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

kipperman

Got to say I have had the same experience in the Woking branch of Evans. Walked in with some £600 burning a hole in my pocket to buy a new bike, and was totally ignored by the staff present for at least 15 minutes, whilst they chatted to each other over the till. I suspect that I did not have the correct "biker dude" look.....................

I did vote with my feet and bought elsewhere. I did send an email to evans, simply pointing out this failing, but got a fairly bland standard reply. Having run a business for 12 years, the customer that was dissatisfied but never complained was probably the most dangerous in terms of negative publicity.

matthewking26

I've had two emailed replies from Evans now. Notice the number to contact the customer service is 0870 so they make money from complaints, kerching!
On the positive side, it's nice to have had a response from them and evidence that they have actually investigated. I'm still not sure if I'd ever want to shop there again but at least they've apologised and explained their course of action.
And is it just me or does anyone else never notice the names on name badges?
And should I start a sentence with 'and'?



From: Evans Cycles Customer Relations
Sent: 30 July 2007 17:51
To:
Subject: RE: Customer Service (LTK7104320518X)

Dear Mr King


Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your recent experience with our York store.

I would like to offer my sincere apologies for any inconvenience or offence that you and your partner were caused during your visit.

As I am sure you can appreciate your report is extremely disappointing and concerning. I have contacted the Manager of the store in instruct an immediate investigation.

All of our sales assistant should be wearing a name badge and I would be grateful if you are aware of the assistants name that served you if you could e-mail it to me.

I will contact the store Manager on Tuesday to discuss his findings and contact you again.


Yours sincerely

Julia Wilford
Customer Relations
Evans Cycles
0870 060 5481
[EMAIL="customer.relations@evanscycles.com"]customer.relations@evanscycles.com[/EMAIL]


Then I had this reply:

Dear Mr King

Thank you for your patience while I investigated your concerns with the York store.

We were very disappointed to hear of the concerns that you raised during your dealings with the York store. The Manager of the store, Simon Harris, is currently on annual leave and the Assistant Manager, Alex Greenwood, has been contacted to discuss the issues that you have raised.

Mr Greenwood would like to offer his apologies on behalf of the store for any inconvenience or offence that you have been caused during your dealings with his store.



We believe that we have identified the assistant that served you when you visited the store. The assistant is new to the company and his behaviour is not condoned or reflective of the standards of Evans Cycles. Evans Cycles prides itself on a high level of service and it is extremely disappointing that we were not able to met these expectations.

Mr Harris will be made aware of this issue when he returns to the store and the appropriate course of action will be discussed with the assistant involved.

I do appreciate that you must feel very disappointed with your experience in the York store. Mr Greenwood would like the opportunity to restore you faith in his store and Evans Cycles and if you would like to consider buying a bike he would happy to discuss a suitable gesture of goodwill.

Thank you for taking the time to draw this matter to our attention and once again please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience or distress that this matter has caused you or your partner

Yours sincerely

Julia Wilford
Customer Relations
Evans Cycles
0870 060 5481

darich

i think your course of action was completely justified given the experience you had in the store.
I'd also go one further and say that although you didn't ask for compensation i don't think it would have been unreasonable to ask for it given the offence the swearing caused and the long wait for nothing.

My sister (who works on a car dealership's front desk) has said to me a couple of times that I'm a nightmare customer because i always complain. She's looking at it from a work point of view, not a customer. I don't complain all the time but if i don't receive a reasonable standard of service why shouldn't i point it out? If i don't and the next person doesn't etc then gradually the service deteriorates to a point where currently normal service is considered good or exceptional.

I've never used the "i pay your wages" line although i often consider shop assistants like a sort of personal employee - i do pay them (indirectly) and as they're helping me, i expect them to be polite, and as helpful as possible. If i ask to see a demo of a TV in currys then i expect to see one - not to be told it can't then have to ask a couple more times then for the assistant to walk a mere 20paces, lift a dvd player and plug it in to the tv. I didn't buy the TV. and that's what my sister considers a nightmare - maybe her feeling that my example is a nightmare is the reason for a decline in service!

Well done on a good result. :T
Given the result, i think i'd be inclined to give them another chance - everyone makes mistakes but the measure of a company is how they're fixed.

dangeroussports

I think you should have the teenage sales person arrested for a public order offence.
I think you should write to watchdog regarding the company.
I think you should sue the parents of the teenage sales person for bringing him up incorrectly.
I think you should also sue your parents for allowing you to be born thus going into evans cycles to hear such swear words in the first place.

Its the only logical solution.

rosysparkle

alant1000 wrote: »

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

When I worked for a petrol station (some years ago, now) it was very common to say "just this please" and pay for milk or chocolate or a paper, then either say (after you've completed the sale) "oh, and pump 6". Or worse, leave the shop without mentioning the fuel they've put into their car. The employee is left with a drive off, for which they may well have to pay out of their wages, since the customer has come into the shop (this was the case when I worked there). So petrol station employers will always ask, since some people need reminding. It doesn't catch every drive off but it does cut down on them.