My List of “Good Companies”

Lately I’ve been really frustrated with my experiences calling various companies and dealing with their customer service representatives.  You have already heard me rant about Charter.  Unfortunately, Comcast (my cable and internet provider in Nashville) is only marginally better.  I’m really hoping to get AT&T or DirecTv in my new house late next summer.  I haven’t heard anyone that I can think of complain about service from either of these companies.  I really like the idea of free HD and DVR from DirecTv.  I just can’t stand to pay Comcast any more, so I just have almost the most basic cable and internet service with no HD and no DVR.  Since I can watch almost everything on the internet, not having DVR isn’t that big of an issue—just a convenience thing.

Back to the subject of this post—good customer service.  About two weeks ago, I got a notice from Nashville Electric that my payment didn’t go through because my checking account showed closed.  I called immediately to try to fix the problem.  I found out that I didn’t enter my account number correctly and it was an easy fix with the help of a polite and friendly customer service representative.  So, about a week ago, I get another letter saying that I was being assessed a $15.00 charge for a returned payment.  I wasn’t happy about this, so I called to see if the fee could be waived since it was simply a first-payment mistake with my bank account.  The customer service representative was very nice and quickly got approval to waive the fee.  They didn’t have to waive the fee, but I felt like it was an honest mistake and not worthy of the fee.  Luckily, I was able to make them see my way and get out of the extra fee.

My second example of good customer service is at Banana Republic.  Specifically, Banana Republic online.  I placed an order maybe three weeks ago and the pants didn’t quite fit correctly.  I returned them yesterday, but the store didn’t have any to exchange.  I placed another order last night and had a 25% off plus free shipping coupon.  That coupon expired last night, so I had to use it before midnight.  This morning I woke up to a 30% off plus free shipping coupon.  Since the difference was over $10, I decided to call and see if they would adjust my bill or cancel the order so I could re-order with the additional savings.  The representative was polite and quickly got approval to adjust my bill.  I just have to wait until my order ships to make sure I was billed the correct amount.  I know it sounds silly to go through this trouble for less than $20, but, with my new “big girl” budget, every penny counts!

So anyway, I want to say “Thank You!” to Nashville Electric and Banana Republic for being polite, efficient and not raising my blood pressure to stroke levels.  I’m now on the lookout for other companies with good customer service—I’ll keep you updated!