Who have you had excellent customer service from?

[IToldYouIWasFreaky]

There was a thread recently about recently awful customer service that people have received, so I thought it would be nice to turn the table and share some examples of excellent customer service.

I have a mortgage with Newcastle Building Society and they have never been less than brilliant. Every time I phone up I get through to an actual person and they are always friendly and helpful and you can tell that they actually know what they are talking about rather than reading it off a screen.

Recently (without going into too much detail!) they really helped me out with an issue that would have cost me several hundred pounds. Totally went above and beyond!

Travelodge have been great recently with all of our bookings. My dad is in poor health, but doesn't require a disabled access room, just one on the ground floor not far from reception. They have always assisted with this request, we make repeat visits to one travelodge and they great him by name now and always allocate the same room. They put a gift in the room when it was my parents wedding anniversary. Great customer service from the forward facing staff.

chemenger we bought a dining room set a few years ago from Oak Furniturland. They delivered well within the estimated delivery time. Back then the chairs had slats under the padded seats, and when they broke they replaced the seat pads free of charge. The seats now have solid bases and are better quality. I think they got tired of replacing broken seats.

We bought some replacement seats for our chairs a few weeks ago as we have redecorated our dining room. The service and delivery were excellent. I would definitely use them again.

Another very satisfied First Direct customer here.

Also Dreams (the bed people). From the first time we walked into the shop with only a vague idea of what we wanted to when the bed was delivered the staff were friendly, helpful but not intrusive, knowledgeable and did what they said they would when they said they would do it. And we've had no annoying 'marketing' contact since.

The staff in my local Co-op - always cheerful and helpful.

A local independent cinema - well designed website, friendly enthusiastic staff, lovely comfortable seats and a fantastic membership scheme. I would name it but I don't want you all flocking there

HSBC who saved my home and my sanity when my relationship ended by giving me a mortgage when my bank (who I had been with for decades and whose poor advice had caused massive financial problems) would not help me.
North West Water who wrote off hundreds of £££’s after my toilet flushing system broke and I was unable to sort it out immediately.
The customer assistants I spoke to at both were brilliant.

I forgot First Direct, we’ve been with them more or less since they started. Saved our bacon by organising a bridging loan in 2 hours when our useless broker failed to process our mortgage in time.

Fabulous local garage who came out when my car wouldn't start, got it going and then drove away without wanting payment. Also, when I was a struggling single mum and my car was finally beyond repair, found me a replacement at very low cost (I suspect they took the hit), which kept e going until things improved.

Local postpeople. I missed a parcel being delivered once and had the card dropped in to go to the Post Office. We are very rural and it's a pain to drive all that way, but was gearing myself up, when the postman brought the parcel on his way back. He said he knew I was often out first thing and back later, so he thought he'd try me again on his way home.

Living in a very small place where everyone knows you has its advantages.

Asda. Last Christmas they only delivered half of the Christmas shop. I rang customer services who put me through to our local delivery store and they straight away resent the whole shop out and a box of chocolates from the store manager.

I've never had anything other than fantastic service from Tesco, particularly their home delivery service.

And Premier Inn have been very good too.

Another Fitbit vote. I left mine in my jeans pocket and washed it and of course it didn't work. I emailed them for advice and they sent me a free replacement, even though it was my fault.

First Direct - were fantastic when my credit card was cloned
RAC car insurance - sorted out accident when someone went into the back of me. Hire car arrived, my car collected and dropped off fixed.

First Direct and Visa when I needed to cancel my cards after a burglary. it was 2am and they were so kind and helpful.

Police - post burglary - 999 operator stayed on the line until the officers arrived, giving me the necessary phone numbers for card cancelling. Officers were amazing and called out the emergency locksmith to secure my house. Forensics were there at 11am to do finger print stuff then officers came at 3pm next day to take a statement. They popped by the next day too as they were doing door to door stuff. Didn't catch them though 😡

Direct Line Car Insurance - again post burglary as the bastards took both sets of car keys and locked it as they ran away 🤬. Got my car taken away for reprogramming and new keys, hire car same day, then when I picked up my repaired car and it wasn't working properly, collected my car from work, delivered another hire car and were just brilliant ! All the staff were so considerate and helpful.

Plusnet - recent house move and Open reach had messed up the installation dates - plusnet keep giving me goodwill credits! Also - Phoned to ask about broadband speed yesterday as it seemed slow and they credited me another £15 for the inconvenience of having to phone them and will ring me back later today if they can't see the line speed increasing!

Dice. For gig tickets. Absolutely brilliant customer service. Best prices. Anti touting and really human. They get back to you immediately if there’s an issue with an event. Best service ever. And I also love Waitrose and John Lewis.

I have never had poor service from HSBC in the 20 years I've been banking with them
I'm only an ordinary client without a huge amount of cash so no particular incentive to be nice to me. I like that I can just into the branch and get sorted there and then.

Waitrose and boden very reliable I’ve found. Barbour have been good too. It does make a difference if you have confidence things will be dealt with well.

Another vote for amazon - I'm housebound and reliant on online deliveries, there have been a few issues as I've been using them maybe 15 years by this point? But whenever I've called to get an issue resolved they've been spot on.

Plusnet - been with them nearly 10 years for landline (which I now never use but used to) and broadband. The only problems I've had have actually been btopenreach's fault! Always get through to a friendly competent agent based in uk who understands what I'm saying even when I'm not sure I'm making sense! Always competitive price wise too I don't understand people paying loads for internet for poorer service

Bank of Scotland - only bank that would give me an account when I had a disputed ccj on my credit history no other bank would touch me despite it being for a small amount and me applying only for accounts that didn't offer overdrafts. They've treated me well as a customer, been really kind and understanding when I've ended up accidentally od due to others cock ups and refunded any automatic fees incurred, easy to get through to them on the phone to resolve issues, app dead easy to use as is online banking.

I now get emails and other approaches from other banks that turned me down wanting me as a customer (ccj issue long resolved and I have a pretty good credit record) but they can get tae fuck! Especially co-op the so called ethical friendly bank who's staff member was incredibly condescending and rude when I approached them for an account.

Argos - used for many years, occasionally had issues with missing parts etc but always resolved matters quickly and easily.

Really chuffed to see my dds company mentioned a few times on thread, she may have been the person you spoke with, she takes great pride in helping customers and their stories stay with her.

Primark are surprisingly good about returns and the staff at the branches I use most (Brighton and Croydon) make,eye contact and seem to enjoy their work.

Tesco Bank and Credit Card have lovely staff who are always friendly and helpful. (another always the most efficient but a willing attitude goes a long way).

AO.co have very helpful delivery staff.

I have noticed Argos are mentioned and want to add their Pet insurance is also first class - friendly, helpful, sympathetic, thorough and fair on the four claims I have had with them.

Co-op
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But generally it is all about that staff member that makes you feel special.

Harriet at Spacemasks

Premier Inn are great.

McDonald's. I work for them so might be biased but I think 99% of them do customer service really well.

Sadly the local shops near me aren't all that great. Nipped into the paper shop a few days ago and it was an awful experience. The man basically ignored me apart from snatching the cash from me and practically threw my change at me which meant it went all over.

Body shop are always nice - helpful and attentive without being pushy or in your face.

Oh and morrisons. Went in last week with my nephews and the littlest was very unhappy. The staff were all super kind to him, one gave me a little bag of sweets for them and even packed my bags at the checkout so I could focus on keeping him settled.

Lovehoney. I bought something which turned out to be faulty, so I filled in a return request. Very quickly received an email saying they were very sorry and had processed a refund without me having to return the item.

Always impressed with AO and Boden’s customer service. Very helpful and get any problems sorted quickly without fuss. I always tell people as well so I like to think it does their businesses good.

Tesco. Bought phones on offer and they were faulty. Took them back the next day and they were back at full price so they refused to exchange them unless I paid full price (about £20 difference). Emailed the CEO and they fully refunded us and sent us new phones