Winner: OSN
A few months ago, I received a phone call from OSN. And I thought, “OSN…OSN…why does that sound familiar…oh yeah! The satellite thing…holy shit I’m still paying that?” Evidently I wasn’t; my credit card expired. Hence the call from their customer service. The lady was exceedingly polite and very accommodating. I could just change my card number right then and there with her on the phone. No transfers to different departments or website or god forbid, an office thats open from “I’m too busy to drive there” to “I cannot be bothered right now.”
It had literally been months since I last turned on my OSN receiver. But the convenience, and the cost make it hard to decline. And their customer service as always been top notch with me. I’ve never had major issues and when I have had minor ones, they’ve dealt with it in the most professional manner you can imagine. I briefly played with the idea of cancelling the subscription and seeing how long before my wife would notice, as she insists on keeping it. But at the time, the wife was pregnant, and the vision of her reaction to my little social experiment was more than enough to sway me back to just giving up my new card details.
Happy wife, happy life everyone.
Note: The above incident was several months ago, and OSN has yet to be watched. I will be diligently updating you all every 150 days. Stay tuned.
Runner up: Al-Sayer
When you buy a car in Kuwait, you don’t buy a car. You buy into a relationship with your dealer. Whereas in most other places I’ve lived, you could go to Kingsway Honda if the guys at Carter Honda are total Oakley-wearing douchebags high-fiving each other and patting each other on the butt. Here, your love for a car and insistence on buying it is weighed against future irritation you will experience if you buy it. That’s why certain brands with cats on them have such a bad rap. Brands like that should only be for people who have a crush on their service representative. You’re not buying the car, you’re buying the service. And in most cases, service is enfuriating.
At a certain level, I’m sure the people selling Toyota and Lexus know their cars are not exactly known for their personality or looks. They simply make good good cars. But that’s not enough and they know it. That’s why they bend over backwards to give the best possible service they can. In the same week I had flat tires on two cars, a Lexus and a german brand of which Hitler was particularly fond of. Lexus, replaced the tires and rims and did a full service on the car the same day I brought the car in, before I could even schedule an appointment for the other car. They even towed the car and waived the charge. Bunch of sweeties over at Sayer.
Winner: Al-Sayer
For this category there are two winners because I personally love Al-Sayer and think they should be number 1. I’ve had my Toyota going into 5 years now and my experience with the dealer has been great, so great that I actually took the time to write about how great they are on my blog [Here]. Everything I wrote in that post still stands true today and I can’t think of any other company better deserving of this award.
Runner up: McDonalds
McDonalds in Kuwait has by far the best customer service of any fast food joint anywhere in the world. Seriously.
7 replies on “Best Customer Care in Kuwait 2015”
OSN won because they couldn’t take your money anymore and they were very polite about it. Are you stupid?
Al-Sayer is probably good the the higher ups in society. To the common man … walk into a showroom and no one cares. Back in 2004 when I wanted to get my Camry, I went from one salesman to another and each one just ignored me and asked me to meet another salesman. I ended up having a fight and then through a contact got in touch with the secretary of one of the Sayers. Only after this did the salesman care to look into my need. The Sayers don’t have anything to offer a customer … not even the brochure/ booklet giving details of the vehicle you may want to get. They have got so much sale that they have the kind of attitude … want it get it, else buzz off!
In 2011 I went to the Ford showroom. Contrary to my previous experience the guys were extremely attentive and each one was trying to answer the questions I had. When I got my Edge, I was given an extra year of service and two years of additional warranty!
I have to say the Nissan al babtain service behind its showroom. Has some of the best customer care personnel I have worked or talked to. I had a Toyota before this and they beat them by a mile. Esp. Oh man and his two coworkers. Their salespeople promised me one thing and didt deliever which was an outright steal and a big let down. Including the showroom manager. Serious prick. Now gmc salespeople are the worse I mentioned it to them and they just told me it doesn’t matter to them because they get contracts and etc.. the guy was literally trying not to sell me the car.
Where is the secret garden located?
This is a bit unfair, unless you have experienced all of the car dealers in Kuwait.
I know Mark has experience with a few.
Al-Sayer, the thing is their pre-sales experience is crap because frankly they are having a hard time keeping cars in stock. One of my colleagues told me that the salesmen at Al-Sayer are given such large targets that if they don’t close the deal in 10 minutes then they simply move on to the next customer.
Not having owned either a Toyota or a Lexus I cannot comment on their post-sale service, but pre-sale is definitely eat or be eaten.
I too am OSN subscriber but their subscription service has a hard time charging my card. Some months they charge it okay, other months they keep calling me because their charge is getting declined – only to find out that they put the wrong expiry date (note: my card hadn’t expired yet). Are they entering it in manually?
Have to agree with the AL-sayer comments. Pre-sales they are absolute crap, they don’t give a dam unless you tell them directly straight out you want to buy this car they will ignore you and im a local.
But that being said their service center for the cars is top class, never had any problems servicing my car.
OSN?? How… All they ever do it badger you when your past due, and if you change your credit card its a crime… God forbid you ask for a receiver to me moved from place to place… Its 21 KD or so per visit.
Thank god for online services these days..