Customer Service
 

Today when I went shopping in central London,
not one shop assistant said hello to me, or told me
about their current promotions and no-one tried to
get me to buy a stereo system that frankly I don't want.
It was wonderful!!
People constantly gripe about how poor customer service is in the UK.
But what's poor about it?
Personally I don't want to be hassled when I go into a shop, I don't
expect shop workers to grovel around me and fake being nice to
me. If I need help I'll ask for it.
The customer service culture in North America is just annoying. How irritating to be asked 20 times in the same shop if you need help!! :mad:
The number of times I've been asked if I'm enjoying my meal, and then me have to grunt like an idiot with my mouth full! Just leave me alone!!

How lovely to have a nice quiet pint in a British pub without the bartender hovering over you every 5 minutes offering refills and expecting a tip! :beer:
Cheers to British poor customer service! :beer:

Re: Customer Service
 

i think you may be turning into an englishman!! :scared:

Re: Customer Service
 

You have a point, but there is plenty of abysmal service in the UK. I dont want or need someone hovering, pandering to my every need, but I expect help available when I need it, and I expect courtesy and politeness.

Canada is unfortunatley becoming more like the UK in terms of not being able to find that in some stores, and often now I will walk out on a sale and find another place with more help available. Fortunately I havent seen nearly as much toadying here as in the US, where you need a machette to get through the greeters and other superfluous sales types in places. Give me a smile and a polite "Can I help you" over being ignored anyday of the week.

Re: Customer Service
 

Maybe deep down I AM an Englishman! :D

Re: Customer Service
 

If that were the case you would be trying to escape to Canada :D

Re: Customer Service
 

Ah you mean 'The Brick' experience, what a festering stink hole that place is...... full of toadying 100%-commission sweaty wallet-greasers :mad:

Rich.

Re: Customer Service
 

Same there as here then? Went in "fresh off the boat", never been back since! Great sales job there I recon, only it was on behalf of Leons!

Re: Customer Service
 

Last time I went in the brick I was accosted by a Scotish 'lady' who made the BIG mistake of telling me to make sure I didnt buy off 'one of them' (a non-british sales person) make sure I 'stuck to my own' (a british (ie her) sales person).

Needless to say we turned on our heels and went to look in leons

Re: Customer Service
 

Urk...... yes the grovelling, snivelling, and what not is sickening - visited once, never set foot back in the misery-shed since.
Boycotted, til they pay their poor demeaned wage-slaves (sorry I mean staff) properly in a fair structure and not just on commission only.

Rich.

Re: Customer Service
 

Yes, I expect people to be polite, but that's it.
In North America it goes too far. I don't want to be called 'Sir', I don't want to be approached by shop assistants asking how my day is, I don't want to be told about store promotions and I don't want to have to tip people for serving me when I didn't ask to be served.
I had a meal at a popular Canadian restaurant with initials ESM just before christmas and was asked 8 times if I needed anything, refills etc! It was so annoying to be constantly interrupted often with my mouth full.
I really don't want to be waited on hand and foot.
I hope this sort of culture never makes it's way across the Atlantic.

Re: Customer Service
 

Very little chance, not even a pale imitation of it.

Rich.

Re: Customer Service
 

hehe David, I'm proud of you...you are adjusting so like my US citizen husband did. Only yesterday I was in Neiman Marcus here in Houston in the clothes dept and no less than 5 assistants asked me how I was...now I was seriously concentrating on my shopping...lol and did not want to keep being interrupted so when the next lady.. yes the 6th lady asked me how I was doing... well I was ready for her and just told her like it was....I was polite but told her I had a headache and no I was not having a nice day and to please just leave me alone, lol she went off wishing me a nice day :rolleyes: ...I left the shop without buying and moved onto the next one to be greeted again and so it goes on...it pi**es me off..lol I have to say though excellent customer service on returns ...nearly as good as Marks and Sparks for changing things :D

Re: Customer Service
 

I think it works both ways. I remember a summer job at university when I worked at Dixons (the electrical store). They had something called the 1 minute warning (or 2 minute, I can't remember). In short, a customer had to be approached and offered help within that time.

I used to hate it, as both a employee and a customer. Over the years the management seem to have noticed how annoyed customers were getting as that rule doesn't seem to exist any more (at least not in my local store). I don't really shop there at all, but I was in the other day and the sales people seemed to be doing everything they could to avoid customers. Even when you made eye contact with the "I need help" look on your face, nothing seemed to happen. I had to go to the till like I wanted to pay for something, before I could get help.

Oh well :)

Later

Chris

Re: Customer Service
 

I think they have it right in the places I eat in (not that I eat out often). As a rule, you are asked if everything is okay when they bring all the food. Once part way through your meal, and once when they take your plates away. I think that is about right. If I want a refill, there are staff hovering around that you can wave over.

Chris

Re: Customer Service
 

Being asked within one or two minutes if you want help is really annoying. Dixons seems to have gone the opposite way now as you mention, ignoring customers is equally as annoying. It seems the UK has some good but many bad companies for customer services. Waitrose and Marks seem some of the betters ones.

One of the better ideas for customer services which I enjoyed in Canada is bringing over the bill at the end of the meal and leaving it to you as to when you want to pay and leave. In the UK it seems like once they have brought out all your food you cannot find a member of staff for your bill. It sometimes gets to the point where I feel like walking out without paying because they don't seem to want your money anyway.