To think this was awful customer service in M&S?

[Livingtothefull]

So I was in a large branch of M&S recently…..this was a weekday evening and the store was very quiet, i.e. not a busy Saturday afternoon.

There were a couple of people in front of me queuing to pay, and only one cashier although 4 or 5 empty cash tills. The person at the front was buying a lot of stuff which all had to be paid for & packaged by the cashier on his own. I didn't time my wait but it was a LONG time to have to wait when the store was quiet, maybe roughly 10-15 mins.

While I was still waiting a man queued behind me, he was disabled & on crutches, obviously struggling with these & holding his shopping basket. I offered to let him go in front of me. The cashier didn't make any reaction, didn't call or ring for help etc. I looked around for staff to ask to help but none nearby.

When I finally got to the front I complained to the cashier, not unpleasantly just said 'I know it's not your fault but that was an unreasonable time to wait to be served, you need to let your manager know that you need help'. He just shrugged & looked sulky. Afterwards I complained to a manager, I also mentioned the disabled man because I think that the cashier should have had better training especially in supporting disabled customers and should have known it was appropriate to ask for help.

AIBU to expect this and that staff of a company of the calibre of M&S should be much more customer focused and disability aware? The manager I complained to was very apologetic but I am not convinced it will translate into doing anything differently.

The cashier should have rung the bell to call for assistance.

Although I highly doubt there would have been anyone else around to help!

It would seem these days that everybody wants everything five minutes ago. You are pissed because you had to wait 10 to 15 minutes to be served. YABU.

Waiting 10-15 minutes in a store the size of M&S is a bit much actually, but the worst thing is leaving the guy on crutches waiting. There must have been someone who could have helped?

It's a bit crappy but yabu to write such a long post about it! There are always shorter queues about in m&s if you go to menswear or home sections.

It sounds rubbish to me, I'd have been grumpy too. Especially at empty tills and no one else serving.

There was probably no one available, although the cashier should've rung the bell just in case.

You were being very nice to let the disabled customer go in front of you, but YABU to expect that there be multiple cashiers on tills just to deal with this unlikely situation. It sounds like you were just in there at a very unfortunate time.

YANBU, from a retail manager, complain to head office. It is highly unlikely that the manager can do anything about the staffing levels without taking from a busier time. However head office can give more hours.

Yes the cashier should have asked for help, and yes the manager should know that he didn't. Hopefully the manager will talk to the employee.

I'm with you on this one, OP. Having worked in lots of different shops, one thing that was always drummed into me was not to let huge queues form at the tills if it can be helped - open up more tills. I don't know why so many places don't do this. The Co Op and Sainsbury's local near me are the worst - three people up the back of the store chatting and unpacking one crate of yogurts while the till's got so long it's all the way down the bakery aisle.

It just seems a waste of resources and really counter-intuitive.

I agree with you OP. I used to work for M&S and we were told to ting if the queue started to build up. There definitely would have been another till trained person in the store!

To ring

The shrug would have been the tipping point for me. How fucking rude!

Personally, I find the customer service abominable at our local, very large m and s. I am actively put off shopping there. Fact.

I work in retail and I think a ten minute wait is totally unacceptable (in fact I wrote to a supermarket only last week to complain about having to wait 7-8 mins - still waiting for a reply ).

It is clear that many retailers are cutting back on staff on the shop floor though not in head offices - I was in a new John Lewis recently and there were hardly any sales assistants available to help.

I don't think waiting 10 minutes is a long time to wait - I think it is insulting for retailers to expect their customers to wait, retailers should remember that customers have a choice where to spend their money.

It seems very short sighted of M&S. If I had to wait 10 minutes I suspect I'd just decide to leave it and shop elsewhere or online, and I bet that is what a lot of customers do.

My local Boots is the worst for queues. Banks are terrible too. It's especially annoying when you know that staff are skulking out of sight to avoid doing it.

I refuse to use the automated tills in M&S. They always go wrong.

Sadly I think all retailers are cutting staff to the bone to compete with internet and juice profits but it will not work. If I go into a shop I want service. That's why I go into a shop and not do it online.

I do shop in M&S for quite a lot of groceries and the rest I do online at Sainsbury. If my M&S has unacceptably long queues and I have noticed this as a trend recently myself I will just shop more online.

Re the man on crutches. There used always to be a chair near the tills, in the main part of the store, but they've been taken away. I complained about this recently when I was recovering from surgery and found standing in a queue really tiring. The assistant agreed with me but said higher ups had thought it made the store look too cluttered.

At this time of year M&S, like many other large stores, take on Christmas temps (or they used to, perhaps times have changed). It could be that the assistant was a new member of staff. still certainly not acceptable to shrug.
when I worked in retail letters about customer service was put on the notice board for all staff to see. it was very customer focused.

There is a young guy at the checkouts at Tesco who was so rude I would never stand in his queue again - he refused to speak and handed my receipt over and turned his head away so he couldn't see me! clutches at pearls

It also makes it seem much worse if there are lots of unmanned till points. Like they could serve you but have decided not to do so.

Years ago I was a retail manager and my store was being refurbished. I asked them to take out two of the four till points because we didn't have enough staff to man more than two at a time.

Management refused. Twats.

Or wasn't Westfield was it? They can be a bit hit miss sometimes with tills but the staff are generally nice.

If I'm kept waiting I very politely ask the cashier if it's possible to call for help. It doesn't always work but it's worth a try and better than quietly fuming.

Thanks everyone for posting. Just to answer some of your points: Frazzled - I wasn't aware it was a problem to write 'such a long post about it'; are there specific rules for the appropriate lengths of post on different issues? I tried to include all relevant details. And btw I was in menswear and it was quiet, & I don't see why it should be up to the customer to have to look around the store for a quieter place to queue.

I think 10-15 mins is too long to queue. BTW I am just back from visiting my local Tesco where I queued for a fraction of this time, and on a busy Sunday afternoon

I don't agree Carries that having to assist disabled customers is an 'unlikely' situation'; there are plenty of them around also those who are elderly etc so staff should be trained to be aware of some customers' needs.

My local supermarket is Asda, and since they brought in automated tills, you are lucky no matter the time of day (when the tills are operational - overnight, it's just automated) to wait less than fifteen minutes now: it would have been nice, though, had everyone in front of you also allowed the gentleman on crutches to go in front of them.