Will's Web Watch: A standing ovation for lastminute.com

"I'm sorry sir but it clearly states in our terms and conditions..."

How many times have you heard that? How many times have you been frustrated by the lack of humanity where call centres and help desks are concerned? Dealing with people online doesn't help. After all, email isn't renowned for the 'human touch'.

So it's a pleasant surprise when you come up against a company who actually seem to employ humans rather than machines.

Last week I was booking tickets for the theatre on lastminute.com. However, proving that writing about this stuff is no guarantee of assuredness, I made a basic mistake in the booking - clicking the wrong date on the pop-up calendar where you enter your preferred date.

I wanted to hit '5' July but hit the '12' below it - a mistake I only noticed upon reading my confirmation. By which time it was too late and I'm not even going to be in the country on 12 July.

Although I knew what the response was likely to be, I immediately sent an email to customer services. I wasn't hopeful but how difficult could it be to change a '12' to a '5' - especially as I'd been so quick to spot the mistake? I didn't think for one minute that the tickets were already printed up and waiting for me in the box office.

"I'm sorry sir but it clearly states in our terms and conditions..." came the immediate reply. I took no solace from being right about expecting this response (though was impressed at the response time).

Theatre tickets can't be changed. They are "non-transferable, non-cancellable and non-refundable" I was told.

To get something straight, I understand that these rules must exist and I understand that it was my mistake.

You can't have people block booking a selection of dates and then cancelling all but their preferred one once they finalise travel plans or confirm with the rest of the party when everybody is free.

But wasn't there something that could be done? This was a genuine mistake. While terms and conditions are necessary, surely there must be some room for good faith - especially in the case of returning customers? The internet is about community and lastminute.com is a site which trades on its community feel.

Thankfully my pleas were heard. It would have been very easy for lastminute.com to hide behind their terms and conditions - most companies would and very few of us can criticise them for doing so. They were in the right, after all. But while they suspected something could be done they went out of their way to try to help.

lastminute.com phoned the booking agent and the theatre and spoke on my behalf. They outlined the problem and asked if something could be arranged.

It was reassuring to know that companies in a virtual world still espouse good 'old fashioned' values of customer service.

Have you experienced particularly good or bad customer service? Email editorial@silicon.com and let us know.