I have (almost) weaned myself off Woolworths over the past year, preferring to buy my fruit and vegetables fresh from the markets that we are blessed with in Cape Town. Two interactions with the retailer on two consecutive days this past week are enough to send me back into Woolworths-abstinence again!
*. V & A Waterfront Thursday 17/9: Whilst I was in the Waterfront to fetch post, I went to the store to return two tomatoes (out of a packet of about 10) which had become ‘vrot’ by the sell-by date of 16/9, bought just a few days before. I am a poor label-reader, and hadn’t checked for how long the tomatoes would be fresh. In fact, Woolworths fresh produce used to be invincible, and one would exchange stories with other shoppers about how long their bread and fresh produce lasts, and wondering what it contains to make it such! As I entered the store from the Post Office level, I got the fright of my life when a man dressed in black jumped out at the entrance, and mumbo-jumbo’d at me with a bottle of something in his hand! Really Woolworths, are you so desperate to be so hard-sell in your stores? I was on my way to the Foods department, and will find whatever I need (except the staff, who are rarely to be found on the floor!).
As I entered the Foods department, a man with biltong and droë wors packets in a basket tried to sell all incoming customers his wares. Again I thought, what is it with Woolworths to be so desperate to hard-sell us so badly! The gentleman was very helpful when I explained about my tomatoes, and he invited me to take a full replacement packet, and that he would assist me with dealing with it at the till. He was a true to his word, and came to make sure that I was not charged for it at the till.
St John’s Sea Point Friday 18/9: When I unpacked my groceries at home on Thursday, I realised that once again I had been conned by Woolworths’ orange juice, of which they have various types. I have written previously about their orange juice, which used to say ‘Orange‘, and below it ‘100% juice’, in fact being reconstituted orange juice with a fruit juice base, and containing preservatives. They have changed the wording to ‘100 orange juice‘ now, but the reconstituted content is still the same, Woolworths being as serious as ever to con the consumer! I now know that if I do not see the words ‘freshly squeezed’ on the label, it is not fresh nor real orange juice!
This necessitated another trip to Woolworths. I wanted to return a pair of slacks as well, so I went to Customer Service (a misnomer) to return the juice and clothing item. Everything went fine until the supervisor had to come to the till to approve the refund to my credit card. She was in a deep conversation with a customer, so we had to wait for her to grace herself with her presence. I had to enter my card pin for the refund, and was then told to sign the credit card slip. The slip is guaranteed by the pin entry, so is not required (I am a card merchant), and there is no space on the small slip nor a designated space for a signature. In the past Woolworths had a returns slip one had to complete, but this seems to have been done away with. The credit card slip one is expected to sign does not have space for any other information such as name, telephone number, nor the reason for return! I refused to sign, and was given my slip copies.
I headed for the Foods department, in search of freshly squeezed orange juice, but there was none to be seen. In fact, it is visible by the shelf size that Woolworths is making good business out of its reconstituted orange juice, adding clementine juice (looking as orange in colour as the orange juice), grapefruit juice, and many other reconstituted juice types. There was none to be found, and I had to place an order for it. No one could tell me when they would be likely to have some again! Feeling particularly generous, I bought a roast chicken, and when asking the price I was told that the ‘free-range’ chicken (a new description I have not heard at Woolworths before) costs R73, a steep increase of at least 10% from the R60-odd when I had last bought a chicken some time ago. At the till I checked my slip (I am a very good till slip checker) and discovered that I had been charged R76,99. Supervisor Lomsa was called, and without hesitation told me that they refund the item, as they had made the mistake, and this was company policy. I was impressed, but not for long. As I had already paid for the groceries, the money for the chicken had to be refunded to my credit card. This required the same procedure of entering a pin for the refund. This time Lomsa was not taking ‘No’ from me in signing the credit card slip, and I explained that I am under no obligation to sign it. A completely different Lomsa emerged, demanding that I sign the slip otherwise I would not get the refund! This went on for a while, with raised voices, and it took a while for a manager to arrive after I asked the cashier to please call one. Lomsa refused to give me my credit card slip copy, but after the manager intervention, I received it immediately. The refund had of course gone through already, so all I needed was the slip, to keep for my record of the refund. Lomsa did not want to budge, and told me that I was rude because I would not sign the slip, a new definition of the term!
After all of that I needed a coffee, so sat down at the W Café, a bad move as I have had nothing but poor service from this TriBeCa-run operation within some Woolworths stores. I have not understood why Woolworths would outsource this service to a third-party, the company getting this so wrong (the exception being the Waterstone branch in Somerset West). My first visual ‘impression’ was a red pail and very long mop handle parked in the entrance to the seating, clearly a disincentive to customers to sit down. I asked for it to be moved, and the waitress expressed surprise that I wanted to sit down! The scones were perfect, but the cappuccino took forever to be brought to the table. I was the only customer, with the waitress and four colleagues inside the open kitchen area, making a huge noise in chatting to each other! I asked for it to be toned down. The waitress did not check on me, nor ask if I needed the bill or anything else. I then had enough, and asked to speak to a manager, who turned out to be a waiter-person who was at the back-end of the Café, without coming forward to check if all was in order, or to reduce the noise level of his staff while I was there. He apologized weakly, and he clearly is far too soft to have any control over the cheeky staff behind the kitchen counter!
It it is not a surprise that a Customer Service Survey has found that Woolworths’ service satisfaction has dropped by 3,3 index points in the past year. When one complains on Twitter, the retailer reacts at least a day later, always apologetic, promising some interaction but it can take up to three days for a manager to call (as happened recently regarding a complaint about the Lifestyle on Kloof branch)! On Twitter the Tweeter requests that contact details be sent via Direct Message, but then they choose a different phone number to the one supplied, so that they do not have to pay for a cellphone call! I am going back to the markets, and giving Woolworths a wide berth. Their staff interaction quality has reduced dramatically, as has the food quality in many instances, whilst their prices just keep climbing!
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Tel (021) 433-2100 Twitter:@WhaleCottage Facebook: click here
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Well just don’t visit the restaurant in Woolies Tyger Valley Chris. Been there twice now and bitterly disappointed with the slow service on both occasions. We will definitely not be going back.
Thank you for the warning Dave.