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Customer Service Review: Loblaws (Queens Quay Market, Toronto)
The other day we went to Loblaws to get some much needed groceries - at that point we couldn’t even remember the last time we went out to buy more than just the staples (milk, bread, pop etc), so we ended up buying A LOT of groceries!
We like the planet, so we brought our own bags with us to the store. For some reason, doing this seems to insult the cashiers at grocery stores, which I’ve written about on my other blog before. I guess this is what set our cashier off. Or she was having a bad night. Who knows.
What I do know is that that night I had the WORST experience grocery shopping ever. And until I went to the cash there were no problems.
We put our groceries on the belt at cash #10, which was being worked by a lady that I thought looked friendly, who was probably in her early to mid-40’s. She looked like the mom-type. Maybe this raised my expectation, but really I don’t think it was that.
Matt told her we had our own bags, and went to the end to bag our stuff. She didn’t respond. She didn’t say hi to me when I walked up to the cash area to wait for her to finish ringing everything through. She threw our groceries down to the bagging area. When she was finished ringing everything through, she just stood there. She didn’t tell me how much it came to like a normal cashier would do to prompt payment. She just stared at me with a stony expression. So I took my debit card out slowly to hand it to her, still waiting for her to tell me how much it is - I mean, some people decide how they’re going to pay based on the amount! Once the payment went through, she just handed me my card and the receipt. No thank you, no have a nice night. Nothing. Stone faced.
If I ever see her at a cash again, I’ll head straight for the self-checkout - at least that will tell me my total and thank me once the transaction is completed. Then that lady can wonder why she was so easily replaced by a machine.
Overall customer service rating at Loblaws (Queens Quay Market, Toronto): 2/10
Customer Service Review: David’s Tea (Queen St., Toronto)
We recently discovered a new shop on Queen Street, David’s Tea. It’s a cute little shop (inexplicably attached to Le Château) at 336 Queen West that specializes in loose leaf teas. According to their website, they have over 100 different teas (side note: we’re determined to try them all - we’re at nine so far).
I first saw it driving by, and decided to visit the next time I went by that stretch. A little while later on a journey across Queen we stopped in.
My first experience there was a good one. We were there just before Christmas and the store was packed. But despite the large amount of people in the small amount of space, the staff were always right there making sure we had help if it was needed. That visit was a “just looking” one, and when we told them that, they left us alone - none of that hovering that can tend to deter me from wanting to continue to look around, not to mention ever returning. We poked around at the various items while sipping our sample of the tea of the day, and then went on with our day.
We went back on Boxing Day, as Kristen had decided she wanted to pick up a pot and a starter kit. Unfortunately, they were sold out of the starter kits. The person helping us was very eager to help, but almost in an annoying way. He ended up making us a custom kit, but only with a lot of him asking us questions and us repeatedly answering “whatever it was in the starter kit - that’s what we came here to get”. Since we were disappointed that they didn’t have what we came for, I decided this soured our experience and I decided not to “count” this visit.
We finally went back again this past Friday night and I got the experience I was expecting based on our first time in the shop, which is where this review really starts!
We went to the shop to buy a birthday gift of a pot and a few teas (as well as our own pot and some new teas to add to our list). The girl that ended up helping us was extremely knowledgeable. She could answer any questions we had without missing a beat - from tea pots to kettles to teas. We had her bring down about five different teas for us to “sample” (aka smell) and could tell us what was in every one of them. And it’s not like we were asking for your run of the mill teas - we wanted ones with this or that specific ingredient, and we also wanted to see specific teas off the shelf. She got a tin down for the “I want something with black current” as easily as the “can I smell the Apple Turnover one?” I find it amazing that someone can name off all of the ingredients of five different teas picked out randomly from a selection of over 100!
Overall customer service rating at David’s Tea (Queen St., Toronto): 10/10
I could not ever ask for a better experience - knowledgeable and attentive sales staff are an extreme rarity these days! Couple that with being just the right amount friendly (read “not fake”) and a “cool” environment, and you get a perfect score!
Customer Service Reivew: Apple Store (Toronto Eaton Centre)
We went to the Apple Store in the Toronto Eaton Centre with our friend Steve, who wanted to buy iLife. After only being able to find the “Family pack” (which is the exact same as the regular one, except that it allows you to use it on more than one computer and costs more), we had to find someone to help us. After standing around for a while trying to get some help, we finally tracked someone down. She told us that they didn’t have any of the regular ones left, and went on with whatever she was doing.
We then decided to look into some other software. We tracked down another person to help us. In asking about other software, it turned out that they did have the regular version of iLife. Sweet! So we asked him what the discount was (since both Matt and I have corporate discounts from our jobs). He looked it up, told us, then left. We thought maybe he was coming back, so we waited. Nothing. We tried to catch the eye of someone else. Nothing. We went to what we thought was the cash desk, but then realized it was the Genius Bar. Eventually after 5-10 minutes of standing around (while they closed the store - turns out Christmas hours are only till 9:30pm, not 10pm), I went up to one of the two guys at the front who was telling people the store was closed. He had one of the hand-held POS dealies that they use at the Apple Store on his belt, so I figured he could help. He told us to go to the “cash” at the back (aka the Genius Bar.. which apparently doubles as a cash despite the fact that there is no indication of this), or to find someone on the floor to help us. Except for him.
We then went to the Genius Bar/cash, and stood there for another few minutes while the only person there helped someone select the colour of iPod shuffle that they wanted to buy. Clearly not a cash out spot. So we left and went to Future Shop where we found someone to help us within two minutes of getting in there. Sure, we didn’t get to give Steve a discount, but at least he was able to buy the software at all!
Overall customer service rating at the Apple Store (Toronto Eaton Centre): 3/10
(This rating is kind of arbitrary since it’s my first review.. I may come back and change it later if I ever establish a proper scale)