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Thread ID: 84135	2007-10-25 08:35:00	NZ customer service disappoints me	Ninjabear (2948)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
605294	2007-10-26 02:15:00	Indian was she? I asked my Indian friend why his mum (and others) always did that and he said its because they never get to go out so its the only way to stay in touch. Although his mum, who never stopped talking, did have 2 lines and was always polite to you - she'd chat in between her other conversation. Yes.Very much so.But only young, 25 or so at a guess.	Metla (12)
605295	2007-10-26 07:58:00	Sales staff are like policemen, when you want one you can never find one. when you don't want one they are all over you like a rash.	KenESmith (6287)
605296	2007-10-27 00:41:00	Is the pouncing on walk-ins, that happens in DSE, Noel Leeming and Harvey Norman, a result of the sales children (I like that term - haven't heard it before!) being paid on a commission basis? Or is it just a twisted version of Customer Service? There was something in Sideswipe in the Herald today about Erin Brockovich and her stand on the pouncers/botherers - since she's representing Noel Leeming, it's ironic that you still get pounced on there . . . I have worked in retail for approx 10yrs and I can safely say that customers in N . Z are the "worst of the worst" . I have also been employed by Harrods of London,so I can use this international experience to make a unbiased opinion . Fact: Most retail salespeople are employed on a retainer of $20,000 as a base salary plus commission . This commission is shocking low at only 3% of net profit . Example: I sell you a fridge valued @ $1,000 . Store margin varies from 12% to 20% depending if it is on promotion . The store on average will make $100 net profit on this sale . As an employee you receive $3 for this sale . This sale can take anything from 5 minutes to half an hour if you have a nightmare customer . Non approach of customers means poor weeks pay . Literally . It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that you have to work your arse off quite literally to put food on the table . That's 7 fridges I would have to sell in one day each valued @ $1,000 dollars just to add $20 to my daily wage . :rolleyes: Yearly salary including commission means you earn around $28,000 gross per year or around $12 per hour . This is just total crap! . It's also a legacy of the employment contracts act where all the power was given to the employer . That left NO bargaining power for the Employee . :annoyed: What customers are like: Mental,retarded,rude,obnoxious,insulting,abusive,d emanding and have wax in their ears . :groan: I'm so glad that I left the retail environment,because it's just gone to the dogs in this country . I gave "first-Class" service to my customers and picked up many awards . But sadly the crap renumeration,slack attitude by the employer and down-right "disgusting behavior" of customers, has meant that the retail sector is now chock-a-block full of kids, with little to no knowledge of how to approach or sell to the customers needs . C'est la vie! . . . . . . I'm now gainfully employed as a truck driver [something I did in the U . K for 2 years on my O . E] and I love being in charge of a 10ton vehicle,the responsibility of a 20ton payload and being "right away" from foul-mouthed customers . For my efforts I'm paid $20 per hour and enjoy overtime in excess of 40 hours per week . I'm also outside and enjoy the summer sun . :D N . Z . . . . . it's your loss! . . . . . not mine . :thumbs: Welcome to N . Z!	Utopia (7787)
605297	2007-10-27 02:02:00	What customers are like: Mental,retarded,rude,obnoxious,insulting,abusive,d emanding and have wax in their ears.:groan: I know that feeling. Hey Ninjy, how about stories from the other side of retail. Had some crank of a lady come in on a Thursday night a while back. She saw a product we had (the last of them as it was end of line) and asked if we had any more. We said no, it was end of line, thats the last. She then goes on to ask if any of our other branches have any. Which they don't and we call to find out. We told her that we will find out and let her know Friday afternoon. Friday morning she calls 9:02am and straight up goes... do you have any??? We reply no, we have not checked yet we'll let her know in the afternoon. We call her, and let her know that there are no more in NZ. She then went off at us saying we had slack service... Again, we reiterated to her that it was the last one in NZ for our stores (and this was usually stocked by our own warehouse) At this point we thought it would be a good idea to call up our Oz counterparts and see if they still sold/had some left. They do but it would take six weeks as hand luggage by someone popping over in NZ on holiday to get here, otherwise she'd have to pay up front the $60 required to ship it over in a week. She opts for the snail route. So we pay for the item out of one of our workers personal Credit Card in Oz dollars. We quote to the crank the price she would be paying. It's ok. During those six weeks of waiting she calls us every week asking "is it there yet???" "is it there yet???" "is it there yet???" On delivery day, my co-worker, on her day off, goes to the airport and picks it up, takes it to our store and then lets the ole crank know that it's here. When she does arrive to collect it, she throws a fit. She wants it at the Oz pricing which is lower than ours. We tell her it's the Oz pricing she is quoting and not the price she agreed on with the special order form we gave and she still had. Long bitter shouty story short, we give it to her at a discounted price and at a large loss. She complains bitterly that we have the worst customer service ever. I was not there when we sold it to her. But if I was, I would have gone off like thermite at her. We went out of her way to get a product that is no longer being manufactured here or in Oz, that we had to import from Oz, that we sold to her for peanuts and we had to put up with her constant berating whining. We thankfully don't have her phone number otherwise we'd be calling her at all hours to tell her the above sentence.	bob_doe_nz (92)
605298	2007-10-27 03:31:00	Sounds like poor service on your part tbh.	roddy_boy (4115)
605299	2007-10-27 03:41:00	Sounds like poor service on your part tbh. You are brilliant again Roddy-Boy, another useless post. :)	Trev (427)
605300	2007-10-27 03:43:00	Thanks Trev	roddy_boy (4115)
605301	2007-10-27 04:24:00	True .If you bought a fridge overseas and it took 6 weeks.I think the business would've closed down ages ago Some customers I must admit are fuzzy but still 6 weeks to get a fridge? I remember FREEDOM the furniture shop .Well its to do with decorations as well.Put new furnitures and items in the catalogue .They cannot import 1 until 2 months.Thats ridiculous You guys should do me a favour and see how many staff actually remembers to call you back after you request for something.NONE Like the vodafone example.She didn't call me back Asb bank never called me bank Etown never called me back	Ninjabear (2948)
605302	2007-10-27 05:37:00	True .If you bought a fridge overseas and it took 6 weeks.I think the business would've closed down ages ago Some customers I must admit are fuzzy but still 6 weeks to get a fridge? I remember FREEDOM the furniture shop .Well its to do with decorations as well.Put new furnitures and items in the catalogue .They cannot import 1 until 2 months.Thats ridiculous We gave the crankshaft two options, six week snail or pay the shipping costs to get it asap. She chose the former, and knew it was going to take six weeks. So no, I do not believe we gave bad service. As I said. We went out of way even though we did not need to (She could have went to Australia and got them herself)	bob_doe_nz (92)
605303	2007-10-27 20:10:00	Hey Ninjy, how about stories from the other side of retail. Like the lady that came into my shop the other day and sat down and asked how long it would be for her haircut? (Hairdressers next door) Seeing as she was surrounded by hardware and hardware posters it might have given her a hint she was in the wrong shop?? Or the lady in Auckland who came in to the place I ran there and asked for a replacement CPU fan. Took a look, told her it was very old and unlikely to find one that would fit but we did have a 2nd hand one we could give her for $15 including install? Yep, quite happy. So we put it in, take her out back so she can see it running, check she is happy. Yep, great. 2 hours later she runs back into the shop screaming and spitting and telling us we put a piece of rubbish in and it was so noisy she had to take it back out. Leans over the counter waving her fists and swearing and ranting until staff guy runs away to get me. I point out she watched it run, heard it run and was quite happy and it certainly wasn't noisy at the time. More screaming and fist waving and threats of violence. I ask if she perhaps forgot her medication this morning? She ranted and screamed some more until I gave her her $15 back just to get rid of her - as she was scaring the other customers in the shop. She didn't return the fan either.	pctek (84)
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