S/O I'm Never Shopping There - What Businesses Will Forever Have Your Patronage?

[GreenEyedHawk]

I have to say, as far as customer retention goes, my phone company knocked it out of the park for me today.

Back in February, I was told that if I had 6 months or less remaining on my contract, I could renew it and get a free new phone at no charge.  So, I patiently waited til now, when I passed that 6-months-left mark, with an increasingly unhappy phone, so I could renew my contract and get a new phone.

Except that when I tried to do just that yesterday, I got told they only do that now if you have less than a month remaining, and that they no longer offer 3-year plans because people were taking advantage of the 6-months policy to get new phones then complaining that they were "stuck" in a 3-year plan (that THEY chose!).  So basically what they were telling me was that because other people where whiny, I was getting screwed.  I was very unhappy and emailed the company and told them so, as civilly as possible.  I got a response saying I should contact the Loyalty department.

So today after work, I called, hoping against hope they'd be able to do SOMEthing for me.  Here's what they did:

-The remainder of my contract will be waived at no charge to me and I will be permitted to renew and get a new phone via FlexTab (the cost of the phone is spread across the length of the contract, which means I will be able to get a much nicer phone than I was anticipating)

-My data plan is being upgraded from 1 gig to 6 gigs a month at no extra charge.

-I now have free long distance

-I am getting two addons (visual voicemail and call display) at no charge

-And the end result is that my entire upgraded plan will end up costing me about $10 a month LESS than I am paying now.

The only charge I will be responsible for is the $25 hardware upgrading fee.  I can live with that given the lengths they went to to keep me as a customer, as well as knowing that to buy out the remainder of my current contract (which was what i was told was pretty much my only option yesterday) would have cost over $200.

I have to say I'm pretty satisfied.

-

[suzieQ]

My local Panera Bread. I got a baker's dozen of bagels from them for the Tuesday price of $6.99, but they only gave me 12. I called and expected they would just take my name and let me get a free one next time I came. NOPE! They sent me a card in the mail for a free 1/2 dozen of them!

[SDG31000]

John Lewis has wonderful customer service.

I went and brought a sewing machine as one of my birthday presents, based on information on their website.  Unfortunately this turned out to be wrong and the machine didn't have the functions it said.  So DH phoned the store and spoke to a lovely lady called Chantelle.  By the time we got back she had spoken to her manager, printed out the pages from the website and highlighted the mistakes, worked out the best way to get this corrected and found out the best way to compensate us.
  She went through all the available machines with us and helped me find the best one for me, gave us a refund on the difference in price, £15 cash to pay for car parks and petrol (much more than we actually spent) and a voucher for tea and cake for two in the in store cafe.  I filled out a customer feedback form and made sure I mentioned what a good job she had done.
The voucher saved us £11 when we went and had afternoon tea on Sunday.

[RebeccainGA]

Mont Blanc. I took my 20 year old pen, a gift from my grandfather (I couldn't ever spend the money on it he did!) to them for an overhaul, since the pen hadn't been used in 15 years and wasn't operational. For $75, I got an all but new pen (it's the same nib, the same gold clip on the cap and the same cap button, and I think that's all that's original) - and if I wanted to, I could turn around and sell it online for about three mortgage payments. It looks like new, except for the patina on the pen clip, and writes like new. Not only that, but when they noticed (when they called to tell me it was in) that I lived over an hour away, they sent it UPS to me, for nothing. I don't know if I'll ever be in a position to buy one, but if I ever hit the Powerball, I'll be heading to Mont Blanc to buy another pen or two - and if anything ever happens to my pen, I'll take it back there for more repairs anytime.

[Snooks]

John Lewis has wonderful customer service.

I went and brought a sewing machine as one of my birthday presents, based on information on their website.  Unfortunately this turned out to be wrong and the machine didn't have the functions it said.  So DH phoned the store and spoke to a lovely lady called Chantelle.  By the time we got back she had spoken to her manager, printed out the pages from the website and highlighted the mistakes, worked out the best way to get this corrected and found out the best way to compensate us.
  She went through all the available machines with us and helped me find the best one for me, gave us a refund on the difference in price, £15 cash to pay for car parks and petrol (much more than we actually spent) and a voucher for tea and cake for two in the in store cafe.  I filled out a customer feedback form and made sure I mentioned what a good job she had done.
The voucher saved us £11 when we went and had afternoon tea on Sunday.

I think I posted earlier about them coming and repainting my hallway wall when they put a minor scuff in it.

[GreenEyedHawk]

Driving Force, in particular a salesman named Keith.  He somehow pulled off a minor miracle securing financing for ANthony to purchase a new car with zero down and affordable payments, that much more miraculous considering it's not that Anthony has bad credit, it's that he has NO credit.

We no longer have to worry about the pedo-van, which had bald tires, questionable brakes and pretty much nothing in it worked as intended and it's horrendous shoddy workmanship from stem to stern. 

This is Anthony's new baby. I am overjoyed:

[siamesecat2965]

Kohls. I buy a lot there. And return a fair amount, mainly because when I order online, well, you know, it doesn't always work. I've never ever had any problem returning things. I know their return policy is very liberal, but I really try not to abuse it.

Latest item: a second, very large, VERY pricy drying rack. I have one, but wanted a second. Next day, don't you know, its $40 less. Carp. So i hunt around and don't you know, they do price adjustments. So I call, and while it was a tad frustrating climbing the phone tree, the rep I had was friendly, polite, knew his stuff, and within 5 minutes, had my price adjustment in the works. Saved me another $35. wooo hoo.

And in the stores, the staff is always pleasant, and helpful. I just wish they weren't so darn liberal with their coupons and sales!

[emwithme]

My local Morrisons supermarket was my favourite before, for a variety of reasons (it's not giant, unlike the Tesco/Sainsburys/Asda near me who all seem to have the footprint of a small nation; they do great fresh produce and meat; they have a lovely in-store café that has good food at reasonable prices...I could go on).

This is what I posted on their facebook page yesterday:

I really need to comment on how well the staff at your [localtoMe] branch dealt with the fire alarm going off at 10.30 this morning. I'd just paid for my breakfast when it started...the café staff cleared the area really quickly and escorted us all into the car park - they even brought me out a chair to sit on as my disabilities mean I can't stand for very long (I'd left my walking sticks in the car as I knew that I'd manage the short distance in the café without, and it's easier to carry a tray without sticks). We were outside for about 1/2 an hour ... when it came time to go back in, and I was a bit wobbly on standing, Fi was wonderful and helped me through the "quick" way rather than me have to walk all through the store. The staff then really quickly cleared the tables, helped everyone to fresh drinks and fed us all in order! Well done

It was just exemplary customer service all round and has definitely cemented my choice of supermarket for a little while yet (that and the fact that they have offers on the products I use, and not just on "family sized" boxes or over-processed "orange food")

[ladyknight1]

Publix and Old Navy. Both stores treat me, and everyone else IME, very well. I appreciate that my patronage is wanted.

[mmswm]

Fury Water Adventures, Key West, FL.

A friend and I, along with a friend of his, purchased tickets to watch last weekend's powerboat races.  The tickets for this viewing boat included a breakfast and lunch buffet, along with an afternoon snack buffet and an open beer/wine bar.  I have a severe food allergy, and the allergen is likely to be a part of the lunch and snack buffets. 

When I boarded the boat, I approached a crew member to ask questions so I would know what I could and could not eat when the time came, and also to alert the crew in case of accidental exposure. The crew member was very nice and answered my questions thoroughly. I don't expect menus to be changed for me, but I do need to know what's on them so I can decide what food to pass on and what should be safe.   So, imagine my surprise when shortly before lunch was going to be served, a crew member approached me and asked me if I'd like certain items with my lunch.  These items were things that I'm not allergic to, but their placement on the buffet line would carry a substantial risk of cross contamination.  When I replied in the affirmative, the crew members proceeded to set up my own little mini-buffet separately from the regular buffet so that when I was ready to eat, the foods I wanted would be safe. 

I nearly fell over from shock.  That sort of stuff is really an extraordinary  effort for a single passenger.  I'd have happily bypassed those food items to insure my own safety.  Well, maybe not happily, but willingly, as I don't expect the world to cater to my needs. In this case though, they did exactly that, and even though they didn't have to, and I'd have been just fine without them doing so, the fact that they did made the day that much more enjoyable.

[Lady Snowdon]

As of this week, the doggie day care (Woof Dah in MN) that we bring our dog too!  I had it in my mind that I'd made reservations for dates over Thanksgiving weekend with them, but that I had it for a day or two longer than necessary, so we called on Monday night to verify the dates and cancel any that were needed.  Apparently, I don't know when Thanksgiving is, since I'd made the reservation for the wrong days.    My DH, who was talking to them, said something like, "And you're full for the actual dates of Thanksgiving, right?".  The lady he was talking to said, "Oh, well, we are, but Smokey (our dog) is such a good boy, and we love having him come.  I'll just move the dates around.  You said you needed X day to Y day, right?  It's in our system!".  Somehow that wonderful, wonderful lady managed to get us the correct days we needed. 

Also, when I took Smokey there today (not having been in since September), the lady on duty at the reception desk greeted Smokes by name as she helped me take his leash and halter off.  Smokey is a black lab mix who looks like every other black lab mix in existence, and yet somehow Woof Dah staff are able to distinguish him from the hundreds of other dogs who go there.  Why would we go anywhere else?

[lowspark]

LOL Lady Snowden. She might have also recognized you as "Smokey's mom". 
Definitely great service though!!

[cwm]

LOL Lady Snowden. She might have also recognized you as "Smokey's mom". 
Definitely great service though!!

At the grooming salon I used to work with, there were very few human customers we recognized. Every dog was different, so we could tell one black lab from another based on their behavior, for example. We recognized the parents by the dogs they had, more often than not.

[White Dragon]

I am going to nominate our local branch of Crystal Glass.

We've had a string of bad luck lately with other people damaging our cars.
First it was DDs' car getting struck in a hit and run, then a couple of weeks ago some vandals smashed DS's windshield.

We dropped off the car and I called to see if they could do anything about the shards of glass in the interior to make it safe for him to drive to get it properly cleaned. (The windshield damage rendered the car undriveable.)

They said they'd see what they could do and asked what happened - how there was just the one area of damage.
I explained the vandalism, that our car was one of several to be damaged.
When they asked if we had insurance, I said that even though the damage was criminal, not accidental, DS's policy didn't cover it and he would be paying for the repairs.

When they found out he was a high-school student and where he worked, it turned out DS's workplace has a corporate account and they gave him their discount.

When we picked up the car, they had cleaned ALL the glass shards from the interior and heavily discounted both parts and labour, saving DS over $100. He thanked them profusely (as did I!) and now he doesn't have to borrow money to make his next insurance payment.

Two thumbs up from us!

[suekel]

3M Tekk.

I purchased, a few months ago, an earmuff-style headphones that A) cut down on outside sound, and B) had a built-in AM/FM radio. This works great for my workouts so I don't have to worry about getting caught in the wire that runs from ears to a phone or MP3 player, and it also works to tune out when loud or annoying noises are ongoing. I also use it at work when in the shop during loud procedures.

Anyway, one of the ear cushions (which make the sound seal around my ear and are very comfortable) popped off. I'd pop it back on. Inevitably it eventually popped off unnoticed and was lost forever. I tried to find new cushions online, but couldn't figure out which model went with my headset. I sent a polite inquiry to their customer service, and they said they would replace the cushion for free.

Today a package showed up with two cushions, slightly different from the originals; they click into place without glue and don't come lose at ALL. They are also slightly thicker and again very comfortable. The package was hand addressed and had a personalized handwritten note inside thanking me for my patronage. Very, very happy with their service and plan to leave good reviews everywhere!

As an employee, this story made me very happy to hear, even though it does not surprise me.  Customer service is our #1 priority!

Fury Water Adventures, Key West, FL.

I totally agree - have used them for various water excursions and found the service top notch!