Outstanding Customer Service via Twitter

There is a very good reason I buy the majority of our Toys from Cuthbert Toys in St Albans, not just because it’s local, Kirit (@cuthberts_toys) is a rather nice guy or the fact, that he’s bought me the odd glass of wine.  It’s simply because the level of customer service that he has offered via Twitter has been outstanding.

I just wanted to share with you a couple of examples.  This is in no way a sponsored post.  I just like to share when I find something good and to say a special thank you to him.

What did he do?

At Christmas, I bought my daughter a puppet theatre, which then needed a few puppets.  The trouble was that my daughter was on school holidays and I couldn’t get into the shop to buy one, especially with her in tow.  So Kirit, took a photo of all the puppets, which I could then choose the ones I wanted and he offered to bag them up so I could just pop into the shop to pay and collect, with her being none the wiser!  Now that’s what I call service.

There have been more than two occasions of him going above and beyond but this one really sticks out in my mind.  My daughter has a thing for ‘minis’ not sure if it’s because they are child-like, but being awkward she wanted a ‘yellow’ one.  We tried to source one online but to no avail.  In the end, my husband asked me to check with my ‘friend’ from the local toy store to see if he could find one and low and behold he did. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of him first.

It took me awhile to work out how much effort he actually went to.  Check this out…..

Toys Store St Albans

He painted it by hand himself!!!

Business owners take note!

Do you have any examples of outstanding customer service via twitter?

 

 

Ecademy Update

I should probably be gloating but I’m not.  In fact, the whole experience has left me with a rather sick feeling in my stomach. However, I strongly believe I did the right thing and am pleased that I followed it through to the end.

As many of you know I went on a Social Media course back in March, which was by run Ecademy and delivered by Thomas Power.  Unfortunately, I didn’t feel that they covered the content that they advertised.  I quietly asked for a refund on a couple of occasions but to no avail.  In the end, I blogged about it  ‘How Not to Master Social Media‘ and it received far more attention than I could’ve ever imagined.  The post went ‘mini’ viral receiving over 100 comments and was retweeted on twitter over 200 times.  At one point I was hiding under my desk.

For the most part people were incredibly supportive and I thank you for that.  I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Nikki Pilkington and Nigel Morgan, who were always at the end of the phone when I needed propping up.

In the end, it has been a very long drawn out process, so I’ll give you a condensed version.  I was encouraged to file a claim with the Advertising Standards Agency as the course did not deliver what was advertised. If you weren’t aware the ASA now also covers marketing on the web.  On the 10th of August 2011 they upheld the claim and Ecademy was told that the ad could not appear again in its current form. The full adjudication can be read here.

Following the adjudication, I waited to see if a refund would now be issued.  Sadly, it was still not forthcoming so I had no other choice but to file with Small Claims Court, which I did online via MCOL, which cost me £60.  Initially, I was only asking for a refund of the course fees.  However, when filing with small claims you’re allowed to include reasonable expenses such as lost wages, childcare, and travel.  For whatever reason, Ecademy has decided to settle before it went to court. Last week I received a check for over double what I was originally asking for.

I know I’ve learned a lot from this experience but I also hope that Ecademy has also learned a valuable lesson about social media and customer service.

It’s Official! I’m turning into a Grumpy Old Woman!

I won’t be 40 for a bit but I’ve found myself complaining more and more lately.  This is something I’ve never been good at.  Some joke that I have been in the UK too long and have lost the ability to complain but, honestly, it’s a skill I never really had.  If I do complain I tend to be incredibly polite and get nowhere.

In the last week I’ve complained at least 3 times.  On Mother’s Day we went to Loch Fyne at 5pm, the restaurant was completely empty but we were told that they did not have any room.  I do appreciate that it was probably fully booked from 7pm but we had a toddler with us so would have been in and out very quickly.  We didn’t complain and skulked out.

A couple of weeks later we decided to give it another chance.  The service was excellent but the food was inedible.  We were sitting by the pass and saw our food sitting for ages and when the waitress passed me my plate I burnt my hand on it.  She didn’t even apologize.  Again we didn’t complain, we just paid and quietly decided that we would never return.

On Tuesday night, my hubby wanted a Chinese Take-away, he quickly ordered without consulting me so I had no idea of what we were having.  I was really hoping for Sweet and Sour Chicken Balls.  So when the food arrived without the balls, I assumed it was my husbands fault.  We tucked into our meals and when we were about half way through we received a phone call from the delivery guy saying he had delivered the wrong meals.  We explained that we had already started.  I decided that that wasn’t acceptable and rang to complain. As I said earlier, I’m rubbish at complaining, my husband was lying on the sofa listening and cringing and in the end all I ended up with was a free portion of rice next time!

After that I was fuelled and decided to write to Loch Fyne about our shoddy meals.  I have received an email response promising they will speak to the Senior Manager and get back to me.  Not sure why I bothered though as I really don’t want to go back!

Photo Credit

And finally, yesterday, I came home to find that our neighbours had cut down all of the trees at the bottom of their garden.  The problem with this is that we back onto a Train line and Sainsbury’s.  Now can see and hear the train and the back of Sainsbury’s is covered in graffiti.  It now looks like I live in the hood!  I can’t complain to the neighbours as it’s their garden and they can do what they like. So, I rang Sainsbury’s instead and got straight through to Senior Management who has promised me that they will get a contractor in within a month to sort it out.  I’m not holding my breath but will ring back in a month’s time if nothing is done about it.

I’m slowly getting better at this and by the time I hit 40 look out!

I would love any hints and tips on how to successfully complain .

Update: I have received a response from Loch Fyne

I can also only apologise that the quality of the food that you and the members of your party received was not to the standard you expect from us at Loch Fyne. I have spoken at length to both my Head Chef and the company Executive Chef about this and we are currently looking into the issues you raised. The fact that you burnt your hand on the dish is also unacceptable and I have spoken to our front of house staff about this, to ensure it does not occur again.

I would like to invite you back to the restaurant as my guests, for a meal to the value of £100.00 so that we can try to rebuild your confidence in us. When you would like to take us up on this offer, if you call and make a reservation and print this out and bring it with you, we would be grateful.

Yours truly,

Gary Meharg

General Manager