2009 WOW! Awards for outstanding customer service presented at gala ceremony in London

London, 9 November 2009 – The 2009 WOW! Awards, which recognise the UK’s best customer service providers, were presented on 4 November at a gala ceremony at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London, UK. The winners received their awards in front of an audience of around 250 people, including TCii CEO Terry Irwin, who had sat on the judging panel a few weeks earlier.

The contenders for the WOW! Awards were all organisations or individuals nominated by their customers. During the rigorous judging process, which lasted two days, the shortlisted finalists were invited to make a personal presentation to an independent judging panel made up of some of the UK’s leading customer service professionals, consultants and sponsor representatives.

“Good customer service is fundamental to the success of any business – particularly in today’s economic climate – so I was delighted to be asked to sit on the judging panel for these prestigious awards,” says TCii Managing Director Terry Irwin.

Award winners

The 13 award categories included Best Retail Operation (won by Ladbrokes), Best Healthcare Provider (won by Osborne Grove Nursing Home) and Best Manufacturing or Business to Business Supplier (won by Green & Black’s). There was an award for Outstanding Contribution to the Community and another for Small Business, Big WOW!

The Award for OWW to WOW! sets out to recognise those organisations that have gone the extra mile to resolve a customer’s problem. The winner was I Want One of Those, which handles thousands of orders every day and ships products around the world, often in problematic circumstances. This online retailer’s success in turning problems into delight has generated huge loyalty among its customers.

The Best Local Authority award went to Haringey Council, which employs 8,500 people serving a population of 225,000 and working in 108 different languages. The work is often fraught with difficulty and has to be handled with limited resources. Nevertheless, more than 1,300 customers nominated individuals at Haringey Council for outstanding service.

The award for Most Inspiring Front Liner was won by Robby The Bobby from Merseyside Police. As a School Liaison Officer in the Croxteth and Norris Green areas of Liverpool, Robby has won himself an army of supporters and helpers – both young and old – within the community, as he works to steer youngsters away from a life of gangs and guns.

Other winners of this year’s WOW! Awards included The Mortgage Broker (Best in Financial Services), Merseyside Police (Best Emergency Services) and Debbie Iddison of York Marriott Hotel (Best in Hospitality). A full list of categories, winners and finalists is available at www.thewowawards.co.uk.

About TCii:
TCii Strategic and Management Consultants provides strategic advice and practical support to privately owned companies, and results-driven strategic advice to larger businesses. It has a worldwide client base drawn from numerous industry sectors. TCii also offers expert presentations on a wide range of business topics for conferences and seminars worldwide.

About the WOW! Awards:
The WOW! Awards for outstanding customer service are organised by The WOW! Group, led by motivational speaker Derek Williams. The awards were created to “recognise, promote and honour excellence, professionalism and outstanding achievement in the customer service profession, which in turn promotes company morale, retention and a sense of feeling wanted from within an organisation, no matter what level”.

Contact information:

Terry Irwin
Managing Director
TCii Strategic and Management Consultants
33 Cavendish Square
London
W1G 0PW
UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7099 2621
Fax: +44 (0)20 7099 2623
www.tcii.co.uk

This release was published on openPR.