How rude!

I decided to go and treat myself to a new coat, so headed to Winfields at Haslingden. Haven't been there in years, used go regularly to buy shoes and things as a kid with my parents, but after this experience I will be thinking again.

The trouble is I am a stickler for customer service. I did it as part of my college course when I was 17 and was taught at college by a fantastic woman called Sheila H, she had pretty much the same opinions about customer service as Mary Portas does now. Sheila obviously left an impression on me because I love to observe people and see how they react with customers, so much so, that I dabble in mystery shopping now and then, ( but I must admit I do find it hard to switch off, so I have always got my "mystery shopper head on"), if only I was on a mission today.

I found what I wanted and joined the queue to pay. There was one member of staff serving and a woman in front of me also waiting to pay. She moved to the till and this is when the problems started, she appeared to be buying a gift voucher but the staff member didn't know how to process it, so he called his manager for help. The two of them then proceeded for 10 minutes to faff about doing whatever. A small queue was forming behind me. A further 10 minutes passed and the manager finally looked up to see the queue so instructed the male staff member to open a new till and serve us waiting customers.

Finally I thought I can pay and get out of here, oh no, no sooner had I got to the till and put my basket on the counter, along came another staff member, called him over with another customer's order and he proceeded to ignore me and go and serve her! - Well my mother wasn't happy and voiced her opinion, but the staff member didn't flinch, in fact he did nothing, no apology, no excuse me nothing, quite simply he ignored us!

He finally returned to serve me and still no apology for keeping me waiting or anything, he proceeded to scan my jacket and asked for payment - I asked if he was going to sell me the boots that were in my basket - "oh yeah" he said, "size 7 boots is that right?", "erm no!" I said, "they should be 6.5", oh right was his reply as he put them in a bag.

If I wasn't so desperate to get my boots and coat I would have just left them by the till and walked off! 

My write up may come across as tame and my readers may wonder why I've got worked up about it, but people should expect a minimal level of customer service, and keeping customers waiting 20 minutes to pay without an acknowledgement or apology doesn't meet that minimal level!