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Truly Scrumptious · 01-07-2012, 10:15 AM

From the commercials for Marketplace, I thought the show was going to be about which cities had the worst customer service, not which stores. As for the 3 stores they chose to investigate, I have to say I think Zellers is the absolute worst. (Now, I can only speak to the service in Montreal though I have to say that we spent a week in Halifax a couple of months ago and had great service straight across the board.) Zellers here is atrocious. You have to fight to use a coupon (never mind what happened with their own coupons last week which was all over the news, that’s a special case), you have to fight to be charged the price listed under the product on the shelf, because they have a nasty habit of putting the wrong prices on the shelves, and it seems like every experience requires a guest appearance by the manager just to get them to honour their own policies.

Long ago I gave up ever expecting help finding anything in a store in Montreal, the clerks are few and far between and avoid you as much as they can, just as shown on Marketplace last night. So really, any complaints I have are not about that kind of help because if it exists here, I don’t know where. Walk into the Future Shop and try to get some help, and you will be disturbing the employees who are hanging out talking together. (Best Buy, on the other hand, is better. Weird, since they are the same company.) Ask for something at Walmart, and you will be treated to a shrug. Try to get some help at Canadian Tire, and you'll still be standing there an hour later waiting. Ask for something at a grocery store, and you will be told if they have it, it's on the shelf. Eventually you give up asking. If it takes me too long to find something, I am going somewhere else.

I wish Marketplace had investigated grocery stores. In Montreal, Loblaws is by far the worst, and as they also own Provigo and Maxi, it’s pretty hard to avoid them. Chances are when you walk down an aisle in Loblaws, an employee is going to be stocking shelves and blocking the aisle. You can either turn around, or you can stand there and wait, but he/she is not going to move, and if you ask him/her to do so just so that you can get what you need, you are going to be rebuffed. (By contrast, at the Atlantic Superstore in Halifax, a girl stocking the shelves saw me coming and said “let me get this out of your way”. I almost had a stroke.) Long check out lines at Provigo are the norm, one Saturday afternoon at 2pm in November, I counted 42 people in line, and there were only 2 registers open. I’m sure some of those people were angry by the time they got to check out, and I can’t even imagine how frustrating it is for the cashiers who have to handle that kind of volume of (annoyed) customers and I am always mindful of that . . . it is not the cashier’s fault when this happens. But still, it happens and the company clearly doesn’t care about anyone’s feelings, including their employees. (What I don’t understand is that Loblaws and Atlantic Superstore are the same company, so why is there such a contrast in their customer service?)

Loblaws stocks mostly President’s Choice products wherever possible, and with good reason . . . they make them, they are usually better than any other brands, and they are cheaper. But they seem to have absolutely no quality control . . . . we have had an alarming rate of incidents finding things like bones, pieces of what might be wood, and other debris in products that are not supposed to contain bones, pieces of wood, or other debris. And the thing is, they don’t give a crap. Call or write the head office, they are not one bit interested in resolving your complaint. You can bring it back to the store and they will replace it, but really, it would serve them much better if they just worked on their QC.

Honestly, the great customer service I see is in New York or Vermont when we go cross border shopping. The difference is startling. Maybe they have more employees, maybe they are better trained, I don’t know. I do know that it seems they want to make their customers happy, whereas here, it seems they just want to make you go away.

01-07-2012, 10:15 AM	#166
Truly Scrumptious Member How Do You Identify?: Femme Relationship Status: She's my mirror twin, my next of kin Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Entre Lajeunesse et la sagesse Posts: 667 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 2,047 Thanked 1,780 Times in 557 Posts Rep Power: 21474849	From the commercials for Marketplace, I thought the show was going to be about which cities had the worst customer service, not which stores. As for the 3 stores they chose to investigate, I have to say I think Zellers is the absolute worst. (Now, I can only speak to the service in Montreal though I have to say that we spent a week in Halifax a couple of months ago and had great service straight across the board.) Zellers here is atrocious. You have to fight to use a coupon (never mind what happened with their own coupons last week which was all over the news, that’s a special case), you have to fight to be charged the price listed under the product on the shelf, because they have a nasty habit of putting the wrong prices on the shelves, and it seems like every experience requires a guest appearance by the manager just to get them to honour their own policies. Long ago I gave up ever expecting help finding anything in a store in Montreal, the clerks are few and far between and avoid you as much as they can, just as shown on Marketplace last night. So really, any complaints I have are not about that kind of help because if it exists here, I don’t know where. Walk into the Future Shop and try to get some help, and you will be disturbing the employees who are hanging out talking together. (Best Buy, on the other hand, is better. Weird, since they are the same company.) Ask for something at Walmart, and you will be treated to a shrug. Try to get some help at Canadian Tire, and you'll still be standing there an hour later waiting. Ask for something at a grocery store, and you will be told if they have it, it's on the shelf. Eventually you give up asking. If it takes me too long to find something, I am going somewhere else. I wish Marketplace had investigated grocery stores. In Montreal, Loblaws is by far the worst, and as they also own Provigo and Maxi, it’s pretty hard to avoid them. Chances are when you walk down an aisle in Loblaws, an employee is going to be stocking shelves and blocking the aisle. You can either turn around, or you can stand there and wait, but he/she is not going to move, and if you ask him/her to do so just so that you can get what you need, you are going to be rebuffed. (By contrast, at the Atlantic Superstore in Halifax, a girl stocking the shelves saw me coming and said “let me get this out of your way”. I almost had a stroke.) Long check out lines at Provigo are the norm, one Saturday afternoon at 2pm in November, I counted 42 people in line, and there were only 2 registers open. I’m sure some of those people were angry by the time they got to check out, and I can’t even imagine how frustrating it is for the cashiers who have to handle that kind of volume of (annoyed) customers and I am always mindful of that . . . it is not the cashier’s fault when this happens. But still, it happens and the company clearly doesn’t care about anyone’s feelings, including their employees. (What I don’t understand is that Loblaws and Atlantic Superstore are the same company, so why is there such a contrast in their customer service?) Loblaws stocks mostly President’s Choice products wherever possible, and with good reason . . . they make them, they are usually better than any other brands, and they are cheaper. But they seem to have absolutely no quality control . . . . we have had an alarming rate of incidents finding things like bones, pieces of what might be wood, and other debris in products that are not supposed to contain bones, pieces of wood, or other debris. And the thing is, they don’t give a crap. Call or write the head office, they are not one bit interested in resolving your complaint. You can bring it back to the store and they will replace it, but really, it would serve them much better if they just worked on their QC. Honestly, the great customer service I see is in New York or Vermont when we go cross border shopping. The difference is startling. Maybe they have more employees, maybe they are better trained, I don’t know. I do know that it seems they want to make their customers happy, whereas here, it seems they just want to make you go away.