WH SMITH No longer allowed to stock check other stores - must use dreaded 0870!

Claudie

Can you believe it?! I went into a local WH Smith to see if they had any of the Bush DAB radios still on offer, sadly not. I went to the far corner of the shop and stood underneath the CUSTOMER SERVICES sign only to be ignored by the two shelf stackers. I finally gave in and went and asked one to come over to the desk and help me.

When I asked if she could phone Bristol for me to see if they had any more left I was told that they are no longer allowed to make outgoing phone calls to check stock on behalf of customers! How mad is that?

Not believing her I asked to speak to the Manager who came along and told me the same thing. I was then given a business card marked WH Smith Customer Service 0870 blahblah.....I asked why bother having a section in store if they are not allowed to help. Manager told me new rules dictate they have to give out these cards now - that is the Customer Service.

I proceeded to tell them both why I won't call 0870 and neither of them knew that was a profit line. But fancy cancelling your personal Customer Service Dept????

I stopped buying books there a long time ago - guess I will stop going in at all now.

Rant over - feel better. Thanks

pricefighter

Claudie.
Why not post this story on the MSE supported site https://www.saynoto0870.com site so it gets more coverage.If you post the full 0870 number the guys on that site will have a go at getting the geographical equivalent,which will assist people that might have to call it in the future.It is possible its already listed there as there are a few WHS numbers shown.

Claudie

I forgot about that...good idea thanks!

Ellie2758

Ye Gods, what a USELESS bunch of !!!!!! they are. I have tried in the past to get them to check stock in other stores via their computers, but they claim not to be able to do so. What kind of archaic system are they running? No wonder they are making such losses.

Ellie

debtbuster2K5

Ellie2758 wrote:

What kind of archaic system are they running? No wonder they are making such losses.

Ellie

Hmm, They announced profit increases of 33% in their interim results last month.

To be fair, whenever I have tried to find out stock enquiries in store they have always been quite helpful, and are able to do it at the tills.

However, I guess each store is different and that is why we all receive indifferent service from all kinds of different companies. Some are good, some are poor.

Regards

Outtathaway

Ellie2758 wrote:

What kind of archaic system are they running? No wonder they are making such losses.

Ellie

In my local branch a friend used to work on the entertainment desk and she told me that they never did stock checks and so couldn't put stuff onto the 'system' they had