Which companies actually want to speak to their customers ?

[Hodgehog]

Inspired by another threat and my own experiences recently where I could not under any circumstances get through or even be allowed to speak to a human (one company after I selected the option played automated messages in regard to one particular service which directed me to their website then hung up on me).

As a result I want to make an effort to use companies that allow you to speak with a person/ don’t have you fart around for 20 minutes selecting various options and listening to recorded messages. Except I don’t know which ones they are !

Which companies have you had good experiences with that are like this or which ones should absolutely be avoided ?

First Direct have always been great. Virgin media awful

First Direct- so good I want them to run the country!! Have been with them for over 30 years.
John Lewis - retail and their credit card services. The latter surprisingly is run by HSBC.
Warren Evans- the bed company. Fantastic customer service.
Tesco- online customer service. Always helpful.
Various shareholding service companies who have been immensely helpful while I sorted out my mother's estate. Including HSBC.

I've never had issues with EE or Lloyds, also LV who do my DM's car insurance (specifically chosen as she can speak to a person in a British call centre)

The best by far are Bristol Wessex Water. They have erroneously put a CCJ on DH's credit file but have been utterly charming about it

Halifax and octopus have always been fab!
Scottish Power, bt, aer lingus and my local council and the dvla are awful. The thoughts of having to ring any of them ever again fills me with dread 😨😨😨

BT - seem competent when things are going to plan. Absolute fucking incompetent disaster when plans change.

Admiral and EDF have been very good.
I haven’t tried calling Tesco but their online contact is excellent.

Odeon have been impossible to deal with. We wanted to cancel our Limitless memberships and they’re impossible to contact by phone, there’s no online chat facility and it’s taken three months of emails, Tweets and messages through their online messaging system to eventually get it done and in that time they’ve taken three more payments.

Another vote for Hargreaves Lansdown. Not my money, someone I have power of attorney for, and they are so straightforward - pleasant but uncomplicated.

Good Energy I don't often need to contact as their app and communication are great. They have shortish hours when they are available but otherwise very easy to deal with, and I got a credit refund with minimal effort. I've been with them for getting on for 20 years.

Niche but Traders and General Insurance agency in Loughton. Gold standard help with a complicated situation and a relative who'd already been ripped off once by an insurance company I won't name LV

I have had to ring Lloyds Bank a few times recently with out of the ordinary issues, which their online automatic system doesn't cater for, and it has been good.
When there is a long queue, they will ring you back.

I came on to say Direct Line and I see it was the first reply!

They even rang me back a few minutes later to check something.

And they let me put a visiting relative on my car insurance for free, not even an admin charge.

Oh and my local council when I moved house. (Was slightly more complicated as the house was empty a while).

Felt like I’d made a friend for life!

Yorkshire water - really helpful

Best - First Direct, they are excellent and efficient
Worst - Santander, painful experience!

Santander and Morrison's were easy to speak to and helpful.

Hermes are the absolute worst, they were impossible to speak to pre-pandemic so I can't imagine what they are like now.

Sky answered me very quickly and dealt with my issue immediately. Had a problem with Sky Sports and a match was about to start so no time to waste. Was up and running in no time with a very pleasant person.

Amazon, I've phoned them a few times and always got a helpful human being. Also the Coop bank, their customer service staff are great.

Not so great, B&Q, I phoned them recently and ended the call feeling like I'd interrupted them doing something more important.

LV are fab and Scottish Power horrendous.

BT & British Gas when you finally get through to someone, brilliant but trying to get through to actually speak to someone is a nightmare.

I do find going to complaints definitely helps, they usually put you through to the right department as they want to try and avoid the complaint escalating.

Yet another vote for First Direct. They were so kind and worked with me to help sort out a problem I had.

Asda are the worst for me . Almost impossible to speak to and not much joy when you do. I always end up going to their twitter people( who in fairness are quite good)

I've phoned Tesco before and got a person. This was a while ago. They were much better than the staff in store tbh.

Next are good when you phone them up, which is a huge surprise because their in store staff are appalling. It's not the individual staffs fault, I'm sure they're nice people, but they're sooo rude and unhelpful in my local store it's almost funny.

• Scottish Power (long queue but always get through to a lovely person)
• Tesco

And I hate to say it but Amazon. They’ll ring you practically immediately, if you prefer a telephone call to chat/email. This was pre-Covid, I don’t know if they still have call centres to do that now.

BT have the most unbelievably shit customer service I've ever had the misfortune to experience.

Best: Coventry Building Society, AJ Bell, John Lewis, Boots
Worst: British Gas, Sky, and any company I've ever bought a major appliance from - especially Philips, Bosch, Samsung

Another vote for First Direct!

Just don't: Vitality insurance. Woefully understaffed, can't speak to anyone never mind the same person twice. Email and WhatsApp channels in chaos. Currently advising 7 days for a call back, but still waiting for one due between 1 and 1.30pm on 11 October. Good job it wasn't urgent!

Landsend are great.

Better Leisure are awful. I can’t get a refund as no email response and no human on the phone, just a loop and then automatic cut off.

Admiral insurance. Lovely staff