Good customer service

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Stan_W
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Re: Good customer service

Post by Stan_W »

Chuck wrote:
In the same vein as some employees don't care that much about corporate profit from the "happy customer" point of view, some employees also don't care that much about corporate profit from a dealing with hassles point of view (i.e. they will give discounts/refunds to make headaches go away).
I've been in this situation as an employee where I stuck to the company policy and took the heat from the customer, only to have the manager give in quickly once he\she was called over to back me up.

When I was a manager, I backup up the employee unless he\she was in the wrong. In that case I would explain why I did it to the employee so he\she would understand how the policy was applied.
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Re: Good customer service

Post by knotley »

Broke my Leatherman skeletool pliers on Monday last week.
25 year warranty. Put in mail on Tuesday. Got a new replacement via return mail on Friday.
Better than Good Customer Service.
Gold Medal Service.
DenisD
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Re: Good customer service

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Reminds me of my experience with my Tilley hat some months ago. I bought it nearly 30 years ago and used it for hiking for several years. So it had a sweat stain in the front and the material was starting to disintegrate. I knew it had a lifetime warranty so I checked the website. The website said I would have to send in the hat and maybe they'd send me a new one.

A few weeks later, I walked into a local store that sells Tilley hats wearing my old Tilley. The saleswoman walked up to me while I was looking at new hats. She took one look at my hat and said, "You know you can replace that hat for five dollars?" I picked out a new hat and paid nine dollars. The new hat was four dollars more expensive than the old.

And I got to keep my old hat. But it fell apart a few months later.
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Re: Good customer service

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More than 8 years ago I bought two Squirrel Buster bird feeders which have been in constant use. This feeder has a spring-loaded cage that drops down when a squirrel weighing more than 4 ounces* jumps on it. The cage snaps back when the squirrel jumps off. I noticed last week that the snap-backs were sluggish. While the 2-year warranty ran out years ago last Wednesday I sent the company an email asking if I could get new springs. I expected them to reply with a price for two springs plus shipping but the immediate reply said they'd be happy to send them for free. :shock: This morning a courier delivered them. :thumbsup:

BTW, it's even a Canadian company!

* To deter red squirrels, I've reduced that threshold by attaching fishing sinker weights to the cages.
Jaunty
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Re: Good customer service

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Thanks for the tip, Bruce. I was planning on making a squirrel proof feeder, but this will look way better and make SWMBO much happier.
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Re: Good customer service

Post by Toner »

FYI If you have a Squirrel Buster Plus model that Bruce referenced, they are lifetime warrantied. If you break or wear out a part for the Squirrel Buster Plus, take it to a dealer such as Urban Nature, Wild Birds Unlimited, etc and they will usually repair it while you wait at no cost. Have done this a couple of times.
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Re: Good customer service

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Toner wrote:FYI If you have a Squirrel Buster Plus model that Bruce referenced, they are lifetime warrantied. If you break or wear out a part for the Squirrel Buster Plus, take it to a dealer such as Urban Nature, Wild Birds Unlimited, etc and they will usually repair it while you wait at no cost. Have done this a couple of times.
Good to know. I have the Squirrel Buster Classic. The warranty is good for two years, but it looks like Brome is willing to stand behind the product beyond that. Mine came with excellent instructions on how to take apart the feeder. That's presumably for cleaning, but I've done at least one "repair" -- replacing the nut at the bottom of the cage which holds it in place. The materials are obviously high quality, having endured more than 8 years of varying weather. I leave mine outside all year.

FWIW, I'm about to buy a Squirrel Buster Mini to replace the smaller regular tube feeder on our dining room deck.
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Re: Good customer service

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I bought 2 Ultrasonic Humidifiers from Sunbeam on-line. One was not working upon arrival, so they company sent me a label for return shipment by UPS. They also said they would replace the unit. Two weeks later I called to find out what happened to the missing replacement and was told it was sent to an incorrect address. The very next day, I got a replacement unit. Then two days later I received another replacement. So now I have three units and paid for only one. This morning I called and told them that I was quite happy to return the extra unit, but could they arrange for UPS to pick up as their drop off location required me to drive and park the car, etc, and I would have to do this only because Sunbeam had made the error. So the Customer Service lady said I should just keep the unit!. That is good service.
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kcowan
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Re: Good customer service

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Wow 3 units and mucho hassle! I suppose you will try to unload the unwanted one too?
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Re: Good customer service

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Just got a call from Telus. I have asked to switch from Bell Expressvue - better than Shaw 12 years ago - to Telus Optik - now better than Bell. Works out around $20/mo cheaper with bundles. I have 3 Bell receivers, so I asked for a third Telus box (only two are included). This should have been $150 for a 1K box. She called me back today to say they couldn't sell a 1K box (I don't rent; it's cheaper to buy) and a 4K box was $250, so she offered it to me rent free (and basically 'own' (sort of) after 2 years - you can't sell it, though.)

Very pleased. :thumbsup:
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Re: Good customer service

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Ordered a new patio umbrella from Costco online (quite large) and it had the large cardboard box staples going right through the fabric inside. Called the supplier in Salt Lake and they said to keep it and order something of equivalent value from their site. We could find nothing that we needed, so just returned the umbrella to the nearest store for a refund.
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Re: Good customer service

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kcowan wrote: 18 Jun 2017 09:05 Ordered a new patio umbrella from Costco online (quite large) and it had the large cardboard box staples going right through the fabric inside. Called the supplier in Salt Lake and they said to keep it and order something of equivalent value from their site. We could find nothing that we needed, so just returned the umbrella to the nearest store for a refund.
Fawlty Towers.

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Arby
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Re: Good customer service

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About 10 years ago, I purchased an executive office chair from Staples for the desk in my den. The chair has a warranty of 15 years for the pneumatic parts and frame. One of the rubber arm rests is cracked and falling apart, so I contacted Staples to see if they could replace the arm rest. Staples said the chair is not manufactured any more, and replacement parts are not available. I figured that was the end of it, but I was pleasantly surprised today to receive a gift card from Staples for the full purchase price. Nice to see a company stand behind it's products.
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Shakespeare
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Re: Good customer service

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Yesterday I decided to replace my 8 year old main computer. After checking several options including Lenovo I ordered a Dell on sale with a 6 core CPU and 12G ram, intending to upgrade it on arrival with a video card, SSD, and USB 3 card, all of which I have. The stored credit card at Dell was expired; I changed the date and tried it but it was rejected. So I put in the new card, same number and different date. It went through. The telephone rang. It was a robot call from CIBC wanting to check if the charge was valid, as well as a utility bill. I confirmed both, but was pleased by the check, even it was a robot.

Several years ago I downgraded from a CIBC gold Visa to a no-charge one, and destroyed the old card as instructed. Some months later a $1K charge showed up for a computer at Best Buy. I called CIBC; they hadn't cancelled the gold card [!] and it had been hacked. Nice to see that they have learned.
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Re: Good customer service

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Shakespeare wrote: 07 Nov 2018 13:05I ordered a Dell on sale with a 6 core CPU and 12G ram
Just wondering how you're liking your new Dell. I should be replacing my old Dell desktop in the not too distant future. Main things I'm wondering about are how noisy and how much crapware? TIA
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Shakespeare
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Re: Good customer service

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The Dell is very nice but needed a bios upgrade to halt an annoying power-on snap from the audio port. Once that was done it is fine and significantly better at video conversions if you need to use Handbrake or burn a DVD. It is also more reliable at streaming when a video conversion is required; I need burned-in subtitles for example. It is both quieter and lighter than the 7 yo Vostro 460. The built-in case holders for an SSD are nice but keep the drive right next to the case; you can't use a mid-cable SATA power connector. So you will need a SATA power extension cable. Type GP2JM will plug into the board; mine still has not arrived because of the postal strike. I ordered a Startech PYO4SATA from Newegg; it got here from Richmond in two days. This needs an additional SATA power extension which I had on hand. You unplug the HDD power which needs a right-angle connector, then plug in the PYO4SATA, then use another power extension to get to the SSD.

Try Memory Express in Calgary.

Added: from Newegg.ca SATAPOWEXT12 and PYO4SATA.
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Re: Good customer service

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Not often you get something like this for free, Shaw - Shaw Doubles Down with Faster Speeds Across Western Canada - Shaw Newsroom
Shaw wrote:CALGARY, November 29, 2018 – Shaw Communications Inc. is giving the gift of speed this holiday season by doubling the speeds of its top internet plans for all new and existing residential customers.

All existing Internet 300 and Internet 150 residential customers’ plans will be automatically upgraded in the coming weeks to ultra-fast 600 and 300 megabits-per-second (Mbps) download speeds, respectively, at no additional cost. All new Shaw customers will also have access to these enhanced download speeds, which are as much as 4x faster than other broadly available competitor plans in Western Canada.

“This isn’t a promotion or a one-time offer. This is an unprecedented upgrade to our best internet plans, giving customers even faster speeds to help them use more powerful in-home technology and lead a more connected life,” said Brad Shaw, Chief Executive Officer, Shaw Communications. “We strive to give our customers more value and we know that having faster download speeds is vital. We’re doubling the speeds of our fastest offerings. No tricks, no gimmicks, just more speed. It’s that simple.”
They go on to mention all new and existing customers will see their internet speeds double in the coming weeks. Alternatively, existing customers can get their speed upgrade sooner by power-cycling their modem beginning Monday, December 3. I've already put a reminder on my calendar to cycle the modem first thing on Monday.
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AltaRed
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Re: Good customer service

Post by AltaRed »

Interesting. I am on Shaw75 without a need to be faster (can manage 2 Netflix feeds at one time plus laptop plus phones without issues) so might wait and see if there is any auto upgrade for us cheap folks.
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Re: Good customer service

Post by IdOp »

I wonder what the inflation rate on those new faster plans will be compared to the old ones :?:
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Re: Good customer service

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My wife bought new Rx sunglasses from EyeBuyDirect. When they arrived, we discovered that the Rx was wrong and she didn't like the frames. EyeBuyDirect has a return policy so we asked them what to do. They asked to see the Rx. We checked with our optometrist and found out he had given us the wrong Rx. So, the problems with the glasses had nothing to do with EyeBuyDirect; we gave them bad specifications. We asked if they might give us a discount on a new pair. Well, yes! They are providing us with a new pair of glasses with the correct Rx and the frames that my wife prefers for no charge. We don't even have to send the original pair back. :thumbsup:
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Re: Good customer service

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This past Christmas I received a Fitbit tracker as a gift. On Wednesday afternoon the display was showing the "Battery Symbol with Exclamation Mark" so as usual I attached the charger. This time there was no vibration to acknowledge the proper connection between the tracker and charger. I cleaned the contacts, double-checked the USB port being used was properly functioning, etc. Nothing worked.

Yesterday morning I reached out to Fitbit via their chat service. My more recent experiences with online chat for customer support have been underwhelming at best lately. Many seem to be devoid of humans on the other end and only provide what is obviously scripted answers that often don't match the question. I often actually ask during the chat if I'm chatting with a bot or a human, the responses can be humorous to say the least.

I digress, so back to the Fitbit chat, the agent was very helpful and thorough and provided an increasing complex set of steps to attempt to identify and resolve the problem. Unfortunately none could resolve the problem that when the charger connected to the tracker there was no acknowledgement on the tracker. Clearly the tracker was battery dead and the charging function broken. The chat agent confirmed the tracker was covered under warranty and emailed a warranty replacement link to me.

The email was quickly received around 10 am local time yesterday and I promptly filled out. Within minutes of hitting Submit I received another email confirming the warranty claim being processed and an order place. At 2 pm yesterday afternoon I received an email confirming the order shipped. The tracking number provided indicates I'll have the replacement next Tuesday.

Well done Fitbit customer service for outstanding handling of my issue and most importantly prompt resolution. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Insomniac
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Re: Good customer service

Post by Insomniac »

Someone gave you a FitBit as a present? Seems like an offensive gift! (IOW, you need to lose weight, get in better shape...)
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Re: Good customer service

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Insomniac wrote: 30 May 2019 16:17 Someone gave you a FitBit as a present? Seems like an offensive gift! (IOW, you need to lose weight, get in better shape...)
Never thought of it that way :lol: It was on my list of Christmas gift ideas.
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Re: Good customer service

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What kind of FitBit do you have? I got myself a Charge3 last month, and I love it. It really highlights how lazy I can be.
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Re: Good customer service

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I'm married to my fitbit - literally!

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