Customer Service in Whitehorse Stores
September 2, 2007 at 11:08 am (Talk of the Town)
Have you heard about customer service in Whitehorse? Most comments I’ve heard aren’t very positive, but apparently, there’s a drastic shortage of service workers in town. That surely doesn’t help our customer service situation.
With the start of the school year, I needed to get several school supplies which brought me into our local “big” office supply store. For those of you unfamiliar with it, their counters are an upside-down U-shape with a cash register in each corner of the U. I spotted a cashier behind one of the counters (all others were empty), so I made my way to her counter.
I put my goods down and stood there for a moment, waiting to be acknowledged: no luck.
I made noise with my keys: still, no luck.
I cleared my throat (loud enough to be heard): still, no luck.
I said: “Hello-o!” Finally! She looks up, and without moving, simply says, “that cash is closed, you’ll have to come to the other side, then continued with whatever she was doing.
Now keep in mind that the two cash registers are behind the same counter, and it’s just a matter of her taking an extra step or two toward me. But the problem here wasn’t that I had to move my stuff to the other side of the “U”, that wasn’t such a big deal. Afterall, that particular counter was closed. The problem was the feeling of being ignored. So, once I picked up all my stuff to bring to the other side only to be served by the same cashier, I just couldn’t hold my tongue.
I said: “So, do you normally just ignore people who don’t happen to be standing at the right counter?”
“I didn’t ignore you,” she responded.
“I have to say, that’s what it felt like.”
“I thought you were one of our staff,” was her reply.
Now, I don’t know about you, but the last time I checked, staff usually wear bright red polo shirts. I didn’t have a speck of red on me, except maybe my nail polish. She obviously didn’t even look.
I know I may be sounding a bit negative here, but if it was a one time deal, it happens. I could deal with a store that has decent service and the odd bad day. But it wasn’t the first time I’d had this kind of service.
I guess in a way I was partly to blame. I hate box stores and I still found myself going there for the sake of convenience. I stand guilty. I think it’ll be Whitehorse Business Machines for me from now on. Afterall, No One Makes You Shop at Wal-Mart.
You want a more positive story?
During my first year in Whitehorse, I found myself working as a bank teller, which meant being on my feet all day. Since I liked to dress business-like, I needed a good pair of comfortable flat dress shoes. During my lunch break, I took a walk down the block to Shoes “R” Us, where I got an excellent, albeit expensive, pair of flat dress shoes.
Women’s shoe manufacturers tend to like to skip size 9½, which happens to be my size. After size 9, you can rarely find half sizes. As a result, I often end up with ill-fitting shoes. Anyway, to make a long story short, I buy a pair of shoes, and a couple of months later, one shoe is coming apart on one side. I take them in to the store only expecting to have them shipped for repair (because at the time there were no shoe repair stores in Whitehorse). The store owner took one look at the shoes, went to the back to get another pair (one size larger), and brought them back. These weren’t cheap shoes; as a matter of fact, I had never paid so much before for a pair of shoes. However, five years later, I still wear them, and they still look like new.
So, is all customer service bad in Whitehorse? Obviously not. I’ve had excellent service in many businesses: Coffee Tea & Spice, Whitehorse Business Machines, Shoes “R” Us, and The Java Connection to name a few. Unfortunately, the bad experiences tend to stay with us, I think, because they evoke stronger emotion. I’ve heard of studies indicating that when a business deals with a customer service problem quickly and efficiently, the customer in question ends up with a higher level of satisfaction and loyalty than if nothing had ever happened. I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s certainly good practice.
Geof Harries said,
September 3, 2007 at 5:46 am
My experience has been hit and miss at Shoes R Us so it really must depend on who is serving you. Still, compared to Sportslife, Coast Mountain and especially Superstore, that store is a dream come true.
Murray said,
September 3, 2007 at 6:07 am
It seems to me that the small stores are still giving great service in Whitehorse, the big guys and franchises aren’t – even Tim Horton’s sucks now, and we’ve given up on Pizza Hut. Canadian Tire is the best of the big guys, but not where it should be IMO.
yukonchatterbug said,
September 3, 2007 at 8:29 am
Murray, you’re absolutely correct. Small independently owned stores have much more to lose, which is why I think the service is usually better. Plus, the owner knows their product/service inside out.
Geof, Superstore has got to be one of the worst in town. Once, there was a little island full of merchandise with a big sales sign indicating $9.99. When I brought the cushion from the shelf to the register, it scanned at $29.99. Apparently, only certain items were $9.99; had I stooped to move the cushions on the bottom shelf out of the way to be able to see the price tag on the shelf, I would have seen $29.99. They refused to give it to me for $9.99 so I left it there. I once bought a whole salami that I was going to slice myself at home, only to realize when I got home that it was about 3 months past the best before date. What the heck?
Marc said,
November 12, 2007 at 10:04 am
I also seem to have problems with customer service. We went to wal-mart my wife and I. We were in toys shopping for the kids’ x-mas gifts and there was no one to serve us, so I decided to go ask for help. The lady replied “well you’ll have to wait cause they’re gone to lunch.” WOW was I ever insulted. I spend at least 20 to 25 thousand dollars a year at wal-mart, but it doesn’t seem to help, so, upset I go to walk out and as usual the alarm goes off for my wife (she has that problem in every store). The lady starts scanning my wife and my wife is explaining that this happens every time. The lady has the nerve to say in front of all the other customers ” oh it must be your panties or your bra” Can you imagine how my wife must have felt. So she called to make a complaint. Do you think they did anything about it? Well I did…..NO MORE WAL-MART.
yukonchatterbug said,
November 12, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Hey Marc, Wally World is, well, Wally World. Box stores are pretty much all the same when it comes to customer service. Your wife’s story sounds more like going through airport security than through a store’s exit. Shame on them.
Yukontina said,
April 19, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I have always defended Rita @ Shoes R Us when peole complain about her terse attitude with customers. I’ve lived in Whitehorse for 11 years and purchase my shoes almost exclusively from her store……but no more.
I was in her store today and she and her staff person were rude and ignored me. I had 4 sample shoes in my hand, Rita was busily ignoring me and provided her attention instead to the man who came in the store after me to purchase something off the sale rack.
Rita did grudgingly call her staff person over from the deserted cash to assist me and I settled on a pair of shoes and went to the cash, with cash in hand.
For some reason it took BOTH Rita and her assistant to decide to serve the gentleman buying $63 on debit over my $98 cash transaction.
Rita, it will be the last time I put cash into your business and I will no longer recommend your store.
Mary said,
July 4, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I’ve had nothing but wonderful service at several places in Whitehorse– Ricky’s, Starbucks near Canadian Tire, Walmart (who gave me some free ice) and other local stores.
The story is quite different at Canadian Tire. They SEEMED nice enough, but haven’t done what they should have done to prevent me from being stranded here, living in their parking lot, for nine days (so far). The first week was understandable (although I’ve come to doubt the necessity of even that since I’ve gotten to know them better, and been obviously lied to.)
My van is not safe to drive because of some damage on bad roads to the north. After searching locally for a needed part for a couple of days, they ordered one from Dodge in Red Deer a week ago. Canada Day holidays intervened, so the first day they could do the work was 2 days ago. Red Deer sent the WRONG PART. Not the fault of the local guys at all. Another part was ordered. It was reportedly put on a plane, but did not arrive. It was lost. Of course, everything put on a plane is traceable, but the local manager wasn’t willing to make the phone calls required to follow up and find the missing part. “The part will get here when it gets here, okay?” (Well, no, that isn’t “okay” at all! You’ve got an old lady with a cat and dog living in your parking lot, going through their travel supplies!) The other option was to order another part, and return the missing one when (if) it arrives. I’ve begged him to order it, but he won’t until Monday, which will be my 11th day of being stranded. My vacation is over. I’ll be leaving all my resources in Whitehorse. I probably will not be able to see my elderly father again. But none of this incoveniences the gentlemen at Canadian Tire, so what’s the problem? In fact, the service manager twice tried to blame the victim. Seems the part can’t come is someone is feeling “negative energy.” Of course, the negative energy didn’t start until the 8th day of the stranding, after I’d already encountered incompetence on a grand scale. Then I was accused of not maintaining the vehicle, even thought the same individual had already pointed out how other parts in the area were in excellent shape and suggested that the bad roads north of here had caused or contributed to the failure.
That’s where it stands. Nine days living at Canadian Tire, with no real hope that the part will ever be secured, and no evidence that anyone cares. The manager won’t hunt down the missing part by making the necessary phone calls. And he won’t order another one until HE decides that the missing one isn’t going to surface. My life is in his hands. So I have fallen into a depression and am finding it difficult to keep from crying.
No vouchers for a lunch or two. No courtesy car to, for instance, help me get to a laundrymat. Just “The part will get here when it gets here, okay?”
I think you’d have difficulty finding worse service anywhere.
yukonchatterbug said,
July 4, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Hi Mary,
Wow, I can’t believe how badly you’ve been treated. I’m not in town this weekend, so I can’t help you out, but I have sent a couple of e-mails out (and cc’d you) in the hopes that something can be done. Don’t despair!
jstueart said,
August 6, 2008 at 4:44 pm
This is a great discussion. I always thought I expected too much out of customer service cause we’re often spoiled in the States. I took it as a given that customer service was not AS worshipped in Canada as it is in the States. [We do get used to being waited on, I expect].
However, I have drawn the line now at Subway. I eat there five days a week–I’m no Jarred, but working at the frantic follies means grabbing something fast, cheap and good for you. So I always choose Subway.
I’m surprised how often the downtown Subway runs out of bread. I was in there two days ago and noticed they had twelve breads left. I asked if they were planning on baking more. No, they said. Would they be expecting twelve more customers in these last three hours? Yes, and when they got low–they said–they would ask for bread from the store up the street. I wondered when they might do that…..seven breads from the end…..four breads….what if a run of twelve people came in? What’s worse was that they were all white bread. And frankly, I’d like a little choice when I come to Subway. They had an oven….why couldn’t they use it?
The Subway north of them, next to the Vietnamese restaurant, has a bad habit of putting up their chairs an hour or two before they close. I asked why they did this–as it discouraged me and a friend from eating there on a regular basis. Their boss encouraged them to scare away customers the last couple of hours by putting up the chairs (and telling us, on occasion, that we couldn’t put them down). They claimed if they stayed open till 11pm, they wouldn’t get home till 1am after cleaning. My thought is— IF THEY WANT TO CLOSE AT 9pm, CLOSE! But don’t stay open and discourage people from coming in…… Jeez.
Neither Subway has comment cards, so there’s no way to complain of the lack of consideration for customers…. I often wonder if business owners know that Whitehorse citizens, left with few choices, will take a lot from restaurants before they complain or go elsewhere…..
Anyway, Carole, great blog!!
yukonchatterbug said,
August 6, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Jerome! What a pleasant surprise. Thank you so much for dropping by (you’ve been talked about on the blog).
Your story is almost unbelievable: a store that encourages customers to leave? Holy smokes! How do they stay in business?
I also didn’t know you were involved with the Frantic Follies. In what capacity? I’m really curious now.
Anyway, it’s really nice to hear from you. Do stay in touch.