10 Customer Service Excellence Examples, With the Numbers

Ten customer service excellence examples, from Ritz-Carlton to Costco, each with what the company does and a measured result with its year.

The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park, with staff at the main door. Photo: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer service excellence in practice looks like this: the person who meets the customer is trusted to fix the problem there and then, and the company backs them with a simple, written promise. The ten companies below do it, and each one has a measured result to show for it: a satisfaction score, a renewal rate or a documented policy, with its year.

The US scores come from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which rates companies on a scale of 0 to 100. The two British entries come from the UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), run by the Institute of Customer Service, also out of 100.

Company	What they do	The measured result
The Ritz-Carlton	Every employee may spend money to put a guest's problem right	Up to $2,000 per employee (reported 2019)
Zappos	Free shipping and returns on every order; no hurry on the phone	Longest call: 10 hours 43 minutes (2016)
Trader Joe's	Tastes every own-label product; refunds anything you do not like	ACSI 86, top US supermarket (2026)
Costco	Refunds the membership fee at any time	92.3% renewal rate, US and Canada (financial year 2026)
Nordstrom	Staff do right by the customer, as in the tyre refund	ACSI 82, up 5%, joint top US online retailer (2026)
Chick-fil-A	"My pleasure" in reply to every thank-you	ACSI 83 (2026), after 11 years top of quick-service
Amazon	Refunds customers before they ask	ACSI 82, joint top US online retailer (2026)
Chewy	Surprise hand-painted portraits of customers' pets	More than 1,000 paintings a week (2021); ACSI 82 (2026)
Nationwide	Keeps all 605 branches open until at least 2030	UKCSI 87.3, top UK organisation (July 2026)
John Lewis	Owned by the people who work there	UKCSI 87.1, top UK retailer (July 2026)

1. The Ritz-Carlton: staff may spend money to fix a guest's problem

Every employee at The Ritz-Carlton is allowed to spend up to $2,000 to right a wrong or keep a guest happy, Investor's Business Daily reported in 2019 in its profile of co-founder Horst Schulze. Usually the money buys a meal for an unhappy guest. Sometimes it goes further: four workers at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancun, Mexico, used it to buy metal detectors and search the beach for a wedding band a honeymooner had lost. Hermann Elger, a former Ritz-Carlton general manager, told the paper the money lets employees know "they have the power to fix any issue on the spot". The rule sits inside the company's Service Values. Two of them read: "I am empowered to create unique, memorable and personal experiences for our guests" and "I own and immediately resolve guest problems."

2. Zappos: a phone call of 10 hours 43 minutes

On 11 June 2016, at Zappos's headquarters in Las Vegas, Steven Weinstein answered a call from a customer who needed help with an order of a few items. Once the order was sorted, the two kept talking. The call lasted 10 hours and 43 minutes, the longest in the company's history, Business Insider reported in July 2016. It beat the record of nine hours and 37 minutes set by Mary Tennant in 2012. Weinstein took one break, about two and a half hours in, and a colleague brought him food and water. Nobody cut the call short. Zappos was founded in 1999 and says it built its reputation on exceptional service, and it offers free shipping and returns on every order.

3. Trader Joe's: try it, and bring it back if you don't like it

Trader Joe's says it tastes everything before it puts its name on a product, and its promise to shoppers is three short sentences: "We tried it. We like it. If you don't, bring it back for a refund or exchange." It takes the risk out of trying something new. Shoppers seem to like the deal. In the ACSI Retail and Consumer Shipping Study 2026, Trader Joe's rose 2% to 86 out of 100, overtaking Publix (84) to lead all US supermarkets. ACSI said the chain kept its hallmark customer experience while expanding across the country, which often strains a retailer's operations. The study surveyed customers contacted between January and December 2025.

4. Costco: a refund on the membership itself

Costco's satisfaction guarantee covers the membership as well as the goods: "We will cancel and refund your membership fee at any time if you are dissatisfied." A shop that will hand back the entry fee has to keep its members happy all year, and the renewal rate shows whether it does. At the end of its financial year, which closed on 30 August 2026, Costco's renewal rate in the US and Canada rose to 92.3%, from 92.2% the quarter before, CNBC reported. The worldwide rate was 89.8%. Costco ended the year with 84.1 million paid members, and its Executive tier, which costs $130 a year against $65 for the basic card, reached 42.3 million members, an all-time high.

5. Nordstrom: the tyre refund that really happened

Nordstrom's best-known service story is about a customer who brought a set of used tyres into its store in Fairbanks, Alaska, and asked for a refund. Nordstrom has never sold tyres. But in 1975 it bought three stores from Northern Commercial of Alaska, a company that did, and the customer said he had bought them there with a promise he could return them. The associate, Craig Trounce, phoned a tyre company to ask what they were worth, paid the customer that amount and took the tyres. The customer had driven more than 50 miles. Nordstrom has confirmed the story, and says it hangs tyres in some stores and break rooms as a reminder. In the ACSI 2026 study, Nordstrom rose 5% to 82, tying Amazon and Chewy at the top of US online retail.

6. Chick-fil-A: two words, every time

When Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy thanked an employee at a hotel, the man replied with a sincere "my pleasure". The memory stayed with Cathy, and back home he asked his team to answer every customer's thank-you the same way. The chain led the ACSI's quick-service restaurant rankings for 11 years running. In the Restaurant and Food Delivery Study 2026, published in June, it held its score of 83 out of 100 and stayed the clear leader among chicken chains, although newcomer Jersey Mike's took first place overall with 84.

7. Amazon: refunds before the customer asks

In his letter to shareholders for 2012, Jeff Bezos wrote that Amazon builds systems that look for times when it has given a customer an experience below its standards, and then refund the customer without being asked. One customer received an email saying Amazon had noticed poor video playback while he rented the film Casablanca, and had refunded his $2.99. Bezos wrote of a similar policy on pre-order prices: "Doing it proactively is more expensive for us, but it also surprises, delights, and earns trust." The same letter lists the company's "customer service Andon Cord" alongside these examples. In the ACSI 2026 retail study, Amazon scored 82, down 1% but still tied for first among US online retailers.

8. Chewy: oil paintings of customers' pets

Chewy, the online pet shop, sends surprise oil paintings of customers' pets. There is no way to buy one. Chewy calls it its "well-known and beloved practice" and marked its tenth birthday in 2021 with murals in Boston and South Florida showing the pets of more than 100 customers who had been with it since 2011. The Associated Press reported in January 2021 that Chewy was sending more than 1,000 free paintings a week, usually to customers with a pet photo on their account or who had shared one with a service agent. Its 2,500 agents are trained to answer questions such as which foods suit older dogs. In the ACSI 2026 study, Chewy scored 82, down 4% but tied for the top of US online retail.

9. Nationwide: every branch stays open

Nationwide Building Society has promised to keep every one of its 605 branches open until at least the start of 2030. In Nationwide's words, 157 of them are "the last in town". The society says a closure may still happen in circumstances beyond its control, and only when there is no other workable option. In July 2026, the Institute of Customer Service named Nationwide the UK's best-performing brand for customer satisfaction, with 87.3 out of 100 in the UKCSI. Its service also wins accounts: between October and December 2025 it was the biggest winner from current account switching, with 64,527 net gains.

10. John Lewis: owned by its staff

The John Lewis Partnership is the UK's largest employee-owned business. Its staff are called Partners, and they share the ownership. The company says that being owned by its Partners rather than by shareholders lets it put customers first and take a long-term view of every decision. In the July 2026 UK Customer Satisfaction Index, John Lewis scored 87.1 out of 100, second only to Nationwide among all UK organisations. No retailer scored higher, so John Lewis stays the UK's top retailer for customer satisfaction. The Institute of Customer Service noted that it was the first time banks and building societies had overtaken retail in the index.

What the ten have in common

The person who meets the customer can say yes. At The Ritz-Carlton, Nordstrom and Zappos, the problem gets fixed on the spot, not passed up the line.
The promise is short and written down. Costco and Trader Joe's each fit their guarantee into a sentence or two that a shopper can remember.
They look for faults before the customer complains. Amazon refunds people it has let down without waiting to be asked.
Small habits are repeated every time. A two-word reply at Chick-fil-A and a painting from Chewy are cheap next to a customer who stays.
They make promises that run for years. Nationwide has pledged its branches to 2030, and John Lewis is owned by its own staff, which keeps the focus on the long run.