my rules on Italian customer service
Nov 5th 2007, 9:26 pm
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2007
Location: Pisa
Posts: 63
my rules on Italian customer service
Customer Service
There's a few important things to bear in mind if you ever plan on going shopping or planning to go to a public office here in Italy:
1. Before you decide to drive 2 hours through rush hour traffic to get to the shop that you want to go to, don't bother ringing up to see if they're open, nobody ever answers the shop phone. People only answer the phone when you don't want them to, not when you do. The person who's job it is to answer the phone is busy either: a. smoking out the back of the shop, b. Talking to his girlfriend on his mobile phone or c. Chatting with his colleagues. Either way, they won't answer, this rule stands also for government offices, police stations and restaurants.
2. Remember that one single trip to any shop or office is never possible, always expect at least 3 to 4 visits. The first time you visit the shop will be closed because the owner is on holiday or has just popped out for a few minutes, never to return that day. The second time you visit will be a Monday and nothing is open on a Monday or a Saturday afternoon when all the shops are closed until 3pm and finally when you do get there and find the shop open they wont have what you need.
3. When visiting government offices, again, expect at least 3 visits. Firstly, you have to go during office hours, this involves using lots of your holiday to do anything, on top of this, it's a fact that either:
A. you won't have the correct documents, so you'll have to go away and come back again another day with some more stuff and hope that they will be correct, they can't actually tell you precisely what you need, you have to just keep guessing.
B. you can only get this form on Tuesdays...and it's Wednesday
C. you're in the wrong office
D. you're at the wrong window
E. only one person is authorized to do this and he's not here on Wednesdays
F. nobody knows what to do in this instance as it never happened before/nobody ever asked that before so they'll need to get their boss, who naturally isn't there on Wednesdays (translated means 'he's smoking and can't be bothered')
G. you have the wrong form, so you need to go to the tobacconist, buy the right one but they are unable to tell you exactly which one is the right one, even though they know that this, isn't it (no, they don't know where the nearest tobacconist is and when you find it, it's closed) ("why a tobacconist" I hear you saying? Who knows?)
H. They're not sure what to do in your case as it appears that you are the very first English person who decided he wants to live in Italy, so you're breaking new ground!
I. To complete this operation and get the form you need, it will take the office 60 days, even though in reality it would take about 2 to 3 minutes!
J. It still won't be ready after 60 days, in fact they won't even have looked at it and your form will be sitting in a big pile of other similar forms waiting to be looked at.
K. It's not their responsibility so they can't tell you why it's not ready, they just fill the forms in, no, they can't go and get the person who is responsible.
L. A shrug of the shoulders and a few hand gesticulations is a perfectly good and acceptable answer from a public servant or sales assistant.
4. When speaking to a shop assistant, you have to accept that her mobile phone might ring at any point, if it does, she'll answer it and proceed to have a 20 minute, un-hurried conversation with her boyfriend about what they did at the weekend, while you are left standing there in front of her. They don't care if you go somewhere else.
5. As a customer or member of the public, expect to be treated with utter contempt. You ARE a nuisance that everyone could well do without, you're just getting in the way and stopping her continuing her conversation with her best friend about her boyfriend. Why didn't you go speak to someone else?
6. Don't expect shop assistants to stop doing what they are doing when you walk into their shop, they'll get to you when it suits them and when they have finished their conversation, not before.
7. Right in the middle of being served, always expect the assistant to break off and go and serve someone else, then come back to you later.
8. You'll never hear the words: 'Please', 'thankyou', 'have a nice day' or 'you're welcome' in any shop. You might get a grunt, a shrug of shoulders or if you are very lucky they might actually read out the amount of money that they require from you, rather than just holding out their hand!
9. Don't expect to stand there in a neat, polite line queuing like you do in the Post Office in England, Italians don't 'DO' queuing, expect something similar to the big battle scene in the film 'Braveheart' but with slightly more elegant clothing.
10. No shops offer you any assistance in packing your purchased goods. The supermarkets practically throw your stuff at you much quicker than you can possibly get it into a bag in an effort to get you out of the shop as fast as possible.
Once you've accepted these facts, life's much less frustrating!!!!
Feel free to add your own experiences...
Matt
There's a few important things to bear in mind if you ever plan on going shopping or planning to go to a public office here in Italy:
1. Before you decide to drive 2 hours through rush hour traffic to get to the shop that you want to go to, don't bother ringing up to see if they're open, nobody ever answers the shop phone. People only answer the phone when you don't want them to, not when you do. The person who's job it is to answer the phone is busy either: a. smoking out the back of the shop, b. Talking to his girlfriend on his mobile phone or c. Chatting with his colleagues. Either way, they won't answer, this rule stands also for government offices, police stations and restaurants.
2. Remember that one single trip to any shop or office is never possible, always expect at least 3 to 4 visits. The first time you visit the shop will be closed because the owner is on holiday or has just popped out for a few minutes, never to return that day. The second time you visit will be a Monday and nothing is open on a Monday or a Saturday afternoon when all the shops are closed until 3pm and finally when you do get there and find the shop open they wont have what you need.
3. When visiting government offices, again, expect at least 3 visits. Firstly, you have to go during office hours, this involves using lots of your holiday to do anything, on top of this, it's a fact that either:
A. you won't have the correct documents, so you'll have to go away and come back again another day with some more stuff and hope that they will be correct, they can't actually tell you precisely what you need, you have to just keep guessing.
B. you can only get this form on Tuesdays...and it's Wednesday
C. you're in the wrong office
D. you're at the wrong window
E. only one person is authorized to do this and he's not here on Wednesdays
F. nobody knows what to do in this instance as it never happened before/nobody ever asked that before so they'll need to get their boss, who naturally isn't there on Wednesdays (translated means 'he's smoking and can't be bothered')
G. you have the wrong form, so you need to go to the tobacconist, buy the right one but they are unable to tell you exactly which one is the right one, even though they know that this, isn't it (no, they don't know where the nearest tobacconist is and when you find it, it's closed) ("why a tobacconist" I hear you saying? Who knows?)
H. They're not sure what to do in your case as it appears that you are the very first English person who decided he wants to live in Italy, so you're breaking new ground!
I. To complete this operation and get the form you need, it will take the office 60 days, even though in reality it would take about 2 to 3 minutes!
J. It still won't be ready after 60 days, in fact they won't even have looked at it and your form will be sitting in a big pile of other similar forms waiting to be looked at.
K. It's not their responsibility so they can't tell you why it's not ready, they just fill the forms in, no, they can't go and get the person who is responsible.
L. A shrug of the shoulders and a few hand gesticulations is a perfectly good and acceptable answer from a public servant or sales assistant.
4. When speaking to a shop assistant, you have to accept that her mobile phone might ring at any point, if it does, she'll answer it and proceed to have a 20 minute, un-hurried conversation with her boyfriend about what they did at the weekend, while you are left standing there in front of her. They don't care if you go somewhere else.
5. As a customer or member of the public, expect to be treated with utter contempt. You ARE a nuisance that everyone could well do without, you're just getting in the way and stopping her continuing her conversation with her best friend about her boyfriend. Why didn't you go speak to someone else?
6. Don't expect shop assistants to stop doing what they are doing when you walk into their shop, they'll get to you when it suits them and when they have finished their conversation, not before.
7. Right in the middle of being served, always expect the assistant to break off and go and serve someone else, then come back to you later.
8. You'll never hear the words: 'Please', 'thankyou', 'have a nice day' or 'you're welcome' in any shop. You might get a grunt, a shrug of shoulders or if you are very lucky they might actually read out the amount of money that they require from you, rather than just holding out their hand!
9. Don't expect to stand there in a neat, polite line queuing like you do in the Post Office in England, Italians don't 'DO' queuing, expect something similar to the big battle scene in the film 'Braveheart' but with slightly more elegant clothing.
10. No shops offer you any assistance in packing your purchased goods. The supermarkets practically throw your stuff at you much quicker than you can possibly get it into a bag in an effort to get you out of the shop as fast as possible.
Once you've accepted these facts, life's much less frustrating!!!!
Feel free to add your own experiences...
Matt
Nov 6th 2007, 5:48 am
#2
RETIRED ;-))
Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Benalmadena Pueblo,Spain
Posts: 20,156
Re: my rules on Italian customer service
Are you sure you don`t live in Spain ?
Always turn up with three copies and the original of every piece of paper you have ever owned, even the pay and display parking ticket, but they will still find a bit you need and don`t have.
Always turn up with three copies and the original of every piece of paper you have ever owned, even the pay and display parking ticket, but they will still find a bit you need and don`t have.
Nov 6th 2007, 8:14 am
#3
Pull my finger
Joined: Feb 2007
Location: Vicenza
Posts: 4,064
Re: my rules on Italian customer service
Excellent list. I'll give you Karma for making me larf!
I'd like to add that if you are unhappy with your bank don't ever think about closing your account because there's a hefty charge for that!
Who decides which day a particular type of shop needs to be shut anyway?? i.e. supermarkets shut Monday morning, restaurants closed Tuesdays, hairdressers closed all day Mondays, etc
I'd like to add that if you are unhappy with your bank don't ever think about closing your account because there's a hefty charge for that!
Who decides which day a particular type of shop needs to be shut anyway?? i.e. supermarkets shut Monday morning, restaurants closed Tuesdays, hairdressers closed all day Mondays, etc
Nov 6th 2007, 9:33 am
#4
Forum Regular
Joined: Sep 2006
Location: Vicenza, Italia
Posts: 119
Re: my rules on Italian customer service
Excellent list! 
Sounds like you are now truly bitter and twisted by your experiences here!
Guarantees on goods are a mystery to us right now. ....
We bought a portable air con unit in the summer (beginning of July I think) from a large electronics store, found it was faulty and took it back just 10 days later (could not take it back before as I was heavily pregnant and the thing weighed a ton, and my husband was at work, so waited until the following weekend). We were told that although it was in guarantee the shop could not help as it had been more than 8 days since we bought it, so we were referred to a Delonghi repair centre 5 minutes away. They took it in, gave us an ancient 'temporary' replacement, and said they would be in touch when it was ready.
After a few weeks my husband tried calling them - no answer! No matter what day, the time of day or the phase of the moon there was no one answering the phone! Eventually he got through at least 2 months after they originally took it in (well, we did have August in the middle of it all when Italy closes!) , to be told that it was faulty (yes, we knew that!) and it was a fault that Delonghi had seen a lot of and were aware of but they did not have the part they needed to replace yet, so were waiting on that. And still we are waiting! :curse: Like we need an aircon unit right now when we can see snow covered mountains from our house!!
Any one know if we have any consumer rights (yes, silly question I know!) in terms of getting a refund or replacement as it has been so long since they took it in?
Sounds like you are now truly bitter and twisted by your experiences here! Guarantees on goods are a mystery to us right now. ....
We bought a portable air con unit in the summer (beginning of July I think) from a large electronics store, found it was faulty and took it back just 10 days later (could not take it back before as I was heavily pregnant and the thing weighed a ton, and my husband was at work, so waited until the following weekend). We were told that although it was in guarantee the shop could not help as it had been more than 8 days since we bought it, so we were referred to a Delonghi repair centre 5 minutes away. They took it in, gave us an ancient 'temporary' replacement, and said they would be in touch when it was ready.
After a few weeks my husband tried calling them - no answer! No matter what day, the time of day or the phase of the moon there was no one answering the phone! Eventually he got through at least 2 months after they originally took it in (well, we did have August in the middle of it all when Italy closes!) , to be told that it was faulty (yes, we knew that!) and it was a fault that Delonghi had seen a lot of and were aware of but they did not have the part they needed to replace yet, so were waiting on that. And still we are waiting! :curse: Like we need an aircon unit right now when we can see snow covered mountains from our house!!
Any one know if we have any consumer rights (yes, silly question I know!) in terms of getting a refund or replacement as it has been so long since they took it in?
Nov 6th 2007, 11:40 am
#5
Just Joined
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 20
Re: my rules on Italian customer service
Customer Service
There's a few important things to bear in mind if you ever plan on going shopping or planning to go to a public office here in Italy:
1. Before you decide to drive 2 hours through rush hour traffic to get to the shop that you want to go to, don't bother ringing up to see if they're open, nobody ever answers the shop phone. People only answer the phone when you don't want them to, not when you do. The person who's job it is to answer the phone is busy either: a. smoking out the back of the shop, b. Talking to his girlfriend on his mobile phone or c. Chatting with his colleagues. Either way, they won't answer, this rule stands also for government offices, police stations and restaurants.
2. Remember that one single trip to any shop or office is never possible, always expect at least 3 to 4 visits. The first time you visit the shop will be closed because the owner is on holiday or has just popped out for a few minutes, never to return that day. The second time you visit will be a Monday and nothing is open on a Monday or a Saturday afternoon when all the shops are closed until 3pm and finally when you do get there and find the shop open they wont have what you need.
3. When visiting government offices, again, expect at least 3 visits. Firstly, you have to go during office hours, this involves using lots of your holiday to do anything, on top of this, it's a fact that either:
A. you won't have the correct documents, so you'll have to go away and come back again another day with some more stuff and hope that they will be correct, they can't actually tell you precisely what you need, you have to just keep guessing.
B. you can only get this form on Tuesdays...and it's Wednesday
C. you're in the wrong office
D. you're at the wrong window
E. only one person is authorized to do this and he's not here on Wednesdays
F. nobody knows what to do in this instance as it never happened before/nobody ever asked that before so they'll need to get their boss, who naturally isn't there on Wednesdays (translated means 'he's smoking and can't be bothered')
G. you have the wrong form, so you need to go to the tobacconist, buy the right one but they are unable to tell you exactly which one is the right one, even though they know that this, isn't it (no, they don't know where the nearest tobacconist is and when you find it, it's closed) ("why a tobacconist" I hear you saying? Who knows?)
H. They're not sure what to do in your case as it appears that you are the very first English person who decided he wants to live in Italy, so you're breaking new ground!
I. To complete this operation and get the form you need, it will take the office 60 days, even though in reality it would take about 2 to 3 minutes!
J. It still won't be ready after 60 days, in fact they won't even have looked at it and your form will be sitting in a big pile of other similar forms waiting to be looked at.
K. It's not their responsibility so they can't tell you why it's not ready, they just fill the forms in, no, they can't go and get the person who is responsible.
L. A shrug of the shoulders and a few hand gesticulations is a perfectly good and acceptable answer from a public servant or sales assistant.
4. When speaking to a shop assistant, you have to accept that her mobile phone might ring at any point, if it does, she'll answer it and proceed to have a 20 minute, un-hurried conversation with her boyfriend about what they did at the weekend, while you are left standing there in front of her. They don't care if you go somewhere else.
5. As a customer or member of the public, expect to be treated with utter contempt. You ARE a nuisance that everyone could well do without, you're just getting in the way and stopping her continuing her conversation with her best friend about her boyfriend. Why didn't you go speak to someone else?
6. Don't expect shop assistants to stop doing what they are doing when you walk into their shop, they'll get to you when it suits them and when they have finished their conversation, not before.
7. Right in the middle of being served, always expect the assistant to break off and go and serve someone else, then come back to you later.
8. You'll never hear the words: 'Please', 'thankyou', 'have a nice day' or 'you're welcome' in any shop. You might get a grunt, a shrug of shoulders or if you are very lucky they might actually read out the amount of money that they require from you, rather than just holding out their hand!
9. Don't expect to stand there in a neat, polite line queuing like you do in the Post Office in England, Italians don't 'DO' queuing, expect something similar to the big battle scene in the film 'Braveheart' but with slightly more elegant clothing.
10. No shops offer you any assistance in packing your purchased goods. The supermarkets practically throw your stuff at you much quicker than you can possibly get it into a bag in an effort to get you out of the shop as fast as possible.
Once you've accepted these facts, life's much less frustrating!!!!
Feel free to add your own experiences...
Matt
There's a few important things to bear in mind if you ever plan on going shopping or planning to go to a public office here in Italy:
1. Before you decide to drive 2 hours through rush hour traffic to get to the shop that you want to go to, don't bother ringing up to see if they're open, nobody ever answers the shop phone. People only answer the phone when you don't want them to, not when you do. The person who's job it is to answer the phone is busy either: a. smoking out the back of the shop, b. Talking to his girlfriend on his mobile phone or c. Chatting with his colleagues. Either way, they won't answer, this rule stands also for government offices, police stations and restaurants.
2. Remember that one single trip to any shop or office is never possible, always expect at least 3 to 4 visits. The first time you visit the shop will be closed because the owner is on holiday or has just popped out for a few minutes, never to return that day. The second time you visit will be a Monday and nothing is open on a Monday or a Saturday afternoon when all the shops are closed until 3pm and finally when you do get there and find the shop open they wont have what you need.
3. When visiting government offices, again, expect at least 3 visits. Firstly, you have to go during office hours, this involves using lots of your holiday to do anything, on top of this, it's a fact that either:
A. you won't have the correct documents, so you'll have to go away and come back again another day with some more stuff and hope that they will be correct, they can't actually tell you precisely what you need, you have to just keep guessing.
B. you can only get this form on Tuesdays...and it's Wednesday
C. you're in the wrong office
D. you're at the wrong window
E. only one person is authorized to do this and he's not here on Wednesdays
F. nobody knows what to do in this instance as it never happened before/nobody ever asked that before so they'll need to get their boss, who naturally isn't there on Wednesdays (translated means 'he's smoking and can't be bothered')
G. you have the wrong form, so you need to go to the tobacconist, buy the right one but they are unable to tell you exactly which one is the right one, even though they know that this, isn't it (no, they don't know where the nearest tobacconist is and when you find it, it's closed) ("why a tobacconist" I hear you saying? Who knows?)
H. They're not sure what to do in your case as it appears that you are the very first English person who decided he wants to live in Italy, so you're breaking new ground!
I. To complete this operation and get the form you need, it will take the office 60 days, even though in reality it would take about 2 to 3 minutes!
J. It still won't be ready after 60 days, in fact they won't even have looked at it and your form will be sitting in a big pile of other similar forms waiting to be looked at.
K. It's not their responsibility so they can't tell you why it's not ready, they just fill the forms in, no, they can't go and get the person who is responsible.
L. A shrug of the shoulders and a few hand gesticulations is a perfectly good and acceptable answer from a public servant or sales assistant.
4. When speaking to a shop assistant, you have to accept that her mobile phone might ring at any point, if it does, she'll answer it and proceed to have a 20 minute, un-hurried conversation with her boyfriend about what they did at the weekend, while you are left standing there in front of her. They don't care if you go somewhere else.
5. As a customer or member of the public, expect to be treated with utter contempt. You ARE a nuisance that everyone could well do without, you're just getting in the way and stopping her continuing her conversation with her best friend about her boyfriend. Why didn't you go speak to someone else?
6. Don't expect shop assistants to stop doing what they are doing when you walk into their shop, they'll get to you when it suits them and when they have finished their conversation, not before.
7. Right in the middle of being served, always expect the assistant to break off and go and serve someone else, then come back to you later.
8. You'll never hear the words: 'Please', 'thankyou', 'have a nice day' or 'you're welcome' in any shop. You might get a grunt, a shrug of shoulders or if you are very lucky they might actually read out the amount of money that they require from you, rather than just holding out their hand!
9. Don't expect to stand there in a neat, polite line queuing like you do in the Post Office in England, Italians don't 'DO' queuing, expect something similar to the big battle scene in the film 'Braveheart' but with slightly more elegant clothing.
10. No shops offer you any assistance in packing your purchased goods. The supermarkets practically throw your stuff at you much quicker than you can possibly get it into a bag in an effort to get you out of the shop as fast as possible.
Once you've accepted these facts, life's much less frustrating!!!!
Feel free to add your own experiences...
Matt
Emily
Nov 6th 2007, 4:16 pm
#6
The Original Red Head!
Joined: May 2007
Location: Firenze, Italia
Posts: 4,981
Re: my rules on Italian customer service
You forgot the one where there is a "quota"! Turn up at said govt. office at 9.00 a.m. (1 hour after opening) to be told they are not seeing anymore people that day, come back early tomorrow!! Happened where you get your CF - thing is, in Florence there is another one around the corner (you can see in from one building to the other) when asked if this building would be able to see us the receptionist, whose understanding of English had been perfect up to that point, claimed not to know the existence of this other office!!!!!!!!!!Having said that I have returned things here without a problem, really! And most of the time I find the people in ALL the shops friendly, Post Office sometimes and I am nearly on first name terms with my bank cashiers -must be my dazzling personality
!jdr - my husband is off to hospital in Benalmadena for an MRI scan today - has a slipped disc! So far (he is paying!) he thinks they are all wonderful! Started on his visits last Friday.
Nov 6th 2007, 7:22 pm
#7
RETIRED ;-))
Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Benalmadena Pueblo,Spain
Posts: 20,156
Re: my rules on Italian customer service
You forgot the one where there is a "quota"! Turn up at said govt. office at 9.00 a.m. (1 hour after opening) to be told they are not seeing anymore people that day, come back early tomorrow!! Happened where you get your CF - thing is, in Florence there is another one around the corner (you can see in from one building to the other) when asked if this building would be able to see us the receptionist, whose understanding of English had been perfect up to that point, claimed not to know the existence of this other office!!!!!!!!!!Having said that I have returned things here without a problem, really! And most of the time I find the people in ALL the shops friendly, Post Office sometimes and I am nearly on first name terms with my bank cashiers -must be my dazzling personality
!jdr - my husband is off to hospital in Benalmadena for an MRI scan today - has a slipped disc! So far (he is paying!) he thinks they are all wonderful! Started on his visits last Friday.
There is a pic in my gallery. ;-)
Nov 7th 2007, 6:35 am
#8
The Original Red Head!
Joined: May 2007
Location: Firenze, Italia
Posts: 4,981
Re: my rules on Italian customer service
Ha, it was a bad accident wasn't it! I'll check, but would think so. Waiting for more results today! This is what happens when you hurl a medicine ball around. Sorry, off topic!
Nov 7th 2007, 9:30 am
#9
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2007
Location: Montecatini Terme
Posts: 127
Re: my rules on Italian customer service
Customer Service
There's a few important things to bear in mind if you ever plan on going shopping or planning to go to a public office here in Italy:
1. Before you decide to drive 2 hours through rush hour traffic to get to the shop that you want to go to, don't bother ringing up to see if they're open, nobody ever answers the shop phone. People only answer the phone when you don't want them to, not when you do. The person who's job it is to answer the phone is busy either: a. smoking out the back of the shop, b. Talking to his girlfriend on his mobile phone or c. Chatting with his colleagues. Either way, they won't answer, this rule stands also for government offices, police stations and restaurants.
2. Remember that one single trip to any shop or office is never possible, always expect at least 3 to 4 visits. The first time you visit the shop will be closed because the owner is on holiday or has just popped out for a few minutes, never to return that day. The second time you visit will be a Monday and nothing is open on a Monday or a Saturday afternoon when all the shops are closed until 3pm and finally when you do get there and find the shop open they wont have what you need.
3. When visiting government offices, again, expect at least 3 visits. Firstly, you have to go during office hours, this involves using lots of your holiday to do anything, on top of this, it's a fact that either:
A. you won't have the correct documents, so you'll have to go away and come back again another day with some more stuff and hope that they will be correct, they can't actually tell you precisely what you need, you have to just keep guessing.
B. you can only get this form on Tuesdays...and it's Wednesday
C. you're in the wrong office
D. you're at the wrong window
E. only one person is authorized to do this and he's not here on Wednesdays
F. nobody knows what to do in this instance as it never happened before/nobody ever asked that before so they'll need to get their boss, who naturally isn't there on Wednesdays (translated means 'he's smoking and can't be bothered')
G. you have the wrong form, so you need to go to the tobacconist, buy the right one but they are unable to tell you exactly which one is the right one, even though they know that this, isn't it (no, they don't know where the nearest tobacconist is and when you find it, it's closed) ("why a tobacconist" I hear you saying? Who knows?)
H. They're not sure what to do in your case as it appears that you are the very first English person who decided he wants to live in Italy, so you're breaking new ground!
I. To complete this operation and get the form you need, it will take the office 60 days, even though in reality it would take about 2 to 3 minutes!
J. It still won't be ready after 60 days, in fact they won't even have looked at it and your form will be sitting in a big pile of other similar forms waiting to be looked at.
K. It's not their responsibility so they can't tell you why it's not ready, they just fill the forms in, no, they can't go and get the person who is responsible.
L. A shrug of the shoulders and a few hand gesticulations is a perfectly good and acceptable answer from a public servant or sales assistant.
4. When speaking to a shop assistant, you have to accept that her mobile phone might ring at any point, if it does, she'll answer it and proceed to have a 20 minute, un-hurried conversation with her boyfriend about what they did at the weekend, while you are left standing there in front of her. They don't care if you go somewhere else.
5. As a customer or member of the public, expect to be treated with utter contempt. You ARE a nuisance that everyone could well do without, you're just getting in the way and stopping her continuing her conversation with her best friend about her boyfriend. Why didn't you go speak to someone else?
6. Don't expect shop assistants to stop doing what they are doing when you walk into their shop, they'll get to you when it suits them and when they have finished their conversation, not before.
7. Right in the middle of being served, always expect the assistant to break off and go and serve someone else, then come back to you later.
8. You'll never hear the words: 'Please', 'thankyou', 'have a nice day' or 'you're welcome' in any shop. You might get a grunt, a shrug of shoulders or if you are very lucky they might actually read out the amount of money that they require from you, rather than just holding out their hand!
9. Don't expect to stand there in a neat, polite line queuing like you do in the Post Office in England, Italians don't 'DO' queuing, expect something similar to the big battle scene in the film 'Braveheart' but with slightly more elegant clothing.
10. No shops offer you any assistance in packing your purchased goods. The supermarkets practically throw your stuff at you much quicker than you can possibly get it into a bag in an effort to get you out of the shop as fast as possible.
Once you've accepted these facts, life's much less frustrating!!!!
Feel free to add your own experiences...
Matt
There's a few important things to bear in mind if you ever plan on going shopping or planning to go to a public office here in Italy:
1. Before you decide to drive 2 hours through rush hour traffic to get to the shop that you want to go to, don't bother ringing up to see if they're open, nobody ever answers the shop phone. People only answer the phone when you don't want them to, not when you do. The person who's job it is to answer the phone is busy either: a. smoking out the back of the shop, b. Talking to his girlfriend on his mobile phone or c. Chatting with his colleagues. Either way, they won't answer, this rule stands also for government offices, police stations and restaurants.
2. Remember that one single trip to any shop or office is never possible, always expect at least 3 to 4 visits. The first time you visit the shop will be closed because the owner is on holiday or has just popped out for a few minutes, never to return that day. The second time you visit will be a Monday and nothing is open on a Monday or a Saturday afternoon when all the shops are closed until 3pm and finally when you do get there and find the shop open they wont have what you need.
3. When visiting government offices, again, expect at least 3 visits. Firstly, you have to go during office hours, this involves using lots of your holiday to do anything, on top of this, it's a fact that either:
A. you won't have the correct documents, so you'll have to go away and come back again another day with some more stuff and hope that they will be correct, they can't actually tell you precisely what you need, you have to just keep guessing.
B. you can only get this form on Tuesdays...and it's Wednesday
C. you're in the wrong office
D. you're at the wrong window
E. only one person is authorized to do this and he's not here on Wednesdays
F. nobody knows what to do in this instance as it never happened before/nobody ever asked that before so they'll need to get their boss, who naturally isn't there on Wednesdays (translated means 'he's smoking and can't be bothered')
G. you have the wrong form, so you need to go to the tobacconist, buy the right one but they are unable to tell you exactly which one is the right one, even though they know that this, isn't it (no, they don't know where the nearest tobacconist is and when you find it, it's closed) ("why a tobacconist" I hear you saying? Who knows?)
H. They're not sure what to do in your case as it appears that you are the very first English person who decided he wants to live in Italy, so you're breaking new ground!
I. To complete this operation and get the form you need, it will take the office 60 days, even though in reality it would take about 2 to 3 minutes!
J. It still won't be ready after 60 days, in fact they won't even have looked at it and your form will be sitting in a big pile of other similar forms waiting to be looked at.
K. It's not their responsibility so they can't tell you why it's not ready, they just fill the forms in, no, they can't go and get the person who is responsible.
L. A shrug of the shoulders and a few hand gesticulations is a perfectly good and acceptable answer from a public servant or sales assistant.
4. When speaking to a shop assistant, you have to accept that her mobile phone might ring at any point, if it does, she'll answer it and proceed to have a 20 minute, un-hurried conversation with her boyfriend about what they did at the weekend, while you are left standing there in front of her. They don't care if you go somewhere else.
5. As a customer or member of the public, expect to be treated with utter contempt. You ARE a nuisance that everyone could well do without, you're just getting in the way and stopping her continuing her conversation with her best friend about her boyfriend. Why didn't you go speak to someone else?
6. Don't expect shop assistants to stop doing what they are doing when you walk into their shop, they'll get to you when it suits them and when they have finished their conversation, not before.
7. Right in the middle of being served, always expect the assistant to break off and go and serve someone else, then come back to you later.
8. You'll never hear the words: 'Please', 'thankyou', 'have a nice day' or 'you're welcome' in any shop. You might get a grunt, a shrug of shoulders or if you are very lucky they might actually read out the amount of money that they require from you, rather than just holding out their hand!
9. Don't expect to stand there in a neat, polite line queuing like you do in the Post Office in England, Italians don't 'DO' queuing, expect something similar to the big battle scene in the film 'Braveheart' but with slightly more elegant clothing.
10. No shops offer you any assistance in packing your purchased goods. The supermarkets practically throw your stuff at you much quicker than you can possibly get it into a bag in an effort to get you out of the shop as fast as possible.
Once you've accepted these facts, life's much less frustrating!!!!
Feel free to add your own experiences...
Matt
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Nov 10th 2007, 8:01 am
#10
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2007
Location: Tucked away in the lush green of Kent
Posts: 270
Re: my rules on Italian customer service
...come to the south of Italy, it gets much much worse!
Nov 26th 2007, 6:39 pm
#12
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 37
Re: my rules on Italian customer service
Good luck!
P.S. Couldn't agree more with the original list - made me laugh!
Nov 27th 2007, 8:12 am
#13
The Original Red Head!
Joined: May 2007
Location: Firenze, Italia
Posts: 4,981
Looks like you are taking your own advice!
Nov 27th 2007, 1:41 pm
#14
Just Joined
Joined: Oct 2007
Location: Italy
Posts: 14
Re: some rules on Italian customer service etc.
Bruno Bozzetto has said it all so much better before though...
- (if you enjoyed that, he has more on-line here)
Nov 27th 2007, 3:33 pm
#15
The Original Red Head!
Joined: May 2007
Location: Firenze, Italia
Posts: 4,981
Re: my rules on Italian customer service
This is one I have in my favourites box - like the fact it is an Italian that made the cartoon!