Some good service

Sadly, SA is not noted for its customer service. Or rather, it is, but not in a good way. That’s why when I have some good customer service, I like to tell people about it. And this week has been a revelation in what other countries would call “service”, but what we here in SA call “fantastic service”. These companies should be celebrated and rewarded. I will do the celebration bit here, you sort out the rewards bit by doing business with them.
Companies must adapt or die. As this unnatural form of natural selection proceeds, so poor customer service will die out like the dinosaurs (but without massive meteorite involvement) and good customer service will evolve to be the dominant species.

Hi-Q Wynberg
After my op, I wasn’t allowed to drive for a while. And when I did want to drive, my car wouldn’t start. Even trying  to jump-start it via its big sister didn’t work and I deduced that it needed a new battery. Cue a call to Andre (021) 761 7063, who did exactly what he said he would, exactly when he said he would and got me back on the road.
Nice.

Geysol
Having decided that we needed to save money on electricity (who doesn’t?), we turned to Geyerwise for assistance. They got one of their distributors – Leon from Geysol (076 036 0623) – to pop around and fit our unit for us. One prompt, fast, friendly, helpful and clean job later, we are saving money on our electricity. How much, I’m not sure yet, but I’ll let you know. I’m hoping that the unit will pay for itself inside three months. After that, it’s pure saving goodness.

ADM Home Appliances
With two kids and an annual Cape Town winter, a tumble dryer is a luxury necessity. And it’s only when it goes wrong that you realise how much you rely on it. Not so much yesterday, with its 29.5°C temperatures – more on days like today with its 29.5mm+ of rain.
Ours went badly wrong last Friday and so we called in Deen from ADM Home Appliances on (021) 797 2321. He came, he saw, he took the machine away, he gave us a quote, he fixed the machine and he brought the machine back. What’s not to like?

Pool Doctor
Ironically right next door to my friends at Hi-Q (see above), Pool Doctor (021) 761 9121 dropped in right when they said they would to sort out my leaking pump. Then they sorted out the leaking pump and my pool is looking ready for summer already. This seemed like such a good idea in yesterday’s sun. Today, I’m going to see how the overflow works.

So, if you need bits for your car, to save money on your electricity bill, an appliance repaired or your pool sorted out – please give these guys a call and do your bit to promote decent customer service.

10 thoughts on “Some good service

  1. We had a timer fitted to the geyser, and added a geyser blanket (even though it is new and insulated as part of its construction).

    About 3.5 months should see the investment repaid.

    Replacing our old fridge freezer (it died) with a new energy-efficient version has made a worthwhile difference too.

  2. Just make sure nothing illegal in the wiring dept happened (it’s been known to happen – ESPECIALLY by Geyserwise associates).

    Saving electricity all depends on HOW you use electricity in the first place, and how the device is set up. Despite claims of magnificence, I know of several occasions where specifically Geyserwise devices have been installed that have ended up costing MORE than before, not less. Often a simple timer device (as purchased from Builders Warehouse or similar) and fitted in accordance with the instructions, will provide as good a result for significantly less cost (unless you got away with less than R200?).

  3. GaiB > You must be saving loads of cash. Please send me some.

    Gary >Colour me intrigued. How can it cost more? It switches the geyser off more much of the day and the insulation means that the water doesn’t cool down much, so not much to heat up again. Also, it means that we can see what temperature the water in the geyser is and therefore judge (and reduce) the thermostat setting.
    I can see that there would be some degree of variability in the savings, but costing more? How?

  4. From what I’ve seen it does take a fairly specific set of circumstances mainly having to do with the insulation of the geyser not working as it should – making the geyser colder than it should have been had the insulation worked and more than negating the savings the timer system handed back. It’d be a fair comment to say that there would need to be a fair human intervention error (more commonly called an idiot user) for this to occur as well, but not everyone is technically minded enough to even work a timer.

    If you achieve a fairly low level of saving (or none at all if you’re already fairly efficient in your usage), then you’ll take a very long time to actually recoup the cost of the unit in the first place, again costing you money you otherwise would have saved.

    As I said previously, and as a public service announcement (if you permit), a timer set to switch on for at most 2 hours prior to you using hot water, and off again before you use the water, and only having one such cycle per day (not always possible – especially if you have little kids) is probably your best bet for saving electricity when it comes to water heating. A lifestyle change to bring this about may be necessary. But I’ve heard of several circumstances where doing this makes a significant saving in electricity.

  5. One of the bigger issues we’ve found with these devices is that where a Ripple Relay is installed (not applicable in your case) the timer is installed in “front” of the relay (thus making the relay downstream of the timer switch) which means it’s very possible that the relay will get the “off” signal, but not the “on” signal. Of course, this then results in a cold water situation, where no matter what your timer does, the geyser won’t switch on.

    Another issue is the bypassing of the relays. Needless to say that this is treated similarly to a meter being bypassed, not something you want to do.

    So as I said, just make sure the thing is installed legally and correctly, and doesn’t affect the proper functioning of your normal house electrics.

    And if ever you go solar, throw the Geyserwise in the bin.

  6. I was stuck out of the blue with an error message on my Geyserwise unit and in a panic called Geyserwise
    in Cape Town to see what could be done to correct the unit. At this time we were out of hot water for most almost 24 hours…

    Geyserwise staff were superb and Leon from Geysol (076 036 0623) contacted me very shortly after may call.
    I found him extremely professional and the problem was sorted out in a jiffy….and at a very reasononable price considering that his callout was outside of business hours…

    Geyserwise & Leon…A BIG THANK YOU for the excellent service. You will be referred to my associates, friends and family…

    regards
    Peter Mouton
    BLINDS & SHUTTER SOLUTIONS

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