Alternatively, this could also be titled: The difference between good customer service and bad...
Today the Hubbie and I decided to pop out to the hotel where we are having our wedding for a spot of lunch and to see if the wedding coordinator was available. When we arrived we asked for Claire, the wedding coordinator, who also happens to be the General Manager and were told that she was starting work in 10 mins, so we went off for a lovely carvery lunch in their bar. We also chatted to the Catering Manager and he promised us as much time as we needed.
After lunch we found Claire, who was just getting settled into her work day and asked if she had a few minutes - bear in mind that we turned up out of the blue and had made no appointment. She readily agreed to spend time with us and sat for the next hour working through her checklist, noting down details and helping us to come to decisions. She walked us around the hotel, showing us rooms and available areas and was generally wonderful in every way. Not only that, but she took our e-mail addresses and planned to send us on a load more info that we had requested. I much prefer to plan projects by mail rather than over the phone because you have a written trail and can refer back to it at any time. As a final touch she sent us away with quarter bottles of their house wines so that we could taste them and decide if we wanted them for the wedding reception.
We then headed out and drove to Argos at Liffey Valley. I had reserved some bedlinen as I wanted to get a change of linen for our winter king-size quilt, it's just become too much hassle to strip the bed and get it washed, dried and back on within the one day. Argos was busy when we got there and our ticket promised our goods would be available in around 9 minutes so we settled in for the short wait. It was less comfortable that usual as they've removed all the chairs from the waiting area of the store. We stood for over 20 minutes as did most other people, as very small amounts of goods trickled down. The Hubbie surmised that the warehouse staff must have all gone on a break as it was just 4pm, and after a while I began to agree with them.
Finally our goods arrived, and the duvet cover was a completely different colour from the one shown in the catalogue! I pointed out to the girl who had passed them over to us that the duvet was icky brown rather than orange and she simply shrugged and said "we've had problems with that one before". She eventually called the manager over who took the duvet cover and went to phone the stockroom to see if the wrong stock had been pulled, but apparently not - "it was a misprint in the catalogue - do you wanna keep it or get a refund?". Not a hint of an apology from anyone. Bear in mind that we had been standing in store for over 30 mins now, between waiting to pay and waiting for the goods.
I can understand how a printing error can appear in Argos' printed catalogue and they can't change that, but I researched and reserved the item online - surely if they've had a misprint they can change either the picture or the description quite easily on the website? Or even remove the item in question... I also had 2 interactions with Argos before seeing the goods (internet reservation and paying for it), could they not set a trigger on their computerised till system to warn the staff to tell the customer that the colour may differ from that shown? And to not even offer a word of apology when someone has been standing waiting for a long time and the goods are wrong - it's just basic bad customer service - and that's why Argos won't be getting any more custom from me!
Today the Hubbie and I decided to pop out to the hotel where we are having our wedding for a spot of lunch and to see if the wedding coordinator was available. When we arrived we asked for Claire, the wedding coordinator, who also happens to be the General Manager and were told that she was starting work in 10 mins, so we went off for a lovely carvery lunch in their bar. We also chatted to the Catering Manager and he promised us as much time as we needed.
After lunch we found Claire, who was just getting settled into her work day and asked if she had a few minutes - bear in mind that we turned up out of the blue and had made no appointment. She readily agreed to spend time with us and sat for the next hour working through her checklist, noting down details and helping us to come to decisions. She walked us around the hotel, showing us rooms and available areas and was generally wonderful in every way. Not only that, but she took our e-mail addresses and planned to send us on a load more info that we had requested. I much prefer to plan projects by mail rather than over the phone because you have a written trail and can refer back to it at any time. As a final touch she sent us away with quarter bottles of their house wines so that we could taste them and decide if we wanted them for the wedding reception.
We then headed out and drove to Argos at Liffey Valley. I had reserved some bedlinen as I wanted to get a change of linen for our winter king-size quilt, it's just become too much hassle to strip the bed and get it washed, dried and back on within the one day. Argos was busy when we got there and our ticket promised our goods would be available in around 9 minutes so we settled in for the short wait. It was less comfortable that usual as they've removed all the chairs from the waiting area of the store. We stood for over 20 minutes as did most other people, as very small amounts of goods trickled down. The Hubbie surmised that the warehouse staff must have all gone on a break as it was just 4pm, and after a while I began to agree with them.
Finally our goods arrived, and the duvet cover was a completely different colour from the one shown in the catalogue! I pointed out to the girl who had passed them over to us that the duvet was icky brown rather than orange and she simply shrugged and said "we've had problems with that one before". She eventually called the manager over who took the duvet cover and went to phone the stockroom to see if the wrong stock had been pulled, but apparently not - "it was a misprint in the catalogue - do you wanna keep it or get a refund?". Not a hint of an apology from anyone. Bear in mind that we had been standing in store for over 30 mins now, between waiting to pay and waiting for the goods.
I can understand how a printing error can appear in Argos' printed catalogue and they can't change that, but I researched and reserved the item online - surely if they've had a misprint they can change either the picture or the description quite easily on the website? Or even remove the item in question... I also had 2 interactions with Argos before seeing the goods (internet reservation and paying for it), could they not set a trigger on their computerised till system to warn the staff to tell the customer that the colour may differ from that shown? And to not even offer a word of apology when someone has been standing waiting for a long time and the goods are wrong - it's just basic bad customer service - and that's why Argos won't be getting any more custom from me!
posted by ellybabes at 1/14/2007 05:33:00 pm
1 Comments:
Thats terrible customer service from argos.
The customer is (usually right)!
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