Question about customer service

[sue11]

I wonder if people would mind giving their thoughts on my question around their expectations of customer service, particularly in restaurants/cafes.
If you went into a top class restaurant charging very high prices, I would expect that you would want to receive very good service from knowledgeable friendly serving staff, but what kind of service do you expect to receive from a 'lower class' establishment or from a fast food establishment such as KFC or other national chain and how bad would the service have to be to ensure that you never go back into the premises again?

I realise that all of us do not expect to get rude service from anywhere that takes our money, but on the other hand would you expect 5 start service for paying the kind of prices that a fast food restaurant charges or do you accept that you are not going to get such good service?
I have a good reason for asking, but do not want to share it just yet until I get some responses back!
Many thanks in anticipation of your replies
Sue

[Greedyfly]

That's cos you talk funny Bobbi!

[Bobbisox]

ha-ha but not fluent Japanese greedfly...

[redman41]

Kamikaze Pilots fly those Planes Bobbi, put crash Helmet on !!! lol

[sue11]

Yes I am not sure that they should be stopped completely, perhaps reduced to quarterly from monthly.
For me the problems are that I have to ring up and query practically every mystery shop as the customer has eithe misunderstood the question or not been very observant. For example in a recent one, there is a question asking if the toilets were fresh smelling, we got marked as a no, because there was no smell at all! I think the customer misunderstood and thought we should have air fresheners or something.
However we have had a situation where the shopper has reported very bad behaviour on part of the staff, this checked out on cctv and the staff member was sacked as a result.
Many thanks
Sue

[Bobbisox]

I thougfht I was going bloody mental when the plastic repeated what I said red

ROTFL

[madmaggot]

The low end food stores tend to employ younger people and it is a sad fact that, in general, they are not well mannered. Parents no longer expect their children to be polite as it is considered old fashioned so they never learn manners.
This is a generalisation and I know that some younger people are very well mannered (my daughter for one).
One reason why the French think that the British are bad mannered is that we tend not to greet people before we just launch into a statement of what we want.

[Greedyfly]

I agree the surveys can be a pain. In my shop we once got a terrible result and when I phoned to question this it had turned out the mystery shopper had asked a workman (not a member of staff) for help and obviously wasn't given great service as the workman failed to tell the customer who he was and obviously didn't know the store etc...

Some of the shoppers are a little simple.

[joeluke]

Madmaggot......I disagree.......the young staff at my local Iceland are far more courteous than those at Tesco and Asda

[sue11]

Greedyfly, how frustrating! Hopefully it got sorted out. I know that I am probably in the minority in querying mystery shops, some franchisees are so disillusioned with the bad responses that they have given up bothering to even read them. Which is making the whole exercise very expensive indeed for the business. I always bother as it is very demotivating for staff if they feel that we cannot be bothered to put things right for them.
It seems from the general responses, that politeness and friendliness is expected, but most people realise that they are not going to get top end service from this type of establishment. I think the mystery shops we have are looking for top end, which could be unrealistic.
Cheers
Sue

[EngTeach]

I think that no matter the amount of the wages, the employees should do the best job possible. Whether you wield a mop or are an account executive common decency is expected. I too have my list of places and clerks I refuse to deal with in local shops. I worked in a local deli for about 6 years during High School and college. I still run into people who not only know my name, but remember that I was going to become a teacher. I am now 41. I see "kids" who we used to chase from the front of the store who now have kids and wives of their own and they stop and chat if they see me on the street. This is not b/c I was a nasty clerk. I was always polite. IT had nothing to do w/ wages, but personal pride in a job well done.

[sue11]

Madmaggot I agree. We do employ some very good young people, but tend to find as a rule that they start out very enthusiastic and then a couple of weeks into the job, start turning up late, not at all, going sick etc.
I realise it is a tough job, hard on the feet and dealing with not the best of customers for low pay, but I feel that some youngsters think that the world owes them a living and they do not have to work very hard to get it.
This is why that some employers have resorted to employing foreign people instead of Brits, they are reliable and hard working. Hopefully this fact will be realised sooner rather than later by our british youngsters!
Cheers
Sue

[rabbitygirl]

A satisfactory mystery shopper experience is down to the shopper, the person and establishment surveyed, and the commissioned questions. The quality of these forms is questionable and what a company believes is a repeated and formulaic shopping event may not be, leaving large areas unjudged or, worse still, commented on without experience of them.
Having been a mystery shopper who spent over 2 hours in an establishment (non-retail) I was happy with some general guidance and a request for me to write a report on my visit.
Where I now work, we are sometimes in the know when the mystery shopper is due in. Personally, it makes me needlessly nervous as my job means I need to respond to each customer as an individual and cannot be totally formulaic. But the mystery shopper will be looking for me to work as closely to the company requirements as possible. If I under score do I need to improve? Possibly. As my manager ensures I am on duty when the shopper is expected, even switching my day off, probably not!!
Companies will keep using them and it's better than nothing to gauge how their customers are served.
We've all been on the receiving end of a sullen youngster's service. They are on low wages and can be treated appallingly by their managers. But I think a good many, and most where I work, do a great job, give great customer service, work hard and are lovely to work with. And they are Brits.