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Peter Steward's Web Pages |
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My Site
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The Rant Section - Campaign for better service. The idea of this section is quite simple - to name and shame. Bad service in shops and from organisations really annoys me. So I thought it was time to name them. Let me know if you agree/disagree and I will put your comments on this page. It's many years since I visited the USA, but one thing I remember is the excellent services in shops, where nothing seemed to be any trouble. If you asked for a product that was out of stock they immediately volunteered to order it for you and, if necessary, post it to a home address. In the UK you get fobbed off with a dismissive "that's out of stock." and "We've no idea when we will be getting anymore." I visited a shop recently where I heard a conversation between a young man and a shop assistant that went something like this: Young man looking at a pair of in ear headphones: "Are these suitable for an MP3 player?" Assistant: "No idea. I know nothing about electrical things." That typifies the "it's not my problem syndrome." That assistant should have said "I'm sorry I know nothing about electrical things, but if you wait there I'll find somebody who does and can help you." The days of "the customer is right" seem to have long disappeared despite the fact that the marketeers still pretend we are the most important thing in the world. Is it just me or are supermarkets deteriorating as well? I remember the days when assistants filling shelves would get out of the way of shoppers. Now it seems to be the other way round with the shoppers having to make way for the shelf-stackers etc. I believe that the more a company tells you about how good it is, the more awards for customer service or investors in people they have, the worse they are likely to be. If you provide good service you gain a reputation without having to win awards or continually tell people how good you are. Anyway below are companies that have got our displeasure starting with the end of 2007. Borders - December 2007 When I retired as a school governor in 2007 I was given Borders vouchers by way of appreciation. The first two times we tried to use this electronic card we were told "the system is down so we can't process it." On the first time we left. On the second we insisted on the salesperson making the necessary phone calls to manually sort the problem out. On another occasion my wife wanted a particular book and we checked on the computer system that it was in stock but still couldn't find it. So we asked an assistant at the till as we went to pay for some other purchases. We were told that we would need to go to customer information on a separate floor. This we declined telling the assistant that we wanted her to check the availability of the book as we had no intention of going to customer information, seeking out the book and then having to pay to return. She refused and then, when the gift card wouldn't work, told us that we would have to take that to customer service as well. Wrong. We left our purchases on the counter and walked out. Eventually I was able to spend my gift tokens but the result is next time I want a book or CD I will shop elsewhere. Borders have lost my custom which is particularly sad as they used to be my favourite store. Marks and Spencers - January 2008 The January sales poor service award goes to Marks and Spencers for allowing huge queues to build up whilst tills stayed unstaffed and supervisors stood around presumably because working tills was "not their job." The sales section looked more like a jumble sale than a sale by a premier national company. Interestingly early in the new year M and S were bemoaning dropping sales over the Christmas and New Year period. I wonder why. House of Fraser - January 2008 We have received poor or bad service from House of Fraser on a number of occasions making us think that they really don't want custom. After Christmas my wife wanted to exchange a present that was too small. We were aware of signs stating that refunds would not be given on this particular day. We didn't want a refund, simply to exchange a coat for a pair of boots. But of course they couldn't do this small transaction. We were told that to do so would mean other customers having to wait. Of course we weren't customers ourselves. The manageress was rude and the result was we had to leave the boots and return a few days later. Result - House of Fraser is now off our shopping list. Orange Mobile Phone Network - 2007/2008 The undisputed award for the worst customer service of 2007 goes to Orange. This involves a long running saga of incompetency from Orange. After being unhappy about the network coverage and various other matters I decided to cancel my contract. I was told that it still had four months to run and accepted this. Despite not using my phone in this time and not even having it charged up I was sent regular bills that included charges for alleged calls made from the mobile to my home phone - none of which were made as on all the days in question I was at home and would scarcely try to phone myself from an uncharged mobile. This I pointed out to Orange in a series of letters and e-mails without ever receiving a reply except for a letter stating that they were having delays in answering correspondence - thus proving that they received my letters. Next thing I know a debt company are threatening me with court action to recover the amount. So I wrote to this company, they ignored my letter and sent me a second threatening letter. This matter is still ongoing but as a result I am now with O2 and to date have had no problems with their service. I'm left asking just what you have to do to receive a response from Orange. The debt company - Northern Debt Recovery - were extremely unhelpful - actually suggesting that I had made the calls because the mobile had been in my coat pocket and I had accidentally hit the button - what on three separate months and the only button I did this on was my home number - I think not. They then suggested the reason I hadn't paid my bill was because I didn't have the money. I started this one with a genuine query and have been treated like a debtor or a criminal because of Orange's inability to answer my correspondence. Click here to read my latest letter to Orange. Interestingly there was an item on the news on January 9th, 2008, stating that High Street sales were down over Christmas and the New Year. Maybe some of these companies should turn to themselves for the answer. I have shopped extensively on the internet with companies such as e-bay, Amazon, CD Wow, Snapfish and many more and never received anything other than prompt and efficient service which gives a lie to suggestions that there are dangers of using the internet and the service is poor. It is the face to face service that is poor and seems to be deteriorating. Norwich Airport - January 2008 Let me say I haven't experienced this at first hand, but it comes high on the list of "we couldn't give a damn about our customers" lists. Last year in their infinite wisdom the airport imposed a ridiculous tax of £3 per passenger to help fund airport improvements. There's no choice about paying this, you have to stump up or they won't let you on a flight. Then as a security measure they stopped people dropping off friends and relatives outside the terminal but allowed them to park in the short stay car park for 15 minutes. This was fine as it gave plenty of time to drop off and/or pick up and see people off. But then they decided to get greedy and imposed a ridiculous charge of £1.90 to get out of the car park. Quite rightly people were up in arms about this. They took the charge off but are now considering charging a drop off fee of 50p. The word scrooge comes to mind. And of course the airport will shortly be informing us about how much they care for their customers and passengers. This is right up there with having to pay car parking charges at hospitals as if being a patient or visiting somebody in hospital is something you really want to do! Pizza Express - February 2008 Called at the Pizza Express in Norwich Forum where it was quite evident that there were plenty of tables free. We asked a waiter for a table for two and he was about to show us to a table when a jobsworth waitress informed us that there were no tables available for about 40 minutes as they were expecting a number of people at any time. Didn't understand this at all and she seemed surprised when we told her we would be going somewhere else with our custom. "Aren't you going to come back" "No we are not. We decide when to eat and will not be told by a pizza chain whose food is pretty average anyway." We went elsewhere and won't be going back to Pizza Express. Ramada Jarvis Hotel, Boundary Road, Norwich - October 2008 Attended a presentation evening at the above. There was nothing wrong with the service but there was with the food and the profiteering that charged £12.30 for a small red wine, an orange juice and lemonade and a pint of lager. Then a friend on our table ordered a bottle of bog standard white wine for which they tried to charge her £19. She quite rightly sent it back and refused to pay. I suspect the wine cost them £2 maximum - a mark up price of over 900% - ludicrous and an insult to what was a captive audience. As far as the food goes, the soup was insipid, the main chicken course miniscule in size and the sweet dry and bland. This is the kind of thing people will not put up with in the current recession. Sky Television - October 2008 I thought long and hard about going HD on my television and at the same time purchasing a Sky + HD box as my DVD recorder has been playing up. Finally decided to go ahead with it and then read the small print on the Sky offer which states that you have to have the box connected to a telephone point for a minimum of one year. My telephone point is quite some way from the television and the last thing I want is wires trailing around my lounge even if they are stapled to the skirting board. So I e-mailed Sky for clarification on this point. Below is their ridiculous reply which suggests that because they have been getting large amounts of e-mail they actually don't have to answer it. More like they didn't have an answer to my question. Result is quite simply loss of a sale for them. Thank you for your email regarding your Sky account. We are sorry we have been unable to answer your query due to an unusually high number of emails received. Did you know if your query relates to any of the services listed below you can manage your own account by logging onto Sky.com/mysky, or by pressing the Interactive button on your TV if your Sky box is connected to your phone line? View
your bill Barclaycard and other Credit Card Companies - October 2008 Here's one that really annoys me. A bank contacts you to inform you that due to a takeover or for other reasons they will be issuing you with a new debit/credit card with a new pin number. They inform you how this will enable them to give you an enhanced service with improved back-up. Reality is the service at best stays the same and often deteriorates and the new card and pin number means you have the inconvenience of trying to locate all payments made regularly on the previous card and updating details leading to some considerable inconvenience. You fail to cover all the bases and end up having a service cut off through no fault of your own... and that folks is progress. And talking of Barclays Bank .... Barclays Bank October 18th, 2008 My wife needed some cash and as we were close to Barclays Bank in Red Lion Street, Norwich, she went to their cashcard machine. It was impossible to read the instructions on the outside atm due to bright sunlight. So she pushed her debit card in only to be told the machine was out of action. The card was not returned. She was then informed inside the bank by a very unhelpful member of staff that they couldn't get her card back and she would have to go to her own bank (HSBC) to order another card and have this one cancelled. We then just prevented another customer doing the same thing and spoke to a woman inside the bank to bring this problem to her attention. She was in the process of locking up and had no interest in what we were trying to tell her. So more inconvenience caused by Barclays Bank. We went to HSBC in London Street, Norwich, and have to say they were very helpful in cancelling the card and ordering a replacement. So take a bow HSBC staff and another brickbat to the uncaring attitude of Barclays. Tescos - January 10th 2008 Admittedly this is a smaller rant than usual but could somebody tell me why at the busiest time of the week Tescos block their overfull aisles with goods? I refer to a Saturday visit when there were hundreds of shoppers which made getting round the shop difficult to say the least. It was made worse by large containers of produce left in the aisles that had to be negotiated. Okay the fillers have to do their work and produce has to be on show and available but there were so many of them and they all seemed completely unaware that people were shopping. It's all part of the "I couldn't care less about what is going on around me, I have a job to do and I'm going to do it" syndrome. I find supermarket shopping dull at the best of times, but it would help if the stackers at least left off for peak times like Saturday mornings. Or if they must fill the shelves they should have more awareness of the needs of customers - and those needs are not to get stick in trolley traffic jams.
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