Yes, we have it, it's right in front of you - but we can't be bothered to sell it to you!
@asfarasiknow (3340)
Bournemouth, England
October 29, 2016 4:09pm CST
I have just got back from a trip to the shops. Among the items I wanted to buy was a newspaper. Not a quality paper, admittedly, but I had a number of reasons to want to buy it. The first shop had taken all their papers off the shelves. Fair enough (although they wouldn't be closed for another couple of hours). At the second, a youth was just doing the returns of unsold copies. There was the paper I wanted at the top of the pile but he refused to sell me a copy because he was reckoning up the returns on his device at that moment. I told him that I wouldn't bother buying anything else there and walked out.
The shop was some 50 minutes off their closing time. It's a small, local convenience store branch of one of the UK's major supermarket chains. Maybe the small staff there don't feel that customer service is important. Maybe he had a Halloween party to rush off to.
What I do know is that their head office will be getting an email about it on Monday.
15 people like this
15 responses
@louievill (28846)
• Philippines
29 Oct 16
Yes customer service is very important, my guess is that they had already finished the inventory and the results were already reported or noted down so one paper less would be a lot of paper work on their part, again I am just guessing.
2 people like this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
29 Oct 16
He still had the device in his hand. The point is that sometimes you have to make that extra effort for a customer.
2 people like this
@louievill (28846)
• Philippines
29 Oct 16
@asfarasiknow very true, that is why my late dad use to tell me that it is better to deal with shop owners rather than workers because the owners would go the extra mile to get profit and a return customer while some work force labor just think about their day being over
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502945)
• Italy
30 Oct 16
@asfarasiknow The last time I complained for a similar lack of service has been the last month of August. I received an apology, but also a 10 Swiss Francs certificate to redeem at their store, that was a very nice gift.
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
30 Oct 16
I will.complain to their head office and will probably get an apology. Whether this 'training issue' gets taken up with the individual branch is another matter.
1 person likes this
@Tina30219 (82978)
• Onaway, Michigan
18 Dec 16
@asfarasiknow Yep coming here to vent is always good.
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
18 Dec 16
@Tina30219 Maybe they should have called it MyRant!
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
10 Nov 16
I fumed for a.bit and then posted about it on here. It was very therapeutic!
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45111)
• Canada
4 Nov 16
It seems they care very little for their customers. 
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45111)
• Canada
8 Nov 16
@asfarasiknow I can't wait to see how they responded!
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
5 Nov 16
I've had a response to my complaint now. I'll do a separate post about it.
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22405)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
30 Oct 16
Clearly you also find it annoying that an 8am to 10pm operation is, in reality, an 8am to about 9:05pm operation. I always thought a 10pm closing time meant doors close at 10pm, with the staff doing the end-of-day tasks after the last customers have left the establishment after 10pm...
By the way: I have found some of these companies have a Customer Service presence on Twitter that will follow-up on such matters. If you use Twitter, that is. Good luck with the e-mail.
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22405)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
30 Oct 16
@asfarasiknow TalkTalk seem to be the telecom equivalent of the old Ryanair... I say old, as Ryanair have really improved in the last 24months on the customer service front.
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
30 Oct 16
Absolutely right about the opening hours but newspapers are routinely taken off shelves a long time before closing. Not everyone is in a position to rush out and buy theirs first thing in the morning and a sale is a sale (and often accompanied by the purchasing of other items). Plus weekend papers cost more so presumably there's more profit.
Yes, I have had good results with Twitter.- apart from recently with TalkTalk, who move your issue back down their list if you tweet more than once, on the basis that they deal with oldest complaints first. In other words, they punish you for expressing your annoyance at being left hanging by them for ages without hearing anything!
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
30 Oct 16
@pgntwo One of my favourite radio moments this year was when the CEO of Talk Talk appeared on Radio 4's Today programme and announced, very proudly, that they were no longer the most complained-about telecoms company (actually now the 3rd) to which the interviewer replied with a sarcastic 'Oh, goody!' His co-presenter was still laughing when he had to introduce the next item minutes later.
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
10 Nov 16
When I get a moment I will write a.follow-up post about the response I got - it was all good.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382693)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Nov 16
@asfarasiknow I'll look out for it.
1 person likes this
@Tina30219 (82978)
• Onaway, Michigan
18 Dec 16
Wow they must not want a sale that bad to be that rude I don't care how close to closing it is that is just rude.
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
18 Dec 16
My complaint resulted in an apology and a gift token but I wonder how many others don't bother to complain about such rudeness.
Yes , you should make a formal complain about it . Sad though that you didn't get the name of the clerk.@SIMPLYD (90717)
• Philippines
2 Nov 16
@asfarasiknow Oh that's good then . Good luck .
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
1 Nov 16
It's a small branch with very few staff so they should be able to tell who it was
1 person likes this
@quantum2020 (12054)
• Ciudad De Mexico, Mexico
30 Oct 16
That was not the way to treat a customer. It´s like, he lost a potential customer to their products. The sale would have assured a repeated buy, good for any business
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
30 Oct 16
I think he was too young to care.
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
30 Oct 16
pretty bad when all he would need to do was subtract the cost of the one newspaper from his figures -lousy way for any shop-keeper to behave
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
30 Oct 16
@asfarasiknow I would have been furious too
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
30 Oct 16
What was so annoying was seeing it there in front of me on top of the pile and him.confirming that they did have it.
1 person likes this
@41CombedaleRoad (5966)
• Greece
1 Nov 16
I bought a blouse once from a girl who managed to take my money, give change and a receipt, wrap up the blouse and give it to me without once looking at me! She was watching the TV that was in the shop. Most assistants are not like that but unfortunately it is the bad ones who we tend to remember.
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
1 Nov 16
Yes, detailed complaint sent. Now let's see what happens.
1 person likes this
@paigea (36143)
• Canada
2 Nov 16
@asfarasiknow have an email of my own I should send. I am lazy. lol
1 person likes this
@Mike197602 (15504)
• United Kingdom
29 Oct 16
That'd annoy me too.
I think in a lot of instances people in the service industry can't be bothered to give good service because they just don't care
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
30 Oct 16
Saturday staff. He might be someone starting a career with them but possibly a student just working to get extra cash and something on a CV before.moving on to a.totally unrelated occupation later.
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
22 Dec 16
I hope it was useful for all concerned (although I am.not sure if the member of staff would see it that way!)
1 person likes this
