Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
General Topics => All things that have nothing to do with Turkey => Topic started by: Hamlet on July 03, 2013, 15:48:25 PM
-
Occasionally I need to travel back to the England and each time I do I think about why I have grown to like Turkey more than the UK?
Education: during my visit in April I decided to splash out and purchased some lottery tickets.
When I returned again last week I called into the local branch of a chain of stores (lets just say they are owned by their members) and got the young male (18/20ish) behind the counter to check for winners.
After greeting me with what now seems to be the customary "you alright mate?" ......... Instead of how can I help you? he ran the tickets through the machine and as he did so called out £3, £30, £10, £10, £3.
He then got his iPhone out and started to add up using the calculator app, I immediately said "that's £56", he carried on with the calculator, just then his supervisor came along and asked what he was doing?
The lad said "I'm really rubbish at adding up.......... Really!!!, I politely thought!
Don't do it like that, she said, "use the till, it's easier".
It's £56, I said again, both looked at me and the supervisor carried on adding up on the till.
The lad then looked up and in shock said to me, that's £56, ...... you said that didn't you?
Me: yep, and without using a calculator!! perhaps your employers should set you all a maths test before they employ you!
Customer service: onwards then to a national computer store, whilst standing, reading the details of an item I hear a young female voice say " are you alright there sir?" Being in a genial mood and instead of giving my usual response of "well I do have a pain in my shoulder/leg, or do I look ill then? etc, etc", I said yes I'm fine thanks, how are you today? That stumped her!
I asked a salesman at a gents outfitters a few years ago why they don't now ask if they can help the customer instead of asking "are you alright there?"
The reply was"we aren't allowed to ask that anymore!" Why????
Ended the day at a Tex-Mex Resturant where from the very first greeting through to my paying the bill, my 'server' insisted on calling me "Boss" (remember when we used to call the people that brought the food, waiters?).
I think I've answered my own question here! :-\ ??? : 8)
-
BOSS - " bucket of sh-t"
-
Sorry , thats what we thought BOSS stands for
-
I am responding to this post on an iPad bought today in the Apple Store in Glasgow,UK. The young man who dealt with me was very impressive. The shop was busy but I was attended to very quickly and despite buying the basic model I felt that I was a valued customer. The young salesman took a lot of trouble to set up the iPad for me and make sure that I understood everything. His knowledge of modern technology was way beyond mine and I really appreciated his help. He was polite,showed respect and knew his job.
So I would hope that some bad experiences with youngsters would not let us condemn a generation or our country.
-
I am constantly being surprised (short term memory loss I guess) by the high quality and friendliness that are the standard service in shops these days. The occasional bad experience stands out starkly from the norm. This is a transformation from the sullen truculence often encountered 30 to 40 years ago. The pinnacle of this unpleasant service was our local Gateway store that recruited miserable disunterested youths and trained them in obnoxiousness and sloth.
-
Your post made me chuckle Colwyn. How does one train anybody in sloth?
-
I think the article in the press lately about the young lady in a supermarket, who refused to serve a customer while she was on her phone also shows, no it's not all bad, but given that we are driven to comment (with some surprise) on good service, it's far from being all good either. I have to say I quite admire her attitude, I wouldn't expect to "deal" with a client while they carry out a phone conversation either.
-
In a clothes shop, three assistants (one after the other) asked "are you alright there?" and I did respond to the third with
"You are the third to ask me. Do I not look well?"
It is damned annoying to say the least.
On the subject of mobile calls, I cannot carry on a conversation on the phone and deal with someone else so one would have to be ignored.......I find the phrase, 'I'll call you back" really useful. ;)
I also find the Turkish custom of following you around the shop as though you may 'pocket' something equally annoying. I buy very little here as I can't browse in peace.
-
Oh I agree, nothing has me out of a shop faster than someone stalking me, and they even do it in the Duty Free!
-
I think the article in the press lately about the young lady in a supermarket, who refused to serve a customer while she was on her phone also shows, no it's not all bad, but given that we are driven to comment (with some surprise) on good service, it's far from being all good either. I have to say I quite admire her attitude, I wouldn't expect to "deal" with a client while they carry out a phone conversation either.
The lady sued the shop though and got money!
-
Perhaps they don't ask "Can I help you, sir?" because too many smart alecs replied "Yes, you could let me a hundred quid, that would be a help!" and they got bored with these wiseacres. Can't blame them really.
-
I also hate the phrase when you have been waiting in a queue for a while "Sorry for your wait". I have a very large mate and if anyone says that to him he says "why whats wrong with it, I can't help it". The embarrassed looks are priceless.
-
My son got an email today from Burtons saying happy birthday mate!
-
I think the article in the press lately about the young lady in a supermarket, who refused to serve a customer while she was on her phone also shows, no it's not all bad, but given that we are driven to comment (with some surprise) on good service, it's far from being all good either. I have to say I quite admire her attitude, I wouldn't expect to "deal" with a client while they carry out a phone conversation either.
The lady sued the shop though and got money!
She didn't sue, this took place last Monday. She was offered £10 of vouchers by way of compensation.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2353581/Sainsburys-customer-shocked-checkout-assistant-refuses-serve-mobile.html
-
Terrible, I would like to think she will be ashamed of having profitted by having appalling manners, but I doubt it!
-
I was driving over Blackheath in SE london just before the Olympics last year when the traffic lights began flashing, the radio went off and dials on the dash board were flashing then all went off. This stopped the traffic.
Apparently there was an unannounced test to jam all signals in case of anyone remotely detonating bombs. You should have seen the panic because no one could get a signal on their phones. People were running up and down the line of cars asking if anyone had a signal, it was like the beginning of a Si Fi film.
Although is was unannounced, it was guessable because they were using the Heath for events and I would have expected some sort of test, what else could it have been? Aliens?? It certainly was a picture of panic though, OH NO PHONES!!!!! What did people do without them?
-
Lol I agree Bluwise! I CAN'T stand it when they say 'you alright there?' either. Mind you I also prefer them not to hover over me asking if they can help. I can see them and will ask for help if I need to. They must loose customers because of this. Left to browse I'm more likely to buy.
-
Hamlet, to your question of { I asked a salesman at a gents outfitters a few years ago why they don't now ask if they can help the customer instead of asking "are you alright there?" The reply was"we aren't allowed to ask that anymore!" Why?" }...
it made me chuckle to read that they went from "may I help you?" to "are you alright there?" (thanks) but the Monty Python crew's 'salesmanship' training videos thought that when you ask a 'yes/no' question, it is very easy for the customer to say 'no', as in: 'may i help you? no!", and even if they said 'yes', one would need to ask yet another question as to the nature of the help. so they thought us to ask: "HOW may I help you?", assuming that there must be a way we can help them, after all they walked into the store, didn't they :P ..and it is an open ended question, forcing the customer to think creatively to dodge it. ....but to read that they were told "you are not allowed to say it" without an explanation or an alternative, they now babble yet another useless sentence, was funny.
as for Turkish merchants keeping an eye on you (not to help if you have questions, but to make sure you do not pocket anything) is indeed annoying. Having lived in the US for almost 30 years, this aspect now really bugs me too. I simply stare "öküz trene bakar gibi" back at them, until they look away or they ask me if i need help, then reply: "I am just looking, no need for you to follow me. I'll call you if I need help". Reminding them they need my business, not the other way around.
-
Last time I went in a Gents Outfitters for a suit fitting ,he asked me which side I dressed :),I replied the side near the window . :)Cannot understand his strange look!!! ;) :)
-
Customer service in the UK is certainly a varied affair.
Here in Sheffield, we are known for our friendliness and it is often referred to as 'the biggest village in the country'.
So I can only presume that all bus drivers in Sheffield are from 'elsewhere' as in my (admittedly limited) experience every bus journey has been started with an unpleasant experience trying to actually board and pay on the bus.
ME (quite pleasantly): Single to the City Centre please.
DRIVER (glaringly): Where?
ME (meekly): City Centre please.
DRIVER (loudly and impatiently): WHERE. IN. THE. CITY. CENTRE. EXACTLY?
ME: The High St
DRIVER: 3 40
ME - hands over 4 £1 coins
DRIVER - looks at me as though I've just pushed a dog turd into his hand and then shouts 'YOU NEED THE EXACT MONEY. I DONT DO CHANGE'
-
It can be annoying if you 3 people ask if you're alright while shopping, almost one after the other, but just one person asking I quite like. They make it clear that they are around of you do need assistance, and that they have acknowledged your presence in the shop. It's just polite etiquette.
It's usually in larger stores where you may be asked more than once because obviously each of those people need to be working and they can't be standing around doing nothing can they? Sometimes I find it irritating, but a simple 'no thank you, just looking' is enough.
Out of interest, what are your opinions on customer service in restaurants and cafes? I work as a waitress so would be interested to know :)
-
Actually Miss M, I have found that this is one sector of business that consistently delivers good customer service. I'm sure we've all had occasions when this is not the case, but on the whole my experiences have generally been very positive.
I'm a good tipper too for good service. There's still a shortage of good everyday eateries in the UK though.
-
As a customer I really appreciate the questions, whether they be from a waitress, till operator, or whoever, if they actually look, act or speak as though they care, it is the mechanical, robotic drummed in speak I can't stand, and I think it it very patronising of store management to believe that we actually want or need it.
-
Well today I experienced (in my opinion) extreme ends of the scale in customer service.
Evans (larger ladies fashion): I asked if they could check if they had a particular pair of summer trousers in my daughter's size 16. In the stock room perhaps?
The assistant said in no uncertain terms, 'If we did, it'd be out wouldn't it?' and then turned her back on me. I asked to speak to the manager and she turned round, smirked and went 'That's me!' in a really overly cheery way. I told her, quite calmly (although I was mentally slapping her too-much-make-up-smug-face) that it wasn't the first time I'd been on the receiving end of poor customer service in her store. She just stared at me and there was a really horrible uncomfortable silence for what seemed like ages. I just left. Gobsmacked.
Sainsburys I spotted a similar pair of trousers for my daughter and unfortunately again, none in her size. An assistant, saw me looking, asked if she could help and I explained. She asked me to wait for a little while and she would check. She returned in minutes saying that unfortunately they didn't have the size at that branch but they'd checked with another branch and they had the size in. She said a manager at the other branch was on his way over anyway and he would bring the trousers with him. Perhaps I had other shopping to do and could call back in the next hour or so as the trousers would be here by then. Gobsmacked.
-
Great service from Sainsburys there. Well done them.
As for Evans, if that had been me I'd be inclined to get an email address of their customer services department and make a complaint. That's a shocking way to treat customers and would do nothing to make me want to go back there again.
-
Yeah, this particular branch isn't very good at all.
Previously, I and another customer were ignored whilst we stood at an empty till for nearly 5 mins whilst all 3 assistants served one customer over at the shoes. They had looked over and knew we were there. In the end I had to say loudly, 'You have 10 seconds to come and serve us or we leave'. We were served and there was NO APOLOGY.
I'd actually not been back until today (and the first incident was around 8 months ago). And even before then, service was very much a hit and miss affair.
You are right about making a formal complaint Marina, but I really don't know if I can be bothered. There are so many instances of appalling service nowadays that it would become quite a task. And yes, I suppose that means I end up with the service I deserve....... :-\
-
What a terrible way to behave! Personally every time I go into work, I make sure to always be polite (even to the occasional rude customer - kill them with kindness) and make the effort to accommodate to any particular needs each person has. There's no point working if you're not going to put the effort in, I feel I don't deserve being paid if I do barely anything!
Sadly some people just work for the money and that only, as long as they turn up and do some jobs half-arsed then they get paid and that's it.
Was in a New Look this weekend and went to the fitting room, the girl was rude in her tone to tell me to go to the cubicles around the corner and grunted out a thank you when I gave back a couple of items. Oof, you may want to be enjoying the sun but you are at work, look as if you're glad to be there even if you're not!
-
That's appalling Menthol! You shouldn't have to put up with that! And neither should anyone else in your town. Please complain! We're so terrible at that as a nation and if we only did it more then there might be more incentive for that manageress and others like her to try harder.
I'll tell you what, I'll make it easy for you. ;D ;D Here's the form to fill in:
https://www.evans.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContactUs?catalogId=33054&storeId=12553&krypto=bw2BpuZQvDKkxtoRhWgVLg%3D%3D&ddkey=http:ContactUs
There are only 7 boxes marked with an asterisk so it's fairly simple. You can copy and paste your comment from above. You've done all the hard work already. It was enough to make my blood boil to read it so it should make uncomfortable reading at Evans' Customer Services. You never know, you might get a token or something.
-
That's appalling Menthol! You shouldn't have to put up with that! And neither should anyone else in your town. Please complain! We're so terrible at that as a nation and if we only did it more then there might be more incentive for that manageress and others like her to try harder.
I'll tell you what, I'll make it easy for you. ;D ;D Here's the form to fill in:
https://www.evans.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContactUs?catalogId=33054&storeId=12553&krypto=bw2BpuZQvDKkxtoRhWgVLg%3D%3D&ddkey=http:ContactUs
There are only 7 boxes marked with an asterisk so it's fairly simple. You can copy and paste your comment from above. You've done all the hard work already. It was enough to make my blood boil to read it so it should make uncomfortable reading at Evans' Customer Services. You never know, you might get a token or something.
Oh lordy, going to have to do it now aren't I? :D I'm shamed into it, Suzzpuss.
-
And you've motivated me to send a complimentary email to Sainsbury's too praising them for going the extra mile.
-
!! I'm almost more pleased about that than the complaint I think. ;D ;D
Sorry, didn't mean to bully you. I just hate to have people get away with stuff like that. It's one thing to be incompetent but quite another to just be plain old rude. I run an online business and I will do anything to keep my customers happy, even if it costs me money. Probably why I'm so poor... ;)
-
!! I'm almost more pleased about that than the complaint I think. ;D ;D
Sorry, didn't mean to bully you. I just hate to have people get away with stuff like that. It's one thing to be incompetent but quite another to just be plain old rude. I run an online business and I will do anything to keep my customers happy, even if it costs me money. Probably why I'm so poor... ;)
Hey, Suzzpuss, we all need a little bullying coaxing every now and again. It took me minutes to write both and I agree that us Brits are too inclined to 'not make a fuss'.
I'll not even mention the nail biting, gum chewing, can't be bothered to acknowledge me, girl on the check out in Morrisons about an hour ago........ :-\
-
Hehehe! ;D ;D ;D
-
By the way Suzzpuss, are you in your lovely new place in Ciftlik or in Windsor at the moment?
-
I'm in Windsor. :( But then it doesn't look too bad in the sunshine. :D :D Actually it's a lovely place and we have lots of friends and hobbies so life's good. Off to Ciftlik in August though. :D No need to ask what country you're in at the moment. I don't suppose Evans will make it to Turkey... Hehe! Hope you're enjoying the sunshine.
-
I'm in Windsor. :( But then it doesn't look too bad in the sunshine. :D :D Actually it's a lovely place and we have lots of friends and hobbies so life's good. Off to Ciftlik in August though. :D No need to ask what country you're in at the moment. I don't suppose Evans will make it to Turkey... Hehe! Hope you're enjoying the sunshine.
If they do it'l be called Evanz. ;)
-
If they do it'l be called Evanz. ;)
Hahahahahaha. Yes!
-
ooh, I'm glad you did complain, let us know what happens!
-
Yes please - do let us all know. It's keeping me awake just worrying about the whole palaver.
-
:P
-
Hi Menthol - I'm also glad you made the complaint, good for you. Nice too that you took the time to compliment Sainsburys on their good service. Think this is something else we don't do often enough, great service should be acknowledged to, hopefully, encourage it further.
-
On our return from Turkey a few weeks ago, my husband went to the garage for a beer. The fridge freezer, a Beko Frost Free, holds our overspill. When he opened the fridge door he was met with blown bottles of wine and cans of beer - in all he had to throw about twenty bottles of wine away.
I rung a local domestic electrical company only to be told they didn't repair frost free equipment. However, she kindly gave me a telephone number of a guy who does. When I phoned him, he advised me to turn the fridge off for 24 hours and restart it. Guess what? It did the trick!
Now that is good service, he could easily have come out and charged a "call out fee". I sent a text to thank him and have kept his number should be require an electrician in future.
-
An update:
I walked past the Evans store (the one with the lousy service) this weekend and there was a notice in the window declaring that the outlet would be closing in September and gave directions to alternative branches.
Hmm.
-
RIP - The end, hopefully.
-
After appalling customer services from BT.. I took advantage of their online services to complain... I received a 50 pounds Sainsburys voucher yesterday... I also wrote to compliment one of the only women with any intelligence that worked there and finally sorted out our problem...
-
After appalling customer services from BT.. I took advantage of their online services to complain... I received a 50 pounds Sainsburys voucher yesterday... I also wrote to compliment one of the only women with any intelligence that worked there and finally sorted out our problem...
Good for you, Mercury. We all need to complain a darn sight more than we do at the moment. And pay compliments where they are due.
And I know it's not just my age that makes me say this - but it really is so very, very hard to get anything done in a straightforward way nowadays. And companies make an awful lot of noise about caring about their customers, but never actually demonstrate it.
I rang today to pay my credit card bill. The wonderful semi-automated service asked me to input my 16 digit card number no less than 4 times. When I got through to speak to an actual advisor she asked me again for it. When I asked her why I had had to input it 4 times on my phone and then tell her again, she said she had no idea but no details of card numbers ever come up for the advisor on taking the call and it seemed pretty pointless. You're right there, love.
-
20 minutes on hold to Plusnet to change my Internet into my sons name with a new tenant.... Which they can't do, they can add their names which means they are authorised to speak to them.
So I said that makes our minds up then, and they would be changing to Sky.
They said that's fine and explained how the changeover would work.
So they would rather lose a customer than change names!
Portsmouth water..., a charge of £10 to add a new name to the account.
Eon..... Computer says no, can't add a name.
Have to say though, First Direct came up trumps yet again, my card has been used fraudulently.
Money back in my account within 10 minutes.
Superb service as ever.