Public Address | Cafe | Cracker: Heroes and Villains

jb

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:25:31 +1300

OK, so it's irrational, but the craving for things you value/crave increases in direct proportion to the difficulty of getting hold of them.

To wit: Anglo-Saxon Xmas stuff (and other comestibles) when you're living in Germany.

So we pop over to London for a couple of days before Xmas -…

JohnAmiria

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:17:32 +1300

This blog takes me back ....

... to the 70s ... as a kid ... reading me Mum's NZ Womans Weekly ... back when it was 100+ pages fat, printed in black and white on newsprint (colour cover, mind) ... 'Over The Tea Cups' I think it was called ...…

Lara H

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:04:55 +1300

I'd have to agree that the guys fixing the power lines up and down the country in horrendous conditions are about near the top of my list.

Also the person at varsity who handed in my lost bike glove-hero-it was the middle of winter and COLD. Lots of good people…

Islander

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:32:16 +1300

Ooo-err- Apple-lemon at it again – sorry

Islander

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:31:30 +1300

There's been a couple of powercuts here, over the past 2 days: I heard enough ominous thunder faraway enough to close down all the electronics (5.08 am) for the first one. It was after 1.50pm before the power got back on-I'd gone into FJG to have breakfast because my gas-stove…

Islander

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:29:41 +1300

The second one came out of the black & killed one of my machines. Aue, that's sort of ordinary for this area – I crawled off to bed, knowing it wouldnt be warm, but was woken at 3am by the power being re-established -again, people were up and about in the…

Islander

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:26:15 +1300

Isabel Hitchings

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:14:23 +1300

I'd like to thank www.crocs.net.nz who went out of their way to locate the right colour/size and style from their shop when the website was out of stock – every email was answered within about 30 minutes and I got my shoes really quickly when the other retailers I emailed…

littlehigh

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:59:51 +1300

My experience of Air New Zealand is slightly more nuanced. I fly up and down the country a lot, and find the cabin crew and check in staff just brilliant. Really helpful.

However, when something goes wrong – it all turns to custard – their feedback number aka known as…

Janette Mason

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:48:48 +1300

yeah...it's funny, but I don't have 1001 happy politician stories bursting to get out, I'll work on that one, and try to be more appreciative.

Travel stories, as we've seen, do lend themselves to this sort of thing...
...such as the time my train home to London from Paris was…

Hilary Stace

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:02:27 +1300

Nobody seems to have taken up my idea of acknowledging the great work that some politicians do on our behalf. It is easy to criticise them, particularly at election time, but our politicians are our ultimate public servants and some of them work incredibly hard on our behalf. I know…

Art and my life

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:05:26 +1300

In addition to my nomination of AMI Insurance ladies, I have received some amazing customer service this week so beyond the call fo duty that I'd probably get the guy in trouble if I explained it.

Also the staff at Casa Java in Raumati Beach are AWESOME.

I like this…

David Hay

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:00:46 +1300

If they haven't been mentioned before, I'd like to send a bouquet to the Public Trust, who I find are very good at keeping things simple, and have the most user friendly telephone manners of any public company I know – prompt, cheerful and informative.

The other Paul C

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:32:23 +1300

The best i've witnessed was by a guy named Jason Yu. This chap single handedly broke down a whole lot of prejudices of mine. A young Asian male, who also happens to be the best damn nurse i've ever seen. He and the team at North Shore Hospital nursed my…

Josh Addison

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:36:47 +1300

The nice Lufthansa people at Frankfurt airport were very helpful when it turned out that my flight home had been cancelled out from under me. When the woman at the counter took a look at my flight details and grimaced, I knew something was up. It turned out that I…

Dinah Dunavan

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:47:42 +1300

Ansett would still be my favourite airline, if they hadn't gone bust.

Several years ago my grandfather died. I called Ansett and booked a flight from Dunedin to Auckland for the next day. Next day I called a shuttle service so I could get to the airport. They told me…

Venetia King

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:05:29 +1300

Love this idea – I can think of quite a few times I've thought "that was really great service". Don't know that many names though (sorry about the bolding but I wrote too much & am hoping that makes it easier to skip through).

Hilary mentioned Thorndon Pharmacy earlier – I'd…

Sue

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:15:38 +1300

Shot out to the barista's and chefs at cafe mode in kelburn.
not only is the food and coffee awesome
one of their barista there has the amazing skill of writing upside down, so you can read your order as he writes it.

Now that's customer service

Shep Cheyenne

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 23:49:42 +1300

@ verbwrangle

Quite right.

@ Damian

All of your emails/letters are being cleared through legal/PR & just because they're called PR don't expect it. They have had a rocky road with the media, being failed/past members of it.

Can I suggest again "Travel Insurance" for all Int tvl & if you carry…

kmont

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 23:14:04 +1300

Also got some good fix-up action from the IRD recently. It took a bit of doing but they came through eventually. I took care not to take out my difficulties on the call centre people, but rather write a polite, detailed letter, which did the trick. Solving a problem via…

Sofie Bribiesca

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 22:57:07 +1300

Oh, and ups to the IRD. When one can get through to them (which isn't really the fault of the C/S staff), they always sound like they want to help you.

Yes IRD were very considerate when I mentioned my dilemma ( which involved late tax). They asked if I…

Jeremy Andrew

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 22:48:36 +1300

I would like to send a shout-out to the owners of my favourite bakery, the little one at Five Cross Roads next to the Lotto shop.
They always have a smile and an actual. genuine "have a nice day". Plus they make damn fine cream donuts, and a very tasty…

Steve Barnes

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 22:00:31 +1300

I would like to thank the robbers, the murderers, the rapists the generally violent, the selfish and greedy and all those considered by most people of society as being scum. They make me realise that I am a pretty good guy.

I love the averasctic money grubbing currency traders with…

Islander

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 18:35:11 +1300

Moomintroll series *do* have the odd wee scary bits (I Love 'em tho')- is he interested in natural history? If so, might I reccommend Rene Guillot? Who based several books in Africa, on African animals. I paticularly remember "Oworo" (about a chimpanzee – I was nuts about chimps, elephants and…

Isabel Hitchings

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 18:03:45 +1300

I'd say the Hobbit too

He's definitely not ready for the Hobbit yet and when he is that will be a read-aloud family event.

Dave Patrick

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 17:55:34 +1300

Book suggestions from PA readers gratefully accepted too

Try the classics – Moomintrolls, Swallows and Amazons are two I can think of off the top of my head. I'd say the Hobbit too, but some bits of that can be a bit scary. Chronicles of Narnia maybe?

Isabel Hitchings

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 17:51:32 +1300

Jo (I think) in Whitcoulls Southcity a couple of Sundays ago. I was looking for a book for my six year old who reads at about twice his chronological age but won't touch anything he even suspects of being scary*. Jo seemed to know every book on the shelf and…

Roger

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 17:44:56 +1300

Was on a United flight sometime ago from LAX (not a good start to most stories, I know) with a complicated series of onward flights through Chicago, and flight number one was delaid so that the whole string fell apart. Did the 'what now' at customer service with the cheapest…

Jackie Clark

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 16:51:30 +1300

what a lovely idea, damien – good article too, I read it yesterday, wish it could have been longer tho'. My thanks go to a number of people – to Gus at Manisha superette on Mt Eden Rd who, if I have no money on me, gives me what I…

Anne M

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 16:24:07 +1300

"Dave" the bloke who drives the 8:25am 12A bus to Massey Uni.

He'll stop for those he sees frantically running to the bus stop, he waits for people to be seated and doesn't accelerate like he's Lewis Hamilton. And he used to save a big roll of tickets for my…

Rob Hosking

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 14:54:11 +1300

This is nice and timely.

Yesterday arvo the car battery got run down.

I took it down to Autocare in Kilbirnie, who we've been using for repairs for a while (and who, even without this recent incident, I would highly recommend to any other Wellingtonians. Nice people, excellent service, reasonable…

Danielle

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 14:47:52 +1300

They send you a complimentary hand-made love heart badge when you order something.

Pleased surprise seconded. They rock.

Damian Christie

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 14:44:50 +1300

Damien, buy a fraken Diary.
You're just making noise now.

First, I acknowledged in the blog that I was probably being petulant, but I did want to point out to Air NZ (who would be reading) that ignoring a problem doesn't always make it go away. And can in fact…

Karen White

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 13:10:25 +1300

Toggle.co.nz

Webiste of lovely crafty people. They send you a complimentary hand-made love heart badge when you order something.

A genuinely nice surprise

Hilary Stace

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 12:35:12 +1300

There is obviously some great customer service out there provided by those people who do more than just their job description. In particular I would like to acknowledge those helpful people who work for our government agencies – our public servants – including that mythical but threatened species the backroom…

Jan Farr

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 12:23:01 +1300

There may be another reason for this. If they found your daughters bag there would be no need for a payout.

How do you work that out Shep? The funeral was the day after she arrived. We bought the clothes – paid money for them. Finding the suitcase didn't help…

James Littlewood*

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 12:13:24 +1300

I know we're supposed to keep this positive and all, but Damien, can you or RB get any sensible gen on this whole "we only debate with the other big party" bollox?

Even if there are good reasons for it (which I don't believe there are), seems like a bloody…

Mark Easterbrook

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 12:08:49 +1300

Another one – good retail service is a rare commodity, but I've had brilliant service from Barkers (in general) and their St Lukes store (in particular).

Just a couple of examples:

– A t-shirt I had bought about 2 months earlier developed some holes due to a fault in the…

James Littlewood*

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 12:06:11 +1300

Sunny, Tuesday afternoon, no traffic, 137 km/h on SH1, Kaikoura coast.

Car up me bum.

Cop stops us both. Talk to the other guy, off he goes. Comes to me, lectures me for – i shit you not five minutes – before "look. I only give tickets if I'm 100%…

Shep Cheyenne

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 11:35:19 +1300

" It took several months, but they finally gave in."

There may be another reason for this. If they found your daughters bag there would be no need for a payout.

Has anyone here heard of "Travel Insurance"?
Don't buy it for domestic but International travel it is essential.

And…

Jan Farr

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 11:23:40 +1300

Air New Zealand lost my daughter's luggage many years ago. She was coming from Melbourne to Auck. for her grandfather's funeral and they sent her luggage to London (as you would). We bought new clothes, sent Air NZ copies of the receipts – they told us it was their policy…

David Wait

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 11:20:50 +1300

My lovely wife and I were on the train from Berlin to Prague. Just before the Czech border we realised that our passports were still in Berlin. After a discussion involving pretty much the whole carriage, the majority decision was that we DEFINATELY needed our passports to get to Prague.…

Michael Savidge

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 11:19:57 +1300

Geez Shep,

Sounds like you've been through their customer service training regime!

Shep Cheyenne

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 11:12:21 +1300

Damien, buy a fraken Diary.
You're just making noise now.
The respective heads are just ignoring you because what ever they do will fail in your eyes. That said,they (through the baggage system) are trying to get your bag back to you. It's lost and the needle in a haystack…

Dave Patrick

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 11:10:59 +1300

This again is an old one, but it's led to us always using the same plumber whenever we need any work done – and it's about a plumber, a much-maligned breed nowadays, so it sort of evens up their balance sheet a bit hopefully.

We moved house on a Friday…

B Jones

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 10:57:23 +1300

However acknowledging good behaviour is a great thing. "You did a great job there George." "You dried all the dishes." "You brought the washing in without being asked." No reward though.

Those are rewards, they're just social ones rather than financial ones. There's a vast informal economy in social currency,…

Matthew Poole

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 10:50:18 +1300

Re State Insurance: I'd never touch them. Had a friend who had to take them to Disputes after they refused to pay out on a claim, arguing that it was his fault for running into the back of the other car despite my friend presenting a police letter saying that…

John Farrell

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 10:42:28 +1300

This is a little belated, but I'd like to thank the staff of the ICU and cardiac wards at Dunedin hospital for their care of my mother, after her heart attack a couple of years ago. One hears a lot of whinging about the hospitals in New Zealand, but I…

Kyle Matthews

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 10:38:03 +1300

Did they simply end up not paying out?

Yes. I ended up paying the $500 excess, and then once that year's contract finished, sent them a nice letter explaining why I had taken my business elsewhere.

Ian MacKay

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 10:00:22 +1300

Stuart remarked on the "reward for being nice" as a philosophical question. I agree and the principle of "rewarding for good behaviour" is faulty. However acknowledging good behaviour is a great thing. "You did a great job there George." "You dried all the dishes." "You brought the washing in without…

Mark Easterbrook

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 08:36:51 +1300

AA Insurance Claims centre over in Albany. When I dropped my dented car off, they offered to taxi me back to work in Ponsonby, at their cost, even though it cost twice as much as the rate they charge you to hire a courtesy car for a couple of days.…

Duane Griffin

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 04:59:44 +1300

I live in the UK and got my ILR (equivalent to permanent residency in NZ) about a year ago. Going through UK border control is usually an unpleasant and slightly anxious experience.

The first time I went through after getting my ILR it was late, and I was tired and…

Amy Gale

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 03:20:06 +1300

Two cheerier airline stories for you, both from this month.

1) Jet Blue

Have Jet Blue flight booked on a Sat afternoon to get to JFK, thence to fly out internationally. Midnight Friday, get a phone message from airline saying flight has been cancelled, here is number to call…

Ben Austin

Tue, 30 Sept 2008 02:03:16 +1300

I was in Berlin a couple of months back and due lack of german language skills combined with failure to note subtleties of the timetable/track repair schedule we ended up stuck some distance from the airport at a suburban rail station in southern Berlin.

In Berlin these are all very…

Allan Moyle

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 22:29:50 +1300

Excellent Service, abounds in all sort of places it seems, including....Baci Newmarket.
I read a review for "Nightworkings" in the SST at about 4.30 pm on Sunday, jumped online to find of all the online bookshops in NZ, Baci had 1 copy on hand, registered, purchased and thought that'll be…

Damian Christie

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 21:56:02 +1300

Not only that, each night he would also only pretend to clip my 10-trip ticket, so I pretty much never paid for what was the best bus service I ever received.

You see, the first bit, about dropping you off home, I can understand, but that's just kinda... odd. You…

Hilary Stace

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 21:54:41 +1300

And Russell at the workshop at Shell Crofton Downs. He and his staff have been fixing my cars (two in that time) for almost 20 years. Workshops can be intimidating places but Russell is never patronising and explains clearly what the problem is and what is required. He helped me…

Hilary Stace

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 21:31:35 +1300

What a great idea to recognise kind and thoughtful 'customer service'. There is actually a lot of it around. For shops like Unity Books in Wellington or Vic Books in Rutherford House it is the norm (which as a mild shop phobic I really appreciate).

But I would like to…

Graeme Edgeler

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 19:14:58 +1300

I've one – a number of years ago now, but I think still worth a mention.

In one of the places I lived while at uni, I frequently found myself catching the last 'bus home. I was right at the end of the run, and invariably the only passenger remaining.…

Kyle Matthews

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 18:35:38 +1300

Your blog title says heroes and villans.

So in the spirit of the latter, can I give a big shout out to State Insurance, who I signed up to in the mistaken belief that "it doesn't matter" and they had fly buys, which brings my sister down to visit her…

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 17:55:16 +1300

Regarding the former Auckland Warriors, isn't the reason for giving teams staggeringly unoriginal nicknames so that they can be transplanted to a different city or country at the whim of the owners / league promoters?

Art and my life

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 17:28:02 +1300

The ladies at AMI Insurance Paraparaumu. We seem to have had a run of misfortune this year and Gale and Kieran have been AWESOME. They supplied tissues one day when it all go too much and have been helpful, supportive and I couldn't ask more from them.

Stuart Coats

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 17:25:28 +1300

I've been re-thinking my stance.....
I once had an argument with Telecom. In the course of this argument, which went over many days through many different customer "service" represnetatives, I lost my temper and started shouting. Loudly. With attached swearing. I got to speak to a manager only after I…

Damian Christie

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 17:06:14 +1300

Also, the same thing should happen with those "surveys" that businesses send out to promote their activities, e.g: 85% of NZ businesses have suffered from possum attack in the last year, says a survey sponsored by Kiwi Possum Extermination

I think we (being the media) do make a point of…

Damian Christie

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 17:03:02 +1300

I would rather people were nice for the sake of it, rather than for a reward that may or may not come.

I agree, absolutely. Which is why when someone is nice for the sake of it (rather than say, hoping for a tip, or that you'll spend more and…

Graeme Edgeler

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 17:02:30 +1300

the same thing should happen with those "surveys" that businesses send out to promote their activities, e.g: 85% of NZ businesses have suffered from possum attack in the last year, says a survey sponsored by Kiwi Possum Extermination

You mean you don't want to know that the survey being plumped…

Stuart Coats

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 16:57:48 +1300

What you should do is find out who that guy was, and get your publicity people to offer him two free tickets if he wants to come down – show him that being nice isn't without its benefits, and sometimes they're actually tangible.

Hmmm, rewards for being nice. I would…

dc_red

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 16:55:48 +1300

Re: theVodafone Warriors. Interestingly, and frustratingly, they are the only NRL team to have sold out their name.

Initially, the team's name followed the convention in the competition: [Name of City, Suburb or Region] [Vaguely Playful Noun]. The Auckland Warriors: it made sense.

In 2000 they metamorphisized into the __New…

Damian Christie

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 16:44:39 +1300

UPDATE: I'm going to root around in the prize cupboard here at Cracker HQ and see if I can't dig up a couple of prizes, one for the best story of good customer service/kind samaritan, and one for the employee/samaritan in question, if they can be identified.

I'll make the…

Damian Christie

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 16:43:06 +1300

Stuart – ignoring that you succumbed to temptation to give a serve to Wellington Airport, that's a great story. What you should do is find out who that guy was, and get your publicity people to offer him two free tickets if he wants to come down – show him…

Carol Green

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 16:41:01 +1300

Jan Grefstad's Hollywood Cinema, Avondale. The opening credits of the movie I was watching stopped a couple of times and had to be re-spooled. Afterwards, the guy who does everything there (and now I wish I knew his name) was at the bottom of the stairs apologising and handing out…

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 16:39:41 +1300

I find Ascent are really good at shipping stuff and have pretty good prices.

Plus the guys at Midnight Espresso are cool.

On the subject of corporate plugs, I think media should remove all company names from sponsored events. If they object, send them a ratecard. Also, the same thing…

Helen Searancke

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 16:37:39 +1300

This happened today: I was walking along Ponsonby Road when I stepped onto a dodgy fire hydrant cover. The cover didn't do its job and down went my foot in to the hole. I phoned Auckland City Council to report it ("someone could break their ankle...etc, etc.."). No waiting on…

Glenn Pearce

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 16:33:38 +1300

at the workshop at Shell Williamson Ave

You mean there's a Gas station in NZ that actually has a Workshop and Mechanic ?, I thought they'd all been replaced with Baristas

Emma Hart

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 16:30:50 +1300

Possets Perfumes. Every time I order from them, they pop in a little free gift. The last time, I got an email apologising that my order was going to be slightly late, on account of Hurricane Ike. Cheers Possets, you're brilliant.

Don Christie

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 16:26:09 +1300

Um, Public Address. Thanks.

Stuart Coats

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 16:23:09 +1300

What an excellent idea! I'd like to take the opportunity to apologise to the guy at Shell Taupo who served me yesterday. I am driving a New Zealand Opera branded car at the moment (four our production of Jenufa, which starts in Wellington next week and you should all try…

Public Address

Mon, 29 Sept 2008 16:23:09 +1300

Discussion from blog post.