I was recently at the
Gateshead Metro Centre Store of M&S on a Friday evening (6.45) with
my mother. I had a basket of food shopping and as there
were long lines at the checkout I decided to use the new self-service
tills. I have used similar tills in America at Walmart and was quite
confident that I knew what I was doing. I started to scan my shopping
with ease, my mother however put down her handbag, not knowing that
it was on the scales. The till started beeping very loudly and the screen
said 'remove item' Assistant came over and told my mother 'you're not
supposed to put your bag there' and walked away.
As the shoppping bag was full and we still had some items to scan, I
removed the bag to start filling up a new one again the till started
beeping very loudly and said this time 'please replace item' again the
Assistant came over and said 'you've taken the bag off' and walked away.
I was trying to scan another item, a magazine, which wouldn't go through
the till, the till screen said ask for assistance, the Assistant was
already on his way over and said that I needed to replace the bag, I
tried to inform him that that wasn't why we needed help, he sighed,
which I have to admit irked me somewhat. I told him that he had been
over to us twice, each time just telling us what we had done wrong,
without offering a solution and just walking off without offering any
assistance, he told me 'there is no point getting nasty with me' I said
I wasn't being nasty, merely stating a fact that he hadn't been very
helpful, at this point he said 'i'll leave you to it then' and he did!
I was left standing and had no choice but to leave the unscanned shopping,
pay for my goods and leave. I felt very embarrased as the beeping of
the till had drawn the attention of other shoppers and the tone of the
Assistant was very patronising and downwright rude. I am a professional
woman in my twenties who has vast experience of Customer Service and
am disgusted by the behaviour of someone who works at what I previously
would have thought was a company which prides itself on having a good
reputation for Cusomer Service.
I would like to think that if M&S could not have a more self-explanitory
self-scan till, then it should at least have someone on hand to explain
in a professional manner what the problem is, and have the decency to
offer a solution, without walking off. The Assistant Who was of no help
to me at all, obviously has a training need, to be able to carry out
his job correctly.
