To tell this shop owner I think her behaviour is unprofessional

[Dressily]

I am buying a few expensive items from a shop (expense relevant because I expect a certain level of service when buying expensive items). I went into the shop a few weeks ago and selected the items I want. These items aren't just for me so last week the other person involved went to see the items themselves. Once they confirmed that, yes, they agree with my selection all was good and I wanted to go ahead and make the order. There was some rush to this as the items have (for a limited time) been placed on sale. This was further complicated by the fact that I don't live in the UK so needed to pay for the items from overseas using a foreign bank account.

I found the woman I dealt with in the shop (the owner) extremely unprofessional for the following reasons:

• All email communications from her are extremely sloppy. She does not proof read so there are many spelling errors/typos. Whatever email program she uses is plain text so the emails look scruffy anyway, no footer image or contact details.

• She has hounded me to pay for these items, despite knowing that I was waiting for the other person to confirm. I get explain to me that the discount is for a limited time so please confirm ASAP but to keep emailing so often is a bit much

• I told her I would make a card payment over the phone expecting that she would ring the transaction through and then do a "cardholder not present" payment on the till. Nope, I called to give my details and her response was oo let me just get my pen. No! I don't want you writing down my card details! The connection was so bad that the call was terminated before I gave all the details.

• I asked for a load of details to do an international transfer (you need more info than for a regular transfer) but she only gave me the usual account no. and sort code. When I pointed this out and asked her to refer to my previous email she sent me some details saying "this is what you need for an international transfer" but obviously hadn't read my request because she didn't give me all the details I needed. This was followed up a couple of hours later with a "how's the payment coming" email.

• I really need/want these items, especially at the sale price, so I don't have much option but to buy from her

AIBU to email her letting her know that I find her behaviour very unprofessional and detailing why that's the case?

Tbh, you sound like someone with way too much time on your hands. You sound entitled and a bit spoiled. That might be unfair but the style of your posting give that impression.

Do not bother to complain about service for a product you haven’t bought from someone who was trying to help you. If you want to complain about spelling, take that to the Department for Education - don’t embarrass someone over it.

For the future - set yourself up with something like HiFX.co.uk - that way you can transfer from an international account to a UK account with just the account number and sort code - no need for all the SWIFT/BIC stuff.

(although actually, you can generally hunt the SWIFT etc. down if you need to - lots of banks even have converters online)

I do a lot of international transfers, I'm used to these shenanigans.

If it's a shop, it's probably not set up to take card payments over the phone. As for overseas transfers, again, not at all usual, so they wouldn't have the necessary IBAN or whatever code to give you - it may necessitate them ringing their bank to get it, that means call centres and potentially long waits on the phone. Basically, you're expecting things outside the normal, so the shop owner is out of their comfort zone and has to change things/do different things to accommodate your unusual requests. Sadly, to her, you're a pain in the neck!

It's not a matter of 'understanding' Jammie Dodger. It sounds from what the OP has said that whilst she did not ask for the items to be reserved and could therefore be purchased at any time, the shop owner kindly did so, hence her request for an update about whether the OP did want to purchase them and a speedy payment. Given that she had entered into correspondence like this with the OP, it would have looked bad had she sold them.
She also would have had to contact the OP to tell her that she had sold them and I imagine that would be a whole other AIBU from the OP has that happened. The OP put the shopkeeper in an awkward position. Otherwise, why would she bother to contact the OP to ask for speedy payment?

Lots of stores won't/can't take card payment over the phone - we're one of them. If a customer wants to place a telephone order they have to ring head office who are insured to do so. We can only take payment in person.

If she's never had to do it before, maybe she doesn't know how, especially if she's a small business and you're an international customer.

Just transfer the money to your friend and get her to go and pay in person. I wouldn't try and tell her how to improve her customer service though - she has no obligation to sell you anything so may well tell you to fuck off as it's not worth the hassle!

eg www.ibancalculator.com/bic_und_iban.html

I have to take card details and put payment through after terminating the call with the purchaser.
If the card machine uses the same line as the phone it's impossible to process otherwise.

I wouldn't sell to you op. if you can't make a simple payment without a sone and dance I would assume you were a chancer. People who make a huge fuss are usually less well off that they want to appear and over compensating.

I recognise you too. You have a...distinctive way of talking about people

Wow it sounds like you're the difficult customer rather than her being unprofessional.

She has every right to chase you for payment if she's holding stock for you. Especially during sale!! Not many retailers would do that for you. Would Harrods?

Perhaps she shouldn't write down the payment info but maybe she has a shredder and would dispose of it quickly!!

Can you use PayPal to make payment ? Can your friend who lives in that country make payment.

If I was her and you got arse now I'd sell to someone else who can pay me now

Radio because she was chasing a sale? Even Amazon do it, ‘you’ve left such and such in your basket, do you still want it?’ It’s a really common practice and the items certainly aren’t held for you. The OP clearly said anyone could have bought them and it would have been her loss.

It wouldn’t have looked bad if she had sold them at all, just a reply saying sorry out of stock now. It’s how pretty much all selling businesses work, you don’t refuse to sell to a customer ready to buy over one still making up their mind without a deposit or you’d go bust pretty quick!

This all sounds a bit "mountain out of a molehill"

Well phone lines between Maui and the UK are notoriously poor, obviously.

If I was in the position to buy elsewhere I would, but I'm not.

This is what it comes down to. Just bear with it politely OP.

OP, I can see why, if you're about to transfer a lot of money to someone, a slightly "unprofessional" style may not exactly inspire confidence. However, if it's a small retailer, you just have to accept that they obviously don't have an international website or clear processes for this kind of payment. As for her spelling, well yes, you might hope for slightly better, but overall it would sound very petty to mention it as it sounds like you are dealing with an individual, not an organisation or well-known brand. In these circumstances, just order your items and let it go. At least she hasn't sold them to someone else in the meantime - that would be more annoying!

Like most PPs I think to send an email of the sort you describe would be rude and unreasonable. She runs a shop. What she stocks is of a quality and price that even a demanding customer with very high standards is keen to make a substantial purchase. That sounds to me like she is doing a very good job of running the shop.

You say she has to order the items so presumably they are also available from other retailers or even direct from the manufacturer but you are still opting to buy from her, presumably because of the good price? Had it occurred to you that If she spent money on impressive looking software or employing staff who could write perfectly spelled and well presented emails her overheads would be higher and she would have to charge more?

And finally the sort of written errors you describe could be down to dyslexia, or maybe not. Perhaps she is not well educated. An email from you won't improve either of those things but could humiliate her.

we've all become accustomed to a far higher level of customer care, rightly or wrongly.

Actually I think standards of customer care have deteriorated hugely in recent years. But then I'm quite old and remember when the customer was 'always right'

Anyway OP, I think this retailer is a bit out of her depth/inexperienced and although you expect a higher level of service, it would be very unkind of you to point out grammatical errors to her.

And I'm pretty sure I recognise your posting style too

Sounds like the very expensive item might be the perfect table and chairs for hosting a Fajita Friday.

I was imaging exotic animals. I'll have a white tiger, a zebra and a giraffe.

It's all very mysterious though.

Jammie, we shall agree to disagree on this one.

Actually I think standards of customer care have deteriorated hugely in recent years. But then I'm quite old and remember when the customer was 'always right'"

Likewise the levels of entitlement and rudeness with some shoppers has increased, add in that most retailers have reduced the number of staff to deal with customers, taken away the few benefits that used to come with working for them and maybe it's not surprising.

OP, I understand your frustration, however, the business this lady runs may operate in a way in which he majority of custom is face to face, the majority of communication with customers does not involve emails, the majority of payments cash or card where customer is present.
The way you are wanting to purchase may well not be the norm for her business so the service level and efficiency etc will not be as professional and as polished because those sales process are not as established. They may also account for such a small percentage of her sales that it may not be productive for her ho invest time in improving them, she will save all the effort for where the majority of her sales lie.
I run a small independant garage, and there are occasions when you dont want to turn customers away but what they want and how they want it doesnt fit in with how things work with the majority of the time
and its just not cost effective for us to spend so much time on a lengthy job which doesnt make much money and takes up a lot of man power when we could have 5 times as many jobs in and make 5 times the amount of money. We never email customers either, we occasionally get emails from customers wanting quotes or for work to be booked in via a portal, however the portal owners often have to ring us and tell us we need to check the emails as again for us 99% of customers either ring or come in so customers who email dont get the same service.
We wouldnt go about changing anything either because the majority of customers can keep us so busy it would cause quite a problem if we tried to give the same attention to the minority as we would have to take attention away from the majority.
Long winded I know, but hopefully It may have put your experience into a bit perspective for you. simply put, your business may only contribute to a small part of what she does, she doesnt want to turn you away, but the service wont be the same as though it would be if you could just go to the shop and buy the regular way as that is how she would do it most of the and where she does it best.

I hope that you never buy anything from me.

You want the items at a sale price - which ususally indicates that the shop wants to clear the stock fast - and yet you don't buy , or pay, on the spot. In addition you treat the shop worker as if she is somehow beneath you because she is serving you.

You are a nightmare client. It is very diificult making transactions on poor phone lines. She may have had real problems hearing you, even though you may have been able to hear her.

So, yes, YABU

Pagwatch
People who make a huge fuss are usually less well off that they want to appear and over compensating. - Agree -

I really need/want these items, especially at the sale price, so I don't have much option but to buy from her

That's your answer. Suck it up. Not that I think she's done anything wrong. How much easier would it be for her to sell to someone local, with no complicated payment issues, who isn't dilly dallying around for a week before committing?

I think I speak for everyone who had ever worked in retail: we are cringing ourselves inside out at this threat.

At the last bricks and mortar store I worked for, our unofficial motto in the department was the customer is always a right twat