Two recent examples of seriously great customer service...

I want to share two examples of exemplary customer service that I've received in the past week:

United Airlines

I know a lot of people have terrible stories to share about airlines but I want to share one that left me feeling warm and fuzzy (well, sort of -- you'll see). I was on a UA flight last Friday evening (it was actually purchased through Continental) on my way from San Francisco to Newark International.

The evening began with very friendly gate agents. They had a sense of humor, shared with everyone that the flight would be full and offered to gate check any large luggage for free if people didn't want to deal with it on the plane. Second, the boarding process was fast and painless. I had my boarding pass on my cell phone (the marvels of technology) and they scanned it at the gate with no problem and sent me on my merry way.

But the best part of the experience was when I was seated on the plane. I asked for a blanket and the flight attendent apologized and said that they had no blankets on this flight as someone had messed up when reloading the plane. I said thank you a pulled out a jacket instead. Three minutes later, the same guy was walking down the aisle handing out a small card to everyone on the flight. When he got to me, he said, "Again, we're really sorry we have no blankets. Please take this card, go online when you get home and enter this code into our web site and receive a gift as a token of our appreciation that you're flying with UA."  

When I got off the plane, I immediately took out my phone and entered the code. To my surprise, United offered me $100 off my next flight! I was shocked that they were proactive and that they offered such a large coupon simply because they had no blankets on the plane. I hope that they continue to do this for their customers and that other airlines follow suit in the future.

QualityHostingOnline.com

I've been a fan of QHO for a long time. Below is an example of quality customer service from an online chat rep.  I was expecting a ticket to be opened and waiting for four hours until a tech could resolve my issue.  Boy was I surprised!

You are now chatting with Pete (Customer Support)

Jesse Middleton: When I attempt to go to one of my domains (under my reseller account), I see an error that says: Your connection to this server has been blocked by the server firewall.
Please contact your hosting provider for further information and support.
Your blocked IP address is 76.99.xx.xxx
Pete: Hello , This is Pete from Tech Support .How may I help you today ? 
Jesse Middleton: I think I may have tried the password wrong a number of times.
Jesse Middleton: I realized this now but now it seems I'm blocked.
Jesse Middleton: I'm even having trouble getting to the Web Host Manager.
Pete: Please let me know the domain name 
Jesse Middleton: The reseller account is named: gicserv
Jesse Middleton: The domain name that isn't loading is pillmelater.com
Pete: please hold on. Let me check it
Jesse Middleton: Thank you.
Pete: Temporary Blocks: IP:76.99.xx.xxx Port: Dir:in TTL:3600 (lfd - *Port Scan* detected from 76.99.xx.xxx (US/United States/c-76-99-xx-xxx.hsd1.pa.comcast.net). 11 hits in the last 66 seconds)
Jesse Middleton: Yes, I apologize for that. :)
Jesse Middleton: I had two FTP apps open and they were fighting for access.
Pete: Please make sure you computer is not infected with any kind of viruses that is triggering a port scan
Jesse Middleton: Nope, I know it was me.
Pete: I am unblocking the IP. Please stand by
Jesse Middleton: Thank you very much.
Pete: The Ip has been unblocked now
Pete: Please try
Jesse Middleton: You're the best. It works now.
Pete: You are welcome.