Excellent Customer service. (Sunday Times Wine Club)

Member Name: hypno06

Product:	Sunday Times Wine Club
Date:	01/02/09 (205 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: I cannot fault the experience we had.

Disadvantages: Sad circumstances led me to discover it.

The Sunday Times Wine Club is pretty much as it sounds - readers of the Sunday Times join up and pay a monthly subscription, and in return get a case or half a case each month of mixed wines, in order that they can build up their own wine cellars and learn a bit more about wines of the world.

Buying wine in this way is not as cheap as buying from the local Supermarket, but generally the wines are of pretty decent quality and, in my limited experience, are better than those that you would buy in Tescos.....(or other similar supermarkets).

However, this review is not to rave about (or otherwise) the wine itself, the cost, or the choice.......it is specifically about the excellent experience I had with their customer services department. It is not often that I get to say that I received exceptional service, and when I do, I feel that it is worth shouting about. If anyone feels that this review is inappropriate, please let me know.

My Dad was a subscriber to the Sunday Times Wine Club and looked forward to his monthly consignment of wine, enjoying a bottle of an evening with friends or at Sunday lunchtime.

When he died, I was not immediately aware of this subscription, because he had the cases of wine delivered to his work address each time. It was therefore only a couple of months after his death that it became apparent to me that this was something that I had to deal with.

I found a statement in amongst Dad's papers, and telephoned their customer service number. Of course, by this stage, the account was in arrears by a couple of months, but because the bank account had now been stopped, there was no way to pay this, other than to pay it myself. I was quite prepared to do this, as I would just take the related wine and drink it myself over the coming months.

Without any hesitation, the chap at the end of the phone said that I was not to worry, and that they would write off the amount due. He then said that the next delivery was already in process, and that this would still come to us......and we should enjoy it, and raise a glass to my Dad. A statement followed to the same extent, along with a letter saying that the account was closed with no charge.

I don't know whether this is standard practice, or whether I just got a nice guy at the end of the phone who was having a good day. Perhaps he too has lost someone close and knew the sort of time that I would have been having. I don't know. What I do know is that this was a small display of a generosity that has left a very good impression with me.

In this day and age, where customer services departments are so automated, when you often get staff who neither seem to know, nor care, and who can't deal with anything out of the ordinary, it was a very welcome conversation that I had on that day.

We did, indeed, enjoy the wine - excellent quality........Thanks Sunday Times Wine Club, and cheers Dad x

Summary: Other companies could learn a thing or two from these people.