed a seat or someone nearby. And I thought it was so lovely for her to come and check on me even though I hadn’t said anything she could sense it. I was very grateful and I never got her name because I was so flustered but just wanted to recognise her kind act and it really meant something to me.”
"Let me tell you about Monaghan's cashmere shop," starts the mail from Patricia Coady. "Over 15 years ago I really pushed the boat out and bought my husband a cashmere jumper there. I was horrified at the price, it was more expensive than a coat but I knew it was something he'd never buy himself.
“The jumper used to frequently go missing, could never figure it out until one night I met my teenage daughter wearing it on her way home from a night out. That jumper got more wear than any coat until finally last year it was on its last legs (or threads),” Patricia’s mail continues.
'This is the kind of shop that makes Dublin special'
So Patricia rang Monaghans to ask their advice “and they told me to bring it in and they would refurbish it. We collected it a few weeks later, paid a nominal sum (I think it was €20) and the jumper is still going strong. The robber daughter got her own jumper there a few years later, we have gone back again and again over the years. Forget other cashmere jumpers that bobble and lose shape. These literally last a life time.”
She concludes by saying the staff are "without doubt the warmest, most knowledgeable, helpful people I have ever had dealings with and Mr Monaghan himself still works there looking after customers. This is the kind of shop that makes Dublin special. Plus you can celebrate your purchase with a pint in Kehoes afterwards."
Or at least you could before the Great Unpleasantness put paid to that, for now.
Anthony McDonnell wants us to give a shout out to a courier in his neigbourhood who works for DPD. His name is Salim "and he has been delivering to the East Wall area for quite a while now. He is known locally as being a cheerful, pleasant guy who always is happy to do his job and fulfil the needs of the community. In one way he's just doing a job, but a little chat at the door is very much welcomed by most especially during these times.
“Salim oozes positivity and comes across to be mindful of those who he delivers to. Any queries that may arise are quickly dealt with by Salim for a seamless delivery.
It’s really nice to build a rapport with him, by my family and I as well as the rest of the locals! He’s an absolute gem!”
And staying DPD Andy McFarlane also had a kind word to say about them.”The demand on their service from March increased substantially I expect as we all went online yet they were by far the most reliable which could not have been easy when demand and pressure must have been huge. They also can be contacted (though rarely need to be as so reliable!),” he concludes.
Margaret Maguire’s husband “has a very old camcorder” but was missing some cables for it and also couldn’t get the “cassette” into the slot. The couple went into Conn’s Camera shop on Dublin’s Clarendon St in July, she tells us.
“The assistant showed him the problem he was having with the cassette –- my husband was trying to put it in upside down, and then the assistant spent about 20 minutes trying to locate a cable – as I said the camcorder was quite old. He eventually found one and showed us how to use it.”
And what was the charge? “Zero,” she says. “Honestly we were in the shop for about 40 minutes and there was no charge.”
“My name is Lucille (AKA Loulou),” starts our next mail, one we received from Lucille O’Neill. “I have a debilitating long term illness that has me walking with sticks for the past near four years. Apparently I should be in a wheelchair by now. So I consider myself quite lucky,” she says. “I have got to stay positive even when I am in severe pain, stay positive and do the things I’ve always done.”
So despite her illness she cleans her house, goes for walks and does her own shopping. "That brings me to customer care and to a lady named Anne in Lidl on Pottery road Cabinteely Deansgrange area. That woman is just so helpful," she tells us.
“She will insist on helping me firstly load my produce onto the belt. That can be the most difficult thing to do on sticks. Then she will pack my bags. Then if she can’t, she will ask a staff member to take trolley to my car and load my shopping into it. She’s always so pleasant to all the customers. As I said I like to keep my independence for as long as I can. But I so appreciate Anne’s help. I have yet to experience that level of care in any major chain.”
Lucille also has a kind word to say about the staff in the Centra on Johnstown Road in Cabinteely which she describes as “a small enough family run store”. Staff, she says, “insist on carrying my bag to car and have even offered to do the shopping for me. It does my soul good because Centra is staffed mostly by young kids.”
Gerry Nolan wanted a new office chair for his home. "I found a lovely well priced chair on the Jysk website," he writes. "I had a bit of trouble with the site not accepting my location so I called my local store in Portlaoise which is open but only to pre-orders. Explaining my issue to Amy, I found her pleasant and she helped me order it through her good self , she input the order for me over the phone . I got my text message and order number , so I collected the chair later that afternoon . A very pleasant experience."
'That is brilliant customer service, especially in the busy-time run up to Christmas'
On a Friday in December Jenny Ruane ordered a new school tracksuit for her son in Leixlip. "The crested tracksuit can only be bought in Bernard Owen;s shop in Leixlip," she writes.
She needed it because her tumble dryer had broken down and she was “trying to figure out how we would get tracksuits washed and dried on time (important with the pandemic etc) which is why I bought a spare one in the early hours. A man who I think is the owner of the shop (who did not know about the tumble dryer predicament at all) took it upon himself to deliver personally the tracksuit to my house late on Saturday morning,” she says.
“He told me he did this because there were delays in posting at the moment and as I was local he felt it would be easy for him to drop it up. It was such a lovely gesture and he had no idea the difference it will make until we can have a new dryer sorted and delivered. The owner was very friendly and also said that he would refund the cost of postage I had paid for. I had not mentioned this, he took it upon himself to make that gesture. Lo and behold before the end of the day it was back in my account. So without been asked he delivered it in person and reimbursed my postage. That is brilliant customer service, especially in the busy-time run up to Christmas.”
Brid Murphy moved home from Dublin to Kerry on March 12th. "To be honest, I was worried for my parents who are in their early seventies and they didn't seem to understand the significance of what was going on," she writes. "After a few days, we made the decision that we would follow Nphet advice as best we could, stay at home and get the weekly shopping delivered from our local SuperValu, Twohigs in Abbeyfeale. "
She says the best thing about the Supervalu service was that her mother "could phone the shop and every week the person who answered patiently wrote down my mom's list as she called it out. A few hours later, it would arrive, delivered by very kind and helpful staff. Obviously home delivery is not an unusual service but the manner in which my parents still have autonomy over doing the shopping without having to deal with log ins and apps is something I appreciate hugely."
Brid also wants to salute An Post who she says have been "top class through the last number of months. I have ordered items in Dublin on Monday afternoons and they have arrived in my home in Co. Kerry in the care of the local postman Gerard Harnett by 9am the next morning. As I'm working from home, I've had to get everything from important documents, reams of paper, office furniture and computer parts delivered. I don't think I would have managed without An Post since March."
'I've had broadband from a variety of suppliers in the past and not one ISP has come close to the level of customer service that Digiweb offer'
And over on Twitter, we asked people for good examples of customer service. Here are just some of the responses we got.
I recently received excellent customer service from Detail Menswear while making an online purchase, they even sent me photos to get an idea of what jackets looked like in real life, they couldn't have been more helpful, good to be able support Irish businesses. Siobhan Bowe
My local postman is just a hero he's always so happy and pleasant, loves to check in to make sure we are okay. We made him some cookies last week and he was delighted. All the posties are just flat out at the minute and deserve to be spoiled. Laura Haughey
Bought a headboard from Bargintown in lockdown 2.0 and I selected for collection. It was ready earlier than expected and they delivered for free as they were out my direction anyway no extra charge. Sarah Power
I was looking for specific helmets for my kids and was having trouble locating them. Cycle tribe was listed as a vendor but when I rang, they didn't stock a kids range.They ended up ordering in 2 kids helmets for me.I had them 2 weeks later. Very grateful. Pamala Matos
Stella in Just Books in Mullingar kept me updated on an order I had placed as it was out of stock at the time. It was so lovely having such personal touch in this age of Amazon. Also shared some great recommendations for my little readers. Pamela Potterton
Had to cancel an order with McSportIreland beyond the time of changing my mind. Had bought my boyfriend a dartboard and his brother arrived over with one a couple of days after. They couldn't have been nicer and were so helpful. We even had a little giggle over my timing. Andrea Ní Mhathúna
Bryan's are on Talbot Street, Dublin. Went in today to get two pairs of desert boots soled and heeled. Came out with a free can of dye/suede restorer for another pair of desert boots (I have four pairs in different colours). Happy out! Pat Montague
I had a query for The VHI last week, my call was answered without much delay and the nicest woman dealt with my query. She was so knowledgeable and efficient in sorting me out. Compared to my experience with other call centres this was super. Dr Majella Dempsey
On Thursday a very helpful man at Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt spotted me driving around looking for a parking spot he stood in an empty parent and child space until I came back around, directed me in and then found me a two seater trolley which was so nice and much appreciated. Sarah-Jane Mullane
Digiweb are the nuts. I've had broadband from a variety of suppliers in the past and not one ISP has come close to the level of customer service that Digiweb offer. Not to mention the actual Internet service has been flawless. Moif Murphy
The time taken by local Irish shops to include a handwritten note of thanks with online orders – such personal service. Jules Savage
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/2693e910-3117-4a22-aacf-74cecf13edc4.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/6BDEAESQEJH4BHNFRSVZH3W4TM.png)