Just experienced poor customer service!
Lazerlite
Posts: 1,038 Forum Member
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I don't think the extra mile in some stores or within some members of staff exist.
I just a jacket online which was in the sale, and I rang up my local store to locate the item (little did I know that this line was originally released in March and it's to be discontinued).
Anyway, the female member of staff on the phone checked for the item and came back to me to let me know it was out of stock.
However, what flew me off the handle is that she didn't offer to do any running around on my behalf by the way of either ringing head office or finding another way of item checking to see if any other stores are holding the item. Nor did she give me a telephone number.
I accept that sometimes, you have hold your hands up and say "sorry, I'm afraid", but this is just uncaring :mad:
And the items advertised online, don't reflect on the stores itself. What annoyed me even more was that I've not physically seen or tried the jacket on, so there's no way of knowing what the right size is.
I don't want the palava of gambling on a size, and then paying a delivery charge as well as having to wait!
What happened to the days, when items were actually available and you could buy them at the sale price that they were advertised???
This is LARGELY the reason I rarely bother with High street sales - because I'm always left to feel disappointed
I just a jacket online which was in the sale, and I rang up my local store to locate the item (little did I know that this line was originally released in March and it's to be discontinued).
Anyway, the female member of staff on the phone checked for the item and came back to me to let me know it was out of stock.
However, what flew me off the handle is that she didn't offer to do any running around on my behalf by the way of either ringing head office or finding another way of item checking to see if any other stores are holding the item. Nor did she give me a telephone number.
I accept that sometimes, you have hold your hands up and say "sorry, I'm afraid", but this is just uncaring :mad:
And the items advertised online, don't reflect on the stores itself. What annoyed me even more was that I've not physically seen or tried the jacket on, so there's no way of knowing what the right size is.
I don't want the palava of gambling on a size, and then paying a delivery charge as well as having to wait!
What happened to the days, when items were actually available and you could buy them at the sale price that they were advertised???
This is LARGELY the reason I rarely bother with High street sales - because I'm always left to feel disappointed
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Comments
There's clearly a bit of ignorance here:
This was the first time I checked the particular online site, so my obvious first impressions are from mark-down activity that it's something advertised that's current!
Obviously I had a clear expectation of the item being in A particular store or can be located and transferred from another store.
I've done it, and I've been on a lesser wage - it's ignorance and aloofness like this makes you wonder why more and more people are unemployed here!!!!!
Genuinely not trying to "rake the p" - just pointing out that online offers may well be long out of date - together with a realistic expectation of staff who are poorly paid and completely unmotivated.
Is it optimum or acceptable ? Probably not - but it seems absolutely par for the course in today's job market.
No hard feelings.:cool:
I'm to start a new job as a temp in a well-known retail store and this sort of thing is only going to drive me to do the best I can.
I can take disappointment, but when the tone of the Sales Assistant comes across as though they don't care, that's the most hurting part, especially when I know I've bent backwards in the past to help people.
Truth is though, i work in a shop, if someone called up and asked if we had something in stock, i would check the shelf and check the system to see what we should have, and i would check to see if we could order the item.
That is as far as i would go with the initial query, now if the customer said, "could you please check if any other stores have it in stock", then yes i would go further.
However only as far as calling 1 or 2 shops she wanted me to call, we have 35 stores on our area list, and our systems aint linked, so the only way to check is to phone the store and they go physically check the shelf and check the back system, to do that would take HOURS, im afraid i dont have time to do that.
So for that reason i wouldnt be volunteering myself to effectively take myself out of the buisness for 2-3 hours, meanwhile other customers instore are waiting at the till longer or not having products available because i am phoning round for someone who may or may not want something that they may or may not return at a later date.
If thats a problem, Ho hum.:cool:
Congrats on the new job - and absolutely behind your intent to be the best you can . Give them hell - but please be prepared for completely unrealistic customer demands.
The job satisfaction will come completely from knowing that you have overshot expectations - and never from anyone backing up your actions. Please please please - learn to accept that you own standards and meeting them is their own reward. Sadly - the pay will only ever reflect the disabused disinterest.
That's an exaggeration.
It's not a case of me asking, it's for you to go out of your way. But it's clear from the tone of your voice that your attitude spells otherwise!!!!!!!!!!!:rolleyes:
LOL, whatever.:D
You are talking about a shop assistant ? not a servant ? Because unless you employ a person how can you possibly know how their company works ?
It's clear from your tone of voice that you expect too much. What makes you so special that they have to go out of their way for you and not for any other customer? There isn't enough time in the day for this to happen to every customer.
I can imagine you're the type of customer that complains about everything. The type that people who work in customer service hate.
I couldn't have put it better myself.
That was one way I was brought up - through the old skool route of providing quality and satisfactory customer service.
It's seems these days to be cardboard and humans being treated like numbers. Words/phrases like: "Is there anything else I can help you with today" don't come across authentic.
Anyway, I'm going off on one, but the point is, this assistant no matter what their position in the company was or what they stood for, should have gauged in my needs and be prepared to spend a little more time in finding out what else they could offer rather than being in the hurry to put the phone down for whatever reason.
I was answering questions like these during my online application which got me the interview and of which I even had to carry out a roleplay exercise.
If you show the customer that you genuinely care and go out of your way to help them even if the outcome may not be total satisfaction, it atleast shows that you've made the effort.
Never mind though as it seems my values in being a good hardworking helpful caring guy is best left kept to myself.
No actually I don't, I have STANDARDS - that is what's different, and it's not even a question being specially out to show people how it's done, it's the way I've been trained having worked in the past for some top quality companies.
You wouldn't experience this for example in say a Debenhams, M&S or a House of Fraser store.
And believe me, this is coming from somebody who's not a stereotype of a grumpy old so and so and not somebody who moans all the time - it's just I expect minimum expectations given that I'm paying good money.
What a rude response!
I definitely know what I experience and I'm not being unreasonable given my scenario.
It seems there's an agenda to go against my own values and perhaps this would have been better in hindsight to have posted this in the advice section.
Thanks to those that have been kind and understanding.
So if the assistant had a queue in the shop you would expect them to help a possible customer by ringing round stores that the customer could have done themselves ?
The rate of pay isn't an excuse for not delivering high and quality customer service.
We don't know the full ins and outs of staffing, nor whether there was a large queue and my OP doesn't mention either.
Should that have been the case though, I would have taken down the customer's telephone number, have a look when I do have spare time because you can't be serving customers all the time, then get back to the customer whatever the outcome.
I think you simply rang the wrong person Lazer, someone working minimum wage in a soul destroying job just isn't going to to role out the red carpet for you.