Some of you may have read a previous post on customer service - 'Cricket and the quality of service'. Here is an experience that is proving to be the exact opposite of that one. I had said, in my previous post, that the experience I had had then could not have been had in India. well, I must say now that the experience I have have had now could not be had in India either.
The Managing Director of Currys, Peter Keenan has this as 'Our promise': "We are committed to providing you with great service both in our stores and once you get your purchase home."
Now consider this: Just under one year ago we'd bought a microwave oven from Currys. Now, we tend to buy a lot from Currys (major purchases from them include a personal computer, a laptop computer, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a dishwasher, a Satnav unit, a Sky TV connection, a mobile phone, and the microwave in question; we have also bought numerous smaller items, from webcams and batteries to photo paper), because I always believed that we would get peace of mind. And so far I have had no reason to think otherwise.
The microwave oven developed an intermittent fault. The details relating to the fault are not important, but far from adopting the adage that the customer is always right, the store and service centre staff unfortunately displayed a lack of empathy and a complete disregard for a customer’s word.
· They claimed there was no fault present in spite of my best efforts to explain that the problem was intermittent and may reappear in a few minutes or a few days (by when the warranty would have expired). I naturally objected and suggested that the fault was intermittent and just because the fault was not apparent at the time it did not mean that it did not exist. Delivered aggressively it was an insinuation that I was lying about the fault.
· It was actually repeated a number of times that as far as they are concerned I may be lying because many customers do so. This was also repeated a number of times by the member of the customer service helpline when I called them the next day, as an explanation for his inability to help me. The apparent courtesy displayed on phone (which was sadly missing at the store) did not mean much if the gentleman kept calling me a liar, even if he did it very politely.
· When I asked if Currys was happy to lose a loyal customer rather than make a constructive effort at solving the problem, I was told that every second customer who calls threatens to never shop with Currys again. This was either an insinuation that I was making an empty threat and that regardless of the outcome I would shop with them again, or a suggestion that they did not care whether or not I shopped with them again. Either way, this is not something I would say to any customer of mine.
· The gentleman on the phone, to his credit, checked with a superior, but said that the superior had said that they could not help me with my problem just on my say-so, and that his superior’s word was ‘law’. I thought this was a suggestion that I was wasting my time talking to them. Unfortunate, coming from a ‘service’ centre.
· It was suggested, both at the store and on the phone, that since no conclusion was being reached and because other customers may be waiting, they must close the conversation. This was done aggressively at the store, where I was practically asked to take the product away because there was nothing wrong with it, and a little sensitively on the phone. I respect the need to cater to other customers, but not at the expense of a customer who is already on the line and whose problems are yet unresolved. And I would certainly not say so to a customer, even after we have been on the line for a fair while!
· By the time the member of the service helpline offered a constructive suggestion that I take the product back to the store for more extensive testing there was a more fundamental issue at hand – I certainly did not want to deal any further with people who had no respect for me, gave absolutely no credence to my statements, and kept repeating that I may be lying. I was much happier to write off the product as a loss.
Will I ever shop with Currys again? Take wild a guess...Top
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