Great British Customer Service
It’s a shame when companies that you think will offer better quality and good customer service don’t quite live up to expectations. And especially so when that company is a ‘Great British Company’ such as Marks & Spencers.
It was a simple request, my mum wanted to buy a certain item of clothing (I can’t mention what yet as it is a Christmas present for someone who might read this!). The local store didn’t have any in stock at the right size, nor did a couple of other stores that she went to. These stores were unable to tell her if any other stores had them in stock, and were also unwilling to phone around and try to find it for her.
She therefore tried herself, ringing several stores and also tried the phone orderline and they didn’t have any either. On her first few attempts they couldn’t help out at all. The website didn’t have any in stock either so she was stuck.
She tried the phone orderline again just in case any had come in stock. They hadn’t but at least the person on the phone this time was able to tell her that the Gloucester store did have some. She therefore phoned Marks and Spencers in Gloucester who confirmed that they had the item in stock and in the right size and that they would put it back for her to collect.
So, my Mum then drove all the way to the Marks and Spenser store in Gloucester, happy that at last she had found the perfect Christmas present, even if it did mean a bit of a drive. She excitedly went into the store, someone went off to get the item they had put back for her, but as soon as she saw it, it was clear that it was far too small. It turns out that it was on the wrong hanger. The hanger had the right size marked on it but the actual item was several sizes smaller.
So, not only did she have to leave the store empty handed but she had wasted the best part of a day traveling to Gloucester to get the item. She re-phoned the orderline to tell them what had happened and see if anywhere else had it in stock, only to be told that the Gloucester store had 4 of them in stock. When she again told them that she had just been to the Gloucester store and there weren’t any there, all they could so was ‘ oh, there must be a technical error’!
Not the greatest of customer service, backed up by a fair amount of incompetency. A shame really. Come on M&S, you can do better than that!
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Unfortunately this isn’t the first complaint about M&S I’ve heard recently. I’m sure they used to be know for their outstanding customer services but just don’t seem to be bothered about it these days.
It’s a pity as good customer service really does make a difference and I would pay a couple of pounds more for something if buying it is a nice experience and I try to avoid shops where there is poor customer service as it only makes me cross and sorry I ever went there in the first place.
Come on M&S, get things back to how they used to be.