Many people try to support local businesses first, while others will choose convenience or brand familiarity. But whatever you are buying, good customer service wins for me every time.

The minimum a customer should expect is to pay a fair price and receive what they have paid for promptly and in excellent condition if it is goods. If something goes wrong and there is either a delay in delivery or something arrives damaged or with bits missing, what happens next will determine whether the customer or client will return. And, more importantly, whether they will recommend you or complain about you to others.

It sounds simple, but it is easy to lose sight of the fact that customer service should focus on the customer. Why have they come to you? Have their needs been met? If not, what have you done to ensure they go away happy?

I recently received outstanding customer service from my mechanic, Simon, at thegarage@SRC. My ageing Honda had been my dad’s and it was like new when he died 11 years ago. As well as being a reliable family car, there is huge sentimental attachment to it. It has been well used and brilliantly maintained by Simon – especially as things have started to go on it – and has taken us all over the UK.

Parts have become more difficult to get hold of, but Simon has always worked his magic to find whatever is needed and without breaking the bank.

But disaster struck a couple of weeks ago when I got back to the car after a meeting and it made a strange clunking sound as I got in. When I started it, there was a huge roar and it started to shake. I knew immediately what had happened – the catalytic converter had been stolen. In broad daylight, in a car park, with people around.

I jumped out to find a gap in the exhaust where the catalytic converter had sat for 26 years, quietly doing its thing. I rang Simon and made my way to the garage. The new roar of the engine covered most of the expletives caught on the dash-cam – which sadly didn’t capture the theft which can take as little as 60 seconds – as my pride and joy limped on its way.

How much would it cost? How long would it take to fix? Would it be the same again? Just what I need with school holidays and Christmas coming up.

But worse was to follow. Simon spent a couple of days trying to find and price up parts. Because of its age, it would be an insurance write off. Paying for it myself could cost thousands of pounds. In the end, the decision was taken out of my hands when I discovered that because of the way the exhaust had been cut, it needed another part that is no longer made. The only solution was to scrap it.

This was a huge blow, not just practically, but emotionally. I felt a sense of loss and spent a couple of weeks trying to ignore it before accepting there was nothing that could be done.

Minutes before I was to make my way to the garage with the documents needed to consign the car to its fate, Simon called. He had been thinking about it over the weekend and had come up with a number of suggestions. He knew what the car meant to me and was angry that something like this should see it broken up into tiny pieces. He was on a mission. 

In a nutshell, he made the part we couldn’t get, ordered the ones we could, and I’m back on the road again – without breaking the bank.

As customer service goes, it was outstanding. Absolutely exceptional.

It would have been easier all round to just get rid of it, but he put himself in my position and wouldn’t accept no for an answer.

He has always looked after well us whenever we take our cars to him and I always recommend him, but this time he really has gone above and beyond.

The whole experience has reminded me that for a business to really meet its customers’ needs and make them feel valued, it has to put itself in their shoes. Pretend you are the customer and do your very best every time.

Oh, Simon’s also an expert on motorbikes – both riding and fixing them. Give him a shout at SRC, Unit 5, Grimshaw Lane, Middleton, Manchester, M24 2AE, tel 07593 782 756/07763 218743

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