The repair man at Timpson in Dublin’s Stephen’s Green shopping centre had already started opening my watch, and I had already agreed the €10 fee, when I told him that many years ago in London I had paid extra for a “lifetime guarantee” when buying a battery at another of its branches. Despite the fact that I had no evidence – and I wasn’t even in the UK – the repair man immediately said there would be no charge. It may only have been €10 but I was staggered – and delighted.
Back in the Guardian’s offices in London I mentioned it to a colleague. Her shoe fell apart just as she was running to do an interview in Carlisle. At a nearby Timpson shop the repair man glued it back together, told her there would be no charge and suggested she give a small amount to charity. A year or two later (those shoes must be a bit manky) a similar incident happened near a Timpson shop in Farringdon in London. Once again she was not charged.
We are both converts to using Timpson for the rest of our lives. CEO John Timpson’s politics (after his appearance on Question Time) won’t be to many readers’ tastes, but he evidently lets his staff act as humans. The business also makes a point of hiring ex-convicts and giving them a second chance.
Most weeks in Guardian Money’s Consumer Champions column we have an “And finally …” element to lighten the otherwise gloomy weekly dose of hellish customer service. Looking back over the year, what emerges is that some companies really can do customer service properly. They don’t quibble when warranties have expired. They don’t demand you provide long-lost receipts, so long as you can give some sort of evidence. When you call, staff really try to sort things out rather than sticking to a script. They ring you back. And if they can’t arrange a repair, they sort out replacements… pronto.
And as I researched the background on these companies, one thing stood out from their corporate websites. There was no ticker showing the share price. In the 1990s the rotten concept of “shareholder value” took hold of fund manager-led capitalism, demanding that a company’s sole purpose is to extract maximum value (ie profit) for shareholders. Everything else is secondary, which usually means quality and service suffer, as fund managers chase quarterly improvements in profits. Short-termism rides roughshod over long-term business values.
So who are the great companies our readers have been praising? Three stand out: Lakeland (homewares), Dimplex (radiators), and Lands’ End (outdoor clothing). For example, a reader’s Lakeland electric blanket stopped working on one side after five years. Lakeland collected it, replaced it with a new one and (quite remarkably) even gave a token to spend in the stores because the new one was cheaper than the one she bought five years earlier.
Dimplex appeared twice in our columns: it replaced a two-year-old heater without quibbling after it broke down, despite the reader having lost the receipt. Another reader told us a very similar story about the firm. Meanwhile, Lands’ End replaced a fleece after the zipper began to play up. It was six years old – and done with no questions asked.
You wrote to us about many others, all happy to repair and replace long after warranty: Spear & Jackson spades, Prestige kettles, Brabantia bins, Antler suitcases, Corby trouser presses, Bushnell binoculars. All evidently really believe in the long-lasting quality of their products. Many are family controlled, though we also came across corporate kindness at multinationals. One reader bought a £100 voucher for her son, who lost it amid a violent attack. She wrote to the firm, with no receipt, and not only did it offer a £100 voucher, it promised a free pair of trainers on top. It was Nike.
The key to good customer service? Just do it.