I don’t have much of a chat with a self service till in Tesco or Superquinn or when listening to automated jingles on the phoneline when Im waiting for Eircom to pick the f*ck up………customer care is dead in some companies…….we deserve better considering we are keeping these shoddy businesses open!or we could just stop using them?

If customer service is that important then Ryanair would be out of business.

We can’t expect great customer service and then vote with our wallet by going for cheap

To be fair Paul I don’t know why people have such a problem with Ryanair.I have flown with them quit often ( in one year alone about 5-6 times a month) and never had a problem with them. The problem is that people pay for cheap flights but expect Emirates Air type service. It’s a flying bus that gets you from A to B and that’s it. Fair enough their charges need to be more transparent but other than that have your ticket, bring your passport , turn up on time, check your bags comply with regs and do a little bit of research online beforehand. Anytime I have seen problems with air passengers for any airline by and large it is the customer at fault.

My Problem with Ryanair is that they are rude! It’s costs nothing to smile and to be nice. They make you feel like shit!

It is great to see businesses that do go that extra mile being rewarded for good customer service. It always seems to be the bigger companies like Tesco, Ryanair, UPC, Vodafone etc which feel they don’t need to bother with customer service. However there are some small retailers, cafe’s, businesses around that really make a point of providing good service, with a smile, and these should be rewarded for this.

Hi Everyone,

Mark here from JCI Ireland. It is great to see some discussion on customer service and the like. In doing this project we are hoping that by highlighting companies that are doing things well that we can promote them and by promoting the companies that are providing excellent service this will in turn prompt other companies do be friendly businesses.

So if any of you know of any friendly businesses please let us know about them :)

Mark

Friendly died in Ireland a long time ago.

Good discussion. You get what you pay for however it is true a smile/politeness cost nothing. I notice Irish retailers in general aren’t as customer focused as in other countries. I notice when I go up north and when I’ve been to the States the sales assistance greet you when you enter the store and say ‘thank you’ etc when you leave.

Places I’d like to nominate for quality customer service:
Apple – bought a iPad, customer service was excellent
Queen of Tarts – cafe opposite Dublin castle
Coppinger Row – restaurant off south William Dublin

Hey Mark,
Best of luck with it.

I think it would be an interesting exercise to do the opposite to what you are doing — ie. The worst service provider !
My top 3 would be

Ryanair
-”cheap” pricing does not give any entitlement to be rude, or provide a bad service.

UCI -helpline
-What a misnomer !
After many many minutes (and you paying for the call) it routes through to somewhere in Britain, where they can rarely help. In my most recent case, they simply patched me back through to the UCI 2 miles away from where I live !

UPC Communications company.
-Oh sweet God, please please let me never have to deal with these clowns again.

Good initiative, hope it makes a positive difference.

There’s certainly room for improvement in many of the retailers on Grafton Street I have been in. I’ll name no names but there was one mobile phone sh0p I wasn’t 2 fussed on one occasion I was getting an upgrade. A lot of businesses had it too good for too long in many instances, so with times a bit tougher they’ll maybe need to correct that. Such businesses should take a leaf out of the book Wagamama @ Stephen’s Green have been following all along – give excellent service, and go the extra mile to ensure people leave happy.

Good luck!

Would it be sky or Rushdie??!!!

Good work on the friendly business awards, always nice to see positivity rewarded. Pity about some of he negative comments, I think you get back what you invest, if you’re friendly and have a plesant demeanor that’s generally the attitude you receive in return, even from some of the ‘nightmare’ call centre’s listed above. It can be disarming and generally staff then want to help you, exceptions always exist but they shouldn’t be focused on.
My vote goes for Berman and Wallace in the Sandyford Business Estate, Mary always looks after her customers.