A three-part tale of woe in 140 characters or less by my drug-crazed-zombie-caked-in-flour-friend Mr Andy C at the hands of British High Street electrical retailer Comet reminded me of my own previous with a similarly customer-challenged, although as it turns out, unrelated store.
A little background before I begin a rather more detailed account of my own attempt to do business with Currys:
On 18 August 2005, Comet underwent a £20 million re branding campaign to differentiate itself from other players in the market, mainly Currys, as both company logos were in white print against a red background and the company names were 'similar'. It was often the case that customers would buy an item from Currys and attempt to return it to Comet, either believing the two companies were part of the same brand or simply mistaking the two.
I will shortly be logging into Wikipedia to amend this entry in order to give a fuller, fairer and more accurate explanation, thus:
On 18 August 2005, Comet underwent a £20 million re branding campaign to differentiate itself from other players in the market, mainly Currys, as both company logos were in white print against a red background and the company names were 'similar'. It was often the case that customers would buy an item from Currys and attempt to return it to Comet, either believing the two companies were part of the same brand or simply mistaking the two. Of course, the main reason being that both are completely and equally crap.
I realise that a casual reader, or even that lowest form of human life a libel lawyer, might think, 'Hold on, how is it fair to say that these two leading exponents of the world-famous and none-better British High Street Retail Experience are completely and equally crap based on the anecdotal evidence of just two barely sane sounding people?'
Dear casual reader and/or lowest forms of human life: 'Please go shopping at Comet or Currys and see for yourself. This is not a double-blind scientific research study, nor is it meant to be in any way objective. I have written and published this article in order to release some of the frustration and inner tensions that have been welling up inside me for over two years and, I hope, for comedic effect. I am trying to fix the robotic seal which normally comforts me, but I am more of a thinker than a doer, unfortunately, and the nurses just don't seem to care.'
5 October 2008
Nish - Store Manager Currys.digital 22-23 Ealing Broadway Centre Town Square Ealing, W5 5JY
Dear Nish,
Formal complaint about customer service received on 23 September 2008
As requested by you I am putting in writing my complaint about the customer service I received in your store on 23 September 2008.
As you know, I came into the store at around 4:00 pm to buy a twin cordless telephone handset that had a conference or three way call facility built in. I'd researched online the previous evening and knew that Currys.digital usually stocks at least two or three, if not more, phones that matched my criteria.
Normally, I'm quite happy to browse for what I want myself and not to trouble your customer sales staff. On this occasion, however, I was in a hurry to get home and after finding the shelf with all the telephone handsets I immediately asked the first sales advisor who came into view for help locating suitable products which matched my criteria. I told Alex exactly what I wanted and that I'd like him to help me find it.
Alex's response was to tell me that conference calls depended on my telephone service provider (e.g., BT) and that I would need to call them first in order to set up this functionality on my phone. As I'd already researched these products I found Alex's response to be quite annoyingly unhelpful. I told Alex that I knew for a fact that his store sold the product I was looking for and suggested that a more helpful response from him would be to tell me that he didn't know, but that he would go and find someone - a colleague or his manager - who did know. Alex refused to go and get any help and accused me of being rude to him. Right away I found a phone that matched my criteria and pointed it out to him and repeated my request that he find a colleague or his manager. Alex again refused and this time walked away. By this time I was very angry and upset to be treated in this way.
I went to the till to buy the phone and to complain about the service I'd just received from Alex. Justyna was quite helpful and pleasant, but she defended Alex and asked me not to complain about him because "he's a nice guy", or words to that effect. I'm sure he's a great guy, but that is not the point. The point is, he did not do his job properly. He did not help me in choosing the product I wanted or in helping me buy the right product for me. In fact, he gave me wrong advice and refused to help even when I asked him for help. If I hadn't needed to buy the phone that evening I would have gone elsewhere and you would have lost the sale. That's got to be bad for business. I had to serve myself and if I hadn't researched myself prior to coming to your store I would have gone away disappointed because your sales staff do not know their own products and do not even know how to say "I don't know, but I'll find someone who does" - they would rather treat their customers as fools.
All in all, a very unsatisfactory experience, the only bright spot being that I got the phone that I wanted. I'm not sure what you can do to resolve my complaint - I asked for a 10% discount on the phone, but you refused. I'd prefer not to shop in your store ever again, if possible. Sadly, it's my experience that Alex is symptomatic of almost every high street store where there is a similar lack of knowledgeable service and I'd be surprised if he genuinely acknowledges that he could have done better or if he even cares.
Yours sincerely,
David Marsden
Cc: customerservices@dsgiplc.com
Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 3:05 PM
Re: Formal complaint about customer service received on 23 September 2008 - 1248920
Dear Mr Marsden,
Thank you for your email dated 9th October 2008. I apologise for the delay in my response.
I was concerned to learn of your experience with our Ealing store. A copy of your correspondence has been sent to the Store Manager. This matter will be investigated internally and steps will be taken to ensure that this type of incident does not happen again.
Please accept my apologies for this matter and my assurances that this does not reflect our usual high level of product satisfaction and service we aim to offer all our customers. I trust that you will not be deterred from shopping with us in the future.
Yours sincerely,
Charlotte
Currys Support
Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 12:55 PM
Re: Formal complaint about customer service received on 23 September 2008 - 1248920
Dear Charlotte,
Thanks for your response. I had already sent the same letter to the Store manager at Ealing Broadway by post, but I have had no reply from him, not even an acknowledgment of receipt. This is especially disappointing as it was he who advised me that I would have to complain in writing if I wanted him to do anything about it. Oh, the irony....!
As I stated in my original complaint letter, I will try to avoid shopping in Currys stores in future whenever possible.
I am pleased to report that I have never been back since.
*Inspiration for the title of this post goes to my little robotic friend @x11r5