てくれてありがとう details

write + (and…) + thanks for doing for me

kaite kurete arigatou

thanks for doing (something) for me

meaning: thanks for writing

ほんと、今日きょうは手伝ってつだってくれてありがとう。

honto, kyou wa tetsudatte kurete arigatou.

Seriously, thanks for helping today. casual

わざわざ来きてくれてありがとう。おかげで助たすかったよ。

wazawaza kite kurete arigatou. okage de tasukatta yo.

Thanks for coming all this way — you really saved me. casual

Examples

thanks for doing (something) for me — the て clause names the act being thanked for

ほんと、今日きょうは手伝てつだってくれてありがとう。

honto, kyou wa tetsudattekuretearigatou.

Seriously, thanks for helping today. casual

わざわざ来きてくれてありがとう。おかげで助たすかったよ。

wazawaza kite kurete arigatou. okage de tasukatta yo.

Thanks for coming all this way — you really saved me. casual

詳くわしく説明せつめいしてくれてありがとうございます。よく分わかりました。

kuwashiku setsumei shite kurete arigatou gozaimasu. yoku wakarimashita.

Thank you for explaining it in detail. I understand it now. neutral

貴重きちょうなお時間じかんを割さいていただき、ありがとうございました。

kichou na o jikan o saite itadaki, arigatou gozaimashita.

Thank you for sparing your valuable time. formal

てくれてありがとうございます — the polite face, said to someone outside your circle — 教おしえてくれてありがとうございます.
ていただきありがとうございます — humble receiving in place of くれる — お忙いそがしいところご対応たいおういただきありがとうございます; the standard business thanks.
てくれてありがとね — ありがとうね clipped in speech, warmer and more intimate than the full form — 話はなを聞きいてくれてありがとね.

The clause names the other person's act; your own act takes an apology frame
instead (遅おくれてすみません).

てくれる
〜てくれた reports the favour and can sit anywhere in a sentence; this frame freezes it into thanks addressed to the doer, so the clause before ありがとう must name THEIR act and never your own.
てもらう
Plain thanks are built on くれて — 手伝てつだってもらってありがとう is understood but distinctly less idiomatic; もらう reaches a thank-you only through its humble いただき, and only in formal register (ご対応たいおういただきありがとうございます).

てすみません
Same shape, opposite subject — thanks put くれて in the clause because the act was the OTHER person's (来きてくれてありがとう), while an apology names your own act bare (遅おくれてすみません); ×遅おくれてくれてありがとう is what mixing them produces.