Comments on: Australian Retailers Drop the Ball on Customer Service

By: John Debrincat

John Debrincat — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 23:21:50 +0000

Wow that surprised me. @Prancer are you an employee or employer in retail? I think that your whole diatribe basically sums up the problems with the Australian retail industry. There is an old adage in business “the customer is always right”. Sorry but they are the ones that decide and have the only vote and they vote with the wallet and their feet.

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 22:40:09 +0000

Are you for real Prancer?
If you are an “employee” of a large retailer (I imagine you were auto-corrected to write employer instead- otherwise it is you who cannot read), I think you are Exhibit A for the prosecution demonstrating the attitude that delivered the AMEX survey results and this article in the first place.
I don’t watch ACA by the way and I do treat retailers with respect- but you know what buddy? True Respect has to be earned. If you just expect it? Well, I feel sorry for you employer, if their customer-facing staff have that attitude to customers

By: prancer

prancer — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 11:15:45 +0000

If consumers hadnt been trained by the likes of ACA and other intelligence insulting programs to act in an insulting and arrogant manner, demanding the impossible and un-realistic, perhaps retailers would provide genuine customer service.

Consumers, along with the ACCC, are raping retailers AND their suppliers with their attitude and “its not my fault” perceptions.

Unfortunately as an employer of a large retailer, I see first hand that the majority of consumers have little, if no respect for service staff. The mentality of the average consumer is a disgrace to humanity, and i defend the notion that service is not what it once was, because the average consumer does not deserve it. There is a minority that receive amazing service, because they are genuine customers with some sense of compassion and common sense.

Online consumers are worse, many cannot perceive reality, or have the inability to read, and these are another breed of the impossible consumer.

Consumers expectations have changed, if you cannot get service… have you ever thought of asking? If you dont like the service you have received, have you yourself looked in the mirror?

Start treating retailers with a bit of respect, take responsibility for your own stupid actions, and you may get some genuine service. Retailers will provide you with service, when you deserve it.

By: John Debrincat

John Debrincat — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 05:21:46 +0000

Interestingly Myers just announced a cut of 100 jobs mainly in IT and HR. In their statement they said that customer service jobs would be “quarantined” I guess that means no cuts. They also announced guidance of a 15% profit drop from 2011.

It is pretty apparent to anyone who has been shopping in the USA retail stores that they have a different view of customer service. But the reality is also that our labour rates, overtime penalties and work practices make it hard to provide the level of service that could be expected. So in that regard I think that there is real issues with outdated penalty rates. So I don’t think you should exclude the impact.

However employees of those large retailers have to accept some of the blame for customer service levels. When 3 or 4 assistants in a large retail outlet think it is more important to stand in a group and have a chat rather than serving a customer then it is not the pay rate to blame. It might be lack of training and supervision or just plain bloody minded lack of interest. Unfortunately you can see the attitude regularly and it just makes you feel like you should not be bothering them. So guess what happens next….

John