i shop and tell

The sad reality of the grocery shrink ray

2012-01-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

Last night, I went to Dominion on Stavanger to pick up a few items, one of them being orange juice. They had 2.63L plastic bottles of Tropicana on special, but I try not to buy plastic bottles if I can avoid it. The next available size was a Minute Maid concentrated juice in a 1.75L carton, priced at $3.99 -- a per-100ml price of $0.28. Right next to it was the PC-branded orange juice in the same size container, also priced at $3.99. All things being equal, I generally go for the 'not from concentrate' option, and while picking up my carton of PC juice, I noticed that the per-100ml price on the shelf label for this product was listed as $0.21.

Math and I are not the best of friends, but I quickly figured out that one of the prices had to be wrong. Turns out I was wrong. The PC juice per-unit price was correct indeed, based on the shelf label information, which listed the carton as being 1.83L. Looks like the grocery shrink ray has struck again! There was no one available at customer service to speak with, but it really made me think about how important it is to read labels, compare prices and generally be aware that shelf prices may not always be what they seem.

2011-11-21T13:28:00.001-08:00

I want everybody to tell everything. But do you think it's okay to name names when commenting on your customer service experience in a public forum?

Review sites like Trip Advisor allow names, but they say that personal insults are not tolerated. I generally feel the same and won't retweet or otherwise promote comments of a personal nature.

In fact, it's no secret that I hope to highlight positive customer experiences as often as or more frequently than bad ones. I encourage people to name names and tell bosses and talk about the fact that friendly, polite, professional, genuine, customer-oriented folks do indeed exist in the customer service industry. And I pass it on. Why should the opposite message be censored?

If you think it's out of line to comment in detail (including names) on bad customer service, feel free to leave a comment here or continue the conversation on twitter.

@ishopandtell on CBC Crosstalk with Ramona Dearing

2011-11-15T15:37:00.000-08:00

If you're here, you've probably already heard this, but just in case:

@ishopandtell on CBC Crosstalk with Ramona Dearing

Enjoy,

Janet

#goodservice - Riddle Fence

2010-11-18T04:42:00.000-08:00

I just had a lovely experience with Riddle Fence. I tried to purchase a subscription online the other day, but I had to stop halfway through the payment process because I hadn't updated the banking info associated with my PayPal account. By the time the prenote cleared, I had all but forgotten about my intention to subscribe.

But Riddle Fence did not forget me! The Executive Director, Sarah Smellie, emailed me this morning asking me whether anything had gone wrong with the site and offered to personally add me to their list so that I'd receive their next issue.

When was the last time Martha Stewart or Wired or even the beloved Walrus reached out with such prompt and personal customer service?

Incidentally, if you have $40 and a reader/writer type in your life, I don't think you could go wrong with a few issues of homegrown essays and poems and art. Apparently, they offer exclusive online content when you subscribe (which must be really cool, because their website is already more comprehensive than I would have expected).

IF (and we all know that's a BIG if) I can get my act together in the coming weeks, I'm going to try to write a little about local businesses and why you should (or shouldn't) include them in your holiday consumption.

Feel free to share your experiences with me, because, let's face it - I won't do any real shopping until, like, December 21. That's just how I roll.

Take care,

Janet

How can you do e'r t'ing when you got n'er t'ing to do e'r t'ing with?

2010-09-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

As usual, this morning on my way into work, I listened to the St. John's Morning Show on 640AM. I caught a story about how retailers in NL are experiencing a shortage in staff, especially since many students are currently in "back to school" mode. This is no secret; all over town, you can see "help wanted" and "now hiring" signs. Apparently, this year is even worse than normal, because the number of people entering the workforce is significantly lower than the number of people leaving the workforce. The guy on the radio (I forget his name, but I'm sure you can find the podcast here) speculated that in the coming years, we are going to start seeing more and more automated customer service, similar to what you see now in self-checkouts at Dominion and the self-checkin kiosks at the airport.

I thought about this for a little while, and although I don't like the idea of having all human interaction replaced by machine interaction, if no one else wants to work in these jobs, the solution probably lies within some measure of artificial intelligence.

Then, a Facebook friend posted this job ad that she found, and I wondered if part of the reason behind recruitment difficulties here might be the attitude of some employers. While I'm sure that the hiring manager had a good reason for specifying such requirements, most likely based on his or her experiences with previous, less than motivated employees, is this really the way to address the situation? In my opinion, if you are looking for an employee with a higher level of professionalism, you (as the employer) need to exemplify that same level of professionalism. You also likely have to bust out a little more than 2 bucks above minimum wage.

Otherwise, bring on the robots.

Is it better late at night, maybe?

2010-08-20T07:44:00.001-07:00

Oh, Folly, how I'd hoped your food would be delicious! All the hipsters talked about you. I never in a million years thought that I would choose from a menu full of pizza and burgers exclusively and end up disappointed.

I will just ever so briefly comment on my likes and dislikes, as follows:

Dislikes

- burger patty had no flavour. I guess they rely on the toppings to make them taste good, but that doesn't work for my partner, who likes just plain ol' ketchup and cheese.
- asked for shredded mozza on the burger instead of swiss. Got no cheese atall. Asked for some cheese, got a sad-looking, dried up piece of swiss on a teeny plate.
- pizza also had little flavour. Had the April O'Neill, which described tandoori chicken. It tasted like a little curry powder dusted on there.
- for the price, the fries should not have been by McCain.
- I would complain that the music was too loud, but I'm not someone's nan.

Likes

- fantastic drink specials. It was Wednesday, so Rickard's White was $5 a pint. Can't beat it.
- great-looking menus and nice atmosphere
- nice upcycling of wine bottles for serving water, and they suggest going styrofoam-free for takeout
- the server greeted and seated us immediately. And brought the sad-looking cheese immediately.

All over, the customer service there was totally fine, so I will probably give them another try sometime, because everything still sounds SO tasty. I will go with someone who will eat a more adventurous burger, I think, and I will order a pizza that involves tomatoes. Hopefully, that will make the difference.

Alright,

Janet

Not 'lowed to walk through the Drive-Thru

2010-08-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

What's up with the "restaurant" part of Tim Hortons on Harvey Road being closed after midnight? I haven't asked anyone in there, so I assume it has to be either due to poor business, staff shortages or robberies. Not saying that any one of these is true, just that I can't think of what else it could be. Most people I've mentioned it to say that it has to be because of crime, whether it be because of actual crime or the perception that there is more crime. I worked there between university and the call centre, 7 or 8 years ago, and it was a pretty sketchy spot in the night time back then. For example, they found a naked man in women's bathroom stall one evening. Whatever the reason, it's too bad that there'll be no place between downtown and the top of Long's Hill to get an everything bagel to eat while walkin home in the middle of the night anymore.

No, I didn't quit again.

2010-08-04T06:45:00.000-07:00

I just noticed my tweet from last Monday and realized that I grossly underestimated how long I'd be away. Short explanation: when I'm here or here , I'm with family and I don't get to the computer much. And when I'm here, thanks to Telus, I don't even have cell service.

Long explanation: last week was shared between these three places, as my family was unexpectedly reunited in the wake of not one but two sudden deaths. I won't go into details here, but I will say that Stacey's Funeral Home in Gander was exceptional and that the phenomenal response from the staff of Walmart and Aliant in Gander as well as all the businesses that provided food and other support to our family and family-in-law will not soon be forgotten.

Okay, that's enough of that. I'll be back on track this week, but forgive me if I'm a little slack. It is also wedding season, after all. Gah.

Take care,

Janet

Batrooms.

2010-08-03T12:02:00.001-07:00

I had the opportunity this week to visit a number of gas stations and restaurants as I travelled on the Avalon and to Gander. Although my mind was preoccupied, I did notice a common factor that influenced my impression of the establishments I visited: the state of their washrooms. Here are a few key areas that I consider when deciding whether I can hold it til the next stop:

1. The door knob or handle. During the H1N1 fiasco, I noticed that my workplace was being scrubbed more often, there was hand sanitizer everywhere, and everyone's sleeves looked a little grimy. But nobody seemed to clean door knobs or handles. They still don't. The worst thing about using a public bathroom is touching the door knob. At Irving on the TCH heading out of St. John's, I could actually feel the grime. Gross.

2. The toilet and stall itself. I will never understand motion sensor toilets. Any establisment with a motion sensor toilet hates its customers. And I will never understand the need for a 1000 gallon flush that sends droplets of toilet water up into the air and splashing onto the toilet seat. I didn't see that in my travels this week, but it did just pop into my head, so hiss and boo to that. In a similar vein, I'll mention : seats that are only partly attached or missing, toilets that don't flush at all, and stalls that have stuff growing in them. I do like a stall with a little grafitti, though, as long as it's creative and at least partially well-intended like in the bathrooms at The Ship or Bar None.

3. Papers (TP and PT). If there is no toilet paper or the toilet paper is single-ply, your customers will not like it. If you run out of paper towels, or if you have a roll of paper towels sitting on the sink counter, full of soggy thumbprints instead of in the dispenser, your customers will not like it, not even if you have an electric hand-dryer. Irving in Clarenville, and Walmart on Stavanger, this is for you.

4. General cleanliness. I understand that the washroom can't be spotless all the time, but if there are 8 or 9 servers on staff and your restaurant is near-empty, chances are that water didn't magically shoot from the tap onto the counter, and the toilet paper roll didn't just spontaneously unravel in a heap on the stall floor. Come on, Jungle Jims on Torbay Road. Even at 9 PM on a Friday, the bathroom shouldn't be in that state.

I'm going to stop there with a link to http://www.thebathroomdiaries.com , for anyone who is interested.

Talk soon,

Janet

Customer reviews you definitely won't get from me.

2010-07-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

I am not a very adventurous person. I like "normal" and chill outdoor activities, such as hiking and boating and camping and BBQ-ing, but I have a number of what some people would call irrational fears that prevent me from doing scarier things, such as learning to grow a beard of bees or the like. Lucky for you, @grevory has shared a review of somewhat racier activities over at his blog.

No, I'm not talking about eyeglasses, as I RT earlier today (although they are scary in their own way - sticks that go near your earsholes? No thanks). I am referring to Greg's review of spelunking and ziplining at Gros Morne, as found here. Check it out, unless you're a 'fraidy-cat like me. Well, check it out anyway, but be forewarned in case of claustro- or acrophobia.

Janet.

False sense of security much?

2010-07-21T04:36:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this for a while: how long has there been a plastic seal on Eversweet Margarine? It's margarine. You'd see if someone put a needle in it or something - the mechanical swirl on top would be disturbed! And does this plastic seal really make much difference? Has this been going on for a long time? Next, I'm picturing 1-lb blocks in bullet proof foil.

Would you prefer bugs or no bugs in your greens?

2010-07-21T04:09:00.000-07:00

A Facebook friend recently noted that she had found a giant moth in her pre-washed packaged Compliments spinach from Sobeys. I identified with her disappointment, having bitten into a moldy gas station danish at Irving on Stavanger Drive a few weeks ago.

Well, mold is one thing, and insects are another. I mean, insects live on and eat plants, right? My boyfriend says that it was commonplace growing up in his family to find slugs and other undesirables in his salad, because his parents and grandparents served food straight from their own vegetable gardens and greenhouses.

Perhaps it was not so comforting for my friend that the insect in the Compliments spinach was dead, but, in general, I'd rather have bugs on my salad than no bugs, because if they can hang out on it, it should be fit to eat.

Anyway, I just wanted to say, in spite of my belief that quality control is an integral part of ensuring a positive customer experience, sometimes we (I) can be a little short-sighted.

As for my friend's spinach: if it happened to me, I'd probably just wash the stuff, contact Compliments to let them know what I'd experienced, and...well, the rest is pretty obvious.

Janet

PS: By all means, go buy some local or local-ish greens (in all their grubby glory) in season...but be prepared to never want the grocery stores' sad, wilted produce ever again.

Why would i e-bother?

2010-07-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a RT by @amy751, I read an article this morning about Amazon.com and the fact that more customers are now purchasing e-books than hardcovers. I am not sure how I feel about this. I love books. The weight of them, the smell of the paper, the way you can just almost feel the typeface on the page.

One thing I can say for sure is that I'm surprised. Not that I thought that the average Amazon customer would have the same sentiments toward printed matter as me. It's just that in my limited experience with e-readers, I've gotten to thinking that they...well, I think they kinda suck. Cheap, plastic cases, tiny screens and clumsy navigation buttons.

I should mention that I'm comparing them to the iPad. If Amazon is selling all these e-books to iPad users, I'm not really surprised at all. Reading on an iPad is so much more like reading an actual book. You turn the pages as if they were paper. The size of the reading area is truer to your average hardcover.

The only real problem with the iPad for me is the fact that I live in Canada. Between 1) the exorbitant cost of a) the iPad itself and b) iBooks (selling an eBook for 9.99 when I can get the same title in hardcover for 4.99 in the bargain aisles at Chapters is lame), and 2) the sad selection of books available for the iPad in Canada, it's hardly even worth thinking of it as an e-reader at this point.

Even so, I still can't see myself reading from a Kindle or a Kobo or a whatever. Meanwhile, my iPad is a permanent fixture in my gear when I leave the house for the day. Anyway, just some things to think about for the moment. I'd be interested to hear what anyone else thinks.

Janet.

We don't exist?

2010-07-19T06:29:00.001-07:00

I just noticed a tweet from @avalonmel saying that the WestJet website does not recognize St. John's as a location. Instead, you have to type "St. Johns". I've experienced this kind of little annoyance before in various forms, so I thought I'd look into it a little bit.

Fact: our capital city's name is spelled with a period and an apostrophe. Perhaps it's not exactly a common occurrence in place names in the rest of the world, but here in NL, we have all manner of St.- and 's- based names, including my homebase and pain-in-the-arse-when-it-comes-to-online-forms, Portugal Cove-St. Philip's. Canadapost.com will accept nothing but the full thing. Canada Post is serious about place names.

Perhaps the issue lies in the fact that many websites likely use American standards, where possessive apostrophes in geographic names have been effectively outlawed, according to the US Board on Geographic Names. Unless you're from Martha's Vineyard (deemed acceptable, along with only 4 other geographical locations in the U.S., according to Wikipedia).

Canada, on the other hand, according to the Principals and Procedures on Geographical Naming (.pdf) seems to approve of the apostrophe, "only when well established and in current usage". I think 500-plus years is pretty well-established. They are clear on the "St.", though, so any name containing St. or a variation (Ste., St-, etc) "are official forms and should not be modified in any way".

I wonder if there is any provision for enforcement of these rules? I would think that if someone went through the trouble of writing and translating THE RULES on this, Canadian companies, at the very least, would be expected to adhere to them. I guess in lieu of the Royal Canadian Internet Police, we will have to settle with complaining to WestJet et al. ourselves.

What do you think? Is this even important? Should we drop all the pesky punctuation altogether?

If you have any examples of this, or thoughts on whether or not it matters a lick, please feel free comment or shoot a tweet my way @ishopandtell

Janet

Changing direction a little

2010-07-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

I'll tell you one thing I'm interested in: shooting off about stuff.

That was my intent when I started this blog and the whole twitter thing. I just wanted to shoot off about my experiences as a consumer in Newfoundland and Labrador. Somewhere along the way, I guess I just got a) overwhelmed, by both this little project and the general goings-on in the world that seemed far more important than customer service, and b) distracted. Yes, I am guilty of taking myself (and others) way too seriously.

Anyway, I got to thinking that there are many different aspects of shopping and telling. Sometimes it's poor customer service. Sometimes it's the frustration of living on a tiny rock in the ocean and not being able to get the same goods and services at a reasonable price as our well-connected (read: mainland) counterparts. Sometimes it's just a response to something I read online that piques my interest and is only remotely related to consumerism, but nonetheless what I consider to be worth talking about in terms of gaining possessions and using currency in its many forms.

What I am trying to say is, I feel that I have a lot more to say than my blog in its previous form allowed. From here on in, I'm going to try to update this blog 1) more regularly, 2) with basis in a much broader definition of "shopping" (i.e. the consumption of advertising, products, services, entertainment, news, roadside kindergarten lemonade, whatever. Pretty much anything that we exchange our time, money, energy, or intellect for), and 3) with a focus on "telling" a far more diverse set of thoughts and experiences to anyone who's still reading.

It was also very stifling to tweet only customer service reviews, when what I really wanted to do was make connections and share information. So, I plan to vary the nature of my 'microthoughts' on twitter as well. Just for the record.

Alright. I tend to get bored of listening to myself think, so I'll stop here and hope that I'm moved to update sooner rather than later.

Finally, thanks to John Gushue for once again unknowingly inspiring me with his sage advice for bloggers way back in June: http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=342969&sc=86

Janet

PS: MS Word spell checker does not know what a blog is.

2010-03-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm obviously not running with this (fantastic) idea of mine, so I'm going to have to officially call it quits. It seems that not only do I not have the time for shopping (and subsequently, telling) that I used to have (as I confessed in one of my last "last ditch attempt" posts), I also seem to have quite the tiny attention span. I hope my short-lived customer service blogging career was enjoyed by you all!

As a final farewell, I'll direct you to a couple of other sites that you'll likely find interesting:

http://consumerist.com/

http://rightsideofright.com/ (you probably remember Dave Carroll of "United Breaks Guitars" fame)

Thanks to all who contributed to ishopandtell.com and sent your experiences via twitter and Facebook. It was fun for me while it lasted; I truly hope that you continue to recognize and report goodservice and poorservice even without me!

Something Fishy in Paradise - Awesome Service!

2010-02-24T15:03:00.000-08:00

I received this email about Something Fishy in Paradise. A great example of what good customer service is and how it can make a lasting impression!

"Last week I went looking for fish. Having never had even so much as a goldfish before, I had bought a small tank and set up from a friend of mine and was looking to find myself a couple fishy friends, and a little information on what to do with them.

Not wanting to support Pets Unlimited, and with the supply of pet stores in this city rather sparse, I ended up at Something Fishy just by Octagon Pond in Paradise.

I was greeted my the most friendly Newfoundland Dog and even friendlier staff. I was told it was a little family business which as I understood, the son owns the place and both his parents work their as well.

I spent close to the next hour being given a tremendous education in all things fishy, help in choosing whether I wanted a cold water or tropical set up, which fish play well with which other fish, and how to keep them all happy and healthy.

I eventually settled on two black moors, so ugly and bug eyed that they're pretty neat, and they were bagged up for me, along with some water treatments stuff and some food. I get to the counter and reach into my bag only to realize I had left my wallet at my friends house before coming to the store. D'oh!

Apologizing for all the fuss, and more than a little disappointed, I told the lady of what I had done and said that I would have to come back the next day after I got my wallet, and buy the fish then. With that she said not to worry, they would just take my info and I could come back later to pay for it all.

I was astounded and amazed. Here I was with over $50 in stuff, and was being trusted to return to pay, just so I could take my fish home that day.

I went back later that evening in sloppy weather simply because I couldn't NOT go back and settle up as soon as humanly possible. Because the roads were pretty nasty, I was cheerfully scolded for risking coming back so soon. The return visit also resulted in another half hour conversation all about fish care too. :)

I'm sure there may be cheaper places to get fish supplies, but I don't know that I have ever been so impressed with the knowledge and service of a place as I am with Something Fishy. They have certainly made a repeat customer out of me. Well Done!"

Nice work, Something Fishy! I will be checking you out, too.

Wendy's Torbay Road - great service!

2010-02-12T13:20:00.000-08:00

I have to say, I was just really impressed by a manager at Wendy's on Torbay Road. I went through their drive-thru at lunch today and had a grilled chicken sandwich. While the service was fast and totally acceptable, when I got back to my office and started to eat it, I noticed that the meat was extremely rubbery and there were gross little bits of white chicken "gunk" all over it. There was also a big knob of jelly/fat hanging off it. Upon further investigation, I found that the centre of the chicken looked undercooked and veiny.

Totally grossed out, I went on the Wendy's website and sent them a comment and asked for reimbursement. This was a five-dollar sandwich, after all, and it was truly disgusting! I also questioned in my email whether they were concerned with food safety at all, given the underdoneness of myfood.

I've done this many times - sent an email to a business that I wasn't happy with - it's just something I do. I rarely get a reply email. Even more rarely do I get to speak with an actual person from the actual place where I had the experience. Well, I just got off the phone with the manager, who called me as soon as my comments were forwarded to her.

I just wanted to give a shout-out to the management of Wendy's on Torbay Road. I'll definitely be back (and not just because they're sending me a voucher for a free sammie)!

Bad...nay....stupid....customer service at the Source with a little good news from MVR

2010-01-20T10:07:00.000-08:00

I just received this email from reader Sharon about her experience at the Source in the Avalon Mall:

"I just found your blog. What you are doing is a public service! So
here's my story...

Last night I went to the Source at the Avalon Mall to buy a printer.
One of the guys "helping" me picked out a USB cable. So off I went
home only to find that the cable he had given me was an extension
cable and not a USB cable. When I called the Source they were not at
all apologetic. Actually, they didn't seem to care.

Did I mention that I don't have a set of wheels? So today I got myself
back on a bus and went back out to the Source to exchange the
incorrect cable. When I got there, I handed over my receipt, was told
the cable I needed was slightly more expensive, paid the difference
and was given back a receipt. Only when I got home did I realize that
the cashier hadn't returned my original receipt...you know...the one
with the printer purchase on it. So now I have to get back on a bus
and make a THIRD trip to the mall in order to get my receipt for the
printer.

Not only are the staff at the Source complete muppets, they are also
rude and unhelpful. During a previous visit to purchase a phone, my
husband overheard one of the staff members being rude and dismissive
to an elderly lady who was trying to make a purchase.

I am never, ever, ever shopping at the Source again.

On the plus side, I had a lovely experience at the vehicle
registration office today. The woman behind the counter (didn't get
her name, sadly) was efficient and helpful and it was by far the least
painful red tape I've encountered in a long, long time."

Anyone else have stories about difficult return/exchange transactions?

Poorservice - I'm sending Hanlon Realty a link to a course in email etiquette

2010-01-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend purchased a condo nearly five years ago with the assistance of Hanlon Realty, and we last corresponded with one of their agents about two years ago. So, you can imagine our surprise this evening when we each received an email from the owner, inviting us to their upcoming customer appreciation party. We won't attend the party, and we won't do business with Hanlon Realty again. Perhaps many of the hundreds of customers and business partners who have just had their email addresses distributed publicly to all Hanlon Realty's contacts won't either.

Yes, that's right, enough email addresses and names in the "To" field that Google documents wouldn't let me paste the list into a spreadsheet in one shot. To quote my boyfriend after he read the email, "I feel violated." And then some well-placed adjectival expletives.

Sure, they're offering to enter us into a draw for cruise, but they are also opening our email addresses up to a barrage of offers for penis enlargements, Nigerian inheritances, and a whiter smile. Come on, this is 2010. You need to know how to use BCC by now. To handle your customers' personal information with such disregard for privacy is simply terrible service, not to mention plain stupid. I mean, people don't generally give out their fake email to their real estate agent; this shit is going to primary (in many cases, business) addresses. Just shocking.

Anyway, I just replied to the email and asked to be removed from their contact lists. I bet I'm not the only one doing that tonight.

Apparently, it doesn't matter which television provider you use!

2010-01-11T07:36:00.001-08:00

From about three months before we moved out of the condo and right up until the week before Christmas, our television set up was a beautiful, new, wall-mounted 42" LCD screen with a safety pin poked into the cable input so I could watch Here & Now and Land & Sea, and my 'stories' (not that I watch them every day - it's just an occasional guilty pleasure, like my grandma used to say of her once-weekly Another World fix, "just watch long enough to see what Rachel is up to").

Anyway, the point is that we now have Bell ExpressVu satellite and I couldn't care less. I'm a fairly passive TV user and I manage to acquire everything I really want to see from the internet, so having a million channels to choose from is not that important to me. However, since I'm paying for a service, I expect to get it, no exceptions. Dawn, a reader who had some difficulty with getting that service from Aliant TV, seems to feel the same way. Here's her story:

"I came home from work on a Friday only to find out I had no TV service. I tried rebooting my system a few times and still had no luck so I called the support line. They again ran through the reboot system with me and still no luck. I was advised they could only have someone come to my house on Monday morning. I said it was not acceptable as I had to go to work, and asked if something else could be arranged. The agent advised that he could get someone there on Saturday, and asked what time I would like them to be there. I said before 12 would be great.

Saturday morning I stayed home (I only get two days off as I work all week), but by 11:30 no one had showed, so I decided to call in and verify the appointment. I got another
agent who advised me that I was booked for Monday morning and nowhere on the ticket report was Saturday morning showing. I was dumbfounded and went through
the whole conversation that I had the night before. I advised I would be working Monday morning, but my husband would be home in the afternoon, so they could send someone by then.

I made it through the weekend without TV which is very hard for me as I am a TV junky!

On Monday, I picked my husband up at the airport - he had just gotten off a flight after working a nightshift. I advised him he would have to stay up as the repair
guy from Aliant would be coming to fix the cable that afternoon. I called home about 3:30 pm and I was advised that no one had shown up yet. I called
in to Aliant again, only to be told that my appointment had been cancelled, as the problem is fixed. I told them my TV still did not work and wondered why, if my problem had been
fixed, someone hadn’t contacted me to see if I had service. The agent was silent and then told me that the next appointment available was Tuesday afternoon. Guess what? No one showed on Tuesday, either. By this time, I was getting to the point where it was just too funny to talk about it. Each time I talked to someone different. Each time I was told this
was not their normal service and each time a different agent screwed up.

It got to the point where my husband called, got really angry with them and something finally got done on Wednesday. This really pissed me off even more as I was being nice
and got nothing done. He called and got nasty and got something done. What is wrong with the world?

I have to say it was a little too late; at that point I had already called Rogers and made an appointment for them to come and hook us up.

Thanks to the poor service of Aliant TV, they also lost the phone and internet service I had with them.

Oh, and a month later I received a bill saying I owe them $400 as I did not return my receiver boxes for the TV. They had been dropped to the Aliant store on Stavanger Dr about three weeks before. I had kept the receipt copy so I called in once again to clear things up.

I am now a happy Rogers' customer !!!!!"

How's that for balancing the heat we put on Rogers last week?

Poorservice - LeGrow's Travel Village Mall

2010-01-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a lot of research online in preparation for booking a vacation this spring. I think I've read every review of every hotel in every destination that I'm interested in, and I've been combing the discount travel and airline sites, signing up for their incentive programs and newsletters so I don't miss any opportunity to save a few $ in the process. I've narrowed it down to a few places but figured I'd go out and talk to a travel agent before booking anything, since I had to go to the Village Mall after work yesterday anyhow.

When you look in the door of LeGrow's as you walk past, it looks exactly like you think a travel agency should look like, right down to the lighted palm tree cutouts. The customer service I received there, however, was not what I was expecting.

I waited about five minutes for the agent to finish up with a client on the telephone and then she called me over to sit at her desk. She was friendly and seemed eager to help at first, but as I told her about the vacation I was looking for, she received a phonecall. I was a little annoyed when she answered the call, but she immediately said, "I'm with someone right now, can I call you back?" I thought that was acceptable enough and continued. She gave me a book from Air Canada Vacations (who you might remember from this post) and pointed out a couple of resorts that she thought I might be interested in, quoting me a price between $1500 and $2500 per person. Considering the high cost compared to what I'd been seeing online, this would have been a significant purchase for me and a significant sale for her. So, when the phone rang again with this potential $5K sale on the table, I figured she would let it ring out or at least tell this caller the same thing she told the last.

Not the case. She answered it, and in spite of saying that she was with a customer at her desk, continued on the phone call. I was left sitting at her desk with a brochure for a bunch of (overpriced) vacations that I had already seen online. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and sat politely for a minute or two, but then she actually stood up and left her desk and started digging through filing cabinets, going into the back office, all the way chatting with this telephone customer who was obviously also a personal friend or extremely familiar client. I tried to signal to her but gave up after about five minutes and walked out the door. Needless to say, I won't be booking with LeGrow's and I also likely won't be giving Air Canada Vacations an opportunity to redeem themselves in my eyes, if this is the kind of service you get from their affiliates. Back to the internets, I guess.

Letter from a Rogers dodger

2010-01-06T18:23:00.001-08:00

I received this story from a reader and then heard about the same problem on the CBC morning show earlier today. The problem seems to be not just that customers have been left without television service, but that the customer service reps at Rogers seem to have been totally unprepared to field customer questions about a so-called "known issue". Hopefully now that the story has hit the media, Rogers will be quicker to resolve, but really, should paying customers have to wait for Jeff Gilhooly to call them out before publicly addressing such a widespread issue?

"Roger's cable service in Corner Brook and area has been horrible since at least the end of August. I don't have Rogers myself, but my parents do. I've noticed over the Christmas break that no matter where I was, cable from Rogers had poor sound - it would drop off for a few seconds at a time making it difficult to enjoy a program. This was constant for hours on end. Also, the picture has been breaking up. I've seen this at friends' houses and relatives' houses when I visited.

In fact, there was an article in the Western Star regarding this a couple weeks ago. http://www.thewesternstar.com/index.cfm?sid=313866&sc=23

I called Rogers and the first person I spoke to told me that they were not experiencing any problems in the Corner Brook area and it must be with the service at my parents house. I explained that every one is complaining about it and that I saw the same problems at a number of friends and relatives. Still, she insisted that she can't do anything about other people's service, they have to call in as well. She wanted me to wait at home all day for a tech to come and check out my service. I explained to her that there was an article in the local newspaper that named a representative of Rogers who said they WERE aware of the problem. I asked to speak to a supervisor who said she's look into it and get back to me. She did in fact get back to me and confirmed that they are aware of the problem "for some time" and are working to resolve it. She had no idea how long it will take.

I can understand that things can break, and problems arise, but this problem has been going on for FOUR months! Come on! This is Rogers. It's their business. I can understand if Rogers was a brand new company offering cable tv for the first time. But this is four months and counting now with no estimation for resolution!

I've also discovered today, that Rogers cable tv in St John's has been very poor - a lot of missing channels, guide feature not working, poor audio and picture coming and going since around Christmas day. This seems to be a huge problem with Rogers in multiple areas of the province and they keep saying they are aware of a problem with no known time for solution.

I had a beef with Rogers when they started enforcing their cap on internet and at that time, I disconnected all of my services with them. I'm definitely glad I did seeing the trouble with them now."

You can find the podcast of the CBC morning show spot here: http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/nlstjohnmorn_20100106_25341.mp3

Red Rock does not

2009-12-21T13:53:00.001-08:00

Here is an email I received from Donna about her experience at Red Rock Bar and Grill:

"I ate at Red Rock Bar & Grill (formerly My Brother's Place) on Topsail Road on Tuesday at 4:00. Both the food and the service were sub-standard. The waiter acted as though I was inconveniencing him and this was visibly displayed on both his face & in his mannerisms. The booth was really cold. He was sacrcastic when I mentioned this and said: "that's probably because you are sitting next to a window"...When my mother asked him about moving to another table he was rather curt. Fortunately, his shift ended & we got a waitress who was very friendly & polite, as was the lady who checked us out.

The food was nothing more than that of a greasy spoon. We will never eat there again.

How difficult is pan-fried cod..really??"

Thanks for the email, Donna. I love getting these reviews; in spite of my best intentions, I'm (obviously) not so on the ball with updating this blog and reader submissions really push me to do so!

My new year's resolution will be to make 2010 the year of the customer service conversation. Hopefully I'll last later than February :)

I just needed a little inspiration is all...

2009-11-30T15:21:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am. I appreciate anyone who is reading this and the fact that after such a long gap in posting you even bothered to click through to this uberslacker's nearly dead blog! I have a thousand million excuses for my absence, but I'll only bore you with the most notable one: I moved. Waaaaaaay out to Portugal Cove. And it's wicked here. So wicked that I feel like I don't even have anything to complain about. That, and the fact that all my disposable income that I used to use for shopping (and subsequently, telling) went into what I like to think of as a giant savings account that I can live in for the next 25 or so years. Anyway, tonight I went to Canadian Tire to have my winter tires put on. Lo and behold, I was struck with a big ol' bolt of triangle-shaped, red, white and green inspiration.

Let me back up. I called Canadian Tire on Kelsey Drive on Saturday and booked an appointment for vehicle winterization. They offered me an appointment at 4 pm on Monday, but I explained that I don't get off work in the east end until 4 and asked for a later time. 5 pm was available, so I took that appointment instead. I was going to price check around town first, but the guy on the phone (I'm out of practice, dammit, and didn't get his name) advised me that I would get my tires at the price advertised in last week's flyer, because they extend the sales for up to two weeks after the end date. Now, I'm not Canadian Tire's biggest fan by any means. Generally, I find their stores disorganized and understaffed, but nearly 20 bucks off per tire? Sold.

I arrived at the store at about 4:30 and checked in to the automotive desk, asking if there was any way I might sneak in early...no go. But it was nice of the guy (again, no name - shame on me!) to check it out. I wandered about the store for a while before returning to automotive at 4:55, only to find several other customers ahead of me. At 5:25, my turn was finally up.

"You were supposed to be here at 4 o'clock".

Um, no, I was supposed to be here at 5 o'clock. And you could have mentioned this when I was here at 4:30. But whatever, no use in arguing: there was apparently no problem getting me in directly, my $20 off deal was still on the books and I'd still be out of there in 90 minutes. I handed over my keys and set off on foot to explore the wonders of the semi-urban, pre-holiday, big-box hell that is Kelsey Drive.

At 6:45, I walked back over to Canadian Tire (after being narrowly missed by a speeding grocery-getter on the Sobey's side of the street) and noticed that my car was sitting just inside the garage doors. I was surprised that they were actually finished within the 90 minutes they'd promised me, with time to spare. When I got inside, though, and looked more closely through the shop window, it appeared that my old tires were still on. What the what?

I approached the automotive desk, and was assisted by a very helpful and polite (yet again, nameless) employee, who said he'd check on the status of my job straight away. He stepped into the garage, and then stepped back to me. Apparently, the technician who was supposed to work on my car went on his supper break. Before installing the tires. On my vehicle that had been sitting in front of him for over an hour.

"He should be back in a half-hour".

I was offered the labour for free ($50 value - shout out to the shaggy-haired kid with the tie working the 5-9 shift for that one) if I cared to wait another 1.5 to 2 hours, but by this time it's after 7pm, my poor dog's at home just dying to go out for a pee, and I'm d-o-n-e. They couldn't rebook an appointment until Wednesday, so here's hoping we don't get a freak snowstorm between now and then. If we do, perhaps you'll see me in Windsor Lake.

'Til next time (and there will be a next time, I swear!), happy shopping!

Just enough to get on your nerves - McDonald's Topsail Road

2009-09-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

This short email from reader Nikki about a minor annoyance at McDonald's on Topsail Road last week made me think what I've thought hundreds of times before when confronted with ridiculously sub-par customer service: "it's not that difficult!"

Maybe they were having a bad day, maybe they were still in training, maybe they felt challenged by the task at hand, but, no matter what, when an error is made with a customer's order, you fix it (the first time), check it, double-check it and apologize. Common sense and common courtesy could have gone a long way in turning this customer service complaint into an acceptable, if not great, customer experience.

Here's the story:

"Me and my friend went to the Mcdonald's on Topsail Road for breakfast and my friend only likes meat on her breakfast sandwiches. I order a Sausage McGriddle with just sausage no cheese or egg. I repeat these instructions to the cashier because he seems new.

A manager was getting the food for him and showed him how to put the change in on the computer. So we get our food and sit down. My friend opens her sandwich and sure enough there is egg and cheese. So she goes back up to the counter where she is ignored for a good ten minutes before she comes back to the table at which point I am done eating so I offer to give it a try.

I go up and finally catch the attention of a lady who then looks at me like I am ruining her morning and explain the problem. So she goes and tells the kitchen guy and he goes to make a new one and then she runs about filling drive through orders for at least 5 minutes while my sandwich is sitting and getting cold. She finally hands it to me and I go back to the table and when my friend opens it there is again cheese on it.

At this point we were done dealing with the people at the counter so she removed the cheese as best she could and ate it. But for something that costs nearly 4 dollars you think they could manage to get it right or at least apologize wen it is wrong and correct it. Instead they were very rude and very unapologetic."

What do you think? Have you ever had a similar experience? It may sound like a petty rant, but in all seriousness, food and customer service is the business that McDonald's is in. It's what the cashiers are paid to do and the reason that customers go there. We should be able to expect better.

What you may have missed if you're not on Twitter - recap Sept 14-20

2009-09-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

Another great week for customer service in Newfoundland and Labrador! For the second week in a row, good service stories have outweighed the poor service stories that I received on Twitter!

Shouts out to the following:

Travel Bug in St. John's. Friendly, helpful staff made shopping a very pleasant experience!

Fantastic service from teller today at Scotiabank Avalon Mall. Above & beyond. Made up for lousy teller I had last week.

Good service - I had stood in line about 5 minutes when they opened 2 more checkout lines at Winners Avalon Mall

Cosmetician Shoppers Torbay Rd Very helpful in trying to track down a discontinued item& suggesting alternatives

Issue@ EBGames in the Village. Employees were very helpful in putting things right. Great service recovery!

Received a call from Afterwords book store. My copy of Orwell's 1984 is in! :) Good service

Great customer service at Tims on Water St (in North Atlantic). Very friendly and coffee is always stirred!

Great. Danny at the OCIO cafeteria is always friendly. Sometimes gives me extra stamps on my coffee card. :)

Ropewalk lane Monday night. Two guys on cash 7 were friendly and fast!

And now for the sad stories. Boos all around:

Quiznos Mt. Pearl 3 worker all slow 1 very cranky - 20min start to finish in line

Atlantic Home Furnishing. 6 days of calls only to be told to call back on Tuesday. FIX MY FLOOR!

Duke of Duckworth. Waited > 45 minutes for a cheeseburger; raw inside; just left hungry. Understaffed by management

WalMart Gander long lineup for one regular & one xpress cash. Had to prompt them to take customers at service desk

A Buck or Two, Marystown - Madge is too distracted at the cash desk, took saying 4 times I didn't need a bag

Poor service Shoppers Topsail Rd Monday night. # of cash open - 1. # of employees moving carts/chatting - 3. # of customers in line – 8

Colemans - O'Connell Drive Corner Brook - Cashier left her station when I arrived with my cart of groceries.

Remember, if you see something here that you’d like to comment on, either as a customer or a service provider, or if you have a story to share, you may leave a comment on the blog, contact me at www.twitter.com/shopandtellnl , email me at shopandtellnl@gmail.com , or join the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=88107809005

Air Canada Vacations - Poor Service!

2009-09-21T13:03:00.001-07:00

I received an email a week or so ago from a reader (www.twitter.com/MentalApple). I hadn't yet gotten an opportunity to post it when I saw it posted to her site today, so I thought I'd share the link to the blog instead of re-posting the story in its entirety:

http://mentalapples.blogspot.com/2009/09/air-canada-vacations-fiasco.html

When you consider the costs involved in such an experience and the potentially dangerous situations that might befall a stranded traveller in an unfamiliar country, it's clear that Air Canada Vacations leaves much to be desired in the customer service department!

Hopefully spreading the word about this experience will alert others and also result in some changes in the way that Air Canada Vacations treats its patrons.

Way to go, Lisa! Shoppers, Mount Pearl

2009-09-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a lovely story from Rose in Mount Pearl about an experience that she had with Lisa in the Pharmacy at Shoppers Drug Mart in Mount Pearl:

“I have a 'good news' story to share, and am thrilled to find a way to do so! I'm so glad to hear of your site. (Thanks to John Gushue!)

I've always found the Pharmacy staff at SDM Gibson Drive to be super-helpful and very knowledgeable. But one day, they really went WAY above and beyond.

About a year ago, my little guy was diagnosed with an ear infection, and prescribed anti-biotics. He never had an issue taking medicine before, at least until he tasted this stuff. I could not this medicine in him, no matter what tricks I tried.

The next morning, from work, I called the Pharmacy and spoke to Lisa. I explained the issue in getting my four-year old to take his medicine, and asked her if there might be another flavor of that medication we could try. Unfortunately, she explained, that type of anti-biotic only came in the flavor I was dispensed. She gave me some advice on how to 'hide' it to get it down. I thanked her for her advice and we ended the call. Note that at no time did I give her my phone number OR name. I was simply some anonymous mother with a child who wouldn't take his medicine.

Later that afternoon, my husband called, and told me that the Pharmacy had called and left a message at home. They had another prescription ready for us to pick up. Seems that the original medicine dispensed was a generic, and they had refilled the prescription with the name brand. I assumed that my husband had also called for advice, but that wasn't the case, either. I had no idea how they 'found me'.

Apparently, after our conversation, Lisa put some more thought into this. She did the math and looked up the files to see that only one person was dispensed that particular medication the day before. She discovered that we were dispensed a generic, but that they had the name brand in stock. She refilled our prescription with name brand, and called us to let us know it was ready.

Great service, right? Wait. It gets better.

I picked up the new meds that afternoon. Another Pharmacy staff member gave me the order, and apparently knew my story, as she gave more tips on how to encourage my preschooler to take this medicine. I went to pay for the re-fill, and was told that there would be no additional charge, and to just flush away the original antibiotic.

Our son wasn't 'thrilled' about the taste of this stuff, either, but he did manage to get it down without us having to hide it into anything. (A spoonful of chocolate pudding chaser was all it took, as it got the 'yucky taste' off his tongue.)

So a great big thanks to Lisa and the staff at Shopper's Drug Mart, Gibson Drive!

I cannot think of any other customer service experience that exceeded my expectations as this one did.”

This story just made my day. It’s so good to know that a customer took the time to acknowledge excellent service, especially when it’s such a clear contrast to some recent posts where the company’s bottom line trumped customer satisfaction. Way to go, Lisa at Shoppers - I hope you are/were recognized by your employer for this effort!

Atlantic Repair 2004 Ltd. - Vacuum cleaner service sucks

2009-09-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

Reader Donna was good enough to copy ishopandtell.com on the following account that she sent to the Better Business Bureau after her experience at Atlantic Repair 2004 Ltd. onTopsail Road in St. John's:

"I brought my Fantom vacuum cleaner for repairs to the on/off switch three times; the first time around the 14th of January. They said there was nothing wrong with it and that it was working in their workshop.

It failed to turn on again in February so I brought it back. During the second vist the switch was replaced at a cost of approx. $51.00. I cannot locate bill. I also purchased a hepa filter (March 6th) at a cost of $39.49 (I have bill for this one). Even with the new on/off switched replaced, when I brought it home it worked for a brief period and then ceased to work again.

I brought it back, they got it to turn on and off with no problem but at this point in time said that my motor was on its way out which is probably the reason for the issue.

Essentially, they waited until I spent close to 100 dollars before telling me this vital piece of information. Had I known that up front, I would not have sought repairs or a new filter. No one can afford to throw money away. When I brought the vacuum home after this visit, again it functioned for a brief period and now I am left minus a vacuum cleaner and $90.00.

They are suppose to be experts when it comes to their knowledge of vacuums therefore they had to know that the motor was going. It had a strange sound for well over a year now and it is very audible.

These people owe me the money and they are saying that there is no warranty on parts or service. The replacement of the switch took place sometime in February/March. At this point the only way I can verify it is to go through all debit and credit card receipts.

They never did respond to the BBB and are rated "F" on their site."

If only Atlantic Repairs had advised Donna that her vacuum was "on the way out", she would have saved the money on pointless repairs. It seems to me that they had the opportunity to gain favour in spite of their poor BBB rating but chose not to seize it. It's too bad that they sacrificed this customer (and possibly a few others) for the sake of 90 bucks.

Twitter Recap August 31 - September 13

2009-09-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

I skipped last week due to the long weeked, so here are the tweets you may have missed from August 31 – September 13:

GOODSERVICE:

Irving Frecker/Hamlyn. Lone cashier had an obviously injured leg, but worked faster & was friendlier than most clerks I see!

Went to Golden Sands for the weekend. Everyone was very helpful and the experience was amazing. I recommend it to anyone.

Admirals Galley Marystown. Friendly service and the fish-n-chips were worthy of the title "Admirals Feast”.

RW&Co Avalon Mall Sales clerk greeted me right away, started a fitting room, checked if I needed anything without being pushy. Nice.

NL Liquor Corp Topsail Rd. Cashier was nice and he also seemed to have good product knowledge.

Bugdens Cab's are still the best cab company in town no one remembers the number to.

POORSERVICE:

Stayed at Greenwood Inn in Corner Brook. Plumbing troubles in 2 different rooms and wasn't offered discount.

Purolator can't find my house. Package couldn't be delivered yesterday/today...guess they don't know about GPS or Google

Over 5 months trying to get furniture replaced by EasyHome Torbay Rd - 1st they lost my headboard in their storage then the replacement they put together collapsed under me. Still not fixed. My problem has been escalated to regional manager, but still being ignored.

Icing Avalon Mall. Ignored by cashier while she was on phone telling boss she had no customers. Looked at me as she said it.

Holy shit* at FutureShop and it’s impossible to get some help/attention. This is horrible.

MIXED EMOTIONS:

Yuk Yuks Friday night. Quick on the refills and our server was great. They ran out of wine, though. Can't understand that.

Good server at Celtic Hearth but 40 minutes for lukewarm wings and a random 2.30 charge? Not cool.

FreshtoGo counter Dominion Memorial. Employees always seem friendly & quick at lunchtime. Although the tables could be wiped down more often!

4 days wait so far for reply from Memorial University Lifelong Learning. Last time, they never did reply. Guess I'll spend my $ elsewhere. (MUN did respond on Twitter after I posted this, so good on them, but still no reply to my email).

OUT OF TOWNERS:

Excellent service at Freak Lunchbox in Halifax and MAC @ Halifax Shopping Centre!

I have to say that I’m really pleased to see that I got more good service stories than poor service ones over the last two weeks, even if just barely. I’d also love to hear more from outside the province, as it would be interesting to see how NL measures up against what customers across Canada are experiencing! Don’t forget to DM twitter.com/ShopAndTellNL or email ShopAndTellNL@gmail.com with your customer reviews from Newfoundland and Labrador and beyond!

* Milestone tweet - first swear. In case you were interested.

Collision Clinic Topsail Road - Part 3 (Conclusion)

2009-09-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

In case you haven’t been following Jane’s experiences with Collision Clinic over the last two days, here’s a brief recap. If you’d like to read the story in its entirety, Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here.

Jane had a car accident on July 20^th and brought her car to Collision Clinic on Topsail Road for repairs. From being given incorrect information, to not receiving promised callbacks, to the complimentary “detailing” which resulted in an additional trip back to the garage to restore the vehicle to its prior condition, Jane was already frustrated enough when she discovered that a contact with her insurance company was not initiated by Collision Clinic as promised.

Here’s the conclusion to Jane’s story:

"August 12, Wednesday – I called the insurance to see about covering the paint chip. He said he was waiting to hear back from Collision Clinic and if I hadn’t heard anything by the following Monday to call him back.

August 17, Monday – Still no word from Collision Clinic and when I called the insurance agent his answering machine said he was on holidays until the 17^th (the day I called) but he was not answering his phone.

August 19, Wednesday – I finally got in contact with the insurance agent and he was surprised that Collision Clinic had not gotten in contact with me. He said they would be covering the repair and to expect a call from Collision Clinic. Collision Clinic finally called me later that day and I made an appointment for the following Tuesday to get the 4 repairs done (align bumper, align hood, fix paint chip & rebalance tires because of vibrations)

August 21, Friday – The left signal light that Collison Clinic repaired 2 weeks ago blew. Were they using substandard bulbs? Was it installed incorrectly? I don’t know why the light would blow so soon.

August 25, Tuesday – I brought the van into Collision Clinic at 9:00 for the repairs. I picked it up at 4:30 and the paint chip was repaired, the bumper and hood realigned and the signal light replaced. But I was told that there was still a vibration in the vehicle because the rim had been damaged and they would need to go back to the insurance (AGAIN!!) to see if they would cover a new rim. Why was the damaged rim not noticed during the initial inspection of the van?

August 28, Friday – I had not heard anything from Collision Clinic so I called about getting a new rim. I was told yes, it would be replaced and I could bring it in on Tuesday for repair, that it would only be a half day job.

September 1, Tuesday – Back to Collision Clinic again. I dropped the vehicle off at 9:00 for the rim replacement (half a day job, right?). I called at 2:00 to see if it was ready. The receptionist checked and said they were just finishing it up and she would call me when it was ready. At 4:30 I still hadn’t heard anything so I called back again. She said it would not be ready until 5:30. So much for a half a day job! I finally picked up the vehicle at 5:30. Everything seems to be fine. I hope I never have to go to Collision Clinic again.

Summary:

Calls not returned
Empty promises of when vehicle would be ready
Items missed that should have been repaired correctly the first time (paint chip, bumper & hood not properly aligned, damaged rim)
44 days from the time Collision Clinic received our vehicle until all problems were properly repaired"

As I mentioned before, I posted this not only because it outlines the horrible experience that Jane had, but also because it is an excellent example of how one should document their experiences, especially if they plan to lodge a formal complaint. I hope you've enjoyed reading Jane's story and thanks for bearing with my cliffhanger style over the last couple of days!

Collision Clinic Topsail Road - Part 2

2009-09-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

So, here's where I ended off my last post :

August 6, Thursday – Collision Clinic called to let me know the vehicle was ready.

Sounds like a great conclusion to a slightly annoying story, right? Well, Jane's problems with Collision Clinic did not end there. Upon receiving the call that her vehicle was ready to be picked up, she was confronted with the following:

"August 6, Thursday – Collision Clinic called to let me know the vehicle was ready. They told me I would have to pay $300 deductible. I had to tell them that since it was going through another driver’s insurance and not my own, I did not owe anything. Oh yes they agreed, that is right. Good thing I picked up on that! I picked the van up at 4:30. The receptionist had me sign for the work before I even saw my vehicle. She said a cheque would arrive from the insurance made payable to me and to them and signing now would prevent me from having to come in again.

In retrospect I’m not sure signing before I got my vehicle and inspected it was a good idea. The receptionist also told me that their work was covered by a guarantee for as long as I owned the vehicle and told me several times that the vehicle had been cleaned inside and outside, she used the word “detailed”. When I got in my vehicle I realized their meaning of the word “detail” is to clean everything with “Armor-All”, including the steering wheel and apply it over dust so that dust is now “Armor-All’ed” onto the dash. But since I did not ask for this to be done I did not complain about it. I just had to keep an extra firm grip on the now slippery steering wheel.

I drove a few hundred feet down the road when I head a noise from the back of the van. I looked back and saw that the storage unit that was in the back was standing up, not installed where it was when I last saw the van. I turned around and went back. This storage unit is part of the van, not something we installed ourselves. I showed them the problem and they told me 3 times that they did not take it out. Each time I told them they must have because I use it all the time and it was installed when they got the van. It was not until I suggested that maybe the cleaners had taken it out when they “detailed” the van that they put it back for me.

When I got home I noticed a chip of paint and a rust spot on the right front fender. They repaired the left side but remember, the right side was forced into a curb. I also noticed that the bumper was not lined up properly. And there was a film of something that seemed to be sprayed on the right front window that only came off when I used a razor blade scraper and window cleaner.

August 7, Friday – I went back to Collision Clinic to show them the chipped paint and uneven bumper. I was told that the paint chipped because of underlying rust and it was not caused by the accident. I took pictures of my vehicle at the accident and the paint was not chipped off then. I brought the photo as evidence. Then he agreed that the paint chipped off because of the accident but would have chipped off eventually anyway because of the underlying rust (possibly, but maybe not as quickly). He also agreed that the bumper was uneven but that was a quick fix if I could bring it back the next week. He told me he would call the insurance and see if they would cover the cost of fixing the chipped paint but told me that they might not because of the underlying rust.

August 8, Saturday – I took the van on the highway for the first time since getting it back. When it reached speeds of 100km/hr there was a strong vibration. It felt as if the tires were not balanced although balancing the 2 front tires was part of the repairs and was listed on the bill. My partner called the Collision Clinic at 4:30, but the person we dealt with was not available. He explained the problem to the receptionist and she said he would call us back.

August 9, Sunday – A friend looked at our vehicle and noticed the hood was not lined up properly, there were gaps on two corners.

August 10, Monday – I called Collision Clinic at 9:30 to discuss the problems and make an appointment to get them fixed. Again, the person I dealt with was not available and the receptionist said he would call me back when he got out of his meeting. After a few hours he still had not called me back so I called him and finally talked to him. He said he would have to call the insurance to see about getting the paint chip repair covered and that I would hear from him in a couple of days (on August 7th, he said he would call the insurance. Obviously, he did not".

How frustrating. It certainly appears that Collision Clinic missed a couple of key points while fixing Jane’s vehicle! But what’s worse is the fact that 1) they argued with Jane about the condition of her vehicle after they fixed it, 2) she was misinformed about the status of her insurance inquiry and 3) she did not receive a call-back as promised.

Tomorrow, I’ll post the conclusion of Jane’s story, since I’ve already gone on far longer than I can imagine one wants to read in a single sitting! In the meantime, I welcome your thoughts on this or any other customer experiences - just email ShopAndTellNL@gmail.com or contact me via Twitter at twitter.com/ShopAndTellNL

Collision Clinic Topsail Road - Part 1

2009-09-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

I received the following details from a reader (I'll call her Jane) who was in a car accident and chose to have her vehicle repaired at Collision Clinic on Topsail Road in St. John’s.

I’m posting this not only because it outlines the horrible experience that she had with Collision Clinic, but also because it is an excellent example of how one should document their experiences, especially if they plan to lodge a formal complaint.

Notice how Jane notes dates, details of the information that was provided to her and also the reasons why she feels she has been wronged. The only other thing that I would recommend if sending an 'official' complaint would be names and titles of the employees involved.

Since this is quite a long email, I’ve decided to spread it over a number of posts.

Here is the first instalment:

“We had never been in an accident before and chose Collision Clinic because we had heard their name in ads and they seemed like a reliable company. We are sorry now for choosing them and will never go back. We would not recommend them to anyone because of incomplete work, taking too long to complete repairs and the fact that they rarely return calls.

July 20, Monday – I was involved in an accident through no fault of my own. I was stopped at a stop sign when 2 vehicles got into an accident, sending one of them slamming into the front of my vehicle. The left front side of my vehicle was damaged and the right front tire was damaged because it was forced into the curb. My partner called Collision Clinic and they came to tow the vehicle to their garage. Within 2 hours I had called the insurance to work things out, told them the vehicle had been towed to the Collision Clinic and my partner also spoke to the people at the Collision Clinic and the insurance agent.

July 22, Wednesday – Collision Clinic called me and asked me to come by so they could do an estimate. I drove from the east end of St. John’s to their garage on Topsail Road. I went to the front desk and the receptionist asked my name. She started to look up my file in the computer when her phone rang. She answered it and talked for about 10 minutes, leaving me standing at the desk. As soon as she hung up she told me to have a seat! I waited for another 10-15 minutes and was then asked to see my vehicle. I told them it had been towed in on Monday. They said oh we didn’t realize that, you don’t need to be here. After I drove all the way across town! They did apologize but really need to be more organized and know if vehicles are towed in or not. They said they would complete the estimate that afternoon.

July 24, Friday – estimate was not completed until noon Friday even though they said they would do it on Wednesday. They said repair work would begin first thing on Monday.

July 29, Wednesday – called Collision Clinic to see how the repairs were coming and if the vehicle was ready. They said they hadn’t started the work yet, even though on Friday they said they would start first thing Monday morning. They said there was a 95% chance we would get it on the following Monday.

August 3, Monday – called Collision Clinic again to see if the vehicle was ready. It was not. They said we would possibly get it on Thursday.

August 6, Thursday – Collision Clinic called to let me know the vehicle was ready.

Finally! After being ignored at the front desk and provided with incorrect information about the status of her vehicle, Collision Clinic comes through on their promise. Hop in the car and drive home, right? Check back tomorrow to see if it was really that easy! (I have a feeling it wasn’t…)

Just in case you missed them... Twitter recap August 24-30

2009-08-31T15:20:00.000-07:00

Here's your weekly recap of the customer service stories, good and bad, that were shared via Twitter.com/ShopAndTellNL :

Tim's in Port-aux-Basques out of Iced Coffee AGAIN right now. Only have it 25% of the time, & even then it's 50% ice.

AireServ Excellent customer service in particular heat pumps.Their main competition is terrible which is why we switched

McDonald's Stavanger-last 3 visits in AM very busy:1 cash open, lots of employees...15 minutes in line to order. not fast food

SmartSet Village Mall. Cashier had a conversation with her friend who wasn't buying anything while I waited, purchases in hand

Winners Stavanger: 3 checkouts, 2 stopped waiting for slow floor staff, third working verrrry slowly

Staples Stavanger: clerk helped me swap undiscounted school supplies for cheap ones, saved abt $40.

Irving Hamlyn/Frecker. The coffee station is clean and well stocked, employees quick to acknowledge their customer

Had to ask for water 3 times at Press and Bean on Torbay Road. And they got my order wrong.

Cashier @ Staples Stavanger Dr. very friendly, apologized for keeping me waiting behind a very difficult customer

Too many wasps on Sundance deck (& around our food). Some sort of wasp deterrent should be used. Otherwise a great experience.

At FutureShop doing prelim research in-ear buds. electronics guy was VERY helpful. Not pushy. SONY Store very pushy.

Long Pond Dominion Waited several minutes@ the deli while the only person behind the counter chatted on the phone

Citywide Taxi The driver asked me to put on my seatbelt

Thanks to all who shared their stories this week - I've not been shopping much myself the last couple of weeks, so I appreciate hearing from you all!

A thorny experience with Crown Cabinets and Fireplaces

2009-08-27T04:47:00.000-07:00

You can hardly go anywhere here in the St. John’s area (or anywhere on the Northeast Avalon, for that matter), without running into new home construction. From the duplex subdivision to the country estate, everyone seems to be spending their money on real estate, home renovations and plain old cosmetic improvements.

I suppose businesses are finding it difficult to meet the great demand for their products, but, as I’ve said again and again, this is no excuse for poor customer service. This email from Janis outlines a few issues that Crown Cabinets and Fireplaces seems to be having in terms of communication, timeliness and commitment to their customers:

“We have a renovation and ordered our cabinets back in mid May of 2009. This is Aug 20 2009 ...still no cabinets. The original installation date was July 15th, and since that date we have been told every excuse in the book: from people being on holidays to overbooking to humidity to their ventilation system being broken for 6 days (which ended up delaying us for over 2 weeks, which doesn’t add up at all!)

So, every week I call at least every second day and I am told they will be ready in two to three days time. When that day reaches I receive no call, therefore I call in to see if they are showing and I hear that we are delayed again. I have been hearing the same lame excuses and the line “I 'm not going to lie to you they won’t be ready until…" Every time I speak with the guy in charge, I get this same line and it’s getting very old.

Tomorrow was supposed to be the new install date and again I received no call and had to call in and hound people to get a straight answer. I was told maybe Tuesday, August 25.... WOW, I am so upset with this company! I really think at this point that I will not receive them on August 25. To go through and pick out cabinets, countertop and hardware again and get another business to come in and complete a site measure will take at least 4-6 weeks which will be longer (we hope) than waiting for Crown to get ours built!”

An email update that I received from Janis today states that the installers did not show on the 25th, either. The new date is August 28th, and I look forward to hearing whether or not they fulfill their commitment this time!

I bet that if Crown had simply set a reasonable expectation for Janis in the beginning, she likely would not be as frustrated as she is at this point. I’m sure that any customer would prefer a proactive communication of anticipated issues and delays over having to “hound” a company for answers after the fact. It’s too bad that Crown either does not understand this or does not care, but I’m also willing to bet that they’re not the only home-improvement-related business in town that is doing the same thing.

If you have a story about customer service in the home reno or construction industry, please share it via email (ShopAndTellNL@gmail.com), at Twitter.com/ShopAndTellNL, or by commenting on this post.

Twitter recap week of August 17th to 23rd

2009-08-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

In case you’re not on Twitter or you missed any of my recent tweets, here’s a recap of the stories shared with twitter.com/ShopAndTellNL for the week of August 17th -23rd.

It’s nice to see that I ‘m getting more comments about good service these days. So, nice job to:

THE GOOD:

“Taylors Marine and Rec (Yamaha) - Harbour Grace. Always get good service out there”

“Torbay Rd. Tims (the “green shack”) really is ahead in the customer service game. Servers so polite today that I left a message for the manager”

“Torbay Rd Tim Hortons. Light years ahead of some locations.”

“Tim Hortons Torbay Rd Well-staffed and quick/friendly service during the lunchtime rush.”

“Great service at Honda1! No BS parts counter.”

“Sears-clerk found bed/mattress going on sale in 2weeks because I'm a poor student-held them for me & gave free Scotchguard”

“Young male clerk at Staples was very helpful when I asked for advice on buying a grad gift for a guy”

On the other hand, I still got a fair share of poor service stories last week. And here they are:

THE BAD:

“Car repairs Mt Pearl Canadian Tire-40 min wait w/15 customers @ service desk for service”

“Friend got ice coffee@ Tims, tried to drink, wasn't good. Girl said to supervisor, "Do I HAVE to give her a new one?"

“Had to fill own grocery bags because mine from Belbin’s 'didn't fit' on hooks Dominion bags fit on”

“Sears - Sales are hit or miss; sale sign on top of rack but no shirts on rack were on sale.”

“Sears is the worst. Always conditions to their sales. Always a mess. Always slow. I never shop there!”

“Sears-clerk talked to coworker entire time she served me,didn't look@ me or thank me when she gave me my receipt”

“TipTop Village employee argued w/ me over date I said I needed wedding tuxes. I think I know when my own wedding day is!”

“Holiday Inn Stephenville - Long wait, order wrong; cold when it came back. Asked for pop refill - no way. Not going back”

“Dell Canada has no air shipping option so if your in a rush don't buy a dell dude! :)”

Then there are the “in-between” comments, where customers received just okay or inconsistent service:

“Awesome service faceto face @ Bell kiosk Atlantic Pl. Horrendous service from bell reps on phone”

“Pizza Delight delivery-asked for debit, driver did not bring debit, said he wasn't told, but offered to go back-I paid cash”

It’s too bad that one could be treated so differently by representatives of the same company, as was the case with Bell. With regard to Pizza Delight, it seems that a lack of communication caused an annoyance for a customer, but at least the driver offered to go back (although I’d imagine the pizza wouldn’t have been too appetizing after a second run in the car…)

Finally, I’d like to recognize Yuk Yuks in St. John’s for taking action on this complaint:

“Tried to use Yuk Yuks Twitter discount but no one in the box office knew anything about it. Attempt to resolve fail…Attempted to message Yuk Yuks on Twitter/Facebook to resolve. MY FB post was deleted & I received a rude response.”

In less than 24 hours, Yuk Yuks contacted me via Twitter with information on how the customer might reach their management in order to resolve her problem.

It’s good to know that they, unlike many other companies, are noticing and promptly responding to their customer service issues online!

Check back every Monday for more Twitter recap, or why not join and follow me @ShopAndTellNL ?

Let's compare apples and oranges...

2009-08-24T04:44:00.000-07:00

Today, I thought I’d share a couple of short emails that I’ve received recently. One of them is an example of excellent service, where an employee went out of their way to satisfy their customer. The other is an example of truly poor service, where a customer was left feeling that their money and time were not valuable.

First, Jay writes:

“Just had the most remarkable experience at Tim Hortons on Topsail Rd.(Waterford Valley mall, in with Ches's and Jungle Jims).

Ordered an XL tea. The fellow behind the counter explained that they had run out of XL cups. This was fine... happens sometimes. I had just opened my mouth to say, "large is fine" when he said, "Hang on now". He had noticed the supply truck in the parking lot was offloading Tims supplies. He ran out into the parking lot, asked the guys unloading the truck for a box of XL cups, carried it back inside, broke it open, got out a cup, and served me my XL tea.

I was floored. Wish the young man had been wearing a nametag so I could write Tim's head office!”

Hopefully someone at Tims corporate is keeping on top of their media monitoring and this employee (or at the very least, the manager of this store) is recognized for the effort.

Then I got this email from Andy:

“My family and I dropped in to City Honda one evening to look at cars. The receptionist was on the phone, engaged a personal call. We stood in the show room for about 10 minutes (no other customers around). Finally the receptionist paged for a salesperson. After several more minutes a sales guy came out with his coat on, said he was on his way to dinner but had time to answer a question if we had one. Needless to say we did not feel like we he was trying to sell us anything.

We have owned two Civics before so were genuinely interested in Honda. We left and spent our $34,000 elsewhere!”

Wow. I know many, many people who don’t make $34000 a year, yet it seems like nothing to this Honda employee, whose primary job is sales and customer service. Perhaps he had an appointment or something, but there are ways to handle such a situation without making your customer feel like an annoyance while they’re standing with their wallets out!

That’s all for the moment. I hope you check back later on today for the weekly Twitter recap!

Good service - Monastery makes amends

2009-08-20T15:43:00.003-07:00

Remember the missing massage at the Monastery? Well, Melanie was lucky enough to be contacted by the manager, who was quick to make amends for the poor service received during her pre-wedding pampering.

Mel writes:

"Spa at the Monastery fixed the chipped pedicure the next day and the manager has said he would see that I was taken care of for the nightmarish visit at my convenience after my wedding, wow, I guess it pays to shop and tell. Thanks for the forum Janet."

Maybe they read ishopandtell.com!

Yes, I do want to hear from customer service providers.

2009-08-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

I received this email from Bob, a reader who first visited ishopandtell.com after hearing me on the St. John’s Morning Show:

“It struck me that there are two sides to every story and I wonder if advancement towards your goal which, I assume, is to reduce poor customer service by exposing it rather than just to rant, would be better served by affording the business involved the opportunity to respond to your postings before you make them. You could prepare your post, e-mail it to the affected business and give them say, three business days to respond. Then you would publish your entry and their response or, in the event that they have not responded, state that they had been given the chance to respond and have chosen not to do so.
Something to consider, perhaps.”

I felt that I should respond publicly to this one in addition to the email that I sent to Bob, because I’m sure that there are other readers who might be thinking the same thing. While I’m definitely interested in hearing what the companies themselves have to say, I feel that if companies are concerned about their customer service image, new media such as my blog, Twitter, and Facebook will certainly be on their radar.

My blog and profiles are all public and I treat submissions from businesses in the same manner in which I treat customer submissions.

It’s interesting that this email came in just a few days before I found this article on mashable.com about the changing face of news, referred to as “social news” therein. I think that if you substitute the word “information” for “news” in the following excerpt, the statement remains valid:

“Social media has fundamentally changed our relationship to news. It’s no longer something we passively take in. We now engage with news, share news, react to news–news has become something around which we gather, connect, and converse.”

And essentially, what I’m providing on this blog is information about customer service here in our beautiful (albeit miserably overcast today) province.

I hope this clarifies a little about what role companies are welcome to play in our discussion here on ishopandtell.com as well as at twitter.com/ShopAndTellNL. If you know of a business that might wish to respond to any of the stories posted here, please encourage them to engage, share and react! The only thing I ask is that they identify themselves as a representative of the company on whose behalf they are contributing.

Twitter recap - August 10-16

2009-08-17T04:14:00.000-07:00

After all the attention from CBC last week (a big thank-you to CBC radio one for that, especially The Morning Show and Radio Noon), I didn’t get a real chance to update my blog at all. I figured that I’d start this week off with a recap of some customer reviews that I’ve posted on Twitter, since I’m sure that not everyone who might be interested in customer service is on Twitter, and there are some real gems coming in via @ reply and direct message.

What follows is a taste of what has been flagged on Twitter in the last week or so. Twitter only allows updates of 140 characters or less and I’m copying these exactly as I originally posted them, so you’ll probably notice some creative spelling and grammar.

“Keg last nite for dinner. Received great service (Amy) and fantastic meal..her recommendations were spot on :)”

“Fog City Atlantic place, fantastic food, amazing service from everyone there, highly recommended!”

“Manager at Torbay Rd. McD's walked customer to car under umbrella in the rain. Very considerate.”

“A&W in Carbonear was able to take care of a long lineup very quickly. The staff seemed friendly and efficient”

“Just had a very pleasant experience with @Westjet rep on phone - Got travel credit b/c of lowest price guarantee!”

“Sorrento CornerBrook Amazing food, &wonderfully friendly waitstaff to back it up.Supper last night= A+!”

“walmart stavanger I was in crafts dept for something specific and employee asked if they could help and she did!”

“Rogers made a "courtesy" call. Said I had to call elsewhere when there was an issue. Waited for 1 hr - no answer”

“Corner Brook Tire on O'Connell. Great,friendly,efficient,reasonably priced.They service cars as well as sell tires.”

“Ordered sandwiches fr Hungry Heart Cafe for Friday work lunch-really great food & much cheaper than our usuals!”

“St.John's Delta made our Anniversary extra special with a surprise cheese and cracker platter.Thanks so much.”

I’m so pleased that after mentioning how much I’d appreciate more stories about good service, I actually received far more good service stories than normal. I hope that as more stories are posted on this blog, we’ll begin to see that poor customer service in Newfoundland and Labrador actually is the exception, not the rule.

If you’re interested in keeping up with my daily Twitter updates, I’m at www.twitter.com/ShopAndTellNL. Feel free to contact me via email as well (ShopAndTellNL@gmail.com) – I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have about ishopantell.com, how to follow me on Twitter, or just customer service in general.

Donovan Homes disappointment.

2009-08-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

The following is an email that I received from Jo, a reader who says that Donovan Homes made a nightmare of the homebuilding process. I know that it is not entirely customer service related, but there are some points that should be noted, such as rudeness from the salesperson and a lack of timeliness and communication.

Something that I have not mentioned before on ishopandtell.com is the fact that Sean and I recently ended our relationship with Donovan Homes in the midst of a new home construction because of the way in which they dealt with us. I didn't write about it partly because I didn't want to do so in anger and partly because I simply didn't want to afford them any publicity on the back of my disappointment. Anyway.

Here's Jo's story. When I finally make sense of what happened in my situation, I'll be sure to post that, too.

"I bought a house through Donovan Homes in the fall of 2007 and I have could never have dreamed that building a home could be such a terrible experience. Right from the horribly rude salesperson down to the crooked builders and contractors, it was a nightmare. It continues to be a nightmare as I try to sell this second-rate home.

Let's start at the beginning. I signed a contract and put down a deposit on my home on September 15, 2007 and was told that I would be in my new home in January. I visited the site for a month, waiting for them to even break the ground and begin to build. By the end of October, they finally broke ground and now told me that it would be early February until I could move in. Oh well, these things happen. At least it was underway. The house building began and the structure was put up by mid-December, so things were looking good as it should only take about six weeks to complete the interior. I still thought we were on track.

Ha! Little did I know they would not even visit the construction site in the months of January and February. It was March until anyone even started the interior, and I was still paying rent. Meanwhile, because it took so long I had to keep applying for a mortgage because the pre-approval only lasts for 90 days. This meant that I lost the rate I had been originally promised, and my mortgage, should the house ever be completed, would be more expensive. But what could I do? Donovan Homes was very rude about it all, going as far as to egg me on by telling them to walk away, they didn't care because there were several others lined up to buy it at a higher price than I'd paid.

Throughout the process, the salesperson actually gave out my name and phone number to a future neighbour for the purposes of soliciting money from me. This created tension between myself and a neighbour before I'd ever even moved in. I tried to explain the Privacy Act to her but it went completely over her head.

Finally, closing day came. It had been pushed back and pushed back until the closing date became June 6, 2008, nearly nine months after I signed the deal for a house that should take 4 months to build, if done at a leisurly pace. It was the final hour on Friday, June 6th, and I was waiting to go to the lawyers office to sign the remainder of the paperwork and get my keys. I had the movers set to come the next morning and cable company were coming that evening. I was getting nervous because I'd not heard from the lawyer, so I went to his office. He couldn't figure out what the problem was, so he called the city to see why he hadn't heard back from them regarding the occupancy permit. It was because none had been issued, there was a pending file on the home, but no one could access it unitl Monday because the inspector had gone home.

Having waited nine months to finally get in my home, I found out at the final moment that I had to cancel the movers because there would be no occupancy permit and no way to find out why until Monday. I had taken time off of work and made all of these arrangments for nothing. I found out on Monday that the reason that I couldn't get my occupancy permit was because Donovan Homes owed the city $100 for calling an inspector out for final inspection before the home was ready for inspection. This is the reason that I could not move in that weekend and instead had to try and arrange the movers for the following weekend.

On June 9th, 2008 I finally moved into my home. My home that leaked which caused the flooring to be ruined in the kitchen. I thought I was safe because I had warranty on the home for the first seven years. However I had to bring in a mediator in order to get them to honor the home warranty and fix the leak, eight months after it occurred.

Now I am trying to sell the home and it's a nightmare because it continuously fails inspection because of the inferior product that Dononvan Homes produced. The shingles came off, the foundation cracked, it leaked, and everything you could ever imagine went wrong. I urge anyone out there looking to build a new home. Do not go to Donovan Homes. They will make you cry. All of my neighbours have similar stories, some worse. In fact, I'm one of the lucky ones."

It would be nice to hear the Donovan Homes side of the story on this one. I blogged previously about the Disney philosophy of "underpromise, overdeliver" but from the sound of it, Donovan Homes did just the opposite in Jo's case. Thanks for sharing.

Maybe Fred's Records would rather you didn't buy that CD from them...

2009-08-11T12:44:00.001-07:00

This email from Renee is a perfect example of the difference customer service can make in a retail transaction, regardless of how pleased the customer is with their purchase.

I have to say that it's disappointing to hear this kind of story coming from such a staple of the downtown shoppping experience, especially one that caters so specifically to fans of local, traditional and independent music.

Renee writes:

"Last summer I went to Fred's Records for a browse. I found a new (not second hand) cd there for 2.99. I went to pay for it and the wee hipster behind the counter picked it up, looked at it, made a stinkface, sniffed, said "still too much" and threw it on the counter like it was covered in poo. I was so surprised and insulted I couldn't even think of anything to say back to the little snot! Are they in the business of selling music or insulting people for buying things that aren't up to their musical standards?! Needless to say I have not been through the door since then and I will tell anyone who listens not to go there. I found a great place on the west end of Water Street (can't remember the name) with an excellent selection of second hand records and a really nice guy running it, that is where I go now for all my vinyl needs. The mall now gets all my cd business, the staff at HMV are awesome. Fred's won't see another dime from me!!"

Thanks, Renee! Hopefully you'll write again when you remember the name of the other shop.

Reader email: Incorrect display price at Canadian Tire, Carbonear

2009-08-10T12:55:00.001-07:00

I have to thank Jeff Gilhooly at the St. John's Morning Show on CBC Radio One for publicizing ishopandtell.com this morning. I've already received two new customer reviews since the show and I look forward to any stories that other listeners might like to share.

This one from Joe makes me wonder, what ever happened to "the customer is always right"? Sure, there might a few bad apples out there ruining the proverbial barrell (switching pricetags, for example), but I believe that the customer deserves the benefit of the doubt in such situations as described in the following email.

"I shopped at Canadian Tire, Carbonear on Saturday past. While browsing, I noticed a yellow sales tag on the shelf under a Wet/Dry Sharpener indicating regular price $79.99, Save $24, Sales price $55.99. Not a bad deal, I figured and I could use the item. I took it to the cashier who rang it up at $79.99. I questioned the price and she checked with the floor personnel who said that the item was not on sale. The tag should have been on a $79.99 Wet/Dry Grinder. It appears that someone at the store had priced the wrong item. It's not as if the sales tag was on a $180 table saw, it was on a wet/dry sharpener that uses two grinding wheels to sharpen, just as the grinder (the item actually on sale) uses two grinding wheels to sharpen, among other things. Both items were exactly the same regular price, the similarity of the name and uses of the items were almost identical. I can see where the employee made the mistake.

I realize that the company has absolutely no legal requirement to sell an item that is incorrectly tagged. That being said, a couple of years back, at the same store, we had decided to buy a stereo that we found, when we took it to the cashier, was incorrectly tagged as being on sale. The cashier simply said, "oops our mistake, here's the item at the sales price". I've had this happen at numerous other stores, Wal-mart, Staples, etc. Never an issue, "our mistake, have a nice day". Sometimes it's as simple as not getting all the sales signs down on time or someone tagging the wrong, similar item. I also realize that there are those out there who might swap tags from one item to another to get a deal.

For the sake of customer good-will you might think that the store would own up to the mistake and make the sale. Not so. Maybe keeping a customer isn't worth $24.00. Anyway, I'm just a wee bit peeved and need to vent."

I welcome your venting, Joe, and hope that you continue to contact me with any other customer experiences you feel like sharing.

Missing Massage at the Monastery

2009-08-09T16:02:00.001-07:00

Here's a contribution from my friend Melanie about her experience at the Spa at the Monastery this week:

"Terrible experience at Spa at the Monastery this week. Went there Thursday with two of my bridesmaids, we were booked for the Vitality Day Pass and a massage each. One of the girl's massage (I'll call her BM1) was cancelled a few days in advance because of the of the massage therapists was in a car accident (acceptable and forgivable). We checked in at 1:00 on Thursday, spent a few hours soaking in the pools and such, the time came for BM2 and I to have our massage but noone came to get us as promised. We went upstairs on our own, while BM1 continued on in the pools. We were seated right away and given forms to fill out. BM2 was called in for her massage very quickly but I waited 5...10.....15 minutes at least and then found someone and told them that I hadn't yet been called for my massage yet. She asked my name, looked at the computer, and then said she would have to go downstairs to talk to someone. A supervisor then came upstairs and asked if I was with the Bridal Party. I said that I was indeed with a bridal party (there were several there). She then said "Oh, I'm so sorry, didn't anyone tell you?"

Tell me What????

She then proceeded "Oh my love, I'm so sorry, the bride was in here yesterday and cancelled everything, the whole spa day."

I informed her that I WAS the BRIDE and had been here since 1:00 and had double checked my massage appointment when I arrived. She seemed confused by this, double checked some things and then came back and said that I did indeed have an appointment, but that there was noone available for it. She offered me another treatment, Hydrotherapy...which would have been great if I hadn't spent several hours soaking in a jacuzzi prior to this. But since it was free I did it anyway...and hated it.

Now, I always thought the purpose of a spa day was to relax, however this Hydrotherapy made my visit a little stressfull! I am so short that I spent the entire treatment time trying to keep my head above water - I was holding on to the bars on the tub like I was on the craziest roller coaster at Six Flags and praying that the timer would soon shut off...

When I finished my "treatment" I went downstairs to meet BM1 and BM2. BM2 was there (her massage had finished up just before my horrific tub time), but BM1 was nowhere to be seen. We waited about an hour and she finally came back downstairs; apparently they had an opening for a massage at 4:15 (about 5 minutes after I began my "treatment") and they offered it to her because hers had been cancelled a few days before. I fail to see the logic in this!

When we were checking out the supervisor asked how I enjoyed my "treatment" and I let her know that although it was free I didn't enjoy it very much and actually found it rather stressful trying to keep my head above water for 20 minutes. She seemed genuinely concerned and said that the manager would get back to me the next morning with a solution, as BM1 was equally concerned that she had booked this Spa Day as a gift to me and the whole day was messed up.

Friday morning I was there for a pedicure (which peeled within 8 hours because of an air bubble so I will be calling on Monday to have this fixed as well...stay tuned) and I asked if she had spoken to the manager yet. She said that she had mentioned it briefly, but would speak to him in detail later that morning and I should hear back by the end of the day, Monday at the latest. I am wondering if she thinks I will forget about it and just drop the issue, but I definitely will not. It's sad to see that in an industry that is designed to make people feel good you can still walk away with a terrible customer service experience!"

Thanks for sharing your story, Melanie. Just as you are amazed that a feel-good day could turn into such a pain, I'm once again surprised with what some brides end up dealing with when they're spending such a huge chunk of change on their wedding and pre-wedding affairs! Make no wonder we hear so much about the "bridezilla" phenomenon!

What's going on in Labrador?

2009-08-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

Here's an email I received from @chrissrkay in response to my question about customer service in Labrador:

"I'm in Labrador City at present, where the local economy has taken on a bit of a bizarre turn.

I moved away from here 4 years ago, and a year later the local mines announced a major expansion project. People began to flood the town, expats were returning from Ft MacMurray , everyone was coming in because there was a great deal of money to be made. The city has transformed into something similar to a giant St. John's Subdivision. Cookie cutter McMansions, big trucks and SUVs in every driveway, everyone gets a nice car for their Sweet 16.

Since then there has been an economic downturn, those money making new projects are on hold and a lot of people are temporarily out of work. But that is simply where it stands at present. In relation to cusctomer service, the city has taken an odd turn.

So practically anyone can get a job at the mine, there's a local college and trades are easy to come by. Suddenly small stores, garages, well pretty much any retail establishment started to suffer because the majority of their able bodied workforce went to work at the mines. Some stores were forced to close, no one wanted to work for minimum wage, and none of the kids wanted to get jobs because they're being bankrolled by mommy and daddy's shiny new job.

Some stores have become desperate: the local Tim Hortons had literally no staff. So what did they do? Outsourced.

The local Tims is now practically 95% staffed by workers who were flown in from the Philippines, many of them working to help out family members back home.

We went to a buffet resturant last night, incredibly busy place, great food, same story. The majority of their wait staff were also outsourced from the Philippines.

How has this affected service? In the 20 years I lived here personally, I've never been served by more professional, courteous people, all smiles and they just radiate a level of competency I honestly have never seen from from the usual high school aged teens that usually work these jobs.

Im not sure just how relevant it is to your blog, but it was the most striking thing I observed when I returned here last week for a visit.

Having worked in a call center, as a barrista, and in a grocery store, much like yourself, the little things in customer service really stand out to you, and you really do appreciate those who actually WANT to do their jobs.

Thanks for writing this blog of yours, its very entertaining and I look forward to future posts."

Thanks, Chris, for your email. I'm so glad to hear a voice from the mainland portion of our province, especially when it's a story about goodservice!

Updated: Home "inspection" by Pillar to Post

2009-07-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

EDIT August 9th: Well, I guess one thing about speaking your mind is that sometimes you end up eating your words. Turns out there was indeed a leaky old oil tank on the property and we are indeed in need of an environmental assessment. My apologies to Pillar to Post on that - had they not alerted us to the mystery fuel line, we would likely have ended up in major financial trouble down the road.

I still maintain, though, that they should have checked the area under the patio in the first place and also that they should have been more professional when asked for followup information.

So, Sean and I are buying a house and selling the condo that we have been living in for the past four years. It's funny how many little projects need to be done and it's also funny how we haven't gotten around to doing them until two weeks before we need to get the place on the market. The great thing about it is, I get to spend a lot more time at a couple of my favourite home improvement stores and also get to interact with many individuals from an industry that I love - the real estate industry. We are fortunate to have a fantastic agent, Chris O'Neill of Royal LePage here in St. John's, and so far, things such as arranging for banking, contractors and legal has gone very well. We thought that our home inspection was going to fit into this category also, but I'm sad to say that we were mistaken.

We had Pillar to Post come out to our new house for your standard inspection. We had no issues with scheduling the appointment and Ed and Edward spent about three hours there. When we met them at noon to pay their (very reasonable) fee, Ed gave us a walk-through of the whole house, giving a verbal summary of the items that we should expect to see in our official inspection report. He assured us that we would receive the soft copy by about 6 o'clock pm and advised us of a couple items that we might wish to have a specialist look at (a chimney sweep to check the flue, the oil company to comment on the furnace, etc.). No problems here; we certainly didn't want a false assurance of anything that the inspector didn't feel qualified to assess.

One thing that Ed was a little concerned about was a covered oil line in the basement which appeared to lead underground. Knowing the environmental impact of such a treasure being buried beneath the garden, we thought that we'd best call in some additional resources to determine whether there had ever been an underground oil storage tank. It seemed like a real cause for concern, especially since we know that the neighbours had a tank removed from their property several years ago and their house is of similar age and design as our prospective new home. EDIT: We thought we knew that the neighbours had a tank removed from their property having been told by the home inspector that he spoke with them and told him that they found one. Today, Sean talked to the neighbour and found out that they did indeed have a phase 2 assessment done on their property but no tank or contamination was found. That's another miscommunication by Pillar to Post.

I spent all afternoon on the phone with surprisingly helpful and forthcoming employees of the City of St. John's, the Department of Environment, Harvey's Oil and the like, and came to the conclusion that nobody knows for sure whether an underground tank was ever used on this property. Apparently, before the new regulations came in, one was not obligated to report when a tank was removed unless soil contamination was present. Back to square one. Or so we thought.

Chris, our agent extraordinaire, called us at 5 o'clock yesterday evening to tell us that he was determined to get to the bottom of this, so he did what any good agent would do (NOT!) - he went to the property, got under the (easily accessible) patio and found the spot where the oil line should come out. Lo and behold, sticking up out of the ground right where he expected it, was the end of an oil line that had obviously once connected to an above-ground fuel storage tank. Apparently Ed left out a major detail - no inspection of the foundation underneath the patio, an area in which he should have had a concern given the fact that a fuel line might have been present.

So we managed to resolve this question on our own, but after paying Pillar to Post $500 for a thorough inspection, we really shouldn't have had to do so. A phone call to Ed was met with absolute nonchalance and no apology or offer to come out and double check this area of the house that he so obviously missed. And to top it all off, our email report that we expected by 6 pm did not arrive until after 11 last night.

Wedding dress woes at The Model Shop

2009-07-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

I've heard a few horror stories from brides recently (remember the bride who was told by her alterations seamstress that her dream dress was ugly?) and it makes me wonder how, with all the spotlight on the wedding industry in the media these days (thanks, TLC), industry reps here in NL can have so little regard for the level of customer service they are providing.

The last time I checked, a wedding dress might be priced anywhere from $500 to over $5000 - in other words, a major purchase. As far as Carla is concerned, her purchase at the Model Shop just ended up being a major pain in the ass.

Here's her email:

"A little bit of background info first: I am getting married in August
and was out looking for a wedding dress in February of this year.

I went to the usual wedding dress stores in St. John's: The Model Shop,
Bridal Salon and the couple others. There isn't much choice here in
Newfoundland for wedding attire to begin with so I stuck to the two
stores downtown.

I received amazing service from the Bridal Salon on Water Street. They
are so friendly and quick to accommodate you down there. Also, they have
now set up an appointment system for trying on wedding dresses. which is
great because it keeps people from just looking to try on dresses for
fun. You need to call them or go to their site and book an appointment
to look at and try on wedding dresses.

For some reason I can't explain, I stepped over to the dark side across
the street, otherwise known as The Model Shop. I have never had good
dealings with the Model Shop before; six years ago I purchased my
graduation dress there and it burned when the building burned down.
They called me to say that they couldn't get my dress to NL in time so I
had to choose another dress. I had to fight with them, and finally they did
put a rush on the original dress I had ordered.

Okay. Skip ahead six years and I am in The Model Shop looking for my
wedding dress. First of all, every staff member there is over 50 and this
is horrible. They should have some younger staff who are up on the
wedding trends and who are friendlier. They are rude and not very
accommodating.

I found the dress I wanted and it was the cheapest at the model shop, so
that's where I ordered it in. I tried on the regular length gown, but I
needed a longer length. The sales lady assured me that the dress can be
ordered in with an extra 3 inches (for an additional $70). So I say
great, lets order this dress in the longer length. We (myself and my
mom) put the down payment on the dress and went on our happy way.

June rolls around and I get a call telling me that my dress is in. I was
so excited. Couldn't wait to go try it on and take it home! I go down
the same day they call and jump into the dress. I look down and realize
the dress I have on is hovering over the floor over 2 inches or more. It
was really short, I could see my feet and ankles when I looked into the
mirror.

I came out of the dressing room, and told the sales lady that this dress
was definitely not the longer version, as it is the same length as the
first one I tried on. She said, no, this is the longer dress because it
says L on the tag. I told her to look at my feet showing through, and
that this was not the long dress. She argued back and forth with me for
a few minutes until another sales lady showed up with a measuring tape.
She said she would measure it to see if it was longer.

I had no idea what the measurement of the regular or long dress was
supposed to be, all I knew was that this dress was not the long one with
the extra three inches that I had ordered. They told me that it was the
long one, and that's my dress. At this point I started to get really
mad. I didn't cry but I got frustrated. I knew I was right and they
were trying to get me out the door with the wrong dress.

Finally I got them to call Alfred Angelo where the dress came from, and
they agreed to take the dress back to measure it and see if it was
indeed the shorter version. I was happy with this because I knew it was.
This was on a Saturday, and the Model Shop employees told me that my
dress would be shipped to Ontario via FedEx on the Monday two days later
and that I would hear from they by the end of the week.

The end of the week comes and goes. The next week after I go down to the
Model Shop again demanding some answers. They call Alfred Angelo, and
they didn't even receive my dress there yet. So they obviously lied to
me about sending the dress the week before. Finally three weeks after
they sent it I hear from The Model Shop. Alfred Angelo had measured my
dress, and guess what...it was regular length, and it did not
have the extra three inches. YEAH, I already knew this and just lost a
month fighting with The Model Shop about it.

So I was told a new dress was to be made and I would get it a month
before the wedding, which was unacceptable to me so I had to argue a bit
more for them to put a rush on my dress.

After all was said and done, The Model Shop kept talking to me as if it
was not their fault, it was Alfred Angelo's, and they couldn't believe
they made such a mistake. They didn't understand why I was mad at them!
Alfred Angelo is The Model Shop's contact, not mine! So if Alfred Angelo
messed up, The Model Shop did as well - they were representing them.

Just made me so mad.

In the end I got my dress, and it's the right length, and all is happy.
But it was a pain to get there! The Model Shop hasn't even apologized or
anything for the things I had to go through in the last couple of
months.

It will be the last time I EVER deal with The Model Shop, and I even
took our business with the men's tuxes elsewhere. I am spreading the
word to everyone, stay away from The Model Shop. Worst customer service
I have EVER received from a business.

It's all behind me now, and I am just looking forward to our wedding day
in August!"

Thanks for sharing this, Carla! I'm so glad to hear that this all worked out in the end, and please accept my very best wishes for your wedding day! Hopefully this post will be seen by the right people and The Model Shop will realize that their customer service strategy needs some major work.

Reader email: Getting shortchanged

2009-07-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

I received this email from Charmaine, who follows ShopAndTellNL:

"Hello,

I'm wondering if you or any of your readers have had a similar experience to mine. Several weeks ago I was shopping at Kelsey Drive Wal- Mart and checked out around 1am. My total came to $20.19 or somewhere there. I only had $40 cash on me so gave the cashier my money and instead of getting $19 change back she only gave me $14 back. I didn't notice until I got home. My receipt said change due $19 but I only had $14 and that was all my money and I never made anymore stops or purchases. I thought MAYBE she had just made a mistake although it would have explained why she was sketchy and gave me a weird look when i thanked her and said good night.
Lo and behold I was at Wal- Mart the other evening and the same cashier pulled the same stunt on another lady ahead of me only this woman noticed she was short changed right away and got all her change due back. Then another late night at Sobey's Ropewalk a young man tried to short change me as well but I noticed. Without surprise or apology he just said oops, here you go.

Am I just having bad luck with cashiers lately or is this something that is catching on?"

Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing? I know that when I am at work (retail), I always state the amount of change that I am giving to the customer to ensure that if there is an error it is caught right away. This just seems like a practice that should be followed by anyone handling cash but perhaps this is a training item that Walmart and/or Sobey's is missing.

Come on home to Newfoundland, just don't bring any of your material possessions.

2009-07-09T07:16:00.001-07:00

I think I found a reason why it's so hard to get people to move back to Newfoundland. It has nothing to do with a shortage of employment or the lack of services or the shitty weather. It's because people simply can't afford to do it. As if it isn't bad enough that it costs 2-3 times more to fly to and from this island, you get totally screwed trying to bring your belongings here!

A friend of mine moved to Halifax 3 years ago to finish her degree at NSCAD. At the time, she rented a U-Haul truck and drove there. It cost her about $300 to rent the vehicle, plus fuel and ferry expenses. By the time she arrived, the trip ran her less than $1000, which was far less expensive than buying all new furniture and household items. Now that she's ready to move home, she thought she'd pick up a truck in Halifax and drive back. Thought she would.

Upon checking the U-Haul website and calling their customer service department, my friend found that it would cost her over $2000 just to rent the truck. Add fuel and ferry costs and we're talking a near tripling of expense in driving the exact same route in the opposite direction. Incidentally, if she were moving to Calgary, AB, it would cost her only a couple hundred bucks more, despite the fact that she'd be driving an extra 3000 km . U-Haul's response to her disbelief? "That's the cost of providing the service to a small market".

Where's the justice here?

Fan of Structure

2009-06-29T06:29:00.000-07:00

I'm hoping that bringing some structure to ShopAndTellNL will help to increase my following and bring some interesting customer service content to my site. I started today with Pet Peeve Monday, where I'm looking for general comments on those little things that seem to happen on a regular basis in customer service situations. So far, it's going well, and I'm seeing quite a few things that, with a little attention on the part of the employees, could easily be resolved and improve the customer experience for everyone.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be asking for shout-outs to customer service reps who you've noticed going above and beyond to ensure a pleasant experience in their establishment. Do you know of a clerk who always treats you with respect and extra assistance? Does a certain barista where you get your coffee make your morning just a little more bearable? Let them know that their efforts are not going unnoticed! Hopefully Tuesdays can become the one day where we see more goodservice stories than poorservice stories!

Finally, on Wednesday, I'm thinking I'd like to turn the tables. Any customer service clerks out there who have funny/strange/terrible stories from the other side of the counter? I know us consumers can be very vocal...now's a chance to talk back (which would be totally inappropriate during working hours, but all's fair on Twitter).

Anyone have any ideas to fill up the rest of my week?

Over and under

2009-06-19T05:37:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've heard it before, but one great practice in customer service is to "underpromise and overdeliver". In short, the idea is that if you give someone a timeframe or promise a certain level of quality on a product or service, you should be prepared to meet (similar quality/within the timeframe) or exceed (better quality/shorter wait time) your customer's expectation.

Unfortunately, what we see all too often in practice is overpromising and underdelivering, where, despite the information provided by the company, a product or service is of a lesser quality or the 'deadline' is not met. I noticed a tweet today where a person was given the impression upon signing up with Young Drivers that he would be in the car sooner than the two weeks that he now finds himself having to wait. "Pretty annoying" is how he described his feelings. I think it's just plain poor customer service.

I'm having a similar issue with Donovan Homes right now. We purchased a lot in September 2008 under the impression that we'd be moving in sometime in spring 2009. As of today, there's nothing but a pile of dirt and rocks on what will eventually be our foundation. Now, we were aware of the backlog in new home construction here in the city and didn't necessarily expect that our home would be ready in April or May, but if we didn't have this prior knowledge, imagine the increase in our frustration in dealing with this company's overpromise.

Bottom line: customers would rather hear the truth now than excuses later!

Okay, maybe it's not all about the smile...

2009-06-18T04:52:00.000-07:00

Have you ever encountered a customer service rep who was too friendly? I know of one particular store in St. John's that has this problem. Now, don't get me wrong, a genuine conversation with your customer is appreciated, but there is a wonderful, friendly guy at Marie's on Hamlyn Road who takes his customer relationships to the extreme. Since I'm not the best at tactfully stepping out of a social interaction, I usually send Sean in. Every time, he ends up a captive audience to this guy's life story. One day, he's complaining about how his manager gives him all the 'managerial' duties to do. The next day, he talks at length about how much fun he had in the woods over the weekend. Other days, it's simply an in-depth recap of whatever task he happened to have done earlier in his shift. I watch them from outside sometimes - Sean turns toward the door, the guy says something else, Sean laughs, waits another minute, makes a step toward the door again, I start the car, but oh no, the chat is not over yet! At times, he's been detained in there for a solid 10 minutes. It's a convenience store, for crying out loud - you go there because it's a quick stop when you don't have time to wait in line.

The worst thing about it is, the poor lonesome guy doesn't just chat while serving his customer. He chats while finishing whatever is was he was doing when the customer came in, only making his way to the counter to serve them after the bread is all aligned to the lip of the shelf, or all the Nevada tickets are counted, or the smudge on the cooler has been cleaned to his liking. So, I take back my assertion that customer service is all about a friendly attitude. It's also about respecting the value of your customer's time.

Thoughts?

I don't just like to complain...

2009-06-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

I was at Shoppers Drug Mart on Topsail Rd. yesterday and was served by a trainee cashier. The checkout was a little rough, with the cashier taking a couple of tries at ringing me in correctly, but I wasn't bothered by this because of her attitude. She was quick to apologize for taking such a long time, and worked through her line with a smile on her face.

This experience made me think about what it is that I want when in a customer service situation. Some people might read my posts and think that I am being overly harsh on some workers, demanding an unreasonable level of service or approaching the situation with an expectation of poor service so that I have a reason to complain. This is not the case at all. If my cashier/server smiles at me and seems genuinely interested in whether or not I'm a happy customer, then I'm, well... a happy customer. On the other hand, if I'm treated as if my presence is an annoyance or I'm simply ignored, then a poor service review is coming for that business

Customers spend so much of their time and money, visiting the same establishment again and again, in spite of a lack of appreciation for their continued patronage. Maybe they think we don’t have a choice, but we do. It seems to me that it's only fair to recognize those companies who are paying attention to customer satisfaction as well as to spread the word about those who are not!

Thanks to you all for following, and keep the commentary coming. I have a feeling someone is listening.

Dominion Blackmarsh could take a lesson from Dominion Memorial Market

2009-06-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

I just picked up a few things at Dominion Memorial Market. No complaints from me on their service today, but on my way out, I noticed their barbecue display. See the pricetags? You would think that store standards would be followed by all members in a particular chain. I wonder why Memorial Market can manage to price their bigger-ticket items but not Blackmarsh Market?

Airmiles.ca doesn't like my name.

2009-06-03T14:57:00.001-07:00

I tried to sign up for the Airmiles Reward Miles program at www.airmiles.ca yesterday, but could not complete the registration process due to an error. The error read, "There are illegal words in your input text", as per the attached picture. At first, I thought that perhaps the system had a problem with the punctuation in the name of my city, St. John's (as I have had issues with this on other sites before), but after removing the period and the apostrophe, I was still unable to register. Then it hit me. My surname is Butt.

I Googled "funny surnames", just to see whether there were other "illegal" names out there. Oddly enough, I was able to continue without error by using the last names Balls, Death, and Cockshott (all real surnames according to http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=1428506)

No "illegal words" error when I tried to sign up as "Janet Nipples", either.

I contacted them via their feedback link and they contacted me today, saying that I could email my information to them for processing. I asked if they might fix this problem and got a reply with their generic message saying they would "forward my concerns to the appropriate department".

Poor service! Dairy Queen

2009-05-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Last night after I got off work at 10pm (yes, in customer service. Yes, I'm good at it), I dropped by DQ for a lunch. My order wasn't complicated at all; I just wanted a chicken wrap and some onion rings. It took them nearly 15 minutes to prepare this order, and after having already waited 10 minutes behind someone who only ordered a burger combo, I was pretty annoyed. There were 6 people working behind the counter, yelling at eachother and joking around while their customers were pretty much ignored. As if this wasn't bad enough, I watched a young female employee roll her eyes at another employee and then make a double "I'm going to shoot myself in the head" signal to him. Come on. It's rude, it's obvious, and it's just plain inappropriate. That's all.

Poor service! Dominion Blackmarsh. Good service! Canadian Tire Elizabeth Ave.

2009-05-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

I guess with all this lovely weather, I haven't felt much like complaining! Send me to a grocery store with a mission on a long weekend Sunday and I get right back to normal.

Dominion on Blackmarsh has once again gotten my goat. All I wanted was a barbecue, and with their $50 gift certificate for meat when you purchase a $300 or more barbecue, I thought there was no way to lose. Well, Dominion managed to prove me wrong on that.

For starters, why would they advertise a promotion that is available on $300 barbecues when they don't have any in stock for less than $400? Argh.

Anyhow, the main thing that annoyed me was the fact that none of the barbecues had pricetags. Instead, there was a poorly photocopied flyer taped to each set, with no indication of which item was which, aside from comparing each item to the tiny, grainy black and white picture. I checked all the surrounding aisles for an employee who might help me with my selection, but there were none to be found. I even tried the customer service desk, which seems to be closed outside of 'regular' business hours (meaning Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm as far as I could tell, in spite of the fact that the store itself is open far beyond those hours). I ended up going to (gasp) Canadian Tire where I found a (price ticketed) barbecue and was on my way to the car with it in 10 minutes flat.

I just have to say, and I'm sure most readers will agree: you know it's bad when Canadian Tire has better service than you.

Good Service! Cafepress.com - submitted by Gregory Pike (@grevory)

2009-05-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

From www.gregpike.ca

I ordered a tracksuit for my girlfriend for her birthday off of CafePress.com. I paid extra for shipping on Thursday night and received the product that Monday, her birthday. Very timely! Esspecially given how remote Newfoundland is.

She loved it. The pants fit her perfect, but the top was very loose on her.

I emailed CafePress.com late last night to see what recourse there was and I had an email waiting for me when I woke up this morning. Here is the response I received from them:

I am sorry the item you received does not fit perfectly. I want you to be 100% satisfied with everything you purchase at CaféPress.com. I'm processing a replacement for the whole tracksuit in a size small since I'm unable to send just the jacket. You should receive the replacement by May 29th.

There is no need for a return! I do not want you to incur any additional shipping charges. Please keep the original as our way of saying thanks for shopping at CaféPress.com.

I couldn't be happier about this. I figured I would have to send the suit back, which only seems fair, but they are replacing the entire suit at their cost and letting us keep the original.

Many other e-commerce shops could learn a thing or two from CafePress.com. Good job guys!

Greg

Poor service! Dominion Blackmarsh Market

2009-05-06T13:20:00.000-07:00

Now, Blackmarsh Road Dominion has all the makings of the kind of one-stop-shop that I can really go for. There aren’t many other places in town where one can pick up all the regular groceries plus maybe even come home with a toaster oven or a new top or a six-pack of tube socks, not even to mention a bottle of Lamb’s and a 6/49 while you’re at it. It seems, though, that they’ve forgotten how to be a grocery store.

On this particular occasion, I needed some strawberry cream cheese for a dip I was making. I went to the dairy section (which does not house the milk, incidentally) and found the cream cheese display. Normally, I’d just go for No Name, but they only had the low-fat stuff, so I checked out the Philadelphia. There was a full row of strawberry there, so I grabbed one and headed to the cash.

I don’t know what was wrong with me that day, but I neglected to check the expiration date. After I got home and opened the package, I found that there was a watery layer on top of the cream cheese. Turns out that it was nearly a week out of date! I went back to Dominion, got a refund and proceeded to dig through the display for a replacement, but every tub was the same. I found a manager and showed him what I’d discovered. His reply: “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll have one of the guys take care of it.” By this time, Sobeys was closed, so I had to put the kibosh to my dip. Sadly.

Well, I went back there the next evening and decided to check on the strawberry cream cheese, just to see. The display was once again full, and the tubs that I’d knocked over in my search the day before were neatly lined up in a row. I picked one up and sure enough, the expiry date was 04/24. Of course, there were no managers on the floor and no one at the customer service desk to whom I might vent, so all I could do was hope that somebody else’s dip didn’t suffer like mine did.

Poor Service! CHBA-EN Home Show 2009

2009-05-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Ever since deciding to have a house built, I’ve been a little preoccupied with floor plans, interior decorating, landscaping, and pretty much everything else having to do with home renovation. I decided to head out to the Home Show on Sunday past, and was lucky enough to come home not only with a ton of ideas for the new house, but also with subject matter for a customer service review.

To start off, it cost 5 bucks to get in and I’m not sure whether it’s totally acceptable that people should have to pay to look at products they might like to purchase. But that’s beside the point.

As soon as we left the box office window, we realized that we had no idea how to get into the show itself. There was no directional signage whatsoever, but we were herded with the rest of the ~~cattle~~ crowd through an industrial door in the corner of the box office area. We were then shoved down a flight of stairs by a ticket-taker who appeared to be far more interested in what was happening on the street outside than whether or not her patrons actually made it into the event without injury.

Once we fought our way into the showroom area, the first thing I noticed was the amount of garbage on the floor and on the ledges of the displays. It looked like the sidewalk on Queen’s Road in the spring. I finally found a trash bin on the other side of the room, half-hidden behind a display.

Another item that I found concerning was the fact that there was so little space between the displays. I didn’t see anyone there who was in a wheelchair, but I don’t see how they could have navigated the floor considering the amount of trash and the narrowness of the aisles.

I guess this is more of a criticism of the planning that went into the Home Show rather than a customer service review, so I will add that there was at least one display that had positively excellent customer service: Power’s Surplus and Salvage from Ropewalk Lane. Their representatives were exceptionally courteous and actually seemed to want to use the home show to increase their customer base rather than just piss them off.

Good Service! Celtic Hearth

2009-05-05T04:49:00.001-07:00

What more could one want on a hangover Sunday than a big ol’ brunch? After the great service at Celtic Hearth a couple of weekends ago, I can’t think of anything! We were greeted with a smile and seated immediately, served good, greasy food and our coffee cups didn’t stay empty for very long at all. I guess my hangover was obvious, because as I struggled with a drink decision (while my friends had Caesars, which I think tastes like cold spaghetti-os, by the way), the waitress was quick to come to my rescue with a recommendation.

I only had one problem with the food: I ordered my eggs “over as hard as possible”, but one of them came out yolky. When the waitress made a timely check-back on our table, she immediately noticed that I’d pushed the egg to the side of my plate and asked if it was okay. I wasn’t even going to mention it since it was busy and she had been so attentive, but she insisted on fixing it and apologizing profusely. She returned with a cooked-to-order replacement. I know this doesn’t sound like big deal, but it’s the little things that people do to improve your experience that make an impression. If she’d been surly, I probably would have been way more annoyed about that darn egg and would be writing a very different post!

Poor service! Tim Horton's Village Mall.

2009-05-02T04:48:00.000-07:00

This one happened ages ago, but I've not really gotten over it! Picture it, St. John's, 2007...

I only had a few minutes on my break, so I headed downstairs to Tim's and ordered a tea bun, asking to have it buttered so that I could just eat it on my way back up to work. The girl behind the counter advised me that they were not allowed to butter tea biscuits. Apparently they "had a memo come from corporate" about it.

I was dumbfounded. A) Would a corporate office really circulate a memo about correct service of a biscuit, and B) did she really expect me to believe this? I asked to see the memo (which could not be produced), then to see to a supervisor. The supervisor's response? "See, if I cut the biscuit and butter it and it crumbles apart, then it's my fault, and I have to get you a new one, but if you butter it yourself and it cracks, then that's your own fault."

Determined not to let them get away with refusing a customer's order for no good reason, I emailed 'corporate' and asked about this phantom memo. They replied, assuring me that there was not, nor had there ever been any rules about the buttering of tea buns! Surprise!

Good service! Nothing to 'wine' (sorry) about with Newfoundland Liquor Corp

2009-05-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

I received a bottle of La Fiole du Pape Chateauneuf-de-Pape a couple of months ago as a gift from my old boss when I left the company. Knowing that it cost more than my usual bottle of Little Penguin or Mateus, I decided to save it. The other night, I figured I’d open it up and have it in celebration of my recent birthday and graduation.

The cork was a little dry, but I figured it was no big deal. I opened the bottle and let it sit for an hour or so while I made some (truly bitchin’) spaghetti and meatballs to go with it. Trying to be all fancy-like, I slowly poured myself a glass, swirled it, and took a noseful. It didn’t smell quite right, but knowing that it was a notoriously pungent wine, tasted it anyway. I might as well have taken a swig from my bottle of red wine vinegar. It had ‘oomph’, just not the good kind. My boyfriend seconded my opinion, so we ended up eating our dinner sans vin.

This morning, I headed down to the liquor store with my open bottle of (43 dollar, gasp!) wine in a paper bag. I explained what had happened to the cashier and he apologized for my inconvenience, offered me the option of a gift card or an even exchange on the bottle, and called a stock clerk to bring me what I wanted. What a pleasant experience. And the wine turned out to be great, if a little stronger than I’m used to.

Good service! Sobeys on Topsail Road again.

2009-05-01T10:23:00.000-07:00

There’s a cashier at Sobey’s on Topsail Road whose name I never manage to remember, but if you shop there, you’re probably aware of her. She’s a middle-aged woman with blond hair and a gruff-sounding voice who just loves to chat with her customers. I’ll admit, I’ve been known to comment to my boyfriend about how much she annoys me, but it turns out that she’s a customer service genius.

You know how sometimes in a store, you just can’t find what you’re looking for? Maybe it’s the ridiculously wide variety of products that all the major chains seem to carry now (you can buy clothes and shoes at Dominion now, Walmart carries groceries, etc.). What I usually find is that the cashier just grunts and gestures in the general direction of what you are looking for, or says something like, “aisle four,” with a long sigh.

This cashier at Sobeys is different, though. A set of nailclippers was my holy grail, and I’d scoured the pharmacy aisles for it without success. I had a fierce hangnail that needed immediate attention, so I decided to ask her in spite of my reservations. No grunts, no sighs, no nothing, she turned off the light above her cash and walked over to the pharmacy, returning in seconds with three different sets of clippers and telling me the price of each. Way to go! Next time, I’ll note her name and make sure to update this post with the credit she’s due.

Good service! Sobeys on Topsail Road

2009-05-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

I understand that I choose to live on an island in the middle of the North Atlantic. I know that there are costs associated with getting fresh produce in our (long and painful) off-season and I know that delivery routes on and off the island are less than ideal. So, last night, when I went looking for iceberg lettuce at Sobeys on Topsail Road, I shouldn’t have been surprised to find only two heads of the stuff on the shelf.

It had to be iceberg for my club sandwiches, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and picked up the least gooey-looking head, figuring that I’d have to peel off a few layers but find a nice, crisp middle. Totally wrong. When I got home and ripped it open, the lettuce was brown and slimy all the way through.

As usual, I launched into a rant about how the produce department had no business putting this disgusting mess on the shelf in the first place, let alone charging 3 to 4 bucks for it! I went back to the store with my lettuce melting in the bottom of my grocery bag and braced myself for a fight.

Turns out I was in for a real surprise – Megan (I think) at customer service took one look inside the bag and told me to go pick up a replacement and she’d take care of it. Thinking I’d get an even exchange, I grabbed a pre-packaged salad bag because none of the ‘fresh’ lettuce looked fit to eat.

Megan exchanged the product and refunded me the price of my original purchase, which I used to buy a beautiful, fat, hothouse tomato (even if it did travel all the way from friggin’ Mexico), and came home with a dollar in my pocket. Nice job.