Hold up! Before you read on, please read this...

This post was published more than 14 years ago

I keep old posts on the site because I often enjoy reading old content on other people's sites. It can be interesting to see how views have changed over time: for example, how my strident teenage views have, to put it mildly, mellowed.

I'm not a believer in brushing the past under the carpet. I've written some offensive rubbish on here in the past: deleting it and pretending it never happened doesn't change that. I hope that stumbling across something that's 14 years old won't offend anyone anew, because I hope that people can understand that what I thought and felt and wrote about then is probably very different to what I think and feel and write about now. It's a relic of an (albeit recent) bygone era.

So, given the age of this post, please bear in mind:

• My views may well have changed in the last 14 years. I have written some very silly things over the years, many of which I find utterly cringeworthy today.
• This post might use words or language in ways which I would now consider highly inappropriate, offensive, embarrassing, or all three.
• Factual information might be outdated.
• Links might be broken, and embedded material might not appear properly.

Okay. Consider yourself duly warned. Read on...

With all the negative stuff I’ve posted of late, I’m beginning to worry about Karma. So to balance it out, and titled in homage to The Guardian’s daily column, here’s some examples of really good customer service I’ve received recently.

Firstly, dabs.com. I’ve ordered from there quite a few times, and they’re always speedy and efficient. Last week, my order was somewhat complicated by some problems, but customer service people were on top of them in no time, with me waiting for less than a minute to talk to the most courteous people I’ve ever come across in the world of online retail. They’re great, their prices are great, and I thoroughly recommend them.

Secondly, Vodafone. I got a new phone from them a while back, and it’s broken. Not drastically broken, but it’s developed a couple of faults. I took it into the Vodafone shop, and they sent it away to be repaired for free, and on top of that gave me a free loan handset so I’m not left without. Unfortunately, they decided the phone was too difficult to repair – and so have agreed to supply me with a shiny new one, absolutely free, because it’s still under the manufacturer’s warranty. I’ve never experienced such good support from a retail outlet acting under a manufacturer warranty. Fantastic. In fact, I’ve been with Vodafone for over three years now, having tried various networks. I can honestly say that Vodafone have always given me an unbeatable deal, and on the odd occasions where things have gone wrong, they fix them quickly and efficiently. Easily the best mobile operator I’ve tried.

Thirdly, Tesco. I bought a couple of jumpers from there a few weeks back, priced at £14 each. They went through the till at £15 each. I queried this at the customer services desk, and was given both jumpers free by way of apology, and this too was processed very quickly and efficiently. What more could I ask for?

First Direct also provide consistenly excellent customer service, as do Smile. First Direct actually answer the phone as soon as you ring them, with no menus to navigate, and are always friendly. Smile have always done whatever I’ve asked of them with the minimum of fuss.

So there you go – there are good guys out there, and it’s probably true that I don’t post as much about good customer service as bad. Hopefully this does something to redress the balance.