Have you heard the good news? It’s not all horror shows when it comes to customer service

It has not been a great week or so for customer service in Ireland, with news of one particularly story of people being let down dominating the headlines.

While the DAA, the authority which runs Dublin Airport, appeared to have addressed the problems of queues as of Friday morning, the memory of what happened on its watch a little over a week ago is likely to linger.

On multiple occasions since March long and stressful queues have formed at security at the airport and sometimes stretched out of the main concourse and far down the roads leading to the entrances. Flights were missed as a result, holidays and precious family occasions were ruined and people were robbed of experiences, some of which would have been on hold since pre-pandemic times and are now impossible to replicate.

The DAA pointed to a lack of staff and absenteeism, changes in the security rules, a rebound in travel in the post-Covid period. People packing their bags wrong and showing up too early for flights were also contributing to the problem, the DAA said.

Europe’s political divide over the return of wolves

---

Maureen Dowd: Trump’s line about being martyred always seemed risible but I guess it works with some people

---

Breda O'Brien: Are the mistakes of Junior Cycle reform about to be repeated in the Leaving Cert?

---

Kevin Barry: ‘I didn’t publish a book till I was 37. I thought I must have been an awful f*cking waster’

---

A lot has been written about what has been happening at the airport over the last week or so and we are not going to revisit it but what was striking in many of the stories that have been told by those who were caught up in the mess was an absence of communication in the midst of the crisis.

People were basically on their own in queues and left wondering what would happen next. They found themselves relying on the occasional tweet from the authority saying that they should probably contact their airlines as they were most likely to miss their flights.

Many of the problems at the airport were – undoubtedly – hard, if not impossible, to avoid but communication could and should have been better. That absence of communication is one of the hallmarks of almost all the problems we get from readers of the Pricewatch section.

But enough of that. Today is a bank holiday and we don’t want to dwell on the bad any longer. We want to celebrate the good. With that in mind we put a shout out for good customer service stories a couple of weeks ago.

Here are some of the happier stories readers of The Irish Times have shared with us. What is striking about them – and something that all companies should take note of – is how much a potentially terrible customer experience can be turned into something positive. This is often because of the actions of one individual within an organisation who is willing to do that little bit more to help someone out and to treat the customer they are dealing with like an actual person rather than an irritant or disembodied voice at the end of a phone line who can be treated with contempt without comeback.

Banks are not often singled out for praise on this page but Aoife O’Sullivan had a very positive experience with Bank of Ireland in recent weeks.

“I went into Bank of Ireland in Blanchardstown. I’d a few questions about two old bank accounts. Going to a bank branch isn’t my idea of fun, and I’m getting treatment for breast cancer, so I had been avoiding it,” she writes.

“But it was a sunny day and I was getting on fine, my hair is growing back and I felt strong. It was a day to be brave and take on administration. I didn’t know where to go but strode up to the cashier desk with a fistful of half-filled forms. I asked Amber the cashier for advice, giving her a convoluted backstory and she cheerfully had a look at the app on my phone and listened and looked up some information.”

Then Amber listed off what Aoife needed to do.

“But even though I could tell she was being kind, all I could hear was a scary complicated noise. The queue behind me seemed to be growing and it felt very hot. I suddenly knew what my kiddos feel like when they’re overwhelmed with homework and rules and busyness. My eyes started to water.”

Amber, who, Aoife says, “is likely in her early 20s, looked at me with wisdom and kindness and saw a woman on the edge”.

Aoife told Amber that she was “not good at this and I’m going through treatment for cancer and I don’t know and it’s confusing and and and… I spluttered.”

But Bank of Ireland’s Amber was calm and considerate. “That’s no problem,” she said. “I’ll sort it out, have you a few minutes?”

Aoife says Amber was “wonderful, filling forms and talking me through everything. She briskly but kindly closed accounts, transferred funds, whisked me to another counter and sat me down on a comfortable chair as she quickly got her colleagues moving to sort everything out. She treated me like a valuable person and it made my day. I left with the issues sorted and information written in her clear handwriting about what I needed to do. Banking has become remote and yet Amber cut through that with her warmth and kindness. She really was a shining priceless jewel like her namesake.”

A shining, priceless jewel? Praise doesn’t come much higher than that.

The Passport Office has been getting some knocks but in this case they came up trumps

Now, the passport service has come in for a fair bit of stick recently with delays reported and as many as 200,000 people left wondering where their priceless documents have gone. Holidays have been missed as a result of delays.

But a reader who will refer to as D had a very different experience “on behalf of my intellectually disabled, non-verbal adult brother” and it is one she says was “above and beyond due to one spectacular effort that deserves mention”.

She starts by saying how Covid was tough for her brother as he had little choice but to “effectively cocoon where he lives as he is medically vulnerable and the safety of all in the house where he lives was paramount”.

D and her brother had a holiday booked for after Easter just past, departing early on the bank holiday Monday morning. “It was the first time abroad for him since Covid, when he’s usually a regular traveller with me and he was beyond excited.”

But then horror.

“We discovered his passport expired during Covid and there were only four working days before the world would shut down for the Easter break. Needless to say some frantic searching online to see what we could do followed but it wasn’t promising.

The family applied for the passport online but were told to expect the renewed passport after they were due to depart for their holiday.

“We tried to organise an urgent appointment, both online and by phone, for the one-day turnaround service as anything more would be too late. It proved fruitless however as no appointments were ever available and, even if they were, I discovered they required the personal attendance of the passport holder in the office in Dublin. He lives in west Cork and cannot travel alone.”

Our reader lives in Dublin “and would have met him from a train or bus and happily completed the office end but we were unable to arrange a travel companion to Dublin at such short notice”.

That’s the context, she says.

“I was convinced it was just not gonna happen and, let’s face it, it was a holiday not a dash of mercy or a funeral. Many had missed worse in Covid. Even though I knew trying to explain would have been devastating to my brother, it would not have been the end of the world.”

But D hadn’t yet come across Hannah in the Passport Office.

“By accident or good fortune, she was the customer service agent who book-ended my week of constant effort – she answered my first call first thing Monday morning and my umpteenth call later in the week. While she was unable to deal with the actual application on the Monday encounter, I suspect she stretched all possible inquiries to the limit as much as she could! She encouragingly advised that as it was only a renewal, the online application could well be completed more speedily than the website was indicating – which was over two weeks and thus far too late – and to keep an eye on the online application tracker.”

D did this “with initial enthusiasm as it showed ‘passport printing’ by late Monday, encouraged I’m sure by Hannah’s helpful noting of the recipient’s circumstances, but dashed when it still showed ‘printing’ on Wednesday – 48 hours to print a passport! I thought that spiralling bar would never reach the end! Further phone calls to the Passport Office in the interim had yielded only conflicting advice and confusion. Hope dwindled as the online tracker didn’t progress.”

But then, on Thursday, when she was losing hope, D rang the Passport Office and was randomly put through to Hannah again. “She was just that little bit more thorough, she remembered my brother’s application and mentioned she had been keeping an eye on the passport’s progress and I have no doubt just from listening to some of her careful attention, going above and beyond, and confirmed it had been dispatched.”

But Good Friday is “not a day of regular post outside of the cities so this was the last day for receipt! A check on the An Post tracker yielded the information that it had arrived in the local sorting office but possibly too late for Thursday’s delivery. Back to my sister and her local knowledge where I suspect the kindly local posties got that end sorted – and the passport was delivered!”

D says she is aware it wasn’t “a life or death situation but for my brother, at that time, it was everything. Completely oblivious to the week’s passport tribulations he had a great holiday, a trip which would have been cancelled were it not for the added attention given by Hannah. She wasn’t the only person involved in the timely renewal operation – and we are grateful to all behind the scenes who were – but I have no doubt her assistance was key! She was also so pleasant, understanding and encouraging, communicating a can-do attitude that inspires confidence and calm. The Passport Office has been getting some knocks but in this case they came up trumps! As did An Post.”

I was seriously impressed with that level of customer service

Mick Callaghan bought a big leather couch in the Sofa Factory which he and his wife wanted to have before their wedding last November. It was delivered on time. “Unfortunately, I got the measurements wrong for our stairwell into the apartment and it wouldn’t fit. They took it away and we agreed they should try to sell it in the January sales, then we would see where we stood. It didn’t sell so they are stuck with it for the time being,” he says. “They offered to make us another sofa split in two for a nominal amount and delivered it and put it together on-site. This was all done with good grace and the whole team could not have been more helpful.”

Sofa, so good. But that is not the only couch-related story we were told. Elizabeth Flynn bought two sofas last November without, as she admits readily, “doing proper measurements. I was doing a small extension in my home and I bought them before everything was finished because of the very long lead times. When the delivery truck arrived a couple of weeks ago, the two guys looked at my livingroom before they brought the sofas in and advised me to take only one as they felt that while both sofas would fit, it would be too tight to have both and be able to move around the livingroom easily. If they had unloaded it, I would have had to pay a restocking fee.

Elizabeth rang the shop in Galway and “they were happy that I got such good advice and refunded the price of the other sofa. I was seriously impressed with that level of customer service. And I have since bought a tape measure for future furniture purchases!”

The whole of Ireland deserves to have a Bean Brownie experience

Sheila Deegan has two good news stories she wants to share with us. “I always have a good experience in Pat Clifford Tyres in Clontarf. Good for new tyres, [and] they’ll pump tyres for doddery drivers and even sorted out my car phone access. They won’t even charge but I do leave a tip! Also the Clontarf Pharmacy [where] all are very friendly and accommodating. They offered to deliver our prescriptions when we were cocooned [and] prescriptions seamlessly move from doctor online.”

Lorraine McMahon also had praise for a Clontarf business. “Service stations can often be quite clinical places; however I feel Terry who works in Circle K garage on Clontarf Road really deserves a mention,” she writes. “It’s a very busy service station particularly on a hot summer’s day but Terry is always so kind and patient with everyone who comes into the store. As a country girl in Dublin for God knows how many years at this stage, I’m always chuffed that Terry remembers my name every time I’m in there and always inquires as to how everything is in work. He even asked recently after my old housemate as to how she’s getting on after moving down the country. Terry is a true gentleman and we really would be lost without him.”

She wasn’t done yet. “Fuel located in Clontarf village, I feel also really deserves a mention. The staff there are always so bright and cheerful and any time I get a coffee there’s always great chit chat about swimming in the sea, tides, and general good banter. The coffee, cakes and food are all fabulous in Fuel and I’m sure the fantastic staff really brighten a lot of people’s day in Clontarf.”

Charlotte Nichols lives in England and one specific Tesco near her home sells Ballymaloe Relish or at least it used to. “They stopped doing it just before Christmas. I messaged Ballymaloe to ask why/where else I could get it and they posted me out a few jars with a lovely note so I could still have it on my turkey sandwiches!”

Maria Cummins has a story which does “not involve a huge amount of money” but pleases her greatly all the same. “We bought a set of three plant pots in our local Aim store in Clonmel which were sellotaped together. When we took the Sellotape off the middle pot was cracked, so the next day we took it back to them. The manager immediately apologised and handed us another three pack of pots and we pointed out the other two we had were perfect, but she insisted we have them by way of compensation.”

Dee Basgford lives in Cork and every weekday morning she sets off to her “ultimate little coffee shop, Bean Brownie in Ballinlough. I work for a multinational and customer service is king. While Bean Brownie is a small local business they are giants of customer service. Quality product is at the top of their list coupled with a super efficient service. But what sets them apart is the very genuine warmth and kindness that greets every single customer,” she says.

“During Covid restrictions it was a slice of welcome normality. My morning coffee and the quick chat is also the reason I stay fit, it’s my motivation for the morning walk before work! The whole of Ireland deserves to have a Bean Brownie experience.”

Matthew Flynn was recently renewing his insurance policy with Aviva. “I had problems paying with Bank of Ireland online so decided to pay by phone. As I didn’t get the phone answered I had to pay by cheque,” he says. He sent the cheque with a cover letter “expressing my disappointment. My policy arrived a few days later followed by a phone call regarding my complaint. My complaint was investigated and I received an apology by phone and a letter with a cheque for €20. Well done Aviva.

And finally our very own Deirdre McQuillan got in touch, “I have to cite Evergreen, a family greengrocery business in Wexford Street owned by Michelle and Damian Madden,” she says. “They pulled out all the stops during lockdown and started to deliver their [excellent] fruit, veg, juices, etc, at no extra charge. Now that we can shop there in person again [and without masks], I just learned that they still continue this free service for people unable to go out for whatever reason – could be just out of hospital, a new baby or whatever. They work really hard and what they sell is first class. They really set great standards of service in this area. I think they do the best juices in the city by the way!”