Over a bottle of wine on a rainy Friday night, a girlfriend and I got to discussing the problems she’d experienced when she changed her hair colour to blonde. The normal complaints of dry hair and an irritated scalp were not the issue; instead, she’d been shocked by a consultation she’d had with a very well-known hairdressing salon. Upon telling them she’d decided to go blonde, they abruptly demanded she buy several different products before they’d go near her hair. A bad hairdresser would change her hair colour, they said, but they wouldn’t touch it until she bought several different products. Not only did my friend feel offended by their apparent distaste in the condition of her hair, she also saw right through their obvious marketing ploy. Instead of buying the products and returning, she saw another hairdresser who would do what she asked. She was a paying customer, after all, and didn’t feel she needed reprimanding over the state of her hair. She is now a proud blonde and loves her new hairdresser.
Pretentious customer “service” is something I’m familiar with. I once walked into a popular make-up store on Chapel St to try their foundation, only to be completely ignored. Whilst fully-made up girls stood and chatted loudly with the shop girls, I stood there feeling exposed by my bare face and apparent uncoolness. When I was finally given the chance and asked to sample their foundation, I was greeted with a frown, a dash of make-up, a quick glance in a dirty mirror, and sent on my way. $70 poorer, no less. Wearing make-up to buy make-up always seemed a little like tidying the house for the housekeeper to me, and I thought I resembled a paying customer. As it turned out, I didn’t much like the make-up anyway, but I wouldn’t be returning regardless.
My boyfriend had the same experience in a bottle shop around the corner from us. Originally, we liked buying from the small shop on Toorak Road because it seemed like a nicer alternative than the large chain stores, despite the slightly higher prices. However, we have stopped visiting since my boyfriend realised he was being treated differently when he entered the shop in his work uniform. Whilst customers in front of him were greeted kindly and answered to with ‘Sir’, my boyfriend in his carpenter’s outfit didn’t get so much as a nod of the head, let alone a verbal greeting. He felt shocked, offended, and angry at the way he was being treated based on his appearance.
Unfortunately, shops that leave us experiencing a ‘shoppers low’ are more common than expected. Once reserved to expensive designer stores, snobby retailing has filtered into high street shops that everyone once felt comfortable in. It’s ironic that the service retailer’s claim give them an advantage over online shopping could be the exact thing driving customers away. After all, why would anyone return to a shop that criticises a paying customer when so many alternatives exist? Restaurants, retail, and any store involved in customer service should aim to provide just that. Yet if their service comes with a disclaimer that the paying customer must fit the mould of what the shop perceives itself to be, then I’m not interested. We all heard about the GASP fiasco but they aren’t the only store that needs to brush up on their manners – especially as we edge further into the silly season.
Have you had a bad experience with customer service? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
