****Disclaimer: This is the sort of post of grumbles. So if anyone has a grumble or wants to read about grumbles, have at it.
Oh yesterday was horrific as I spent most of the day taking care of “fires” and quite honestly stomping around like a raging bull. Alas, unfortunately there are some days that one cannot be a soft and pretty flower, but an aggressive assertive critter, much like a Rottweiler I suppose. Indeed it seemed like one problem after another, weird juju with the phone company and their lack of competence as well as the EcoNew folks who have yet to send out the promised product. It just seemed like everyone was not capable of giving me an answer, which can be entirely frustrating.
That grumble was all that I needed to start me bemoaning the lack of quality customer service. In fact this year I have had a few moments when I thought that the representative was completely unqualified and who’s only purpose served was to damage the credibility of the business. Not only did I find them incompetent, but the experience left me with my jaw agape and decidedly no longer a customer. I actually have two ghastly experiences which you may or may not find interesting.
The first is related to a eyewear purchase I had made. I had bought a sunglasses clip to put in my car. The idea is that the clip holds these securely in place for easy access when you need them, rather than fumbling for them in your purse to get out of the case. Guess what, in the summer the acrylic became soft and the mechanism twisted my Kate Spade glasses. I was annoyed a bit, but I had a few more sunglasses (I refuse to call them sunnies, I would feel like a boob doing that) so I was not in dire need of replacement. Now I found it a product defect that it would twist the frames, I thought the tension should be adjusted so it would not. I went into Sunglass Hut and explained what happened, I was not looking for anything just to alert them to the product defect. After my explanation the sales girl said that it looked like I stepped on it, I refuted it and said that it melted. She kept insisting that I stepped on it and decided she could fix it (she was going to put a new screw in which does not help a warped piece of acrylic), that it was impossible that it melted. Now that pissed me off, so I said, “Are you saying that I am lying, that is very insulting.” I was so livid at this point that I decided to leave, because it would have gotten uglier from there.
Now I don’t have high hopes for Forever21. Their products are low quality and their designs can be questionable. But I pop my head in every so often for a gem, maybe a style item that I want to play with but don’t necessarily want to keep for a while. I was in search of a pleated skirt, and would you believe I had to explain what a pleat was to the sales girl. She looked at me like I was speaking pig latin. But this level of ignorance seems consistent in all Forever21s. I was once looking for a tunic, and the girl showed me a top with a peplum. Now the word peplum does originate from tunic, but in modern fashion a tunic is a longer top that cover the bum and a peplum is a top with a sort of skirt at around waist length. It does not necessarily cover the entire bum. These are basic fashion ideas that I thought most people would know, especially…IF YOU WORK IN A PLACE THAT SELLS CLOTHES. Um….duh…
OK, so it may be a tad bitchy, but some days you just wonder how they ended up with such an ill fitting job. OK, folks so I got that off my chest, anyone else have a grumble. Let it fly. It actually feels good.
A Happy Peach 
December 20, 2011 at 8:13 pm
That sunglass hut’s sales rep needs more training on how to keep a customer happy, a store credit or even showing interest in helping a customer goes a long ways right? after all, word of mouth is literally a business’s lifeline 😦
December 20, 2011 at 9:47 pm
I’ve had positions where I was managing Customer Service Reps and the smallest mannerisms make a difference. It makes a difference as to making the customer happy and alienating the customer.
She should have listened and said I am sorry to hear that, let’s see what we can do to help fix this. I wasn’t looking for anything from the store, I was actually just wanting to help with feedback for product improvement. And she couldn’t hear that. She was so lacking as a representative of the store that it was offensive and shameful.
Word of mouth is more important than any promotion you could offer. Because if everyone knows you sell a bad product then they wouldn’t want to buy it at any price. No sense of throwing good money after bad.
December 20, 2011 at 9:53 pm
I couldn’t of said it better myself, there’s no way i am going to step into that store! there’s one here at Metrotown where i live beside. I always get a bad feeling when i go in there, they stare at me as if i am going to steal something geesh! how am i supposed to enjoy my shopping experience right?
December 21, 2011 at 12:42 am
Sorry for the lag. Oh that is terrible, why even bother to have a store if all they do is try and make people uncomfortable. It’s a bad environment all the way around.
January 8, 2012 at 7:57 am
I had two negative experiences with sales reps before leaving for my vacay. I’m still going to write emails/letters to the companies to inform them of the less than satisfying experiences. First I thought maybe I was being a holiday grinch, but upon reflection, I still have to conclude that the sales reps were ignorant and plain rude to their customers. Not acceptable. Imagine if we held the same attitude in our current jobs. We’d be fired immediately.
January 9, 2012 at 9:54 pm
I just don’t understand how the quality of customer service has fallen so low. I know that our thoughts of what customer service should be is quite American, I’ve heard not to expect the same niceties in other countries, but when oh when did it fall into the crapper? Maybe when crapper started to creep into my vocabulary :O.
The problem lies in the worker and also the commitment of management to instill a customer service driven environment. I’ve taken on the role of customer service manager before and it’s about picking the right person, taking the time to train it, and being consistent with policy. You should also treat your staff the way that you expect them to treat the customer. Honestly, these are simple things, but they must be done consistently. I’m sort of taking a break from business, because it can be a draining environment, right now I’m going to be working with kids for a bit while I figure out what I want to do next. I’m really excited to be doing that again.