Customer 'service??'

[longdogs]

Walked into a plumbers merchants a few weeks back (ouch!) and was in a bit of a rush to get back to the job I was on. There were five guys behind the counter, all huddled around a computer, discussing deliveries. There was one guy serving an old lady and another guy serving a heating engineer. The heating engineer obviously thought it would be a good time to tell the shopkeeper all about the jobs he had worked on that month (regardless of the fact that I was waiting to be served} and the old lady was trying to explain what it was she needed to buy.

After waiting about ten minutes, I was starting to get really peed off. The engineer was now chatting away merrily and the shop keeper was making no attempt to get shot of him even though he had now finished buying what he needed. The guys around the computer were giving the odd glance in my direction but obviously didn.t want to serve me.

After fifteen minutes I was now waiting for my moment - which came perfectly. The two men were now talking about when you ring a store and no one bothers to answer the phone.

'Some people have no concept on how to serve people' said the shop keeper.

At which point I said (loudly) 'You're right there mate' And walked out.

Do people that serve in plumbers merchants not realise that time is important to the tradesmaen they are selling to? And why do some heating guys find it necessary to tell their life story at the counter?

Jog on FFS

 

[LastMagicBean]

And why do some heating guys find it necessary to tell their life story at the counter?

Hope you're not suggesting this wasted time is added to the victims/customers bill are you squeaky????? .....

 

[AronSearle]

Did you complain, sounds like that shop could afford to sack a few people.

 

[joinerjohn]

In one of my local builders merchants, you have no problem getting served at the counter. However , your real problems start when you walk out into the yard holding your "ticket". The yard lads are like rats scurrying for cover. Take ages and ages to even offer to look for, or fetch the items you've just ordered (and paid for)

 

[chapeau]

So take yer customer's hard earned money elsewhere............

 

[joe-90]

Come on guys, live in the real world. The big mouth bragging probably spends £80k a year there whilst you are a nobody wanting to spend a fiver. Guess who I'd rather offend if I were running a trade counter.

 

[cajar]

I take your point joe, but thing is they don't have to offend anybody. It doesn't take 5 guys to sort out a delivery, one of them could have saw a customer waiting. And as for the other one, he could have just acknowledged the customer waiting with a glance and then wrapped up politely with the heating engineer. It's called being professional. Definitely think the guys in builders merchants need some better customer service skills / training. at the end of the day they are shop assistants and not plumbers or whatever else, no need for them to chew the fat to that extent, when their job is to serve with a smile.

 

[joe-90]

Well what he should have done after 5 minutes is shout to the guys in the back "Excuse me, can we have another guy on the counter please?"

That does many things.

It tells big gob it's time he cleared off.

It gives the guy serving big gob the chance to get away from the boring tw*t.

It tells the manager to start managing before it escalates into a complaint at head office.

It works for me.

 

[joinerjohn]

Come on guys, live in the real world. The big mouth bragging probably spends £80k a year there whilst you are a nobody wanting to spend a fiver. Guess who I'd rather offend if I were running a trade counter.

Thing is Joe, the chap chatting with the heating engineer, has no way of knowing how much the next customer is wanting to spend. For all we know, Squeaky could have been after something costing hundreds, whilst Mr Heating Engineer has just bought a bag of rubber washers.

 

[bernardgreen]

A friend was in a similar situation so he phoned the head office of the company while in the queue and told them the situation. Head office must have then phoned the branch as the branch manager came to the counter asking for him by name. He got the manager's discount as compensation.

It pays to complain

 

[gregers]

i have done in the past 'with a raised voice asked if they actually work there'or are just visiting?.this normally gets a sarky reaction where as i then start to complain in an even louder voice.

there used to be a guy in my local t&p who as soon as you walked in he used to walk out the back or pick up paper work etc to look busy and always moaned if the other peeps there wernt doing anything.
i lost count of the times he had complaints about him made by other customers etc but for some strange reason he was never sacked.

 

[securespark]

I always ask (in a loud voice) for assistance at the counter.

My bank (pre refit) used to have space for 3 cashiers. They only ever had 2 people max serving at anytime. After the refit, there is space for 2. Guess how many people you see serving now? Clue, the answer's not 2.

When I go in Eddy's, there's often 3 or 4 in the office yacking on dogs, when you ask to be served, they tell you they're busy and to wait....

CEF are even worse.

I find the best wholesaler for service is WF.

Co-op similar. Sometimes they have 1 on the till and a large queue, with workers nearby stacking shelves and ignoring the growing queue. Give me strength...

 

[joinerjohn]

Co-op similar. Sometimes they have 1 on the till and a large queue, with workers nearby stacking shelves and ignoring the growing queue. Give me strength...

There's a large Sainsburys near me (Kingsway branch in Derby) Whenever I go there, there's about 5 tills manned (out of about 25) and the queues at each one are stupidly long. There's usually at least 10 workers /supervisors always stood near the tills, watching the growing queues. Same at their petrol station. They have 4 tills but only usually have one manned and 3 other staff filling shelves, whilst motorists are queuing round the fookin block.

 

[^woody^]

Don't be hard on Heating Engineers, the shop keepers are the only ones they get to talk to who will listen. Oh, and the Samaritans

 

[raebhoop]

I ran a busy market stall for years and always told my staff....If a queue forms acknowledge the customers."Be with you in a minute Love!"...."Sorry to keep you, won't be long!".....and they'll wait all day.

It's when people are ignored they lose their rag and walk out.I certainly do,it's my pet hate,and I made damned sure my staff didn't do it.

As for the shelf filling bit...I come across this in all shops, and if there's management knocking about I tell them in a loud voice that taking money is number one...shelf filling comes second. Any decent manager worth his salt should know that.