Ever stopped shopping somewhere because of poor service? Most of us have so it's something businesses need to look at. As fast as they throw money at advertisements to attract business the twit at the counter is losing it.
I needed my car radio looking at. Thinking he was going to pop out and have a look I told him the black Mazda 626 when he asked 'what model?'. Drumming his fingers on the counter he spoke slowly to me like I was an idiot: "The model of the radio, not the car?"
How the hell would I know the model of my car radio? Am sorry now I didn't give him a smack. Never been there again.
Was in M&S and stood there patiently while the supervisor at the till chatted to two guys she knew. They said their bye-byes and wandered off. She disappeared through a door. I presumed she was coming back to serve me.
Several minutes passed; she didn't and I then noticed the till said: 'Not in Service.' She must have known. She either couldn't care less or she has a problem. Wonder what poor sod married her? Suppose we all have similar experiences?

A few times Michael,

One of my pet hates and seems to be sympomatic of this rude antisocial word we live in are shop workers who swear out loud at each other, usually the gossiping conversations from the younger workers. Really, I don't want my children to hear it or the stories about 'whos done this to someone else and what they did back etc.....'

I've had a particular annoyance at the service offered by a newly opened up childrens play area recently.

Slow service waiting for food and to order food is rediculous, plus the policy that won't allow parents/ careers to bring in drinks from outside forcing u to purchase theirs.

Really, if there's a desperate need for your child to hydrate themselves and there's a drink in your own bag then why not?

I got a bottle out of my bag for my kids and was promptly told to put it away, I looked around and was suprised considering I almost on my own in the place!

Couldn't care less attitude is so prevalent these days that when people do have nice manners it sticks out a mile because it's so unusual.

I was served in a very couldn't care less attitude in Max Spielmans Renshaw st; I wanted some photos printed off from a disk and as I had never used the self service machine before I asked the girl behind the counter. She took ages to even notice me standing at the counter - as if I was invisible, then she half heartedly trudged over and put my disk in - leaving me to my own devices. She never explained about photo sizes or which buttons to press or anything. She just turned her back and walked away.
I know now that it is very simple and there is nothing to it - but she was not at all helpful and you are left standing there like a dunce !

On the other hand, I had the opposite experience in Max Spielmans, West Derby rd, Tuebrook. The staff in there are smashing and one girl in particular is so nice - it stands out a mile. She is so chatty and pleasant and very helpful. I think good service should be acknowledged too. :handclap:

The girls in Breck rd Asda deserve a mention :) they are all very friendly and helpful.

Hey! A good idea comes from this. Can't we post - continue to post good and bad comment about service on here. That'll make the erring ones sit up and take notice, maybe. Well, I am the eternal optimist.
Agree with you both. Kevin. I went into an electrical wholesale outlet and the staff were effing and blinding at each other, while I was waiting to be served. I honestly think that had I been a woman customer it wouldn't have made a lot of difference. Like who employs and manages these cretins?
Lindylou - so right you too. Know exactly where you are coming from. There is no consistency of quality across branches. There should be.
I think one of the problems is, we don't complain often enough - or show our appreciation. Maybe if we all did so it would turn things around fast.
I am not boasting about it but I think I got two women sacked ages ago. One was at a Boots opticians in Wrexham. I asked her about an eye test. She looked at me like I was something the cat had dragged in and said, '"You DO realise you will have to pay don't you?' And that was before she even knew my means. (Er! At the time I was secretary of the Wrexam Retailers Association). Silly ignorant cow.
Another was a manager at Wrexham's Argos. There was I, at the counter paying when my card was discreetly taken to the rear of the shop. Moments later the manager, in front of the queue challenged me. "Whose card is this?"
I said, "It's mine. Whose do you think it is?"
"That is not YOUR signature." she replied (it was).
So in front of the entire shop she confiscated my card and I was so publicly humiliated. I could hardly speak to the card providers. They called her right away and boy, did the poo hit the fan. What a *****! Oh well, there you go.

Beat this Mike. I asked for an eye test and the assistant pointed out of the window at the sky asking me what it was. I said the sun, to which she replied 'Well just how far d'ya wanna see then?'

My experience of bad staff came from a Boots store, photo dept. Iused one of their photo machines, stood there for nearly an hour cropping and whatever, then the machine didn,t finish the job. I told the girl who looked at it, shrugged and told another assistant who said it was all right for the last customer. But when they looked at it again, the machine had been altered to do work for the last customer and had not been transferred back. I left without a sorry.

After a good while I went back to do more photos, about six months later. The same thing happened again.

I told the staff in strong words that I would be going to another shop from now on and would not be using their facilities again. still no sorry by the way before hand.

I,ve deterred anyone going there if they ask me in the street

The Bad
Our local Kwik Save, dear departed, but not missing the staff :D
Always felt you were interrupting their gossip by taking stuff to the tills. Ignorant in their absence a lot of the time. Honesty stopped me taking my basket load out without paying, since there was no-one anywhere near the tills.

Pembroke Cycle Sport, London Rd - it too has closed down. A few times I went in there looking for bits and pieces. Typical scenario: had a good look round the shop and couldn't spot it, so went to the counter, waited for one of the three or four staff to put his tray of chips or burger down and take notice of the customer, then asked where the item is. "It's out on display" in stern voice and pointed quickly to vague area of shop. I walked the other way, out of the door...


The Good
Picton Cycles, Wavertree - went there a while ago to buy new sunnies, cos my old ones fell off into the path of a HGV :eek: . Explained that they were about £30 so I was looking for something similar. He selected a £40 pair and knocked a tenner off for me :PDT_Aliboronz_24:

The Good

Speke Retail park, special mention to Marks and Spensers, B and Q 'older, more experienced employees'.

Sommerfield, Garston, again the older employees save it for the rest.

Of course there are plenty of places with good/ excellent customer service, the bad ones are those that simply employ school kids who are heavily influenced by the media, they must *****, they must gossip and they must assume that the people they are serving are exactly the same.

On the positive though, at least they are working and earning a wage.

I started in Tescos in 1990 with a firm focus on customer service and oon 2 quid an hour. I was 16 at the time. Polite and friendly even in the face of proper rude customers.

I had a less than wonderful experience at People's Ford in Speke. I took my ageing car in for a service and MOT( roadworthiness test). They rang up to say it was ready. So off I went to pick it up, catching the ever so handy 80 bus to get there. Got there and they said, oh by the way it's failed its MOT. So the car was not really ready at all as they had to fix the faults and that of course would be another day and I couldn't drive it away as a car with a failed MOT is not insured. They really couldn't see that they had seriously inconvenienced me and would not apologise. I pointed out the serious financial straits that the Ford Motor company was in and they should really treat their customers better. All water off a ducks back I'm afraid and I was met with a couldn't care less attititude by the service staff. Not been back there since and use my local back street garage for servicing etc.

THEY are the signs that betray an unhappy diner – hunched shoulders, folded arms and pursed lips. They are also the body language traits Liverpool restaurateur Paul Heathcote least wants to see in his customers.

The award-winning celebrity chef has invested in a scheme to help his staff spot early signs of a disgruntled guest at his restaurant Simply Heathcotes.

He has brought in his father, body language expert Ken Heathcote, to train in how to deliver the best customer service possible.

Employees are being taught techniques in maintaining eye contact, developing a rapport with customers and good positions in which to stand when dealing with them. more (http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2007/08/01/celebrity-chef-wants-his-customers-to-look-happy-64375-19553522/)

I spent a lot of my working life working in shops.
A great job.
Pity about the customers. :PDT10:):eek:

I was going to say that Philip - - there are two sides to the coin.
I have worked in many shops and some of the customers can be pretty rude too.

It is because I have worked in shops that I notice bad service. We had to be on our toes and the floor managers would never let us get away with anything. We had staff training meetings, then during the working day the supervisor kept a beedy eye on you ! :)
You always had to be seen to be doing something and to look busy at all times. No slacking and no idle chit chat.

*lol* reminds me of the time I applied for a job and my future boss said, " do you like kids", hmm.. why yes, "good", he replied by the end of the week you will hate the little b***rds. It certainly broke the ice!!.
kat
:)

A certain accent can be a liability too, I remember one customer having difficulty in just purchasing four candles.

...was he buying some O's too? :unibrow:

Get onto this, I had to laugh and did as I walked out of the shop after having enough:

Today I decided to use my birthday money (33 yesterday), to purchase a new MP3 player as my old one broke yesterday in the gym.

Now, I love these gadgets and must have one with an FM radio tuner, my old one had one of them. It had to have a radio so I can listen to that too.

So I browsed the Currys website. I found one, 2GB with FM radio: Check the specs out here (http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0284469417.118667684 6@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccciaddljhjlffjcflgceggdhhmdgmj.0&page=Product&fm=0&sm=1&tm=0&sku=300396&category_oid=) just to confirm that it does say 'FM Radio'.

Off I popped to Currys on the Retail Park. Happy days I thought.

Approaching the desk where they once were, I enquired where they had been moved to and the Irish fella told me that they were in several display cases 'over there'.

I asked him how I was supposed to 'browse' them if they are locked away and he asked me which one I was looking for.

Here comes the funny bit...........

"2GB, with FM Radio", I relpied.
"MP3 players don't have FM radios, only DAB Digital radio", he told me.
"Yer, ok", I thought and knew he was wrong.

He showed me the one with the DAB radio.

I told him that last year I purchased one from this very shop with an FM radio tuner.

He then told me that that was 12 months ago and things have changed, they are phasing them out and you won't be able to use them after the 'switch over' in 12 months time.

Again, I thought he was chatting nonsense, I honestly couldn't believe that he was unable to reflect upon what he was saying to me.

I then told him I had seen one on the Currys website, he then told me that the 'lines' are different and they don't always stock the same products. At no point did he ask if I wanted to have a look at the ones they had.

So after listening to him and realising I was getting know where (i wanted to give this fella my money), I decided to walk away. As I walked away I decided to look into the cabinets where the MP3 players where kept and there it was, the MP3 player I was looking for on the net!!! He then walked over to me.

"There's the one", I said, confirming that I was correct.

He was still convinced it didn't have an FM radio tuner.

"It says FM Radio Tuner THERE on the box", I pointed to where it said FM Radio Tuner.

He then got it out of the box and proceded to flick through the instruction booklet, he then told me he couldn't find any mention of the radio in the booklet.

"Bloody 'ell, this is just rediculous", I thought.

Just when I thought he'd give up and admit defeat, he then said that if I was to take this one away with me and I needed to return it if I realised once I got it home that it didn't have the radio, I couldn't have a refund because of what he had advised me, I was almost ROTFLMAO at this point.

That's when I decided to walk away and leave the poor fella alone on whatever planet he was on.

I then marched to Comet and bought the one I wanted there.

Unbelievable!

Sheesh, boys and their toys *g*
I thought dabs were better anyway?
kat:)