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Post by Elis on Dec 9, 2017 18:34:33 GMT
I think Germany might generally not hhave the best reputation when it comes to customer service, but yesterday I had an experience which really shocked me. I'd wanted to buy a pair of jeans for Frank which he will get as a birthday present from my parents and me and which cost around 90 € (hope Frank doesn't suddenly decide he is into forums now and looks in here). So I went to Karstadt which is a large department store near where I tutor kids. It was around 7 pm and I knew the size I needed, but couldn't find it. There was a shop assistant who was rearranging some jeans and I think she saw that I was looking for someone who might help me and asked if she could help. So I explained that I was looking for a pair of jeans, but couldn't find the right size. She said she didn't usually work in this department and could also not get anyone who would be able to help me and three people were sick and besides, I was a bit late, despite the fact that they were upen till 9 pm that night. I did feel a little confused because I began to get the impression that I was disturbing her and she wanted me to leave her alone, with her telling me everything she could really not do for me. I asked if it would be possible to order them within 8 days. She said it would take at least 11 to 12 days. She didn't seem really willing to even try to help me and, beginning to feel helpless, I said I might have to go somehwere else then. She said I should just order them on the internet, Zalando would probably deliver them within 3 days.
Generally, I don't mind if someone in a shop or a similar place can't help me or if something isn't possible, but the way she talked to me, it sounded like she was eager to get rid of me. I stayed polite, but said I was a bit surprised that in this store someone told me to order something on the internet. She began to get angry and told me other colleagues would have been a lot less helpful and a lot less honest, they would have ordererd the pair of jeans for me, claiming they would arrive in time. So she was actually still being helpful. I told her (still polite, but probably visibly shocked) that I couldn't understand why she was getting angry at me since I hadn't done anything to her and she kept angrily defending herself and complaining about me, so I said I'd better go, so she wouldn't have to deal with me anymore. She said, in a very angry and warning voice: "Yes, it's best for you to leave now!" I thought next she would call the security on me. I then went to Kaufhof, a different department store, where they had the right size. But I'm still a little shocked and don't understand what I did to that lady. People keep saying we shouldn't buy so much online, but support retailers locally, but if that kind of thing happens, I'd rather go back to ordering stuff online.
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Post by Mari on Dec 9, 2017 20:01:48 GMT
Maybe she was just having a bad day. I wouldn't worry about it being your fault or anything like that.
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Post by Elis on Dec 9, 2017 20:42:13 GMT
I guess it might have been a bad day. Admittedly, there is often a generally unfriendly attitude which even one of my Japanese students mentioned, referring to supermarkets. I just think that even if someine was having a bad day, it's unfair to let that out on a customer who was prepared to spend 90 € in the store.
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Post by Kye on Dec 9, 2017 21:12:29 GMT
It's probably not very important to her how much money you were spending --none of it would trickle down to her anyway. She probably doesn't have much loyalty to her employer, so customer service would be kind of meaningless for her.
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Post by tangent on Dec 9, 2017 21:47:05 GMT
It really makes shopping miserable when that happens.
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Post by Elis on Dec 10, 2017 8:14:50 GMT
It really makes shopping miserable when that happens. Yes, it does. I have my own social anxiety and don't even like asking for help in shops. Usually, I do research online so I don't need help when I go to a store to buy something. Have to admit it's always a bit of a culture shock when we are in Birmingham. First, people don't have to rush nearly as much in supermarkets and second, whenever I did ask for help,people were really friendly. If they couldn't help me, they were nice about it and explained why and apologized. Am not sure if they have better working conditions or what it is that makes the difference.
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Post by spaceflower on Dec 10, 2017 22:12:08 GMT
Sounds like DDR. You should telephone or mail the company and complain. The employees are there for the customers' sake, not vice versa.
But I know that my daughter complained of how unpleasant bus drivers and post and bank employees could be in Germany. Not service-minded at all. But she lived in Germany for two years and loved it all the same.
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Post by tangent on Dec 10, 2017 23:27:23 GMT
Does complaining increase the quality of your life?
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Post by Elis on Dec 11, 2017 6:38:27 GMT
Does complaining increase the quality of your life? No and I don't see the point in complaining. It wasn't nice for me because ai have my own anxieties and just asking anyone for help is hard for me, but complaining would just take up more time and energy and not do me any good.
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Post by JoeP on Dec 11, 2017 8:07:26 GMT
Does complaining increase the quality of your life? Yes! OK no, not often, but in ideal circumstances: if complaining leads to a problem being fixed then life gets better for you, the service provider, and all their other customers.
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Post by Elis on Dec 11, 2017 9:20:20 GMT
I actually wouldn't know how or where to cmplain, unless I went there in person. Which I'm not ready to do.
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Post by Moose on Dec 11, 2017 20:26:43 GMT
I don't like complaining in general but I think in circumstances like that I would send a letter to the store detailing your experience ... it sounds as though the woman was quite impossibly rude.
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Post by spaceflower on Dec 11, 2017 20:35:15 GMT
If nobody complains, nothing changes. I often read letters to the editor in my local newspaper with complaints. It is also possible to write on their Facebook sight.
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Post by JoeP on Dec 11, 2017 21:35:59 GMT
Actually, complaining on public social media (apparently Twitter can be good for this) gets lots of attention quite quickly.
Certainly compared to writing (no response) or phoning (your call is valuable to us. All our customer support representatives are currently busy. Please continue to hold. You are number 92 in the queue).
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Post by Moose on Dec 11, 2017 21:38:31 GMT
Yeah ... do they have a facebook page? I wouldn't ordinarily advocate getting people into trouble but really, this conduct was not cool
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Post by Elis on Dec 12, 2017 6:58:42 GMT
They have a contact form on their website. I might try that. Don't want to do it via Facebook because that feels too public. In a way you're right. I was really polite from the start, but she just kept telling me what she couldn't do for me and when I voiced my surprise (which she probably understood as criticis) I was still polite, didn't attack her or anything. I also think it wasn't a good idea for her to say he colleagues would have been less helpful and less honest with me - what does that say about the store? My mother said they're probably badly paid and stressed which I can imagine, but it still shocked me to be treated like that. I did read online that a man went to that department store in a different city to buy perfume for his wife. He went up to one of the shop assistants to ask her for help. She looked at him, clearly focusing on his slightly longer hair, and said "We don't have anything to sell to you." He asked if the perfume was sold out and she replied: "No, I mean we really have nothing at all to sell to someone like you!" and turned around to her colleague who asked "What does he want here?" Karstadt is an average department store and all kinds of people come there, so there was no reason to treat a customer like that because of slightly longer hair.
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Post by tangent on Dec 12, 2017 7:51:07 GMT
That's astonishing. A shop assistant in the UK who said that could expect to lose their job.
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Post by Elis on Dec 12, 2017 10:04:01 GMT
Could have been Frank. I couldn't believe it!
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Post by spaceflower on Dec 12, 2017 11:46:06 GMT
If it happened to me (or my husband) I would be livid. I would certainly complain. I would write in social media about it and to the local newspaper's Letter to the Editor. Usually the paper then would give the company or municipal authority possibility to answer, so they would certainly know about it. They usually apologise and say that the will look into the matter so that it will not happen again.
Not everybody is sutited for a service job. The customer may be impatient or upset, but you as personnel must always be patient and calm. You are not there as youself but as a representative for the company.
Of course in Soviet/Eastern Europe, the sales persons could be as rude as they wanted. They knew that the customers had nowhere else to go.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Dec 15, 2017 10:19:32 GMT
I was going to mention that - if they're from east Germany side background they probably grew up and are raised with horrendous customer service. Or they could just be shity at their job. Plus, a department store isn't exactly a small, local retailer that you really need to be loyal to.
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Post by Moose on Dec 15, 2017 21:11:02 GMT
Been a long time since the wall fell though
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Post by Elis on Dec 16, 2017 8:31:43 GMT
Been a long time since the wall fell though Yes and we're not close to former East Germany.
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Post by Moose on Dec 18, 2017 23:32:19 GMT
Then complain
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Post by raspberrybullets on Dec 19, 2017 9:49:07 GMT
Sure it's a long time but the mentality doesn't go away. I see it in Slovakia a lot. Less in the younger people but still there, and definitely in older people. And of course, the person could have moved from East to West.
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Post by Elis on Dec 19, 2017 10:23:20 GMT
I think I would have heard that from the accent. The sad thing is that this is not uncommon in all if Germany. Sadly. Often enough, customers seem to be a nuisance. Or, as ine firmer head of the German trains said, causing loss of money.
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