February 2010 – woowoowoo

great service #5

I’ve saved the best ’til last. Remember the days before mp3s?… how about CDs? yes, who had a great collection of vinyl? Who’s still got one? Well, I don’t. I got rid of most of my collection long ago, but there are a few faves hanging around in the cupboard and one day I plan to ‘format shift’.

In fact I tried to do this years ago and bought a Griffin iMic, a little USB dongle that didn’t cost the earth, but sadly failed to deliver – well that was back in 2002. At the time I did a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with Griffin’s tech support, but no matter how I tried with software and settings, I just couldn’t get it to work properly.

Fast forward to last month, when I once again considered tossing out my last records and the trusty old player. I thought I’d give the iMic one more go – sadly, the same problems, however this time I was pretty sure that it wasn’t software, so once again I struck up correspondence with Griffin to see if I could finally diagnose the problem. Prompt responses quickly agreed that it sounded like hardware. Amazingly, I dredged out an old email from 2002 in which Griffin said that it most likely sounded like software. I also tried my luck by asking for a discount on a replacement unit.

The reply I received completely astonished me. Griffin took responsibility for the original misdiagnosis (which was within warranty) and gave me instructions for making a replacement claim. A mere 7 years out of warranty! Now, finally, I’m converting my favourite disks to digital format and I can’t thank the folk at Griffin enough.

So, that’s what I call service. I’ll definitely support Griffin in the future and I hope they get some business out of this endorsement, because they certainly deserve it.

a blockage in the tubes

I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets frustrated by slow loading web pages. I don’t mean the consistently slow ones from low budget sites, but pages that load quickly for a bit, then practically stop for a while – sometimes a looong while!, then maybe resume and finish. Pages from prominent, high budget sites that should do better.

This morning I noticed the BBC site was at a crawl, and I saw in the status bar that it seemed to be waiting on assets from ‘secure-au.imrworldwide.com’, I waited some time (a minute!) – don’t know if it got what it wanted but my page never loaded and I gave up. Then I got to thinking i’d seen that URL before, so I started looking around. Sure enough The Age, News, NineMSN, Channel Ten – all huge budget media sites are stalling as well – and all are stalling on the same URL.

Today was just one I happened to follow up, but I’ve seen this before. Makes me wonder what this site serves and, given it’s pervasive nature, just who is behind it, and what do they know about us. Loading the URL didn’t do me any good…

So, who are these people blocking the tubes? Check out all the negative press you can find with a google search.

great service #4

I’m an impulse online shopper and there are a few sites that fill my needs just nicely. A couple of these sites offer special deals every day, and one of them is Zazz. Cool as many of the items are, I only made my first purchase on Zazz a couple of weeks back. Including postage, it was only $20, what could I lose?

Well, as it happens, the goods were disappointing. Maybe I was unlucky, maybe they were just plain dodgy, but I emailed Zazz to ask for their advice. Straight away I get an email back – a return authorisation number, even an address label to print out. It was quick – the communication was excellent, no doubts, no difficulties. Within days, the refund was back in my paypal account.

For online purchases, it is absolutely vital that you can trust the vendor. Experiences like this show that you can definitely trust Zazz. Great work guys! I’m still watching your site for my next purchase!

great service #1, 2 and 3

I’ve had a pretty good run lately with customer service – so good I’ve decided to just put a few of them on the record…

1. The federal government solar rebate: OK, I’m being a bit controversial here, but I was one of the thousands who got a 1kw solar cell system on the big rebate scheme. I’ve just got my first electricity bill since the install and it’s showing our average daily consumption has dropped around 60% I am happy! Sure, it’s summer, so I won’t see that all year, but the scheme is a success as far as I am concerned. From the organisers of the Moonee Ponds solar Neighbourhood to the installers, Rezeko and even the pen pushers at the DEWS, the whole process has gone smoothly, if a little slowly, and I want to thank them all.

2. The Hong Kong connection: Dealextreme is a gadget lover’s delight. You can order the most improbable things at the most fantastic prices, but like all businesses, sometimes they run out of stock. I’d been waiting a long time for an $8 item, so long I’d forgotten about it. DealExtreme contacted me, suggested I take a store credit and gave me the details on how I should claim it. Now, this is no more than you’d rightly expect, but we’re talking about a bargain basement company operating out of Hong Kong – you don’t always get that level of service from such companies.

3. Great coffee, great service: We’re lucky enough to have Seven Seeds right next to our office, so around 10 each morning we tend to make a little pilgrimage. This morning, I’d just stepped out into the lane when I realised my cup was leaking – no big deal, I turned around back into the cafe and pointed out the problem. No simple transfer to another cup – that would have destroyed the aesthetics of the coffee. Even though it was a particularly busy morning, a fresh cup was quickly organised, all smiles, and I was on my way.

So, these are examples of good service – nothing more than you should expect, but you don’t always get it and the companies involved all deserve a bit of credit for making the transactions as painless as possible. I’m going to follow this post up with a couple more examples of companies that have gone that little bit further.