You Don't Always Win At Game (and customer service is dead...)

One of the most excruciating hours of my life has just come to an end, and it’s all because customer service – in the traditional sense, whereby customers are served, aided, assisted or attended to – is officially DEAD.

Yesterday, I bought one of those mini, handheld vacuum cleaners at Game Kenilworth Centre (as with your toothbrush, there are just some places that your broom can’t reach, but that is beside the point).

After carefully studying the specifications of my chosen mini vacuum, I paid and left the store. I got home later that evening and opened the box to discover that it only contained the vacuum’s charger and a few of the accessories – in other words, the actual appliance wasn’t fortunate enough to be included. Yes, I did remember thinking the box was pretty light when I bought it, but my subconscious put it down to the use of lightweight materials, not the exclusion of the entire device itself.

Of course, that’s where my frustrations started. You buy an appliance, you spend money which you no longer have and now you’re left with the nuisance of having to return to the store. Unfortunately, Game Kenilworth Centre closes fairly early, so I decided to trek to the Canal Walk branch for the exchange/refund. 30 minutes and some unexpectedly heavy traffic later, I walked up to the customer service counter and told my story.

Instantly, the lady identified my box as the box for the display unit of the appliance. These boxes have a few scratches/markings on the front to identify them as such (sorry, but as an everyday customer I didn't think to look for a few small scratches in a cardboard box). She then unapologetically told me to return to the Kenilworth Centre branch for the exchange. After I asked why I couldn’t simply have the exchange done then and there, she insisted I needed to return to Kenilworth Centre. And still, zero apology. Not an ‘I’m sorry, sir’. Not a sliver of empathy in her deadpan expression. Just… nothing.

And here lies my ultimate frustration - I am the customer and the one who has been inconvenienced by the bad placement of a display box, which was closed and placed alongside the other boxes. It wasn’t above or below them. It didn’t have a big red DISPLAY BOX sign affixed to its face (now there’s an idea).
Leaving Canal Walk and feeling justifiably pissed off – and after paying R8 for the extravagance of parking there for all of seven minutes - it took me another 30 minutes and a completely wasted trip home, and now I still need to mission to KC (and leave work early enough) to get the product I was expecting in the first place.

By the end of it all, I would have sat for almost two extra hours in traffic (spending easily another R100 on fuel) trying to obtain a product that costs R299 in the first place.

Also, I already know that when I get to KC tomorrow, there will be an exchange but no effort to apologize. Why Game Canal Walk couldn’t sort out the issue for me then and there instead of making it my continued inconvenience is beyond me.

If all of this doesn’t sound shocking, well, it probably isn't. These are the kinds of awfully low customer service levels we are all faced with every day. And often, it’s not that initial error made by the stores we visit, it’s the hopeless manner in which they mismanage the situation afterwards, where an opportunity exists to regain the trust of your customer.

Just a few months ago, I purchased a couch from House & Home in Blueroute Mall. I paid for the couch and its delivery and left. The next day, I received a call to inform me that parts of the couch were missing and that it was the last one in stock – two more phone calls later, and I had arranged to return to the store to collect the cash I had paid for the couch. I promised to be there by 6pm, and arrived at 5h45pm, only to be told that “the lady with the money just went home”. They actually expected me to leave and come back another day, which is when I called the manager. He arranged for the money to be electronically transferred to me, but only after my blood pressure reached boiling point.

Let’s also take into account that I am mobile. I have the luxury of a vehicle with which I can drive up and down like a maniac while these stores screw everything up – I can’t even begin to imagine the difficulty for customers who work longer hours than I do and travel with public transport. Returning just one item must be a nightmare.

Tomorrow, perhaps I’ll experience a miracle. Perhaps the person assisting me at Game will be extremely apologetic. Perhaps the manager will offer me some kind of compensation for my troubles.

But more than likely, none of that will happen. Because the first and only rule for retailers in 2014 seems to be to move products off the shelves as quickly as possible; but leaving the customer with a pleasant buying experience? That’s best left to someone else who actually cares.