Great customer service in Germany

No, the title is not a typo. Although the customer service in Germany is in general very poor, there are exceptions to that. These exceptions show that there are at least few companies that understand the impact of customer satisfaction on their business results. And these are both large international companies and small local businesses. If we all choose these companies instead of the ones with typically poor service, we can first endorse these businesses and second bring other companies to offer better service too.

As I’m writing in this blog on customer service, there are many business opportunities from good customer service in Germany. And although these service problems that impact the German economy cannot be solved over night, our own experience can be improved one by one, especially if we share the good ones with each other.

So, I hope we can all share positive service experiences in Germany and endorse these companies, so life becomes a little easier here. Let’s leave the bitching about poor customer service to other threads like this one on poor customer service experiences in Munich or this Germany-wide.

I’ll start. Here are three examples of great customer service in Germany. Who would have thought?

1. Laundry cleaning services: Die Reinigung, Riem Arcaden, Willy-Brandt-Platz 5, Munich
Greet you by name when you come in; open Monday through Saturday, 9:00 - 20:00; 2 hours turn-around time for dress shirt cleaning; standard price per dress shirt 1.19€

2. Auto glass repair: Carglass
Toll free 24h, 7 days a week customer support hotline; appointment setup online or by phone; friendly staff

3. Online perfume and cosmetics store: Parfumchannel
Call you should an item become delayed; quick delivery

I took two watches to Juwelier Fridrich to have links removed, they said it would take about 45 minutes, go window shopping, they'll be done when you return.
They were done - but instead of removing the links they had replaced the batteries.
The boss, who happened to be serving me, asked me to wait a minute, disappeared with the watches, then returned about five minutes later with the links removed - he had personally done one while his employee did the other.
And all of this free of charge because his shop has messed up!
(My daughter and I were also bowed out of the shop by three shop assistants on the way to the door with a fourth rushing to open the door for us. The Pretty Woman treatment indeed!)

I have a BMW employee rented car - which means that I have to give it back after 6 months and it MUST be scratch/dent/ding free - no exceptions. If you scratch a wheel on the curb - 800€ - each. So, it is very important to not scratch the car.

So, had the car 3 days and some idiot walks by my car and leaves a 1 meter scratch on the side. I knew I would have to have this repaired before I give it back. Went to the BMW dealership on the corner of Frankfurter Ring and Knorrstrasse - normally they are pricks and horrible service. On Thursday I went and asked how much to fix the scratch? He said 'well, we could try to buff it out but you need to make an appt'. Then he said 'is the car here? Let's look.' He took the car, was gone for 10 minutes, told me to wait in the lounge, etc. He came back and the scratch was completely gone and NO CHARGE. I flipped him a 10€ tip and told him I loved him.

Great service for once by the BMW dealership.

The closest I ever got to such a price was at Martinizig, €6 for 4 shirts (ergo €1.50 each), and when I complained because when I got the shirts back all the collars were not just creased but practically pleated, the reply was
"Well, what do you expect for only €1.50 per shirt?"

You might also want to check out:
Customer service positives in Germany - Stories of good experiences and service improvements
Good customer service in Munich - Stories of exceptionally good service experiences

I would give an honourable mention to AOL, not everyone's favourite Internet provider but their German customer service people are clued up, you always get through to them, and they usually sort your problem out on the spot.

Also, although I'm no four eyes myself, my girlfriend is, and I've always been impressed at the helpfulness of staff in Fielmann. They can be a bit 'in your face' but they are usually very friendly as well.

About a year ago there were internet rumors concerning the discontinuing of Polaroid Sx-70 film. I had just moved to germany and this was very disconcerning due to the fact that I am a Polaroid artist. I emailed Polaroid of Germany my questions if, when and why Sx-70 was to be discontinued. I did not expect an answer from then due to the fact that Polaroid of American usually takes two to three weeks to answer questions ( in fact I knew a guy that got an answer two months after he submitted some questions to them). Well back to the situation at hand. Polaroid of america was very slow in their answer about when and if Sx-70 film was being discontinued. To my astonishment Polaroid of Germany not only answered my questions in 3 hours but also informed me where i could pick up the last batches of film in my area. It even went further to tell of what other films it was planning to discontinue (film which others in the states had no idea were also going to discontinued). It gave me a detailed time line for Europe and the U.S. I was in disbelief. I even told the film group I belonged to in the U.S. to email Polaroid of Germany over the U.S. to get their questions answered. The big plus was also discovering that Polaroid of Germany was going to continue their last SX-70 run two months longer than that of the U.S. which worked in my favor.

Edit: I also want to say that all this was done in English which surprised me.