The Sweet Service Award goes to Audi Cape Town, and its Service Advisor Hennie Kriel, for his friendliness and efficiency in helping me to get my car key to flick open, a little screw having been responsible for the problem. On his desk is a sign that they offer 11/10 service excellence, and it encourages customers to demand it, and express it if they are not satisfied. Hennie has impressed me with his superb service since meeting him at the dealership early this year. Continue reading →
Tag Archives: customer service
What has happened to Woolworths? Misleads consumers, no link between TV shows and stores!
I have no idea who heads up Woolworths’ Marketing department, but it seems that the retailer has lost the plot! Once the darling of all, seen to be above reproach in the quality of the products it sells and the lengths that Woolworths will go to find the most organic and animal-friendly produce for its customers, it is being lambasted for copying other brands, for importing tomatoes, peas and more, and for making misleading claims about its products. In addition, it seems to have lost the link between its expensive sponsorship of TV food programmes and its stores!
Let’s start with ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’, a programme which has been running on SABC3 for the past 9 weeks, a travelogue of our beautiful country, and documentation of Woolworths’ sourcing of sustainable and ethical produce, or so it is presented. We have been exposed to Woolworths suppliers of tomatoes in Stellenbosch, organic wines made in Franschhoek, apples and pears grown in Grabouw, SASSI-friendly fish sourcing, and the
pasture-fed lamb from the Karoo. Criticism has been leveled about the use of an Australian surfer who came third in MasterChef Australia in 2011, as the tour guide to our country and the guide to its sustainable food and wine treasure chest, a self-confessed ‘cooker’ and not a chef! The dishes in the eight episodes to date have been as basic as salads, pizzas, and sandwiches, with a mussel pot and an Eton Mess too. In some episodes the Woolworths punt has been so strong (i.e. the tomato growing) that it has become irritating, but of late the strong Woolworths promotion has been toned down. Surprising is the low-key advertising for Woolworths in its half-hour episodes, and is nothing as mouthwatering as the Woolworths’ commercials we have seen on MasterChef SA Seasons 1 and 2. Nedbank is the other Continue reading →
Computicket Sweet and The Flower Shop Sour Service Awards
The Sweet Service Award goes to William of the Camps Bay branch of Computicket. A customer wanted to exchange tickets for the Jonny Cooper Orchestra performance at the Theatre on the Bay to a later date, but this is only allowed if the new date is before the booked date. William found a way to book an alternative date for the show.
The Sour Service Award goes to The Flower Shop in Plettenberg Bay. A customer ordered flowers for delivery in Plettenberg Bay. The shop assistant appeared very badly trained, was slow, did not offer an invoice, and could not indicate when the delivery would take place and the customer had to ask her to call her boss. In front of the customer she referred to the customer as “tannie” when phoning her boss. As the recipient had not acknowledged receiving the flowers, the customer called the florist the following day (a Saturday morning), to check whether the delivery had taken place. The same shop assistant said that as it had not been returned to her by the delivery person, it must have been delivered. As this was too vague an answer, the customer called the owner. She said that she would have to ask her husband, as he had done the delivery, and would call back. About 5 hours later the customer realised that she had not yet heard from the owner, so called her again. The owner confirmed that the flowers had been delivered. When asked why she had not called the customer, she said that she was spending time with her family (it now being Saturday afternoon), and that she would have called back on Monday! The Flower Shop staff and owner have no understanding of customer service at all, nor an appreciation of the value of their customers’ business.
The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.