Evans Cycles - York, appalling service, need to vent!

alant1000

andyrules wrote: »

No, I don't get that, but what does annoy me - and I know they are only being friendly - is my building society asking me what I'm spending the money on that I'm drawing out. I'm really tempted to say something outrageous like, I'm having a boob job or spending it on a gigolo.

Sorry, gone slightly off topic there!;)

oh my goodness i get that - actually you have reminded me of one time that R E A L L Y got my back up, to the point where i mentioned it to the manager in passing one time at Natwest, i was drawing out some money from the counter, and the lady, probably about 18yrs old, told me THAT I SHOULD NOT WASTE MY MONEY when i asked for a couple of hundred. Since when was she my life coach??

The true classic though (totally off the track now )....

Me (putting a pint of milk on the counter at the petol station) - "just this please"
Petrol Station man - "Any Petrol?"

:mad: No there is not any petrol just milk you deaf plum

alant1000

uktim29 wrote: »

Consumers should stop this "I pay their wages attitude" you don't! If you for some reason dislike the service provided by a member of staff any a shop and decide no longer to go there, the member of staff will be paid exactly the same amount as they were when you shopped there! I'm not dicussing the particulars of service in this post, just the incorrect "I pay your wages" assumption.

Some people stop shopping at location for supposed bad service, sometimes where they were actually at fault with an "I pay your wages" attitude and the staff surprisingly don't get a reduction in pay for one person no longer going there. I'm simply writing this just as an example of the customer isn't always right and may stop shopping at a location because of that. Rather than referring to this specific case and the service received.

every business, unless subsidised, gets money from customers, and no other source at all. This money that goes into the till, gets paid into the company account, then this account pays for wages. I could point at many busineses that fold for a variety of reasons, many of which can include poor stock, poor service, poor prices, all of which a customer expects, and they will go elsewhere. So loosing customers then looses money in the till which can prevent people getting paid (look at kwiksave)which can eventually close a business.

Give me an example of a company that pays it wages from any other source other than through the proceeds of its business, i.e the customer paying for items, excluding public sector?

andyrules

uktim29 wrote: »

Consumers should stop this "I pay their wages attitude" you don't! If you for some reason dislike the service provided by a member of staff any a shop and decide no longer to go there, the member of staff will be paid exactly the same amount as they were when you shopped there! I'm not dicussing the particulars of service in this post, just the incorrect "I pay your wages" assumption.

Some people stop shopping at location for supposed bad service, sometimes where they were actually at fault with an "I pay your wages" attitude and the staff surprisingly don't get a reduction in pay for one person no longer going there. I'm simply writing this just as an example of the customer isn't always right and may stop shopping at a location because of that. Rather than referring to this specific case and the service received.

Nonsense. Look at it from the other perspective, if people stopped buying goods from an outlet, eventually it would have to make cuts - either in wages (and yes, this does happen) or by losing staff.

I'm not sure what you mean by an example of 'the customer isn't always right' because you've not given an example, just your opinion! I'll give you a real life example - my mum worked for years for a small but thriving business employing about 8 staff. However, it failed to keep up with modern times and customers dropped off. Guess what? As the customers left then the staff had to go too. Eventually, when there was just the boss and my mum, she took a pay cut. In the end, the business closed completely. All of this was due to losing customers. The customers provided the money to fund the business and to pay the staff. When the customers left then the boss could no longer pay the staff. Simple really.;)

dangeroussports

It is very very difficult to get rid of useless staff these days. We should kick out the employment law act and just let the owner get on with it.

You have to give warnings, retraining, further warnings, final warnings, arbitration etc.

If the owner had sacked him / suspended him if he wouldnt behave then the owner may get sued by the employee.

The larger companies just push the employees into a non customer role and eventually the employee leaves.

Whilst the employee is being retrained/suspended/sacked the employer has to find someone else to cover or get the existing staff to work harder/overtime.

Either way the employer loses money. Infact it would cost more in the short term to address teh original posters issue. In the long term it would work out better but where do you get the staff these days?

Customers, these days, have turned all american and whinge likes little girls when things dont go thier way. Employers have got it alot harder than ever before to rid someone.

Problems problems......however if a bike geek started swearing infront of my ex partner she would probably stuck a bicycle pump in his *****



Off topic slightly, but I wouldnt spend anything below a £1000 for a decent bike these days.

If you like biking that is....

matthewking26

I seem to have spurred a bit of an argument between people on here!
To reply to the most recent post, I already have a nice shiny mountain bike worth a fair few quid. What I wanted was a cheapish but reliable second one for riding to my new job and leaving outside the office all day. Something less likely to be attractive to thieves but that wouldn't fall apart after a month.

Happily though, last night I finished work early and went to my local bike shop and picked one up for the same price as the one in Evans, and with a years unlimited free services. More proof that shopping locally is often better!

I went to Evans because it was open until 8pm and the other bike shops all shut at 6. It's a nationwide bike retailer with lots of shops and as I've said, when I've ordered from the website I've never had any problems.

I should point out I've never made use of the "I pay your wages" argument or the "I demand compensation for my poor battered ego". (Though there was a big risk of falling and calling bloodsucking vampire lawyers for you there! The bike section's upstairs and once you've bought your bike you're expected to wheel it down the stairs yourself but anyway...)That wasn't the issue in my mind. The issue was here was a customer ready to buy something and the customer service was bad enough to completely change my mind. I wanted to include in the letter what I was planning to buy so they were aware that I wasn't simply browsing, I went in with the express intention of buying specific things and in my retail mindset thought those higher up deserved to know what was happening in one of their stores, hopefully so they can rectify it.

My partner was angry too, that was what made me need to vent more than anything. She's in her third trimester and her legs were aching standing at the till for that long waiting. (Can you hear the violins playing?:o )

I know they may ignore it or not even care but if there's a slight chance this improves things for others just call me Mr Altruism.:D I asked for an explanation, as if they do reply it will show me whether they care about customer service or not and then I can decide whether to shop there again in the future. If I get no response I just won't go there again. It's just difficult getting to other bike shops without having to leave work early.

And maybe, just maybe it'll encourage the member of staff concerned to realise his actions have consequences on those around him as well. Or choose a different job! But enough of sounding like an angry parent!

uktim29

andyrules wrote: »

Nonsense. Look at it from the other perspective, if people stopped buying goods from an outlet, eventually it would have to make cuts - either in wages (and yes, this does happen) or by losing staff.

I'm not sure what you mean by an example of 'the customer isn't always right' because you've not given an example, just your opinion! I'll give you a real life example - my mum worked for years for a small but thriving business employing about 8 staff. However, it failed to keep up with modern times and customers dropped off. Guess what? As the customers left then the staff had to go too. Eventually, when there was just the boss and my mum, she took a pay cut. In the end, the business closed completely. All of this was due to losing customers. The customers provided the money to fund the business and to pay the staff. When the customers left then the boss could no longer pay the staff. Simple really.;)

Most business's fail because they don't keep with the times, this is what happend to Kwiksave.

One person does not anothers entire wages, it really is true! It's a drop in the ocean. I'm an talking one person, not the business's entire customer base. It's the attitude that is wrong not only technically where a drop in the ocean is more accurate but often that mind set is from unreasonable people. It's a power thing, people like that often take the pxxx!

stugib

dangeroussports wrote: »

It is very very difficult to get rid of useless staff these days.

You have to give warnings, retraining, further warnings, final warnings, arbitration etc.

If the owner had sacked him / suspended him if he wouldnt behave then the owner may get sued by the employee.

As you need one year's continuous service to be able to claim for unfair dismissal (except discrimination and breach of other statutory rights) then that seems irrelevant, and untrue, in this case.

http://www.pjhlaw.co.uk/blog/no-statutory-dismissal-procedure-under-1-years-service/

dangeroussports wrote: »

We should kick out the employment law act and just let the owner get on with it.

Yeah, let's go back to wrecking people's lives and being in fear of their jobs based on an employer's moods and prejudices.

Voyager2002

stugib wrote: »

As you need one year's continuous service to be able to claim for unfair dismissal (except discrimination and breach of other statutory rights) then that seems irrelevant, and untrue, in this case.

http://www.pjhlaw.co.uk/blog/no-statutory-dismissal-procedure-under-1-years-service/



Yeah, let's go back to wrecking people's lives and being in fear of their jobs based on an employer's moods and prejudices.

Apart from anything else, the sales assistant's disgraceful behaviour would be regarded as satisfactory grounds for dismissal by any employment tribunal in the land.

stugib

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Apart from anything else, the sales assistant's disgraceful behaviour would be regarded as satisfactory grounds for dismissal by any employment tribunal in the land.

I think you misunderstand. This employee, from the description, was 99.99% certain to have been there less than one year which means he'd have no grounds for getting anywhere near a tribunal. Therefore DS's point about it being difficult to get rid of them was inaccurate.

My second point was to ds's general claim that this somehow meant we should scrap all employee protection.

andyrules

matthewking26 wrote: »

I seem to have spurred a bit of an argument between people on here!
To reply to the most recent post, I already have a nice shiny mountain bike worth a fair few quid. What I wanted was a cheapish but reliable second one for riding to my new job and leaving outside the office all day. Something less likely to be attractive to thieves but that wouldn't fall apart after a month.

Happily though, last night I finished work early and went to my local bike shop and picked one up for the same price as the one in Evans, and with a years unlimited free services. More proof that shopping locally is often better!

I went to Evans because it was open until 8pm and the other bike shops all shut at 6. It's a nationwide bike retailer with lots of shops and as I've said, when I've ordered from the website I've never had any problems.

I should point out I've never made use of the "I pay your wages" argument or the "I demand compensation for my poor battered ego". (Though there was a big risk of falling and calling bloodsucking vampire lawyers for you there! The bike section's upstairs and once you've bought your bike you're expected to wheel it down the stairs yourself but anyway...)That wasn't the issue in my mind. The issue was here was a customer ready to buy something and the customer service was bad enough to completely change my mind. I wanted to include in the letter what I was planning to buy so they were aware that I wasn't simply browsing, I went in with the express intention of buying specific things and in my retail mindset thought those higher up deserved to know what was happening in one of their stores, hopefully so they can rectify it.

My partner was angry too, that was what made me need to vent more than anything. She's in her third trimester and her legs were aching standing at the till for that long waiting. (Can you hear the violins playing?:o )

I know they may ignore it or not even care but if there's a slight chance this improves things for others just call me Mr Altruism.:D I asked for an explanation, as if they do reply it will show me whether they care about customer service or not and then I can decide whether to shop there again in the future. If I get no response I just won't go there again. It's just difficult getting to other bike shops without having to leave work early.

And maybe, just maybe it'll encourage the member of staff concerned to realise his actions have consequences on those around him as well. Or choose a different job! But enough of sounding like an angry parent!

I'm glad you got excellent service in the end, you certainly deserve it. You've probably gathered I fully support your quest for highlighting the shocking service you received. Let's face it most people want an easy and amicable transaction, so you are doing future Evans' customers, and Evans himself, a favour.

And you didn't even claim compensation...;)