Comments on: Wilkinson Plus Hardware Store. A bad customer service experience.

By: Bruce Boughton

Bruce Boughton — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 15:51:09 +0000

Delivery companies are essentially, for want of a better word, scum. They seem completely uninterested in making their customers’ lives easier, perhaps assuming that customer satisfaction is not at all important as if we want to order online we have no choice but to bow to their whims.

It’s a real shame, because it shouldn’t really be that hard a problem and because it’s really damaging to online stores.

By: Nice Paul

Nice Paul — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:01:17 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Bruce.

Thanks also to Wilkinson Plus for making good with a letter of apology plus £50 of Wilkinson vouchers. Ironically, the vouchers can only be used in-store, not via their online shop.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:55:07 +0000

I work as a manager for Wilkinson and may I say that the Epsom Manager is not typical of our type of management. I believe that the customer always comes first and it is our duty when something goes wrong to put it right and ensure that your shopping experience is only a good one.

By: Nice Paul

Nice Paul — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:31:02 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Paul. To clarify, the footnote mentions that despite what I was told earlier, it turned out that the decision not to send the gazebo by taxi was not taken by the Epsom store manager, but was made at the customer service centre.

By: MDSDerby

MDSDerby — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:50:43 +0000

Frankly I think they fell over themselves backwards to try and help you, and if you had given the corect billing address none of this would have happened. If you used this store regularly as we do you would know what good value they are and how they try very hard to help. Your posting came up on a Google search for Wilkinson Plus so you are giving a lot of people an unfair view of this excellent store.

By: Nice Paul

Nice Paul — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:16:17 +0000

MDSDerby - You misunderstand. I gave them the correct billing address and the correct shipping address. Their first mistake was to deliver it to the billing address rather than the shipping address. And you’re right that they “try very hard to help” - if you read the blog post you’ll see that I have publicly thanked their customer services assistant Keira for doing her best to resolve the situation.

By: MDSDerby

MDSDerby — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:20:32 +0000

I still think you are unfairly stigmatising them as it is an easy mistake to make and after that they tried very hard to correct it. Still some people are hard to please, but it is a shame that you have chosen to broadcast it so widely. And no I don’t work for Wilkinsons.

By: Nice Paul

Nice Paul — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:40:09 +0000

I’ve done nothing more than write an honest record of what happened, just as I would regale my friends in the pub with the story. I even told Wilkinson’s that I would, and that they had the opportunity to correct their mistake on time and have me tell a positive tale instead. But they didn’t take that opportunity.

I haven’t “chosen to broadcast it so widely”. It sounds like your issue is with Google, as it is they who have chosen to list this page next to Wilkinson’s own website on a search for Wilkinson Plus.

By: jan

jan — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:16:07 +0000

I work for Wilkinsons and I know from experience that the staff and management of the store where I work bend over backwards to solve any problems that may arise. Many people do not see or hear the abuse that we take on occassions.Yet we still treat them with respect which at times is more than they deserve.

By: Nice Paul

Nice Paul — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:13:20 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Jan.

I agree, all the customer service representatives I spoke to were polite, and did “all they could” to solve the problem. As a customer, getting angry and hurling abuse is never the way to solve a problem. At the very least doesn’t endear you to the customer service rep, and at worst its downright offensive. I assure you that I, too, was polite throughout our calls - I even had the courtesy to let them know I’d be blogging about the experience, and have since sent them a link to this page to read themselves.

You comment has provoked thought, though. As a result I’ve changed the title of this post from “Wilkinson Plus Hardware Store? Bad customer service” to “Wilkinson Plus Hardware Store. A bad customer service experience”. Hopefully this clarifies the fact that it relates one personal experience, rather than generalising that all of their customer service is poor.

By: jan

jan — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:40:00 +0000

Thank you paul for your reply. I just had to put my experiences forward to show that the majority of Wilkinson staff are courteous and prepared to go to extra lengths to solve any problems. I also wanted people to think twice before coming at us on the Customer Services Desks around the country like raging bulls. Yes we are there to provide a service which I think most do well and we are not prepared to be treated like dirt and be sworn at or threatened.
To many people these days just have no respect towards their fellow human beings.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 14:08:00 +0000

If the gazebo was that important, the time you spent on the phone you could have driven there and picked it up yourself.

By: Nice Paul

Nice Paul — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 20:26:42 +0000

Bryan - thanks for your comment. Believe me, I would have done. Unfortunately, its far too large to fit in a car.

By: jan

jan — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:49:40 +0000

Has Bryan ever seen the size of the gazebo’s displayed in the stores? As we know they are rather large items and are unable to be broken down into smaller parts by either the staff or manufacutures.
Also from his attitude I would go as far as to say he would be one of the customers we very often come across and have named the Raging Bull.

By: Alun

Alun — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:38:47 +0000

If it was that important you would have got it yourself then called wilko all the names under the sun. i`ve worked for wilko i`ve put up gazzebos taken them down fitted them into micras, fords, & simlar types of cars, even the biggest of them can break down. I`ve also worked for delivery firms & these days you will find they wont leave anything without a signiture. I never did because then people say it was`nt delivered or it did`nt turn up, my point is if i wont something thats simple to go out and buy, i go and get it or you can have it put on hold in 90% of shops to pick up at a later date.

By: shop/wilko+

shop/wilko+ — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:09:11 +0000

dear Paul, just a couple of points that should be pointed out, you could go in-store and and spend your £50 of vouchers on-line just let the assistant do the ordering for you, it’s no different than ordering at home, and i am sure that wilkinsonplus have now changed there delivery firm to a more reliable one, what everyone forgets is that every new service has teething problems, and wilkinsonplus is no different, there is one large gazzebbo that wouldnt fit into the car but it did have the size displayed on it, but it did fit onto a roof rack, which funny enough wilkins stock.

By: jan

jan — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:01:35 +0000

Hi Paul
Well things are really hotting up with the comments you are recieving.
As an employee of Wilkinson is it very interesting to see how we are viewed.
I just hope that the other people who have commented have also taken into consideration what flack the staff take and are more thoughful when dealing with them. As we are all very proud of our good track record in customer services to date.
As I have previously said some people will never be happy regardless of what we do to accomodate them.

By: shop/wilko+

shop/wilko+ — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:35:33 +0000

hi Jan
you probably guessed, i work for wilkos too and wilkinson+ .you wouldnt belive some of the flack i have had, people standing shouting with there finger pointing in you face, but unlike some of the customers i manage to keep my cool and stay polite, so NO i dont like it when people dish the staff we try very hard to please the customer, as i said before teething problems happen (to all firms) if you want bad service try commet paul you would love them

By: jan

jan — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:58:49 +0000

I would believe it as I to get the threats and bad language quite a lot of the time plus the finger pointing.
There should be a code of practise in all the stores saying that if the customers behave in such a manner they will either be removed from the store or be issued with letters banning them from all stores in the country.
Why are they allowed to get away with this behaviour so often?

By: Nice Paul

Nice Paul — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:55:22 +0000

I think you’re mis-understanding the point. If you read the article you’ll see that I have nothing but praise for Kiera, the customer service rep I spoke to. I was polite the whole time and so was she (you don’t get anywhere if you go in with all guns blazing).

You say I should have expected teething problems. Why? Is this a new service then? How would I know that?

In response to the comment about if I wanted to spend the vouchers online then I should take them to a store and ask customer services to spend them on the website on my behalf: what would be the point of that? If I want to spend them online, its to avoid that trip - if I’m going to go to the store anyway I might as well spend them in-store.

Anyway, this was all 6 months ago now so I’m closing the comments. Thanks for all your feedback!