Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Other subjects
Original poster

Crap service in shops gets on my nerves - most retailers don't deserve to make a profit this Christmas but it's their own stupid fault

127 replies

HRHWickedwaterwitch · 19/11/2005 20:00

A small rant really. We went shopping this morning and in 6 out of 8 shops we went into:

  • The shop assistants (who were children, I mean under 20 in most cases) were more interested in arranging their displays than serving us or asking if we needed any help. Has it not occurred to them that without CUSTOMERS it doesn't fking matter what the fking displays look like?
  • One said "oh we don't have that suit (for dp) in that leg measurement" and walked off! Not "but would you like to try any others? Or "what is it you're looking for?" We had some money, were prepared to spend said money and were in their bloody shops, what is wrong with these retailers? WHY do they employ disinterested children? Am I the only person who gets really irritated by poor customer service? I was on a course with someone last week who said she asked someone on the cheese counter at Tesco to help her because she wanted to buy fish and their reply was (imagine bored monotone) "nah, I only do cheese" - no offer of getting someone else, absolutely shit service. AAAAAAAAAAGGGH. I am going to do all my Christmas shopping online for the sake of my blood pressure and so I don't slap any shop assistants. I'm getting old, aren't I?
OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 19/11/2005 21:20

some of you are very harsh

Skribble · 19/11/2005 21:42

Not had such bad experiences with supermarkets, anytime I ask for anything I get taken to the right ailse or directed if it is close by, you can't really expect every 17yr old part-time assistant to know what or where the polenta is. Yes they should get someone else that does but unless you are going to pay an lot more you are not going to get dedicated foodies or chefs working in Tesco's are you. Then you would moan at the cost of your shopping.

It is good to hear what everyones experiences of customer service are, as a potentional retailer I try to give the best customer service I can. I have 3 different jobs which involved very different types of customer service, and I am proud and satisfied when I excede their expectations. Mind you I did customer service at Santa's Kingdom and that was a real challenge.

moondog · 19/11/2005 21:43

Spill re Santa skribble.

zippitippitoes · 19/11/2005 21:44

Skribble do anything but open a shop

Skribble · 19/11/2005 21:52

Sorry but i really want a shop, one of the premises I looked at before is empty again and I would love to have a temporry Christmas shop. Child care is holding me back (well that and having to give up 2 of my jobs).

What do you want to know about Santa?

Socci · 19/11/2005 21:52

Message withdrawn

misdee · 19/11/2005 21:56

i worked in safeways at age 16 to 21, i actually enjoyed it at times, but the amount of people who were rude to me and other youngsters because of our ages was shocking. and then you also get the leechy old men trying to crack onto you, bleurgh.

I have found that most of the cr*p customer serveice i have had is from older snooty shop owners than young shop assitants. my dd1 was also told not to come into a 'charity' shop with a bag of crisps. dd1 is a very tidy eater, my dad was livid and wanted to chuck the contents of the crisp bag onto the floor. it wasnt the fact that food wasnt allowed in (no sign, dd1 was about3years old at the time as well) but it was the bad attitude.

Skribble · 19/11/2005 21:57

I am not saying that Being 17 and part time is not an excuse for bad service. I am saying that you can't expect every employee to know where and what everything is. If you happen to stop an assistant that works in the electrical area she won't know where the red lentils are. I do agree that she should get someone that does.

I am in a supermarket as a visitor quite a lot and often get asked where things are. I understand that customers think I am an employee of Tescos and that I am representing them but I often have to say sorry I am a visitor i don't know. I will ccall over a member odf staff or direct the customer to the service desk.

Socci · 19/11/2005 22:04

Message withdrawn

Skribble · 19/11/2005 22:08

I am a merchandiser for different companies. I am out on the shop floor, not in the supermarkets uniform but smart (often get confused for a manager). We are there to merchandise our own products.

crunchie · 19/11/2005 22:11

I worked in a shop for years and ALWAYS gave fab sevice, yes the customers were rude, but I loved beng the mangaer and quietly pissing them off.

However be heartened today I went hriatmas shopping in Woolie with 2 kids, I was there iiveran hour and I got THE BEST service when I needed it. One lad I asked a random price query went sraight off and got me a price, another went to the stock room AND apoligised when they didn;t have what I wanted and gave me the stock number and phone number unasked. The third person at the till helped me hide things from my kids as I was buying them

Perhaps it's Colchester but they were FAB, as were Debenhams on their Blue cross special day at lunchtime, couldn't have been nicer

SueW · 19/11/2005 22:15

But why would anyone think it's okay to take food into a shop? I don't and my DD soon learnt that's not right either.

Whether it's crisps or a dry bread roll, the roll could leave crumbs and crisps=greasy fingers=grease marks on stock.

I was horrified in the US over the summer to see people walking round with great big (cllosed-sippy) cups of coffee/soft drinks whilst they looked at not inexpensive clothing. Have you ever dropped one of those things? A half litre of liquid goes a long way

Skribble · 19/11/2005 22:16

There are companies that employ mystery shoppers. I think some of you would be good at that .

ScummyMummy · 19/11/2005 22:17

Lovely security guard in Accessorize today gave me advice on hats (don't go there was the gist!) and helped my sons not get bored while I decided whether he was right or not (eventually concluded he was but not before trying quite a few on).

Skribble · 19/11/2005 22:17

Wotsits are the worst, lots or smelly orange finger prints on everything .

Pruni · 19/11/2005 22:19

Message withdrawn

misdee · 19/11/2005 22:29

if they had been polite about the food then i would have just put it away.

part of our customer service training at safeway was for us new people to be given a list of things to find, and we had to go round the store and find them mark it down etc.

Skribble · 19/11/2005 22:31

The best people to ask are the Dot Com assistants in Tescos they go round the whole shop loads of times every day.

Socci · 19/11/2005 22:32

Message withdrawn

Socci · 19/11/2005 22:35

Message withdrawn

bunnyhops · 19/11/2005 22:37

How long will it be before you go and ask if they have a paticular item in a shop and they answer"The computer says no"

Skribble · 19/11/2005 22:39

LOL bunny.

BadHair · 19/11/2005 22:51

Oh don't get me started on this! I used to work in a big Sainsburys in the north west when I was a teenager, and we HAD to give excellent customer service or we got disciplinary action. It was the training I received at Sainsburys that TAUGHT me about customer service - how the customer is not necessarily always right but give them the benefit of the doubt unless you're certain they're in the wrong. About stopping what you're doing and helping the customer until they've found what they're looking for. About putting the customers first because at the end of the day they're the ones that pay your wages.
So when I get shit service now, which happens frequently, it really gets on my tts. Occasionally I complain (I had a whole thread about the complaint I made about the security man in Tescos who accused me of stealing a gingerbread man when I hadn't even left the shop) but TBH I'm getting fed up with being seen as a whinger.
I had a twt in Tescos in Telford on Friday who told me they'd sold out of de-icer because he couldn't be bothered to show me where it was. I was holding a can of the stuff that dp had picked up less than 5 minutes before, but that still didn't convince him. When I found it 5 mins later the assistant had disappeared, leaving his L-trolley in the middle of the shop floor for everyone to trip over. And at Tescos in Broughton the week before I couldn't get near the fruit and veg for the line of dot com order pickers shovelling online orders into bags.
Can you tell I get really hacked off about it?

Caligula · 19/11/2005 23:07

I'm so sad I sometimes get hacked off enough to write letters/ send e-mails to HO's.

I got a response back from Mark One once, which deliberately missed the point completely, so then I had to engage in an e-mail battle with the Head of Customer Services for 4 days. It was tiresome!

John Lewis = fab. Saintly customer service

hatstand · 19/11/2005 23:32

I have always said that if (and that's a very big if ) I was ever in the retail business and employed shop assistants that the very first thing I would tell them - the SECOND they walked through the door on their first day is "If you don;t know the answer, smile, apologise and say you'll get someone straightaway". Anyone not adhering to this one basic rule would be SACKED. I really think that they can be forgiven just about everything else as long as they did this. It just stuns me that so many retailers don't seem to have grasped this.