Terrible Customer Service at Spotlight

9 Comments

Today was not the first I had absolutely disgraceful customer at Spotlight. Having recently been given a wonderful sewing machine from a friend, I decided I needed the essentials to begin starting to practice. Where we live there is really only two major places to go for sewing needs. I gingerly approached one sales lady who said she was too busy doing a stocktake, along with the rest of the store to help me and pointed me to a lady in another section of the store (the store itself is not well laid out and for those who don’t know exactly where to look it can be extremely time consuming to find what you need). I then found the lady in the next section, who then directed me to another part of the store for help as she too seemed reluctant to help. Finally approaching the fabric selling counter there was a man instructing a young lady learning store procedures. We stood there and weren’t even acknowledged and then the man turned his back and said he was going home and for the young lady to ask senior staff if there was anything she needed further instruction on. We decided to leave, having been ignored and given the run around by all staff. My son had picked up an item that seemed like a wonderful idea for a project he could complete (he’s always wanted to make a dream catcher). Then having gotten to the front counter to purchase the item it was priced a further $10 above what the ticket had displayed. The front counter lady made no apologies and put it on the back counter assuming we didn’t want to purchase it, at which point I told her we would still be happy to buy it at the more expensive price. I then told her about the experience we’d had wandering around like lost sheep and she was very dismissive, whilst the rest of the staff seemed to want to shuffle people out of the door. She almost had a mocking tone in the way in which our complaint was dealt with. After the last time, spending 45 minutes trying to get some help and find the right length and type of curtain rod, only to be helped by another customer who had picked up the same one I needed, it is safe to say we will never be going to Spotlight again and will be taking the issue up with senior management at head office level.

Posted anonymously, 4th July 2016

9 Comments

- - mum888 said
  - 18 Jul 2016
    1:46 pm
I find Spotlight can be a quite hurried environment because either there is not enough staff available and lining long at the queues or it is meant to be a bargain self serve type area with minimal service . I think retail has gotten to a point like this and hopefully your complaint is acknowledged , but the way it is going , the old fashion friendly service seems to be slowly going . Good luck .

- - mom56312 said
  - 15 Jul 2016
    9:41 pm
Stocktake is no reason to be rude to a customer, from them a simple can you wait a sec while i finish counting this item.. They have extra staff on to deal with this you are the reason they have a job after all… I would report it direct to the manager over a phone call direct to the store… if you are not happy with the reply go above store level… its not good enough.. No wonder people do online shopping from the comfort of home when treated so rudely in stores…

- - mum4107 said
  - 12 Jul 2016
    5:47 am
That is absolutely terrible. I’m sorry you have had that experience. Definitely take it further.

- - june11 said
  - 08 Jul 2016
    10:18 pm
In the fabric area at the store I go to they have a number system. The only time I have ever had to wait was lunch time and they didn’t have enough staff on – 2 were away sick with a “bug” that was going around in the entire building -1 had been sent home to prevent extra spread of it.

- - mom176887 said
  - 08 Jul 2016
    12:36 pm
Definitely need to contact management. They need to know or the store will run down and close which is not in their or customer interests! (Our local Spotlight often has big queues for some departments (like material cutting) and it is very frustrating, but it sounds you had a really bad time for want of staff who were willing and knew what to do!).
- mom93821 replied
  
  09 Jul 2016 , 6:04 am
  Good point – upper management can only act on what they know. Good Luck with following up on the problem.
- - mom93821 said
  - 08 Jul 2016
    10:55 am
These experiences are never nice. As a customer you have rights, always speak to a manager and insist on the right price. It can be difficult but question them for good customer service.

- - mom112217 said
  - 06 Jul 2016
    12:35 pm
It sounds like a terrible experience,l would definitely alert Spotlight about your visit.

- - mom90758 said
  - 05 Jul 2016
    6:30 pm
That’s really horrible! What a nasty experience.
And it’s not right that they charged you 10 dollars more for that item. If the ticket says the wrong price, it’s their problem. They should have sold it to you at that price.