Today I experienced customer service at both ends of the spectrum, the very good and the absolutely terrible. I had a doctors appointment this morning and wanted to go straight to my painting job afterwards but needed to visit the supermarket so went there before my appointment. The recently opened Coles store in Vasse is our nearest supermarket, it is nice and bright, the parking is excellent even for a vehicle which is over five metres long and it’s not usually too busy. I parked in the middle of the car park away from any other vehicle so as not to invite dents and scratches from careless drivers and headed into the store. As we both have Coles credit cards and associated flybuys accounts we get bombarded by emails telling us what’s on special and how much we need it and mine came last night. It told me all the things which are at supposedly never to be repeated offers and some of them were clearly picked out of my usual shopping list. It’s a very clever system that knows what things you buy regularly and letting you know when each item is on offer. Needless to say I read the email every Tuesday night as thats when the new specials come online so even if I don’t intend shopping for a few days I know what is going to be good value. Last night was no different to any other Tuesday and I scanned through the list to find if the things we needed were on offer and sure enough quite a number of things which were on our list were on special.
My first stop was at the veggie section, we needed a number of things as were have people coming round later this week. I was a bit surprised that the prices of both broccolini and asparagus didn’t match the prices on the email but we needed both so I put two of each into my trolley. I thought for a very short moment that I could have got the prices mixed up but made a mental note that I would check when I next looked at my phone. As I walked up towards the deli section I noticed that the usually full fresh fish department was completely empty, disappointing as I wanted some salmon. It didn’t get any better, the more I walked round the store I noticed things were not as priced in the email. There were lots of people stacking shelves and some obviously changing prices which in my view should have been done before the shop opened. They were all having a good old chat to their co worker and to be honest there seemed to be little work actually going on.
I finished my shopping and had a full trolley so I headed for the checkouts only to find each and every one of them was closed. There was another lady also looking puzzled so I pushed my trolley down to the self checkout area where a member of staff was on duty. I asked if someone could open a checkout for me but was told to go to the “under twelve items” till. It’s not very convenient as there is no conveyor belt to put your things on but I started loading things onto the small area next to the till. There was a young lady at the till who didn’t speak to me just started scanning my shopping and throwing them into my bags. It was as well I didn’t have eggs on the list as they would have been well scrambled by the time I had got home. The lady never looked at me once during the time she was scanning my shopping and just told me how much it had all come to, I scanned my flybuys card and asked if there was $10 to take off which I knew there was and she muttered the new amount. I tapped my card on the reader and put in my PIN number, loaded my bags into the trolley and left. Apart from the total lack of customer pleasantries the most disappointing thing was under the name on her badge it said “Store Manager” what an example she was setting to the rest of her staff! A total lack of customer service.
After dropping off the shopping at home and getting changed I headed for the doctors. It wasn’t my usual GP’s today it was Broadwater medical centre which is only a short distance from our house. I parked the car and went inside. I was greeted with a smile from the receptionist who said “hello, how can I help you” I gave her my name and who I was there to see, she checked I was on the list and asked me to take a seat, the doctor wouldn’t be long. Now as I’ve mentioned before, I won’t ever complain about waiting for my turn with the doctor even when they are running a long way behind as I have often been the reason they are running late and know how truly blessed I am by the way I am looked after. My turn duly came and I was indeed very well cared for as usual, I had a lovely heartfelt hug before leaving the office and returned to the reception. The same lady greeted me with a smile again and confirmed my name, carried out the financial transaction seemlessly and I made two further appointments. The whole experience was perfect, I didn’t have to wait either time at the reception and I was dealt with in a warm caring way, my appointments were put on a card for me and as I left the receptionist said “enjoy the rest of your day” now that wasn’t too hard was it? The only disappointing thing is I can’t seem to find a place to leave a review as I believe good service should be rewarded or at least recognised, rest assured I have complained about the incident at Coles, not that I think I will get a reply but I felt better about it.