Poor service in shops

[bhowells]

This afternoon my wife and I called in to our local branch of Savers, we were apalled by the indifferent service provided by the assistant,it was the usual story , the girl barely ackowedged our presence she was more interesing to chatting to her coleague.



However, credit where its due I am very impressed with the service in the Cardiff branch of Clinton cards. I have been there twice in recent months at Christmas and Valentines day. If there is a queue at the checkout there is an assistant on hand to direct you to each checkout.



I have never had a problem in M&S where the assistants always greet the customers with a "hello" and HMV is pretty goood too. I do have issue with my local Tesco where I have encountered some very brusk chekout staff. Happily wed dont need to go thre very often as we shop on line with Asda.

[faginsgirl]

I often think this, but to be honest I am a hypocrite as I worked in Asda and Greggs where I was fully miserable. Miserable because of the enviroment and tired of repeating myself to people who, the opposite way round, ignored me or complained or were down right arrogant because they thought they had the power to do so!



But you are right, it spoils it for other people who are pleasent, if shop assistants get a line of rude people they naturally become defensive or have a couldn`t care less attitude as long as they serve people.



I personally hate consumerism in all its forms, I think people are bullied in the work place because of the pressure behind the scenes and you have to have a thick skin to work there.



I decided I wasn`t a nice person in retail work, in fact at times I was pretty nasty and it was effecting my home life too, so I decided to get out of it.



I agree it doesnt hurt to have manners though. There is a girl in the fruit and veg shop that I go into who just grunts lol. So I think if you REALLY don`t want to communicate with people you should work elsewhere



xx

[bhowells]

I worked in the retail trade for a while before joining the civl service, firsly I H Samuel selling jewellery was not for me, but I had been unemployed for some time and I had to have a job.



No way was I a brilliant salesperson, but at least custmomers remarked that I was smart and polite. Whenver I go into a store nowadays and see sloppy service I realsie that I wasnt too bad after all those years ago.



I work for an executive agency of BERR, formerly the DTI and have dealt with many customers by phone and ocasionally face to face. I can honestly say that in twenty seven years service I have never been rude to customers on the phone.



I also deal with a lot of colegues within the office as I am their first point of contact, when it comes to our aprasial revues dealing with our internal customers is as important at the external ones. I am lucky to have a good rapport with my internal customers.

[Tony Pendrey]

Two words - Aldi - Lidl !



8 tills - One checkout girl - Queue back to chillers.



And just watch the price hikes on a week to week basis. Partly off-set by some temting 1p off deals.



(Lidl cider - cheap, tasteless, fizzy, slightly orange coloured - To be consumed quickly)

[bhowells]

name='Tony Pendrey']Two words - Aldi - Lidl !



8 tills - One checkout girl - Queue back to chillers.



And just watch the price hikes on a week to week basis. Partly off-set by some temting 1p off deals.



(Lidl cider - cheap, tasteless, fizzy, slightly orange coloured - To be consumed quickly)

Glad I dont go there.



Not fussy on Iceland either, especially their dreadful selection ofwine including the truly appalling Lambirini.

[faginsgirl]

I think the situation will only get worse. As I`ve said, there is pressure in consumerism, unfortunately gone are the days when shops were part of a small community like Rita`s cabin in Corri. You get the odd one but not many!



People are human but are treat like machines, but they are still expected to put on an enormous `Happy to help face` by the management!



I have put up with bad tempered customers because people want things `yesterday!` Put up with swearing and spitting in the queue, rammed with trollies by idiots. When I have been speaking to a customer other customers usually butted in very rudely too, just because its all ME ME ME etc etc.



No, I dont blame miserable staff, but thats just been MY experience.



xx

[SirOllyBolly]

When I was 14 years old my Dad got me a job with a friend of his who ran his own personal grocery store. And what he taught me from that very early age was that the customer came first.



Always.



If there were customers waiting to be served, drop what ever you were doing and serve them. If you were passing by a regular customer on your way to lunch, serve them first. Because customers treated right will come back.



That work ethic seems lost today.



I often go into Sainsburys and on the cheese counter, some woman is blissfully cutting blocks of cheese even though there is huge queue of customers waiting – but no one is serving. She’s been told to cut cheese – that’s it.



Even on the quick-serve counter, they’d rather arrange their scratch-cards than serve someone who is waiting. I even had on one occasion, while I was in the middle of being served, some woman cane up and asked for a cloth because her baby had spilled something – and the person serving me just wandered off, with no apology or explanation, to tend to this other person who wasn’t even buying anything!



The attitude of people who work in retail these days is all wrong. They fail to realise that without customers, they are nothing. Yet they continue to treat customers with total indifference.

[faginsgirl]

I even had on one occasion, while I was in the middle of being served, some woman cane up and asked for a cloth because her baby had spilled something



Exactly! Other customers butting in!



xx

[Steve Crook]

name='bhowells']This afternoon my wife and I called in to our local branch of Savers, we were apalled by the indifferent service provided by the assistant

Maybe that's how they can afford such cheap prices, they don't pay their assistants anything



Steve

[Dandelion]

There were two post offices in our village until the recent closures. The post office that closed had an owner who was friendly, polite and knew virtually everyone by name. The surviving post office owner is miserable, never smiles nor passes the time of day, rude and treats his customers with contempt.



I've been his customer for 13 years, only because he stocks loose tobacco, I would use the other for stamps and suchlike. Each and every week I go in and get my usual smokers' requisites. I gave up asking for my 'usual' because even though he knows damn well what my usual is, he always asks (I say 'ask', what he does is jerk his head up, meaning 'what do you want').



His name is mud to everyone I speak to - they all have their own stories about his bad manners.

[faginsgirl]

name='Dandelion'] The surviving post office owner is miserable, never smiles nor passes the time of day, rude and treats his customers with contempt.

Buy him a DVD of `A Christmas carol` with a note `recognise anyone`? on it





xx

[Dandelion]

name='faginsgirl']Buy him a DVD of `A Christmas carol` with a note `recognise anyone`? on it





xx

Pearls before swine, I fear. He would see himself as the bountiful ghost.

[penfold]

name='SirOllyBolly'] I even had on one occasion, while I was in the middle of being served, some woman cane up and asked for a cloth because her baby had spilled something – and the person serving me just wandered off, with no apology or explanation, to tend to this other person who wasn’t even buying anything!

There should have been an 'Excuse me' or something, but otherwise, the assistant was correct. If someone had gone flying because of the spillage, you could have a customer injured and the store would have been liable; it seems trivial, but if it was an old dear, a fractured hip...not trivial at all.

name='SirOllyBolly']

The attitude of people who work in retail these days is all wrong. They fail to realise that without customers, they are nothing. Yet they continue to treat customers with total indifference.

No, without customers, they are still people. As someone with in excess of 25 years of serving The Great British Public, I can say with a bit of authority that we respond to our customers in the way they treat us too...in my place all customers receive civility; a minority, but too many, demand servility.... and they don't get that.

[smudge]

As Penfold says, this is a two-way street and you have to treat people with respect on both sides of the counter. I always make sure I am polite, say 'Please' and 'Thank you' and smile and interact with the person who is attending to me. I also always make sure I tip good service in restaurants.



If I use somewhere regularly I like to try (if I can) to build on that little relationship and always acknowledge those people who look after me frequently, ask how things are etc. Nothing annoys me more than using an outlet all the time and them not even being able to remember your name; and I have a rather disctinctive one at that. I've changed my garage servicing two or three times as a result of this- after seeing the same folks every 6 months and spending not inconsiderable sums of money with them.



Worst case of bad service was Waterstones; there were three people in the queue, with us at the head and there were about 4 assistants milling round the shop, tidying shelves and so on. Now if I feel things are going awry I have to admit that I do put things to the test, and rather than making daft noises to gain attention, I wait and see how long it takes them to notice that they have a customer.



After 15+ minutes someone finally spotted that there was a queue and came to the tills. I greeted them politely and said, "Ah - you've arrived just in time....to put these back on the shelves!" At which point I deposited the 3 volumes on the counter and did an exit, stage left, much to the amazement and amusement of my fellow queuers....



Smudge

[faginsgirl]

name='penfold']There should have been an 'Excuse me' or something, but otherwise, the assistant was correct. If someone had gone flying because of the spillage, you could have a customer injured and the store would have been liable; it seems trivial, but if it was an old dear, a fractured hip...not trivial at all.

I agree. There should have been an excuse me, but in my experience people can be funny, if the woman with the baby had complained that she wasn`t seen to straight away (as in her eyes in was probably some kind of emergency ) it would have come back on the shop assistant. I know customers who have complained to the manager for less .



Its not right obviously, but thats the way the world is now. It would have been the kind of thing that would have hit the bleedin` papers now if the woman hadnt got what she wanted. Sad but true, but thats the pressure people working with the public are under now!





xx

[SirOllyBolly]

name='penfold']There should have been an 'Excuse me' or something, but otherwise, the assistant was correct.

She was not correct. Sainsburys have in-store cleaners constantly mopping up spills etc. She should have said to one of her other colleagues something to the effect of "I'm serving this gentleman at the moment, could you get the in-store cleaner to assist this lady please?".

[Chevyman]

I'm always amused by the queue at the customer service desk in my local supermarket. No matter how long the queue becomes, it always takes two members of staff to deal with each customer?



Worst case of customer service I ever encountered was Ryanair; they really set the (low) standard

[faginsgirl]

name='SirOllyBolly']She was not correct. Sainsburys have in-store cleaners constantly mopping up spills etc. She should have said to one of her other colleagues something to the effect of "I'm serving this gentleman at the moment, could you get the in-store cleaner to assist this lady please?".

I`m sorry, but I strongly disagree!



She should have said "I`m serving this handsome stud at the moment, could you get the in-store cleaner to assist this lady please?"











xx

[vincenzo]

I get that said to me all the time.







(says Vince - lying).......

[EHV_Emmetts]

I think the age old adage here is: 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'.



Not wishing to seem ageist, but I've found that the younger the shop assistant is the worse the service is - and the older the shop assistant is the better the service is.