Boots Grabbit Bargains Part 49 - Post your finds here

Bellydancer

Need_a_break wrote: »

While im still being kept awake by youngest, pls can anyone recommend any teething remedies? Have tried bonjella, anbesol, powders of some sort in a blue and white box (cant remember name at mo) all with not much luck. The poor mite keeps wanting to feed cause she needs to rub her gums

Nelsons? teething granules worked surprisingly well for my two (sorry, it was a long time ago now, so not sure of the name). Could that be your "powders in a blue and white box"?

I don't know how old the little one is, but maybe infant Calpol might help? or a teething ring, of course

suzi_69

Need_a_break wrote: »

While im still being kept awake by youngest, pls can anyone recommend any teething remedies? Have tried bonjella, anbesol, powders of some sort in a blue and white box (cant remember name at mo) all with not much luck. The poor mite keeps wanting to feed cause she needs to rub her gums

Poor mite. Not got any kids myself, but my nephew is teething & my sister swears by the Ashton & Parsons Infant Teething Powders - are these the ones you mean, in the blue & white box?

I had to go on a mission of mercy for her, to Boots in Manchester, as she only lives in a little village & had bought them all up there! The SA said they are stopping selling them, but she says they are fab for her little 'un! I had to post them off to her 1st class, she was desperate for them.

Hope you find a remedy to suit your little 'un very soon!

S xx

virtually

On the topic of S and G vouchers I had quite an upsetting incident whilst trying to use vouchers on minis in a mid sized store. I really felt like i was treated a bit like a criminal when the vouchers wouldn't scan and copious explanations on part ensued (they have always been nice in this store before). The store phoned customer service and they told the manager I couldn't use the vouchers on non skin care items like handcare or body cream. I though they were ultimately very dismissive and pretty truculent really.

I phoned customer service about it after coming out of the store upset and telling myself I wouldn't go there again. Initially they were nice and offered to reimburse phone call costs but once they keyed in my details they went weird on phone. (I had spoken to the person before at Xmas when I ordered something online and the system crashed and then I ended up getting a duplicate order )

I also asked about why the voucher didn't list exclusions on vouchers and why hands weren't skin (in a extra apologetic and polite way) but no explanations.

I honestly believe they were so strange on phone was because I have nearly £100 of points on my card. Also, I find as a general rule that Boots (unlike most stores) don't seem to like it when you buy more products from them and accumulate points. It is very strange and offputting. Or am I the only one who feels like that?

That's not to even mention when you regularly (although I have only very recently learned about vouchers) try and use vouchers. Surely vouchers are there to be used?

My advantage card is squeakly clean and I haven't ever tried ss tills etc.

As it is, I honestly feel like taking a very early retirement from Bootsing full stop and don't fancy ever buying another S and G product again.

Sorry this post is so long, don't want to put anyone off just to share my experience with the vouchers.

P.S For anyone from Glasgow area, Fort have Men Expert kits (11 in stock currently) and Putting sets...not that I intend to buy any myself.

Need_a_break

suzi_69 wrote: »

Poor mite. Not got any kids myself, but my nephew is teething & my sister swears by the Ashton & Parsons Infant Teething Powders - are these the ones you mean, in the blue & white box?


Hope you find a remedy to suit your little 'un very soon!

S xx

Snipped, yes these are the ones i have used, they worked a treat on my middle one , but not my little princess, thanks though. Will try the nelsons stuff tomorrow thanks to op. She is happier now but still cant get to sleep, have dosed her up with calpol, so that probably helped a little.

coolcait

Need_a_break wrote: »

Sandra you have a lovely way with words and never seem to get ruffled , how do you do it? But i think you have hit the nail on the head regarding rude Sas, there is no need for raising voices, condecension etc etc, politeness costs nothing and uses a lot less energy than being sweet;). There is a real doll of an sa in my local and every time i get a questionaire thingy i allways mention her by name even if she hasnt helped me that day. I just say how helpful she is cause she deserves to be praised for doing a fantastic job, over and above what her job description requires. She has even helped me to find products to make up minimum spend exactly:D.

On the other side of the coin (to coin - ahem - a phrase) I was in Boots in Buchanan Galleries, Glasgow a fortnight ago, and saw condescension and rudeness from a customer towards the SAs.

One of the No 7 tills was out of order, so that didn't help, on a busy Saturday afternoon.

At the front of the queue, stood a woman in a dark trouser suit; she was holding numerous vouchers and, whatever was going on, it looked like the lone till was having difficulty coping with it all.

The SA and the manager, however, stayed polite and apologetic, as they tried to sort out the problem.

The customer did not. She came out with a number of waspish and nasty comments - using that old trick of laughing as she said them (my view is that the comment is just as waspish and nasty, no matter how much you laugh as you say it).

At one point she snatched a voucher out of the manager's hand (as she 'giggled' - but the expression on her face cancelled that out!). Yes, she literally snatched it.

As her transaction was completed she said (cue 'giggle' again) that she wouldn't be coming back to that till again, she would find some experienced staff to help her.

'Meoooww!' said I, in my head - but my vocal chords joined in .

"Would you like a saucer of milk with that?!" said the lady in front of me, to the SA and manager, as the betrousersuited customer marched away.

"She was a bit rude, wasn't she?!" said the girl behind me, to all of us.

"Thank you for your patience"; "So sorry for the inconvenience" said the SA and manager, in a superhuman example of professionalism, as they refused to be drawn into commenting on the customer who had just left, and focussed instead on getting the rest of us served.

The general view of the customers, however (untramelled by the constraints of service :rolleyes: ) was that the customer in question had been jaw droppingly rude, and that the SA and manager had dealt with it magnificently. Even if their efforts had gone completely unappreciated by the customer in question.

As you say, politeness costs nothing etc, and it works both ways IMO. However, if that customer were to post her version of the story on here, it might well be greeted as an example of the customer standing up for herself against shoddy treatment/jobsworth SAs and be received with cries of 'well done you'. On the day, however, it was an appalling bit of behaviour (IMO, and according to customer consensus)

As an aside, on the thorny topic of 'skincare' and why some SAs won't accept a skincare voucher for hand cream or foot cream (for example) when hands and feet have skin on them, I must have a look at the signage in Glasgow's Boots tomorrow. IIRC, there are separate sections for 'hand care' 'foot care' and 'skin care', and those descriptions and demarcations might be used across the range of products.

virtually

Yes, it absolutely works both ways. Costs nothing to be polite. Glad to hear the staff in store acted professionally when faced with an impolite customer, doing their job as they should.

I find myself apologising constantly (and often berate myself for it). At the tills i offer to stand aside and wait if there is a queue if I am using vouchers and always say sorry for the inconvenience, thanks for your patience. Sometimes you get a really lovely assistant, but I find vouchers in general (at least in the store I have been to ) seem to cause varying levels of aggravation on the part of the staff.

In any walk of life you get nice people and rude ones, and on the internet you can only guess at the tone and take people at face value from their comments. Everything is subjective and subject to opinion, eh. You just 'judge' as best you can.

Boots staff are representing their store though and being paid to do so, maybe more mystery shoppers (if Boots use them) might be a good way of impartially
assessing customer service levels.

It would be interesting to see if there were different sections or labels for skincare in the store you are going to, but I definitely won't be trying again myself.

Need_a_break

coolcait wrote: »

As you say, politeness costs nothing etc, and it works both ways IMO. However, if that customer were to post her version of the story on here, it might well be greeted as an example of the customer standing up for herself against shoddy treatment/jobsworth SAs and be received with cries of 'well done you'. On the day, however, it was an appalling bit of behaviour (IMO, and according to customer consensus)

Snipped, i realise that when writing things, they do not allways translate well from the spoken word. So, for your clarification, my personal opinion is politeness costs nothing, whoever you are. As for customers standing up for herself comment etc, wether people on this forum are praising them, well i wouldnt want to speculate myself. If you see some of my posts last week, they were slightly (ahem) Hormonally fuelled and i actually appologised for being rude to a post office lady in the "real world" as well as in this virtual one. But good on u for standing up for (well sort of) the sa who did not deserve the treatment she recieved.:T

Need_a_break

virtually wrote: »

Yes, it absolutely works both ways. Costs nothing to be polite. Glad to hear the staff in store acted professionally when faced with an impolite customer, doing their job as they should.

I find myself apologising constantly (and often berate myself for it). At the tills i offer to stand aside and wait if there is a queue if I am using vouchers and always say sorry for the inconvenience, thanks for your patience. Sometimes you get a really lovely assistant, but I find vouchers in general (at least in the store I have been to ) seem to cause varying levels of aggravation on the part of the staff.

In any walk of life you get nice people and rude ones, and on the internet you can only guess at the tone and take people at face value from their comments. Everything is subjective and subject to opinion, eh. You just 'judge' as best you can.

Boots staff are representing their store though and being paid to do so, maybe more mystery shoppers (if Boots use them) might be a good way of impartially
assessing customer service levels.

It would be interesting to see if there were different sections or labels for skincare in the store you are going to, but I definitely won't be trying again myself.

You beat me to it, but much better put:D. I do the appologising, standing aside if there is a queue etc too:o. I agree staff do seem to have a problem with vouchers though, even vouchers distributed by their own company, as the op said vouchers are given out to be used are they not?

virtually

Need_a_break wrote: »

You beat me to it, but much better put:D. I do the appologising, standing aside if there is a queue etc too:o. I agree staff do seem to have a problem with vouchers though, even vouchers distributed by their own company, as the op said vouchers are given out to be used are they not?

I wrote my post but wasn't sure whether to submit as I didn't know if it came across in right way! Glad it isn't just me who does that then. I often come away thinking I need to be more assertive, and I can be and am, but it is always accompanied by loads of sorrys, really sorrys, oh I can see you have a queue should i wait here while you serve that customer, thanks ever so much for your patience etc. Sounds like you understand!

Yeah, you would think the staff would be used to using the vouchers and splitting transactions etc. It is probably the fuss factor which I do understand, but the stores just don't seem to like you using them at all. Such a shame really, using vouchers shouldn't cause people to feel uncomfortable, we all have to get the best deals we can, eh?

jenniewb

Need_a_break wrote: »

You beat me to it, but much better put:D. I do the appologising, standing aside if there is a queue etc too:o. I agree staff do seem to have a problem with vouchers though, even vouchers distributed by their own company, as the op said vouchers are given out to be used are they not?

Rule no.1 of shopping:
NEVER apologize! your money, your the one with the power- its not something you ever need to apologize for and the fact that you do concerns me- either you have bad experiences/issues/hang ups or the staff at the store you are shopping in are offering bad customer service. Its actually part of their job to make your shopping trip a pleasurable experience! And you know what? there are people who are paid to do just that, if your shopping experience is a 'painful' one where you are feeling you are in the wrong, there is something very wrong there... part of the bill you are paying is going to someone somewhere whose job it is to make your trip a good one.

And I used to work for customer service- so I totally get what I am yapping on about here!

If you find yourself apologizing again, ask yourself why, is it you or is it the store/staff/customers around you, then deal with whatever it is- if it is the staff/store, make a complaint, I am sure head office would welcome any chance to improve customer satisfaction in this economic climate more then ever!