Customer Service? So Nice to Meet You!

What's this I have been experiencing? A thing called Customer Service, you say?  Never heard of it 'til now!

Okay, that's not entirely true, but we have been on a roll lately with experiencing some amazing customer service.  There are some companies out there that have gone above and beyond lately!

Most of you know that I am in love with my Saeco espresso machine (again, the husband spoils me...)  Anyway, the steam wand has been leaking a lot. I first contacted the U.S.-based Saeco and went around-and-around with them about mailing it to the States (umm...I don't think so...) to be repaired. Finally I contacted the Japanese Saeco division and wrote them an email in ENGLISH hoping they could translate it - and wouldn't you know I got a prompt, courteous response 36 hours later - and here's the kicker - the person who wrote me back had the last name Saeco!  How crazy is that? 

He gave me the repair center info on-island, but I couldn't figure out driving directions, and the staff couldn't understand my broken Japanese (understandably so, I am horrible). But magically 60 minutes later I got a phone call from someone in Tokyo who spoke perfect English offering to try to get me a map!

To top it off, the company actually sent someone to our base to pick up the coffee machine so I wouldn't have to drive there.  In addition, I then got a follow-up email from the American-store counterpart with information about what was wrong with the machine and offering to serve as a liaison for me since I don't speak Japanese.  Amazing!

I also have to give a shout out to The GreenWay Store, who went out of their way to go to ship my order from USPS instead of their usual UPS (we can't get UPS here) and upgraded the shipping to Priority for free and has offered to send me a new one when the previous item never showed up at my house over 3 weeks later.  Also amazing.

Also, another shout out to our bank, who thankfully froze our credit card this week after noticing that odd transactions were being conducted on our account from all over the world.  Someone has stolen our credit card info (this is different than when someone hacked into my PayPal account awhile back) and tried to charge 100 different transactions all over the world, from France to West Virginia...luckily USAA noticed it after the first four and froze the account!  AND - they offer 24 hour emergency services for this, which was wonderful so that we didn't have to stay up all night waiting to talk to them because of the time change. Amen!

And today, we went to my absolute favorite Japanese Curry place to get take-out for lunch, CoCo Curry... the woman was so happy to serve me I thought she might bust her lips open smiling at me!  She thanked me a bazillion times, repeated my order to me to make sure she had it correct, and offered me a hand towel and ice water while I was waiting. Beautiful! Oh, and the best?  The sign under their cash register that read: "$1.00 = 80 Yen. We are very sorry."  Hahahaha...I am sorry too!  The American dollar is in the toilet, but leave it to the Japanese to apologize for it :)