The quality of retail customer service

[Scream]

How do you find the quality of customer service in retail where you live? I live in Ottawa On, Canada, and in my opinion it REALLY sucks here overall. It is so rare to come across a salesperson that is friendly, let alone helpful, that when you you do it's a real shock.

I'm in the process of looking for some new furniture for my bedroom. Gonna drop somewhere between $2-3K on it. I've been to several stores looking at what they have. At one store I talked to a salesperson, and had a question he didn't know the answer to. He took my name and phone number, and told me he'd call me with the info. That was a couple weeks ago and I've never heard from him. I talked to another salesperson at a different store on the phone abotu some specific items I was interested in that I was looking at on their website. Asked him if I could send him a list of the items I was interested in by email, so he could reply with pricing for them (no prices on the website). He said sure, no problem. I sent the email with 8 items listed (including the part numbers to make his life easier) two days ago. Haven't heard back. I told the guy I was VERY interested in purchasing these things, and he can't look up 8 prices in two days and respond?

I find this type of service to be the norm, as opposed to the exception here. It is almost impossible to GIVE your money to retailers at times. It's ridiculous. Normally I'd say that once I'm treated that way by a retailer I just take my business elsewhere, but it's so bad that it's tought ot find anyplace that acts differently, so you'd end up not being able to buy anything at all. You're stuck babying salespeople who want to put zero effort into their job along so that you can get what you want/need.

Don't even get me started on the grocery store checkout people who don't even acknowledge you at the cash with a simple "Hello" or God forbid, "How are you today?" Ignore customer, grab items, run across scanner, put in bag. The only time a lot of them speak to you is when they are telling you the total and asking how you're going to pay.

I've done a little travelling in the US, and as a general rule have found the quality of customer service to be significantly better in the few places I've visited, so I'm thinking that where I live maybe just sucks compared to a lot of other places. I've also found the customer service in some (not all) of the American chains that have made their way north to be superior to what I'm used to from Canadian-based companies here in Ottawa.

Anyway, how do you find the quality of customer service where you live?

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

Have a hot girl you know do the buying, she will get the best customer service... at least that is how it works at my job.

[Scream]

Have a hot girl you know do the buying, she will get the best customer service... at least that is how it works at my job.

Ha! Buying from other girls or guys?

Oh, and that sure as hell wouldn't work trying to buy a car. Car salesmen try to take women to the cleaners...

[Sang]

I don't really care much for the insincere friendliness of some salesperson.. If I want to go to a shop, all I want to do is to buy something and get out. Though sometimes, in a large shop, I might not be able to find said "something" so in that case I think someone should be able to politely show you where to find it.

Seems to me that salespeople in clothing shops are often excessively friendly which just really creeps me out to a large degree. :o

[Damien_Azreal]

I personally don't like being messed with/bothered... whatever... in stores.

I usually don't go to a store unless I know what I want. And I want to get in, get what I'm after and get out. And if I can't find what I want... simple answers. Don't try and be my best damn friend, point me in the right direction and leave me to it.

I hate overly friendly clerks more than rude ones. I understand rude clerks, I was one... I know that feeling. But friendly clerks... ugh.

[Scream]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to find my new best friend or anything, but when I'm making a large purchase and I can't get a salesperson to return calls etc that's friggin' brutal. Some of these people are on commission, so they are taking $ out of their own pockets. It's like I'm handing it to them and they are too lazy to take it.

I like the places where the salespeople don't approach me, but wait for me to ask for assistance. That works for me. When I ask for help though, don't act like I'm a pain in your ass. It's your friggin' job, and if I wasn't there buying something, you wouldn't have one. If you don't like it, quit. Half the time I feel like I'm thanking them for them doing me some kind of favour as they take my money, and I really have to wonder how the customer service dynamic got so turned on it's head. I do thank them for their assistance, which is polite, but more of them need to remember to thank me for my business in the way they act and what they say.

As far as cash clerks go, I don't expect much. They are there to process you and get you through the line, I get it. They should at least say hello to greet you when you reach the checkout, and a have a nice day when you're heading out the door, even if George Carlin thought those false niceties were stupid. ;)

[Dave-ros]

I'd also prefer it if the cashier didn't try to make friends with me, or force me to respond to a question... though I also hate it when they ignore the plastic bag I've brought with me and start stuffing my shopping into a new plastic bag, thus forcing me to say "excuse me, I have a bag"! Basically anything where they force me to open my mouth and say anything makes me very :tinyted:

[Scream]

Well, most people don't bring their own bag with them, so if that's what you do (and I commend you for it as plastic bags are one of the great environmental evils of the world) it's kind of up to you to let them know you've brought it for them to use. Can't blame them for that.

Many shops around here now ask if you want a bag, and I generally say no.

[Dave-ros]

It's more when I'm holding it right in front of me and even fluffing it open very loudly, and they just ignore this completely -- how obvious do I need to be? I'm still waiting for a shop to tell me that they have a policy of turning away customers who bring their own bags ;)

[Scream]

Ha! What the hell do you guys have against talking to people? You must all be the clerks in the stores I go to making mono-syllabic caveman grunts at me and driving me nuts. ;)

[Dave-ros]

Hey, I just want to buy my lunch and get back to the office before it rains again ;)

[Scream]

Haha! Fair enough. :)

[Jeff]

I usually know what I want before I go in and buy it. I'll research it online. If I have any questions (which is rare), I'll ask, and they are usually good about it.

[Llama Gibbz]

I hate the overly chipper clerk. (unless shes hot) :p

But a sales person answering questions or looking up particular items.
If they dont or cant do it,they simply don't deserve your business.

I guess a lot sales guys just want that instant sale instead of doing a little research for you.
Which is just laziness.

[JimboC]

I always view furniture salespeople in the same vein as used car sales people. Furniture is all pretty much the same all over. A sofa at a certain price range will be similar quality regardless what store you go to, unless the store is ripping it's customers off, which is usually pretty easy to spot. And chances are there's going to be something you like in every store you go to so from the sales person point of view, if they can't make a sale while you're in the store, they're pretty much going to lose the sale if you leave their store and continue looking at other stores. For this reason they'll be your best friend in the store, but once you leave or aren't right in front of them they're not going to waste any more time thinking about you. I never expect good customer service from any business that operates in those conditions.

As for customer service in other areas, I find it varies a lot from place to place. When I lived in NY, almost everyone was rude. It didn't matter if you were in the checkout line at the supermarket or if I was dealing with a director of a department at my job. Apathy was commonplace and everyone was looking to get by doing as little as they could get away with. Now I'm in North Carolina and everyone is so nice it's actually creeping me out a bit. Everyone waves at you as you drive by, people will go out of their way to help total strangers with no expectation of anything in return. For example: I was at a fast food joint and after ordering my meal I just asked if the DMV was nearby, expecting a single word answer and the clerk to point in the direction I should drive. Much to my surprise, the clerk asked her manager to come up front and cover for her and then proceeded to give me detailed directions for the next 5 minutes. When she went back to work the manager didn't question her at all about it. They weren't crazy busy, but there was a pretty steady stream of customers coming into the store. And things like that happen all the time here. Coming from NY this is like the twilight zone.

[thefly]

I think if you (not directed at Jimbo here) want to bitch about customer service, you should go smash your head into a wall. NO ONE WANTS THAT JOB so of course they are pissed. Customers are full of shit, acting like they deserve respect or what not. Retail sucks. Most of us all have jobs, so why not shut your anus since you are not special, you are just another person like everyone else.

I have so much rage and hatred for things that go on in this world, but retail customer service ain't one of them.

[Scream]

I did customer service for 13 years, through my teens and most of my 20s. I waited tables in a shitty restaurant, which is a shitty job, although it can pay ok for a low end customer service job. Then I was a teller in a bank and finally a loan officer. Being a teller in a bank can be a very shitty job. People tend to hate banks because of service charges and the interest on the loans they are paying them, and they like to take it out on the schmuck behind the counter with the lowest paying job in the place who is counting out 20s for them.

I never treated people the way I get treated by some customer service people, and neither did the people I worked with. Partly because it wouldn't have been tolerated by the employer, but mainly because it just wasn't part of the culture of the institutions I worked for. A little common courtesy (I guess that name should be changed to "uncommon courtesy") goes a long way to creating a different feeling in a place, and our regular customers treated us the same way back. Ya, you're always going to have those trying people that you'd like to grab by the neck and squeeze the life out of, but you can't approach the job like that's everyone, and I can remember thinking it was pretty cool when I could turn somebody like that around by being helpful to them.

The problem in customer service now is that customers expect to be treated like shit, so they come in ready for a fight themselves. They are on the defensive before they even approach an employee. Anyway, I see a few rare cases where it's different. The Home Depot here does something with their employees to ensure they are helpful to their customers. Don't know if it's hiring practices, training, or illicit drugs in the employee rest area, but when I go in there and ask someone where something is, unlike most places they don't simply grunt and point their finger, they actually stop what they're doing and walk me to whatever it is I'm looking for. And, they don't suffer from the "deep sigh syndrome" where they act like I'm killing them for asking. They don't get on their knees and blow me, but they don't treat me like a pain in the ass either. They seem to recognize that I'm a human being looking for something, and their role that they are getting paid to do is to help me out.

If you can't show a little pride in what you do for money, you shouldn't be doing it. I don't care if you're the CEO of a fortune 500 company or you're the guy who scrubs his toilets. You don't have to love your job every minute, but if you hate it so much that you can't do it properly, you should quit. Work for 25 years, and you'll find the people who excuse a bad attitude on the job with "it's ok to act this way because this is a shitty job" will ironically end up stuck in shitty jobs like that because that attitude will follow them to the "better" jobs, and they won't last. Or even if they do manage to achieve something decent as far as the level they get to, they will still always have that attitude and not enjoy their work. It's a mindset that doesn't change just because you have new duties and get paid more. "Work ethic".

[Dave-ros]

On the other hand, there are jobs that people hate doing which shouldn't even be allowed to exist in the first place, like telemarketing. This is a job which possibly benefits the company that uses it, and makes both the workers and the "victims" miserable -- it's like the telephone equivalent of spam, except it needs a human to do it. When I was at the University of Michigan, I kept getting phone calls from incredibly phony-sounding people pretending (badly) to be my friend, because they just had to tell me about the latest credit card offer (despite my not being an American citizen and thus ineligible) -- and if I hated getting these calls, I'm sure they hated making them, reading the same script over and over again. No-one should have to go through that kind of hell just to feed their family -- at least scrubbing toilets actually makes the world a better place :(

[Scream]

I've always said that I'd rather pay through my taxes for people to be on welfare than to allow them to be telemarketers, and I still hold to that. It is a societal evil for sure.

I know I sounded like a lecturing old man in my last post. I just think about this guy I used to work with at the restaurant back in the 80s. He was a couple years older than me and waited tables. Treated his customers like shit, and treated his fellow employees like shit. He wasn't a stupid guy either. I had a couple conversations with him on a couple of his good days, and he seemed like he had a good brain in his head. Anyway, he couldn't hold the waitering job because he was just too surly. When I go to that mall now where that restaurant still is, he still works in the mall. He works at the drug store wearing their cute little Shoppers Drug Mart uniform, and he stocks shelves. He still has the same "my hemorrhoids really hurt today" look on his face he had 20+ years ago, and that's his life. If you think customer service jobs suck when you're 20ish, try doing the same f'n job in your forties. Not a pretty sight.

[Llama Gibbz]

Even though the burger king employee has a smile,its not because he/she is being courteous.
Its because the cook is putting a whopper of a booger in your whopper.

[Syph]

I personally don't like being messed with/bothered... whatever... in stores.

I usually don't go to a store unless I know what I want. And I want to get in, get what I'm after and get out. And if I can't find what I want... simple answers. Don't try and be my best damn friend, point me in the right direction and leave me to it.

I hate overly friendly clerks more than rude ones. I understand rude clerks, I was one... I know that feeling. But friendly clerks... ugh.

100% exactly what I would have said. I know much of the population is too stupid to find their own face in a mirror but I am capable of figuring some things out on my own... And if I need help, I'll find you. Leave me alone!

[Dave-ros]

Actually, sometimes they can seem a bit sinister when they're trying to be helpful; I felt this in 2003 when visiting friends in Michigan -- both ways I had a 5-hour stopover at Cincinnati International, and whenever I went into a shop there, I was almost immediately accosted by an assistant who asked me if I needed any help! If they were genuinely trying to be helpful, fine, but I felt like they were making sure I wasn't a shoplifter (that's how you approach someone you've seen stealing something, i.e. don't just shout "thief!") -- or, of course, a terrorist, despite my lack of beard, hook nose, muttering "Death to America" etc. ;)

[Daveman]

Minnesota has a reputation for being full of nice people and it's true for the most part. Retail people might hate their jobs (I know I did) but they'll at least be nice to customers and be as helpful as they can. I never really have any complaints.

[Burfid]

The Home Depot here does something with their employees to ensure they are helpful to their customers. Don't know if it's hiring practices, training, or illicit drugs in the employee rest area, but when I go in there and ask someone where something is, unlike most places they don't simply grunt and point their finger, they actually stop what they're doing and walk me to whatever it is I'm looking for

I work at Office Depot and what they do is called Mystery Shop. Where every other week an unknown "specialist" comes in and shops each store in the district. We don't know who, when, or what they are going to shop so during that week we have to be exceptionally customer oritented. Asking each and every customer if they need help, walk them to the product, and fill them in on any info they need. Also we need to tell them about our warranties as well as attachment items (e.g. if they are shopping a computer we have to mention printers, monitors, cables, etc..) If our store gets a bad review we get punished.

The thing is it's not always the employees fault. In your specific situation the blame deffinately rests on the employee by now they should've gotten back to you.

But in situations where an employee may not be able to lead you to the product or isnt friendly enough or seems to try to rush you along it generally is due to time restraints. The places I've worked for are always run on a skeleton crew, with the minimalist amounts of hours, where each employee has a list of tasks as long as their arm every day that they have to get done ON TOP of helping customers and cleaning up after them (:mad:). They just dont have the time.

But, your situation it deffinately sounds like you just got a lazy employee. (was it a teenager?)

One thing you have to do is start off friendly. Employees are humans too. If you start off with even the slightest bit of attitude you'll get the cold shoulder every time.

Think of it this way a customer is treated like crap by one retail employee. Retail employees are treated like crap by several customers:p

I remember one time I walked up to a lady who was looking around the store like she was lost. I asked if she needed some help and she snapped at me and pointed her finger and yelled "WAIT!". Turns out she was on one of those damn bluetooth headsets (covered by her hair)

So a few minutes went by and now she needed my help so i did the same damn thing right back to her.

[Scream]

The guy emailed me back yesterday (after me prompting him again by email a day after I started this thread). 6 days to get me pricing from a price list. He apologized, saying it was busy there. I was in to that store 2 weeks ago and I was one of two customers. There were more salespeople sitting around than their were customers. 10 years ago I would have said "Sorry, if you're too busy I'll leave you alone and go bother someone else at another store", but I know better now. The grass is not greener anywhere else, and they do have the products that I want, so I will grin and bear it.

He would not be a teenager. Slightly more upscale furniture store. Their sales employees are all pretty much 30+. I really don't find I get worse service based on the age of the salesperson as a general rule. The service just sucks everywhere most of the time. There are exceptions.

And believe me, I go out of my way to be nice to salespeople. I am almost apologetic now approaching them. Maybe that's my problem. They smell weakness and decide I don't deserve the effort. You can't win.

The other reality I find is that salespeople hate to do business by email. I don't know if it's simply because it takes away their perceived advantage (the gift of the gab to talk you into something) or what, but the response you'll get face to face is much better than what you'll get via an email. I talked to this guy on the phone for a few minutes before emailing him, and indicated I'd been looking at their product on their website and was very interested. Anyway, who knows?

[Nessus]

I find the current generation is an abortive disaster when it comes to customer service. I don't think my generation was as good as my parents where in that area, but this generation, damm, they stink. I get people on their cell phone or the whole team hiding out in the stock room. No one knows shit about anything and they don't even care about putting on a good front.

Plus I live in NYC where the stores are full of immigrants that care even less about helping you than the kids born here. I know this post came off bad but this constantly annoys me.

[Vivi]

I personally don't like being messed with/bothered... whatever... in stores.

I usually don't go to a store unless I know what I want. And I want to get in, get what I'm after and get out. And if I can't find what I want... simple answers. Don't try and be my best damn friend, point me in the right direction and leave me to it.

I hate overly friendly clerks more than rude ones. I understand rude clerks, I was one... I know that feeling. But friendly clerks... ugh.

Quoted for truth!

[Yenji]

Odd Scream, I also live in Ottawa, Ontario and I haven't had any problems with bad customer service myself. I try to talk to employees and give them something to smile about (or at the very least be polite) and they are always nice back. These are only small time purchases though. When I moved here a few months ago I took a lot of stuff with me so I haven't bought anything yet that costs over a couple of hundred dollars.

What this sales person did to you is rude though. If there is one thing I can't stand it is people never getting back to you.

If you can't show a little pride in what you do for money, you shouldn't be doing it.

I fully agree. For example when I worked for Research In Motion it was one of the worst jobs I ever had. I was the one who had to do phone support for bitchy American customers and their BlackBerry devices after they had already been on the phone for an hour or two with carriers like Verizon (who somehow managed to transfer them around for so long without doing a lick of trouble shooting). I was screamed at every single day for about a year until I finally said enough of this and quit. During that time though I was nice to every single person who I talked to and did not get snotty back once. Thankfully I'm working somewhere much nicer now :).

Bottom line is customer service sucks but there is very rarely a need to get angry at the employee or for the employee to be angry at you.

[Scream]

Well, perhaps I focus too much on the negative. I guess much of my day to day interaction with customer service people is ok. Unfortunately one bad experience can wipe out quite a few average ones.

It really stands out when someone is genuinely friendly and seems like they want to help.

[LeadBullet]

Most of what is wrong with customer service these days are douchebag, anti-social customers who get offended at everything, including welcoming them to the store, saying hello and such. Other things include customers with a bottomless sense of entitlement. If somebody saying "hello", "welcome to ______" or "are you finding everything ok" offends or otherwise bothers you, then it's your problem and not that of anybody else. If you act out negatively because of such things, then you are part of the problem, and thus a douchebag.

I've never worked a customer service job before, but I'd really hate to have to deal with most of the dumbasses that mess everything up, including ruining the days of innocent workers on a daily basis to where they can't help but pass it on to innocent customers and make the problem worse.

[Scream]

I agree that a lot of customers in stores are rude to the help. It's a vicious cycle. People in general are rude to each other I think. We live in a paranoid society where everyone thinks everyone else is out to screw them over.

I blame the media. :)

[Nessus]

I think the internet feeds into the customer entitlement thing. Now when I go to a store I feel like I should be getting extra service, hell I could just buy this online, I actually left my house for this. I don't really expect much though, usually after the see the reaction to the first question I realize I know more about he product then they do and I just leave it at that.

I like to go to B&H photo in Manhattan, they bill themselves as the largest camera store in the world, it's probably true. It's run by orthodox Jews and they only hire people who really know their stuff cold, true professionals. Plus they'll let you check out $2000 pairs of binoculars and not be pissy about it either, that place is tops.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

I order most of my camera stuff from B&H photo.

[Destructor]

I've always said that I'd rather pay through my taxes for people to be on welfare than to allow them to be telemarketers, and I still hold to that. It is a societal evil for sure.


I was on unemployment benefits for quite some time and, without being forced to at all, I applied for a telemarketing job and got it very easily, and so that is my current job. And it's not bad; better than sitting at home on my arse all day. It is with one of the better telemarketing companies though (and it's just phoning businesses which is probably a lot better than residential), but like with all industries there's crap companies and good ones. Before I applied for the job I never would have dreamed of doing the type of work as it is a very direct method of selling. But since starting and finally going through with it, I don't mind it. All it takes is a hang-up to get rid of you, and that is what most people do. Some people do get annoyed (especially when I keep handling their objections) but I never feel guilty. In fact, it's kinda fun hearing people's reactions. The key is to not take it too seriously, although if you're not serious enough you may not make many sales. I think when I'm just trying to make my day go faster by having fun my sales performance does drop and that's a habit I probably need to break (or at least reduce) because the day does tend to drag on a bit.

Speaking of customer service and sales, I believe (unless the customer is being quite rude) the salesman, or woman, should always have a positive and friendly attitude. If they don't they're most likely going have less sales and more than that, their days will drag on a lot longer. Sales can be a lot of fun and although it's not everyone's cup of tea, it would certainly be more drinkable with a positive attitude. In terms of general customer service I don't mind if the clerk or whatever doesn't really make an effort to brighten up my day or whatever. As long as I get what I want it's okay. I'm usually an introverted almost grumpy person when I'm out in the general public myself, however if I do want to establish rapport (especially with a hot chick! :D) it's annoying when they don't "play ball" as it were. And, of course, it's unacceptable if you're paying premium price for their product/services.

I think the main question in regards to this topic is, would you pay more for better customer service? I think the primary reason why customer service can be bad in certain places is because society can be pretty cheap. If customers weren't so picky on price, and employers would pay their staff a bit more, the overall situation would be a lot better.

[Wamplet]

A lot of good stuff in here.

I really don't care if someone talks to me or not.

If you are going to the store, do the research first. Don't rely on salespeople. They are usually not trained to answer your questions.

the thing i hate most is customers in front of me checking out paying with a check as they write it out with arthritis in both hands and then arguing over the price on a few ears of corn and causing a big scene.

No wonder retail people are rude.

I used to have a retail job and I was pretty good at it, nice and knowledgeable, but i sure as hell don't blame people for acting mean or rude to customers, because they take a ton of abuse from them.

[Superczar]

I'm half debating of applying for a job right now doing customer service for DirectTV, you work right out of your home. :o

[Yenji]

Well, perhaps I focus too much on the negative. I guess much of my day to day interaction with customer service people is ok. Unfortunately one bad experience can wipe out quite a few average ones.

It really stands out when someone is genuinely friendly and seems like they want to help.

Sadly some part of our human nature tends to focus on the negative. I would say almost all transactions are normal and very few are bad or exceptional. It makes it kind of easy to forget about all the other interactions we had when we come across a bad one.

Truthfully even now that I don't work in customer service or retail I still find customers to be rude most of the time (not referring to you). My father and I are both after confronting bitchy customers at stores when they are lashing into representatives because as you know very few representatives can say anything back without costing them their job. Sometimes they leave, most of the time they realize they were out of line and sometimes they get saucy back.

I can't imagine living a life of always being saucy or negative. It must be a miserable way to live:o

[Nessus]

I was doing the self checkout at Pathmark today and the thing was broken so I walked over the cashier. He saw me walk up and was engrossed in something so I stood there while he was using a calculator or working on the register. I stood there like 5 or ten more seconds and then I see he is texting his friends on a little mobile device. That's the kind of thing that bugs me. I don't care if you do that at work but you should know when to put it on hold for a few seconds.

[Scream]

I would be the hardass boss that would not allow cell phones or other mobile devices during working hours. No excuse for that shit. There are plenty of businesses where they don't allow that stuff. They are doing things correctly IMO.

[Geir]

A lot of big tech stores have one clerk per manageable area that attacks you. Last year, my friends were preoccupied while I was just randomly looking at wireless routers. A clerk asked me if I needed any help and I polity said no, "I'm just looking around." And as if I needed him like the pope, he preaches all about the N networking like I was a person that knew nothing about technology. I just rolled my eyes behind his back as he left me. I've always been telling my friends not to go to these big electronic stores because they are targeted towards people who don't even know how to use a toaster. These store want to scam you of your money by selling you old electronics at double the price.

Big multi-million-doallar stores are targeted to the know-nothing audience and there are associates to help you out everywhere. Smaller, lower-budget specialty stores assume that you have researched and don't bother you.

The only exception is Wal-Mart. They're money-making mutants.