Around nine thirty this morning I phoned Cell Press about some broken RSS feeds. Since my reader (NetNewsWire) has a validator gadget built in, I told the phone worker where to look for the problem in their RSS code. The operator thanked me pleasantly for my input and promised to pass it on. At ten I noticed that some of the Cell Press websites were down. By ten thirty the sites were up and the RSS feeds for Cell, Cell Metabolism and Current Biology came to life. That has to be the fastest turnaround time I have ever seen.
Add Cell Press to a list of customer service good guys that also includes Apple and, uh, Apple.
Zifnab
I have a friend of a friend that works in Apple customer service and they do make it a point to be very friendly and not-asshole-ish.
Larry Craig nee Crusty Dem
I’ve always hated Cell Press, never dealt with their customer service, but their journals have always pissed me off (not much of a task, I admit). I’ve been very happy to see Neuron fall off the charts, in terms of impact factor. They and Cell, at least in the neuroscience field, have long been in the habit of publishing big, crappy papers from big labs, often at the exclusion of everything else. Plus, Cell and Neuron have always had the most finicky systems for downloading pdf files via my University’s library system (although it could be an issue w/library not paying up, it was a problem I didn’t have with other journals).
jibeaux
L.L. Bean.
Michael D.
Comcast!!
[/ducks]
tripletee
Nintendo.
anonocrat
My old employer, Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, MI, had the best customer service culture I’ve seen anywhere.
They tracked service accomplishments as a bottom line, right alongside cash. We weren’t allowed to say "no" or "you can’t …" or "that’s not my job." If the guest (not "customer") had a problem, we had a problem, and the expectation was that we would not only get what the guest wanted, but somehow "go the extra mile" after we had already done right by them.
The odd thing is, delivering that level of customer service makes you happier than delivering a shitty level of customer service. I never really understood why you would want to give ordinary customer service, after working there.
Joel
Cell Press went down this morning? I didn’t notice. Pulled off a paper with no problems at 8AM PST. Of course, the issues may have been resolved by then.
Mike
Godaddy has remarkably competent customer service people.
Oy Vey
I’ll second the love for Nintendo.
Linkmeister
What do you do that requires you to read those? I used to read them for one of my clients, trying to pick out pertinent articles they wouldn’t see.
Tim F.
I try to get published in Cell.
Quicksand
Logitech Harmony remote controls.
A couple of years ago I had some problems with remote control configuration for some unusual AV equipment, and their FIRST LEVEL tech-support person was able to competently and quickly debug the problem, adjust the XML configuration file for my remote (stored on their server), and solve it.
I have never experienced support like that before, or since. Recommended.
Crusty Dem
Tim, despite my pissiness, it’s obviously a very good career move if you can manage it. I hope, for your sake, that you’re in a big name lab (or prepare to be told to piss off).
Axe Diesel Palin
Nintendo has great service.
On a Sunday morning my son decided to ask me to get his Nintendo Gameboy DS Lite on the Internet through Wifi. It wouldn’t work (because of some complexities of my home network config). Called customer service and they walked me through a work around for my configuration, even though my router was not on their approved list and they could have just blown me off.
Did I say "on a Sunday".
john b
i’ll second ll bean. they’ve gone far beyond what i would ever expect them to do for me on more than one occasion.
Jill Howell
Godaddy.com – amazing customer service. A day or two after buying some products/services, online, they called me to tell me I over-purchased certain services, i.e. hosting for different sites. Once I understood my mistake and agreed they immediately provided a refund,
They are extremely friendly, helpful and just all around amazing.
Aaron
Links?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Linkmeister
Ah. A pointy-headed intellectual, and worse, one wearing a lab coat!
mere mortal
Dyson.
As in the vacuum. I had to replace a washer that I had lost, and after the CS agent realized that shipping was going to cost more than the part, just sent it to me for free.
US Airways.
On a comp ticket (got bribed to accept a 4 hour delay on a return trip), their agents went beyond the call of duty to get me on a plane going out and coming back from my free vacation flight.
Dork
Adam and Eve Catalog has a great customer serv…..um….uh……nevermind. From what I hear. Of course.
Joel
I try to get published in Cell.
—
I’ll settle for the Russian Journal of Nondestructive Testing.
theo
Good, but rare, to see a commercial publisher actually doing something to earn their commission. I prefer to stick with the society journals (no, not the same ones as Lady Lynn de Forester Rothschild)
Geoduck
I gather that Godaddy’s founder is something of a creep politically, but I’ll add that my (limited) experience with their tech service was good as well.
My internet provider does a good job, but they’re still a regional company. (Which may be why…)
Galen West
so, how about we go the other way and list horrible customer service:
eBay – god they are awful.
AT&T – hopefully you don’t get one of their Indian representatives.
Jiminy Jilliker
It’s a little different, but in my experience, Bloomingdale’s has great customer service-like, crazy great. I suppose it should be at those prices, but still…
Zuzu's Petals
@Galen West:
Omigod, I literally shouted at an AT&T customer rep on the phone today. I couldn’t believe I actually shouted at some poor schlub, but their insane voicemail setup combined with linear human responses made me throw a nutty.
The lineman was working on the thing at the top of the pole down the street and warned me that my line might go dead for awhile. Sure enough, lost phone, DSL, and house alarm (which proceeded to give off an annoying intermittent but nonstop beep). Then he left.
After FINALLY getting through to a human being on my cell phone, the guy told me he just tested the line from there, it was fine, and it must be my equipment. Someone would come Monday morning. That’s when I threw the nutty.
Then I got a call from (no kidding) Joe the Lineman. He apologized for leaving, went up and fixed the glitch, and all’s well.
I feel bad for ruining the poor schlubby customer rep’s weekend. Especially after listening to (the late) Studs Terkel talk about respecting the dignity of the worker this morning on NPR.
Virgil
Well in my experience, Cell Press blows – at least the manner in which they treat scientists.
Exhibit A – I submitted a paper to one of the newer Cell Press journals , and after a 9 week review time (despite everything being electronic), they rejected the paper on the basis that it was only "responsive" and "reactionary" to something already published there. This from a journal less than a year old! I tried explaining to the editor that the research described in the paper was going on for 2 years before their prissy little journal ever came into existence, and got an even more supercilious response. Talk about attitude! These guys think that because they’re part of the Cell Family of Journals they can just blow everyone off. The work eventually got into Am J Physiol and has already been cited 10 times in just 1 year since publication.
Exhibit B – Fast forward 2 years. We live in the 21st century but you wouldn’t think it if you deal with Cell Press – I am now waiting upwards of 7 weeks for initial reviews on a submitted manuscript.
Science journals need a serious kick in the a$$, when it comes to realizing who who they serve, and what their rightful place in the universe is (at the bottom of the food chain). If they spent a bit less time on RSS programming, and a bit more time actually doing their job, we’d all be a lot better off!