StudioPress WP themes – thank you for great service

November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Tech support at StudioPress got me back up and running quickly – and threw in a free theme too

Out of the blue this site stopped displaying properly the other day. It was based on a premium theme called ‘Venture’ that I’d bought maybe two years ago. Everything had worked well and I had no complaints – until the other day. The first thing I did was make sure that all my content was still intact. Then I switched to another (free) theme in my WP dashboard which worked fine meaning that it was Venture was somehow broken.

I went on a quick search to try to find who I’d bought Venture from and when. The trail led me to StudioPress – along with the name Brian Gardner. That was strange. I’d used a lot of Brian’s themes (free and paid) but I was sure that ‘Venture’ came from a stable called ‘ModThemes’. To be honest, there have been so many of them I’ve lost track.

It turned out that Venture was now under the StudioPress umbrella. I contact tech support (not expecting much) and was really happy to get back an email offering me another theme plus their ‘Genesis’ platform – for free. True to their word, I got another email back today with a link to a download – ‘Agency’.

I’d like to say that this piece of good customer service has won me back as a StudioPress customer – except it seems that I’ve never actually been away. Nice move Brian and the team! Thanks!

Filed Under: feedback, mukau reputation boost

Toyshop in Tavistock? Kaleidoscope deserves reputation boost

October 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The owner of Kaleidoscope toyshop in Tavistock helped me out for free

It’s not often that you get something for nothing but today I did. I was walking through Tavistock looking for some small magnets and getting nowhere. Not the hardware store, not the market, not the fancy gift shops. So I called into Kaleidoscope Toys and spoke to the owner.

“Hang on a minute” he said, and disappeared upstairs. When he returned, he had a handful of little magnets from some kind of toy I’d never seen before. “You can have these for nothing” he said.

They were JUST what I needed and they’ll be heading to Glasgow with me to the job I’ll use them for on Monday.

Thank you, Kaleidoscope Toys in Tavistock. I hope that I can return your kind deed some time.

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LG condenser dryer not heating?

January 15, 2011 By 1 Comment

Has your LG condenser dryer stopped heating?? Read this before you spend another £500

** Online reputation boost due to howtomendit.com and the internet generally!! **

Same happened to us this morning. Can’t live without one. Can’t (frankly) be arsed to start thinking about ‘repair man’ (if such a reliable person can even be found any more?). So started immediately thinking about just buying another. Hell, we’ve had this one running continuously for 4 years – it’s not as if it hasn’t seen good service.

But before spending another £500 I went to our friend Google.

And discovered that if your LG condenser dryer stops heating, you might want to take off the back metal panel (after switching off from the mains, of course) – whereapon you’ll find a little red reset switch.

If you press that little red reset switch, the dryer will start heating again. At least mine has.

I’m not sure it’s a permanent fix (there’s something about the filter sensors increasingly coming on – but no idea of how to get to those sensors to clean them…) – but I’ve just done it and it worked for now.

Thank you Internet. :-) I’m suddenly £500 better off than I was about to be. Nice.

Two other things:

1) LG – why don’t you paste a little note on the machine itself saying “If your heater element should stop working…”

2) LG – why don’t you print your little instruction stickers that you DO have on the machine upside down in future? That way I’ll actually be able to read them when I’m on my hands and knees trying to fix the unit (instead of putting the ‘right’ way up at floor level?)

Filed Under: mukau reputation boost, smile, WOW! Tagged With: , , , ,

RYA Day Skipper Course Plymouth Sailing School

September 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Good people, excellent instructors and a great Day Skipper experience from the much under-marketed Plymouth Sailing School!

This post is by way of a ‘thank you’ to the team at Plymouth Sailing School (01752 493377) for a really excellent RYA Day Skipper course. Give those people a ‘mu:kau reputation boost!

About four years ago I got the sailing bug after a couple of Boat Shows and a ridiculously cheap SunSail Competent Crew course in Lanzarote.  I decided to do the next step – the Day Skipper course consisting of a classroom based theory course followed by a practical course.

I chose to do both with Plymouth Sailing School albeit with a nearly 3 year gap in between.  Despite being really worried that I’d forgotten everything that I learned in the classroom, I paid for my practical course in Spring 2008.  Even though it took me until Aug 2009 to actually get started, I was treated as if I’d booked it yesterday.

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The two weekends I’ve done so far have been superb and my instructor, Colin, has built my confidence up to a point where chartering a yacht for holidays and beyond has gone from wishful thinking to a realistic option.

A nicer, more genuine team of sail-training people I’ve yet to meet.  The boats (typically Bavaria 34s) are always stuffed with food and drink; clean, tidy, fully-equipped and comfortable throughout.  Nothing is overlooked and they even lend you waterproofs for free.

A little bird tells me (Jan 1 2011) there’s a website re-fresh in the pipeline – which is excellent news, because up until now, Plymouth Sailing School was in danger of being the region’s best-kept sailing secret. That would be a real shame because whether you’re looking for a day’s sailing with the family or any of the RYA sail training courses, you really won’t find a better school or location.

Look forward to seeing you again this summer, chaps!

Contact Richard on 01752 493377 or visit www.plymouthsailingschool.com


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Amazon.co.uk customer service phone number (and reputation boost)

May 13, 2009 By 111 Comments

Don’t waste your time searching Amazon.co.uk for their well-hidden customer service phone number

You’ll struggle to find it – I did. And so, it seems, do thousands of other people. Well, look no further. Here it is:

0800 496 1081

You can also try this number 0207 084 7911 (listed as for ‘International Customers’) The 0800 number is working as of January 10th 2010. Where did I get it?  www.saynoto0870.com.  Why did I have to go there? Because it’s deliberately buried on the Amazon website so you can’t find it.

NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT CALL ME ABOUT YOUR AMAZON ORDERS – I AM NOT AMAZON AND HAVE NO CONNECTION TO AMAZON.

Update: 31.10.11 - It’s not only buried, it’s now non-existent. I searched for it tonight and I got this:

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that I called about my mate’s Harmon Kardon soundsticks that were broken when he got them about 2 months ago.

“Sorry but it’s outside of 30 days” said the friendly operator.

“Well it’s taken me 20 minutes to find your phone number – and only then from ‘saynoto0870.com’” says I by way of return.  “Show me where it is on your website”.

Five minutes later, we finally got there – buried so deep that it’s no wonder my mate gave up long before he ever found it.

“Do you think that’s really fair?” I asked, reasonably “What would be great is if you replaced them for him”

“Hold on one minute Sir…. [pause, music]… yes, Sir, we can do that for you”

Well done Amazon.co.uk.  Bad, bad, bad for hiding your phone number.  Good, good, good for replacing my mate’s faulty soundsticks before incurring a social media slating.  ;-)

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Benugo BFI Southbank: excellent food, great customer service

March 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

A mukau reputation boost for Benugo BFI Southbank

I went to a Christmas dinner at Benugo restaurant at BFI and it was… ok.  Actually, it was a bit less than ok and one of the party gave them some feedback via their website.

Their response was an apology and £50 in vouchers to compensate.

Tonight we went back to Benugo’s for a second visit.

Going back to a place where you didn’t have the best experience isn’t always easy.  It’s nice to be able to report that coming back to Benugo’s we were not disappointed.  Julian and I both had shin of beef and roasted carrots with spring greens and roast potatoes and it was superb.

The new manager went out of his way to make us welcome and chat with us (despite actor John Hurt and his entourage turning up at the bar at the same time). The service was great too.

A mukau reputation boost to Benugo’s for taking feedback, making amends and going out of their way to keep us as customers and – more importantly – convert us into advocates.  Good move! ;-)

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London Eye pictures prove London’s got ‘an ‘eart

February 17, 2009 By 2 Comments

Pictures courtesy random act of kindness at London Eye

I met my mum at Waterloo this evening to go for a walk along the river.  We came to the London Eye and decided on the spur of the moment to go on it.

I’d never been on it in all those years.  Amazingly, there was no queue at all.  Perfect spontaneous idea!

Until we asked one of the guys on the gate how much it was.  “£15 for adults, £12 for seniors” said the man.  Not originally planning to take a flight on the eye, I’d only brought £25 with me.

“Ah,” I said “I didn’t bring enough money” turning to walk away.

“Come here” said the man, motioning to the gate he was opening “On you go.  Enjoy yourselves”

Just like that.  What what a wonderful gesture.

BA London Eye, if you’re reading this, that man made our evening.  Thank you.


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First Great Western customer service: going the extra mile in the snow

February 3, 2009 By 4 Comments

A MRB* to First Great Western for their customer service in yesterday’s snow chaos

Train Operators don’t get much praise because most people only ever remember the small percentage of messed up journeys, not the majority of good ones.  And few of us ever stop to consider what a miracle getting from one end of the country to the other actually is.

Well, a mukau Reputation Boost for First Great Western and their customer service is in order for their handling of yesterday’s shock UK snow traffic chaos.  Why? Because they ran trains yesterday when it would have made far better economic sense to cancel them. And the people who ran them were polite, informative, empathetic and helpful.

During the 2 hour delay on the freezing platform at Plymouth, I watched customers venting their anger at First Great Western – for things over which it had no control.  Being able to work with the barely suppressed rage of the Great British Public is, make no mistake, quite an achievement for any company’s customer service department.

Getting aboard a warm train after 2 hours on a freezing platform was, delays aside, a truly wonderful experience.  In addition, the service was good too – the train manager not only kept us informed every step of the way up to Paddington, he also checked with every passenger on the train and co-ordinated their onward travel.

For my measly £13 fare, I not only got to London warm and dry, I also got a £25 taxi ride to my destination – free – with a genuine apology from the Duty Station Manager at Paddington ringing in my ears.

One last thing.  You’re rubbish at taking good feedback, FGW.  I’ve tried several times but you don’t know how to do it. Pity – because you deserve it sometimes. Like yesterday.  Thank you. :-)

*Mukau Reputation Boost: A independent, positive and confidence-inspiring comment about your company high up in the Google search results

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Core fitness studios in Falmouth Cornwall: deserves a MRB we think

January 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

A Mukau Reputation Boost* for Core Fitness and Body Studios in Cornwall for great handling of online reputation problem.

*Mukau Reputation Boost: A independent, positive and confidence-inspiring comment about your company placed high in the Google search results for your company’s keywords. (Try it: do a Google search for ‘fitness studios falmouth‘)

We’re always on the lookout to see how businesses deal with unhappy customers online to award them a free Mukau Reputation Boost

So we’re happy to announce an MRB for Helen Tite (manager of Core Fitness and Body Studio) for the positive way she responded to an unhappy customer in the Network Cornwall forum who was expressing her annoyance at not receiving a free session that Core had offered.

Helen’s response was respectful, non-reactive and generous – offering 3 free classes so the lady could get ‘to see how lovely me and my awesome team of instructors are’.

The result? The following post from the customer:

“Well, what a response. I am overwhelmed and so should the guys at Core be. People have had great things to say about the team there and I have renewed faith. Helen from the Core has been in touch and been very helpful and we have sorted out the misunderstanding”

How much is that comment worth?

How much is that comment worth at the top of Google when people are searching for your services?

Well done Helen for great customer service!


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