Companies who make me happy.

Sidenote – absolutely nobody paid me to write this blogpost – this is just my experience I’m whacking up here, and I think these peeps need to be acknowledged for their flipping awesome customer service. If I had things my way, these companies could run the country. 

I was explaining customer service to my kid this morning, and how people you pay for services or products can either let you down, or make you smile. She asked me for examples from our life where companies have gone above and beyond good customer service and become just bloody great. So, here they are, the top four companies who don’t let me down:

Founded in 2002. I started shopping with Takealot in 2003 (Back then, they were called Take2). That’s a full decade of shopping. Yes, granted – my shopping has slowed down with them over the years (I used to buy DVDs and music from them, monthly!) but, they have NEVER disappointed me. Sometime last decade, I ordered the Empire Records DVD from them, and when I excitedly shoved it into my DVD player, it failed. Dud DVD. What a bummer. But, a quick call to these marvellous peeps and they had the DVD collected by courier, and a new one sent to me. That took less than a week to happen. Bloody marvellous. Every single time I buy from them, I am overwhelmingly stoked with their clear communication, prompt responses and damn fine pricing (no, seriously, they’re usually the cheapest place to buy things I want) .

Everyone remembers the story of my knickers, right? Well, good old Woolworths came through for me, in a big way there. I have the comfiest bum of all time now. But, my relationship with them goes way back. I trusted them to deal with my groceries just after I had given birth, via their online shopping services (at the time, they were the only retailer I could have used to do groceries online! I feel like I sound like an Internet Granny now…). Their online shopping service made me fall in love with them, and their customer service provided to me over the years has always made me smile.

Okay, okay – Anyone who knows me, knows that I adore this company. I first started using them about five years ago, and have only ever had incredible service. Every time a friend of mine tells me they’re looking to buy a television or appliance, I stop them and tell them to do it all through Teljoy Rent to Own. Seriously? I’ll never buy a large appliance again, ever. More importantly though, their customer service is always prompt, friendly and – even when they’re out of stock of something I want – they keep in touch. Part of great customer service is not ignoring your customer, even when you can’t help them immediately. Teljoy do this, all the way through – from CEO to call centre agent (and yes, over the years, I’ve spoken to almost all of them).

A little local lovely I have become very fond of – The Thrift Collection. So many people I know give a little side-eye when I talk about thrifted clothes but – truth be told – every single time someone pays me a compliment on something I’m wearing – it comes from this store. This second-hand fashion concept store has been around for quite a while and sells high quality thrifted goods at incredible prices. They regularly upload merchandise to their Facebook page and you can buy via there, using EFT. I always giggle to myself, whenever someone asks me “where DID you get that pretty dress?! It must’ve been so expensive!” Truth? Thrift Collection is a local retailer with a big heart (and yes, they deliver all over SA, if you need them to!). Stock that they acquire and are not able to sell, goes to charity. They also buy clothes for resale  and you can usually find them at most of the Durban markets.

So, there they are. My top four. Thank you, lovely companies – you make life easier for us.

(and again – I was not paid for this post, nor I will never expect anything for this post – in a world where we have to pay our way to have things, these companies make me smile while paying – that’s my point here. I also think we use the Internet a lot to complain, but I’d like to also bring to your attention that it’s not just some great big complaints mechanism – it is also there to highlight good. This is my good for today).