Comments on: An Open Letter to Asda and Walmart http://www.vicchi.org/2009/10/24/an-open-letter-to-asda-and-walmart/ The occasional ramblings of a self professed "geek with a life" Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:04:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Andrew Zolnai http://www.vicchi.org/2009/10/24/an-open-letter-to-asda-and-walmart/comment-page-1/#comment-210 Andrew Zolnai Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:38:40 +0000 http://www.vicchi.org/2009/10/24/an-open-letter-to-asda-and-walmart/#comment-210 Hi, having lived 20 yrs in Canada, 5 apiece in TX and CA, USofA and now 3 in Cambridge UK, I can certainly empathise: 1) Starbucks with the same products, same setup, same # employees and similar price, manages to offer coffee at ~ half the speed in UK than in US. 2) That applies in N America too, where Safeway supplies were far superior in Dallas TX (head of the line?) than Calgary Canada (end of the line?) 3) America is replete with cheap labor (students @ Macdonalds, people of colour @ carwashes) with virtually no labour laws c/w Europe, 4) slowness and rudeness is the same in France anf Germany as England IMHO 5) my conclusion then is that service is inversely proprotionate to job security behind the counter Hi, having lived 20 yrs in Canada, 5 apiece in TX and CA, USofA and now 3 in Cambridge UK, I can certainly empathise:
1) Starbucks with the same products, same setup, same # employees and similar price, manages to offer coffee at ~ half the speed in UK than in US.
2) That applies in N America too, where Safeway supplies were far superior in Dallas TX (head of the line?) than Calgary Canada (end of the line?)
3) America is replete with cheap labor (students @ Macdonalds, people of colour @ carwashes) with virtually no labour laws c/w Europe,
4) slowness and rudeness is the same in France anf Germany as England IMHO
5) my conclusion then is that service is inversely proprotionate to job security behind the counter

]]> By: PHiLOS http://www.vicchi.org/2009/10/24/an-open-letter-to-asda-and-walmart/comment-page-1/#comment-206 PHiLOS Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:15:10 +0000 http://www.vicchi.org/2009/10/24/an-open-letter-to-asda-and-walmart/#comment-206 Very well said Gary! I recently shopped at the large ASDA store in Roehampton on a Saturday afternoon and it was a very unpleasant experience. Like you, I experience US customer service regularly and cannot see much evidence of that ethos on this side of the pond - I know it is more common for the cynical nature of the inhabitants of this island to mock the "have a nice day" approach of the US retail sector but I never thought the "have a sh1te day" approach would ever really be adopted but it appears some retailers allow their staff to practice this. On the visit I refer to above, ASDA car park staff were fooling around whilst collecting discarded trollies and one of the pushed a large stack of them into the side of my car causing £300 worth of paint damage. They were not aware I was approacing and when confronted they denied it at first and then said I must have reversed into them - a complete lie. The supervisor sent to investigate actually said: "sh1t happens mate!" Mate??!!! Mate???!!! I won't bore you but it went from bad to worse, suffice to say ASDA shall not get anymore of my money and I'll pat my backside on that! Customer service is very poor these days in all sectors and 'good manners' seem to be missing in all walks of life ( anybody queue at a bus stop anymore? ) and this makes the whole shopping experience a bit of a chore - I wish I knew how to fix it quickly but I think it will sadly take time and need to be introduced from the school playground up. ASDA - bad mojo but please, don't get me started on the so called "experts" at PC World! Very well said Gary! I recently shopped at the large ASDA store in Roehampton on a Saturday afternoon and it was a very unpleasant experience. Like you, I experience US customer service regularly and cannot see much evidence of that ethos on this side of the pond – I know it is more common for the cynical nature of the inhabitants of this island to mock the “have a nice day” approach of the US retail sector but I never thought the “have a sh1te day” approach would ever really be adopted but it appears some retailers allow their staff to practice this.
On the visit I refer to above, ASDA car park staff were fooling around whilst collecting discarded trollies and one of the pushed a large stack of them into the side of my car causing £300 worth of paint damage. They were not aware I was approacing and when confronted they denied it at first and then said I must have reversed into them – a complete lie. The supervisor sent to investigate actually said: “sh1t happens mate!” Mate??!!! Mate???!!!
I won’t bore you but it went from bad to worse, suffice to say ASDA shall not get anymore of my money and I’ll pat my backside on that!
Customer service is very poor these days in all sectors and ‘good manners’ seem to be missing in all walks of life ( anybody queue at a bus stop anymore? ) and this makes the whole shopping experience a bit of a chore – I wish I knew how to fix it quickly but I think it will sadly take time and need to be introduced from the school playground up.
ASDA – bad mojo but please, don’t get me started on the so called “experts” at PC World!

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