Good customer service in Munich

There are a lot of rants here on the board, so I think it’s time for an anti-rant, or whatever that’s called in English…

Last Friday I wanted to buy my snowboard gear to go boarding the next day. I bought the board, but for the bindings and shoes I went to Sports Experts at Olympia Einkaufszentrum. It’s a pain in the ass to get there (when is the U1 finished??), but the store has a large variety of all kinds of sport equipment.
I came there at 19:30, just half an hour before it was supposed to close. I walked in with my brand new board, asking someone to help me out with bindings and boots. The next ten minutes (at least) he explained what options I had, didn’t try to talk me into the most expensive stuff. At the end of his story he asked me when I was planning on going to the mountains, so I said “tomorrow�?! Then he said that I could better rent the gear tomorrow, and go back to the store from the 26th on, because then they have the winter clearance sales. I was happy and surprised at the same time. On the one hand happy because now I can get my boots and bindings for about 80 euro’s less, and surprised that he mentioned the clearance sales a week and a half beforehand!
I still needed gloves and goggles for the next morning, and he was willing to give me a 20 euro discount on the goggles, since I was planning on buying almost a full boarding gear there (I already knew which boots to buy).
At 20:10 I was ready to pay, without even one “it’s closing time, get out of here�?-look from the salesperson.

So between all those rants here, this deserves to be mentioned!

End of anti-rant

Hurray!
Can I also give a big cheer to the Vinzenzmurr butchers in Spar at Rotkreuzplatz for being generally lovely and doing lots of special cuts and orders for me?
The staff even say hello when I see them in the street.
I like anti-rants
Katrina

Glad to hear it Sparty. With all the anti-German threads that go on it's always nice to hear the things that people are happy about.

Or maybe he just fancied you and wanted to see you again. Either way, it's good service

The people in my local ironing parlour are really very nice - they always fold stuff that doesn't need ironing nice and neatly, rather than shoving it in my bag, and they always do my shirts very well, and are extremely pleasant to me when I am there. A bit like my Mum does, only more expensive... So there we have it - some German customer service is really quite good, actually...

Keydeck! Don't spoil it! This might actually be a whinge-free thread

Yes, the ranting's been a bit much lately, hasn't it? I've certainly been in a ranting mood but I think it's due to post-holiday blues.

Glad to know there are businesses out there who actually appreciate the fact that you want to spend your money there, and who entertain the idea of getting you to return.

The pizza delivery service that I'd started using lately offers a free bottle of wine if you spend over €30. The first time he came to us he forgot the wine (bill was about €35). About a week later we ordered again from them and even though the bill was only about €17, he remembered us and brought the vino. It's the little things like that which make me go back to a place again.

I stupidly left my purse (with abou 35 Euros in it) in a taxi. The night after it happened I got another taxi and asked that driver how I could try to track my purse down. He wasn´t very confident about me seeing my purse ever again, but he did do a lovely thing - he switched off the meter and then charged me only 10 Euros for the taxi ride, which usually costs 20.

Just when you are talking about your purse there, I have a little story of my own.
It's not so much good customer service but really just demonstrated to me how honest some of the German people are.

I was heading back home after my student work placement had finished, I was flying out of Munich to Brussels and then on to Belfast. When I was at Brussels airport I lost my purse in the shopping area. I searched high and low, asked lots of people but it wasn't there, it had disapeared I gave it up for lost and got on the plane home, really very annoyed.

I arrived back in Belfast and a few hours later I had a call from my flat mate here in Munich, she had my purse! Unbelievably, a man from Munich had found my purse in Brussels airport and thought that I was perhaps flying back there. Since he had my ID in the purse he delivered my purse directly to my flat in Munich. Not a cent was missing and he didn’t even ask for a reward or anything.

I just couldn’t believe it.

we regularly get a free round of drinks in a certain non-expat bar/eatery that a group (of about 10) of us frequent... and proper drinks, not just sours...

the staff have taken the trouble to find out our names and where we come from and regularly engage in some good humoured banter... which is nice... not telling where it is though, want to keep it non-expat

furthermore, i've just helped my girlfriend through the anmeldung and arbeitsamt process and the all of the people we met were extremely helpful and understanding of her non-existant german and my pigeon german... which is in stark contrast to the experiences we had tryinig to extract information and documentation from the muppets that occupy the corresponding posts in ireland before she came over...

wooohooo! Anti-rant!!

I've lost my wallet twice, and got it back twice, both times with all
the cash in it!

Once I left it in a Taxi, at about 10pm ... No street address ID, just Bank Card,
Credit Card, Deutsche Bahn Card, and some other bits and Pieces.

The Taxi Man dropped it into the Police, and I got it back the next day at about
7pm via a nice police officer who frightened the shit out of me when I saw
him through my spy-hole.

Other time was at Oktoberfest. Well - lost it after Oktoberfest.
Was handed into a bank, (as I just had bank card and Health Insurance
card - all else cleared out of the wallet beforehand!). Bank called me, and I
went to the branch where it was handed in.

I really don't think it would happen in any other country.

That lost wallet thing is actually quite common in Germany though it surprises me nonetheless. My boyfriend's lost his wallet a couple times and it always gets returned, missing nothing, in two days or less.

Last week I had a sudden "I need my hair cut day". I was in town when this thought occured, so I looked around as I came out of the "zwilling" shop ? and on the corner above the shops was a hairdressers, can't remember the name of it.
A young heavily pregnant young woman agreed to take me immediately for a cut and blow dry. Although I looked nothing like the cut I described, it was nevertheless, well cut and very nicely styled. I was well chuffed especially when it only cost 51 euro, a mere fraction of what I would normally pay and all achieved in 30 minutes.
Germans are not all bad, in saying that does anyone want to take Opa off my hands, he's working from home and driving me to distraction!!

In general, I must admit that the crowd-handling is going a lot better over here during traffic hours than in Holland.
When you walk on Kaufinger strasse on a regular Saturday afternoon, everybody walks wherever they want to walk. Sometimes a little annoying, but I guess you'll have to get used to it.
BUT...every morning I have to change at Odeonsplatz during traffic hours, and even when I am standing on the other side of the train, I never have a problem of getting out of the train. I noticed that the people that are almost leaning against the doors and don't have to get out of the train step out of the train to let people out and walk back in again. Try that on a regular weekday in the Netherlands...you'll have to make sure to get to the doors at least two stops in advance, otherwise there's no way you can get out!

Well, People in Vinzenzmurr at Pasing (not the one at HIT, the other one) are also nice and friendly :-)

Yesterday, I had metal fillings in my pasta, I told the waitress she took it away and said I didnt have to pay for it.

I felt lucky.

OT : Does germany have a program like Watchdog in the UK ??? Or a magazine like Which?

I want to complain about the customer service I received earlier this evening at the place I get my tyres changed. I was left feeling confused by having nothing to complain about!

Basically I lost one of my hub caps (personally I blame that JOB ), and wanted to buy a new one to match.

The guy came out with one, found it was the wrong size, then fetched the correct one. As I was about to ask how much it was, he said 'No, it's OK. No, really'. I was barely able to get a thank you out in my surprise.

So, well done Pneuhage in Erding-Aufhausen.

Yes, I have been a regular customer for a few years, and bought my tyres there a year ago, but not so regular I'd expect to be recognised.

Two cents worth, the cobbler at Walmart in Machtlfingerstrasse. We went to get a shoe fixed, the top had a rip. Looked hopeless to me but the sweet guy fixed it like new and refused to take a cent for it.

KVR, to get my work and residence permit, the girl who does the surnames from R onwards. She is absolutely fab! Always a smile, patience of a saint because of my crappy german and took her time to explain things to me slowly and made sure I understood everything perfectly.

Thanks for the Anti Rant topic!!!

I also had great service from the R onwards girl at the KVR.
thank goodness surname starts with R

The Ganesha Restaurant on Rosenheimerstraße is wonderful.

My husband and I are always promtly greeted or offered a drink while we wait for carry out. Each time we leave this place we talk about how amazing both the food and service are. I want to write them a Thank You note for being so kind and demonstrating that they value our business. I hope they would not think it was strange.

When I got new glasses in the summer I asked whether I could get the pads exchanged on my old ones - since I was still going to wear them - and he also exchanged my dad's glasses' pads for free! (But I guess, they made some good money with my new glasses )
We've been customers there for years, they are always very nice. Wieland at the PEP.

Totally agree, service levels in Munich are on the whole very good ... Although I nearly changed my opinion today in Douglas on Kaufingerstr : I was checking out some new YSL "war paint", to which the sales assistant nearly p'd his pants when I opened the boxes and was downright rude to me ... So I had a "I can't be bothered speaking German" moment and answered in English. Went to the counter to one of his colleagues who had witnessed it and she gave me a few samples of goodies, "Enjoy your day in Munich" and a nice genuine smile ... Thank you !! Faith is now restored !!

Went to Hornbach at Fröttmaning this afternoon. Not only was the cashier friendly and smiling, but as I was leaving the store a member of staff was just coming in from outside and gave me a friendly 'Auf Wiedersehen' as well. Probably that would get tiring all the time, but apparently I've been shopping in the wrong stores all these years and there really are polite friendly people who are employed as shop staff. At any rate, I was rather surprised and barely managed to stammer out a response.

Damn it, another prejudice holed below the waterline and sinking.

Was stood in the chemists this morning looking for anti cough and cold remedies, sweating like a rapist and the shop assistant immediately passed me 2 packs of tissues and took the trouble to ask how i was feeling and how could she best help me?

After purchasing the various potions she then told me to get to bed and sweat it out in the best way i could, complete with a wink.

She may have only been doing her job but she made me feel much better.

You won't believe it -- good service from Telekom. Fella I talked to on the phone yesterday very nice and managed to make me not mad at them, which is a good talking-down-from-the-ledge kind of job yeah, and the guy who came today (Sebastian Reschke!) was competent, efficient, and nice to boot. He explained everything, showed me everything, advised me on why my network is so slow and what I could do about it, and will be monitoring the traffic for ten days to make sure he fixed the problem. I called yesterday and the guy made it over this afternoon. (OK I'd called on two other occasions and they wanted me to change out my splitter but I finally did that yesterday morning and then they really had to come in person and check it out. Turns out the hole in the wall you plug the phone into was corroded, probably by the wallpaper glue applied rather sloppily about ten years ago.)

OK, got another one. I went on Tuesday to a place in Oberschleissheim - Malich Schuhreparatur - to have imprints taken for new orthotics for my shoes. I told the guy that I'm going to Paris on March 3 and I was hoping to have them before then (lots of walking on cobblestones and the like). He told me he would try to get them done before then and to call before I went. Well, today, he called to tell me that they are ready. In only 3 days!! So, I told him he is wonderful and that I would pick them up tomorrow.

I wasn't expecting such good service (they actually got them done ahead of time AND called to let me know).

Telekom and SWM, bless them!
I had to change the account for my direct debits, once you're in Telekom Mein Konto the page to change you bank details is right there. And the e-mail confirmation arrived within 5 minutes of the change.
SWM was even better: I have an account for electricity and an account for gas. So I dug out the folder, entered Mein Konto for electricity, hit the change bank account and believe it or not, they had stored my other account from when I was living in Munich*. So I said, yeah, that's the one. And at the bottom of the page was the option: Do you want this change to apply to your gas bill as well? Again, the confirmation arrived almost immediately.
Sweethearts! I sent them an e-mail praising their efficiency.

*Call it Big Brother if you like, it was handy!*

Always nice to hear the good stories. They are often overlooked.

Thanks

At Kaufland in Unterschleissheim: We found everything we needed and proceeded to the checkout, but we forgot to weigh our fruit and get the price. Instead of a lazy cashier, we got one that took our fruit, jumped up from her seat behind the register and RAN (not walked, ran!) over to the scale and weighed it for us, ran back and continued checking us out - all with a smile and a 'no problem'.

Kaufland, it's getting more American everyday!!!

I use the Kaufland in Freising and it is without doubt the best supermarket I've ever used in Germany, the choice of food is good and the staff are friendly, it's almost as good as a British supermarket.*

^{*not wishing to start another supermarket thread just reinforcing kitkat64s experience!}

And they always look at the name on your EC card (if that's how you're paying) and ask you - by name! - if everything was ok. I'm gonna miss them when I move.

SB,

There is one in PEP center . 9km. from my PLZ in Schwabing.

ff

Mister Minit shoe repair, Kaufhof Rotkreuzplatz - cheers fella!
Not only did you do a great job on repairing my beautiful Geox riding boots by fitting a new zip (saving me much moolah as I'd have had to buy another pair), but giving me discount because of the huge grin I gave you when I saw your work.
You, Sir, are a gent.

Another one today - but slightly unnerving... not only does my bank and my doctor's receptionist now recognise me by name even in the street (and I seriously avoid doctors and banks where possible), now my local pharmacist knows my name without even seeing a prescription. Good job too, I'd run out of my pill prescription, my GP and Ob-Gyn are both on holiday, but he said "Oh don't worry Fr ..., we know you take this, here, have it anyway."
Not even required to take the prescription in next week or something. I am stunned. STUNNED.