Unexpectedly Good Customer Service

Last week I bought an OEM copy of Windows 8. Turned out the product key included was invalid. I called Microsoft gave the lady my name, email and faulty key. She confirmed it didn't work and just like that gave me a new product key. She didn't ask for proof of purchase or anything. I was utterly speechless. I couldn't believe that of all people Microsoft would have such great support. They solved a problem I was fully expecting to take two weeks (shipping back and forth) in under 10 minutes.

This reminded me of an issue I had with a Logitech G500 mouse a year ago. The left mouse button stopped working so I contacted support. The guy didn't ask for any proof of purchase and sent me a new mouse just like that. I was even more surprised to have it arrive the next day, turns out they had used overnight shipping.

Has anyone else had a customer service experience they thought was going to be painful but turned out better then they could have ever imagined?

Logitech is renown for having some of the best customer support, sending new gear when yours breaks. Not that any of my logitech gear has ever broken either, solid build quality vs shitty Razer and Madcatz etc.

I remember I called XFX once for an RMA on a motherboard and they were super nice and helpful and it was really painless. I've had other very positive customer service experiences with other companies too, notably logitech and EVGA, but those weren't super surprising since both of those companies are (deservedly) known for having exceptional customer service.

@mao16 said:

Last week I bought an OEM copy of Windows 8. Turned out the product key included was invalid. I called Microsoft gave the lady my name, email and faulty key. She confirmed it didn't work and just like that gave me a new product key. She didn't ask for proof of purchase or anything. I was utterly speechless. I couldn't believe that of all people Microsoft would have such great support. They solved a problem I was fully expecting to take two weeks (shipping back and forth) in under 10 minutes.

This reminded me of an issue I had with a Logitech G500 mouse a year ago. The left mouse button stopped working so I contacted support. The guy didn't ask for any proof of purchase and sent me a new mouse just like that. I was even more surprised to have it arrive the next day, turns out they had used overnight shipping.

Has anyone else had a customer service experience they thought was going to be painful but turned out better then they could have ever imagined?

Weirdly enough I was having similar issues with Windows 8 and both customer service reps were pretty helpful. The lady even called and apologized about a mistake she made and was extremely kind.

Had to fill out some forms and fax them to make sure that the loan service didn't start taking money from me, on account of still being in university. Had to phone to confirm it. Honestly took, like, two minutes and the guy was real easy to talk to. Very nice.

Also, when my 360 RROD two years ago, I had a fucking awful time getting my print-sticker thing to print so I could mail it in for repairs. Finally called customer support, and over the course of fifteen minutes she walked me through the clusterfuck of a process it was to send in a 360 for repair in Canada. Also very pleasant, I was really surprised and considerably less frustrated afterwards.

PayPal's is super impressive. If you sell an expensive item on eBay, they'll have someone call you and be like "hey dude, need any help or have any questions with any of this stuff?"

iTunes is also really good.

My Frozen Synapse customer support experience:

1. Email them about a CD Key that isn't working.
2. Get a CD key that does work.
3. Play the game or whatever.

Both when my 360 RROD'd and when I called to cancel my Xbox Live account MIcrosoft support was really good. Say what you will about Microsoft but at least they have put some of their money into good customer service.

EVGA was really good too.

I dropped my defective card off at a UPS and in 2 days I got a brand new 670 in a box.

I call Netflix...

Me: Hey, can you tell me when Breaking Bad season 4 will be available on Netflix Instant Streaming?

Nice Netflix Lady: Uh...Sure sir, I can look into that, but first I need your member code.

Me: I've never even heard of that. I don't know what that is.

Nice Netflix Lady: Oh, well I'm sorry sir, but I can't help you if you can't give me your member code.

Me: Please?

Nice Netflix Lady: (she gives me the date)

Me: Thanks!

@warxsnake said:

Logitech is renown for having some of the best customer support, sending new gear when yours breaks. Not that any of my logitech gear has ever broken either, solid build quality vs shitty Razer and Madcatz etc.

Yup, never had any Logitech break either and never needed to call support. Logitech will always be king

Microsoft really wants people to get Windows 8. Just recently I was reading about a loophole that allowed people to get Windows 8 for 15$ - apparently their "If you bought Windows 7 in the last few months you can get Windows 8 for 15$" program was so easy to trick you could just get Windows 8 for free even if you had bought Windows 7 years ago.

Then again, maybe your case really doesn't require a proof of purchase as standards procedure. It doesn't really sound like that but who knows.

I still have a logitech mouse my Dad got when he built his Windows 3.5 computer.

when my xbox 360 E74 i called guy was pretty good.

Microsoft's always been good to me, and XFX was good to me the one time I needed them, replacing a card that was way past its warranty.

Got my WoW account stolen a couple of years ago and totally expected it to take forever to get back my gear. Talked to them on the phone and got my account and items back in less than a day. Blizzard support is phenomenal.

Amazon has always been great to me. My hard drive crashed and took my music with it, and the Amazon lady just went ahead and put all that shit up on my cloud library. Even the stuff that's not available for purchase anymore, and the random free samplers and shit I downloaded in the past. I was bracing to perhaps get something along the lines of "Well that's not our fault. Fuck off." only more polite, I suppose. Another time I noticed, exactly 1 year to the day after purchasing a dvd box set of The Wire, that Season 3 disc 1 had some glue on it from the packaging and was unplayable. I e-mailed them and they let me return it for a full refund, as they didn't have any replacements. Again, I was prepared for "Well why didn't you notice this sooner? We don't have any more of those items, so you can fuck right off."

Compare those to the time I canceled one music service after a free trial, but they started charging me anyway, and kept doing so for a year before I finally spotted the charges (I somehow missed the 15 bucks they took every month. I do tend to make a lot of purchases and the name that went with the withdrawals was pretty innocuous, so it just got kinda buried in my bank statements), and their response was how about we give you a free month?

I was at a Fred Meyer recently and had purchased a copy of Skyrim PC in a moment of impulse. The CD-Key was missing inside the game case. I took it back to Fred Meyer, and told the lady. She went to the display case, took out a new copy, said "Here ya go!" and handed it to me. I didn't show her a receipt or proof of purchase or anything. She just took my copy and handed me a new one, and I left without any kind of exchange being rung up at the register.

I had an issue with Amazon when I was returning my "stupidly expensive edition" of TOR, they messed up and were going to end up only giving me back half the price. Emailed them and had the rest added to the refund within a few hours.

I've only had 1 logitech thing break on me (mouse) but it took like 9 years, so I feel I got my money's worth. XD

I had my gas furnace go out on Christmas eve, and ended up with a repair guy out in a couple hours. Quickly fixed, ordered parts to ensure it would not happen again, and installed them the next week. It only cost ~$90 for the call out to, which seemed amazing as the time and day seemed to call for a special bonus charge (or at least a surly tech). And it was cold enough that year that the quick service really mattered.

EA (Origin) / Amazon worked together pretty fast when there were errors with the Amazon CD keys. Pleasant reps and neither company did a public blame game (this was from buying Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition and the cd key only registered the base version).

Otherwise, not much in the way of notable experience. Aside from the time that I learned "open-box" is a code for busted and will not run (thanks Newegg!).

@Metric_Outlaw said:

@mao16 said:

Last week I bought an OEM copy of Windows 8. Turned out the product key included was invalid. I called Microsoft gave the lady my name, email and faulty key. She confirmed it didn't work and just like that gave me a new product key. She didn't ask for proof of purchase or anything. I was utterly speechless. I couldn't believe that of all people Microsoft would have such great support. They solved a problem I was fully expecting to take two weeks (shipping back and forth) in under 10 minutes.

This reminded me of an issue I had with a Logitech G500 mouse a year ago. The left mouse button stopped working so I contacted support. The guy didn't ask for any proof of purchase and sent me a new mouse just like that. I was even more surprised to have it arrive the next day, turns out they had used overnight shipping.

Has anyone else had a customer service experience they thought was going to be painful but turned out better then they could have ever imagined?

Weirdly enough I was having similar issues with Windows 8 and both customer service reps were pretty helpful. The lady even called and apologized about a mistake she made and was extremely kind.

So did I, the activation just up and died after about a day of usage... they should probably look into that.