ING's mortgages are hassle-free--they approve you right on the phone, and they guarantee your closing costs.

I refinanced my condo last year just before going overseas.  When I left, everything was set to close within the month.

Because ING couldn't get their act together in closing, there was a two-month delay in closing. This meant the interest rate on my loan jumped 0.5%. So when I got back from overseas, I called, explained the situation, and asked them to restore the loan to its original interest rate. 30 minutes later, I got a call back, and they agreed to lower my loan's rate to the originally quoted rate.

There was no negotiation, and no requirement for me to escalate to a manager's manager's manager to get approval. The whole experience probably took five minutes of my time, and it really underscored the essence of providing a good customer experience--people are willing to tolerate mistakes, if the mistake is rectified in a satisfactory manner. In this case, ING made me happy that I was a customer of a bank that was willing to do the right thing. Even though it might cost them in the short term, as a long-term strategy, this was the right thing to do. After all, how often do you hear people raving about their bank?