Showing posts with label Service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Service. Show all posts
One of the big things I really like about travelling in Asia is the quality of service you (usually) get, particularly in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan- China hasn't really got used to the service thing yet. When you travel a significant amount and spend a lot of life on flights and in hotels you really do appreciate good quality service, more specifically the little touches.
It's amazing, for example, the difference an Asian cabin staff makes compared to a European one. Little things, like a smile or passing remark (Virgin cabin staff post-security after landing talking to me and telling me to have a nice trip) really do make a difference. I've boarded flights before tired and in a bad mood due to an earlier event and come off a 12hr flight feeling relaxed and in a good mood just because of tiny little things. Other examples are in HK being brought a choice of reading material when they notice you are alone and have nothing to read.
A couple of things that happened today are examples of how good it gets:
Cathay Pacific Flight (Seoul to Taipei)
Having breakfast (excellent as usual). I must admit I was a little surprised to be passed this at 9:25AM (or 8:25AM at my destination):
I almost felt I had to have a glass just for the sake of it ! Anyways, digressing. I had a croissant with a side of honey (very nice combination, must try again). Later on, the attendant came round again and offered bread, I picked another croissant. After a couple of minutes she comes back with a side of honey. That just would never happen in Europe, you'd be asked for bread choice and that's what you'd get - they'd never bother to look at your sides and actually replenish them automatically without even asking.
Taiwan Post Office
So I decided that my bag was too full (and slightly overweight) so decided to offload some stuff at the post office and send back. Of course there's the added requirement of the likelihood of making purchases in HK requiring space in my case (I know myself all too well). Arrived at the Taipei office and enquired about sending some stuff, turns out the post office was very nearby. Discussion goes as follows:
Craig: Okay, so we need to send this stuff. Do you have a box ?
Office Manager: Why do you need a box ?
Craig: To post it in
OM: They will supply a box
Craig: Okay, what about pen and sellotape ?
OM: The service is pretty good in Taiwan
So we arrive at the Post Office. The guy comes over and starts helping us, provides a box, packs my stuff (way better than I would of course do), sellotapes up the box. Job done. I did feel a little guilty being the 'foreigner in the queue' keeping everyone behind me. However, superb service.
As I'm waiting, I start to look around and spot something (apologies for poor image, but taken on Blackberry and very quickly to avoid looking stupid):
Craig: What are the glasses for, do they sell them ?
OM: For old people
Craig: ??
OM: Well they can't see well and use the post office often, so there are glasses to help them
Does it really get any better than that ?
Been pretty busy at work over the past few months so limited lunches out. Of course there's The Wrestlers in Newmarket Road (down side being full of people I'd usually find irritating). The Six Bells in Fulbourn is good (especially since they let us eat in the restaurant area so we can talk work and not have to worry about people listening). Had a fantastic sandwich at the Shelford Deli on Monday.
For a while last year I was eating at The White Hart in Fulbourn. The food was fantastic- steak and chips (with onion rings) was easily one of the best I'd had in the UK. Most lunchtimes it was fairly busy and Friday was usually packed (although you could get a table). Then comes the usual Cambridge factor - nothing can stay good for a prolonged period of time and has to be made awful. It happened about 6 months ago. Over the past few months I've occasionally gone back but been a little disappointed. However this Tuesday it hit an all time low- to the point of walking out.
How can you mess up something so simple ?
Simple common sense sadly didn't prevail. Walked in, had a look at the menu, guy comes up and shows us to a table. Now here's the issue, most people at lunchtime will be working and therefore want a quick turnaround. We were shown to the table, I indicated we were ready to order but the guy just ignored us and walked off. After 5 mins I got irritated and walked out.
How can you mess up something so simple ?
England has this really dumb rule about Sunday opening hours- it's only been in the past decade or so that shops (major chains) are allowed to open on Sundays- but only for 6 hours maximum. Scotland of course has a more pragmatic approach to opening and is far more flexible.
To get around the issue of only being allowed to open for 6hrs, many big chains allow people to browse for 30mins before the tills open (therefore maximising the amount of time by ensuring a full potential of 6hrs is available for transactions to take place). Typically stores open at 10:30, 30 mins browsing, then the tills open from 11AM-5PM.
Last Sunday morning I had to go to John Lewis and so decided to get in early. Of course Starbucks was closed (like any Starbucks in Cambridge it has the shortest opening times of any Starbucks I had been to in the world) so ended up grabbing a coffee at the place directly opposite from the John Lewis entrance. Here's the view I had at around 10:27...
This is so so John Lewis !! Yes, open the doors a little earlier and, rather than allow people to browse early, you actually pay staff to stand at the door preventing people from coming in the store! Total madness !
11AM and I'm at the till with the purchases. Of course there's the obligatory middle-aged woman messing around with a trivial transaction taking about 10 times longer than normal. Purse secured in handbag in a manner that the ancient Egyptian tomb-builders would be proud of, such that it takes about 5 minutes to find it. Then the usual thought process of how to pay, then usually a random question, etc. etc. Finally get to pay (note to anyone who happened to be in the queue with me- I don't have tourettes I just swear a lot when I'm frustrated and have no shame).
Next off to Ecco to get some shoes:
Yep, misaligned opening times. I have yet again to stand around for 25mins as the lazy folks in the Ecco store can't get out their bed at the same time as everyone else ! Total and utter joke (and they only open for 5hrs on a Sunday).
Is there really a recession on ? By the attitude of Cambridge shops I really don't think so !!
11AM and I'm at the till with the purchases. Of course there's the obligatory middle-aged woman messing around with a trivial transaction taking about 10 times longer than normal. Purse secured in handbag in a manner that the ancient Egyptian tomb-builders would be proud of, such that it takes about 5 minutes to find it. Then the usual thought process of how to pay, then usually a random question, etc. etc. Finally get to pay (note to anyone who happened to be in the queue with me- I don't have tourettes I just swear a lot when I'm frustrated and have no shame).
Next off to Ecco to get some shoes:
Yep, misaligned opening times. I have yet again to stand around for 25mins as the lazy folks in the Ecco store can't get out their bed at the same time as everyone else ! Total and utter joke (and they only open for 5hrs on a Sunday).
Is there really a recession on ? By the attitude of Cambridge shops I really don't think so !!
d'Arry's: Excellent Food and Service
Lunch today at d'Arry's (King Street). As usual, the service was excellent and the food superb. Easily the best value for money place in Cambridge in my opinion. Staff are always fantastic- even in busy times.
Only gripe being mint in the potatoes - why not actually tell people that ? I never order Lamb in the UK as I know that it's pretty much impossible to have it without being coated in Mint, but I though Potatoes+Mint was something that went out in the 1970's ? However, I had an alternative.
iPhone Blues
Went into the O2 shop in Cambridge today to buy the latest iPhone. As I walked in I realised the shop was mainly staffed by the Clearasil brigade so didn't think I was onto a good thing. Of course I wasn't wrong....
To the young guy who served me today... Thanks for making the experience so unbelievably bad and p****** me off. When I asked if you had iPhone's in stock why did you give a negative response like "we only have the 32GB models left" ?, why not try and sell me the benefits of the more expensive model ? When I asked you about the business tariff, rather than take the trouble to go through things, you couldn't even be a**** and simply handed me a poorly photocopied sheet with random tariffs on it. When I made my mind up on the tariff, why then tell me that you couldn't sign me up today and that I'd have to call customer services ?, then not even bother to even take the trouble to give me the number to call.
Thanks for making the whole experience so unbelievably bad. I really really wish the iPhone was available on other carriers - then you *might* have to make an effort (though you probably still wouldn't).
Apple Genius Service
I've never used the Genius Bar in the Apple store in Cambridge, today was the first (and last time).
Simple issue- hinge on my MacBook Air loose and starting to make a strange noise (sounds like it's going to break). Quick search on Internet suggests this is a common problem. Of course my first mistake was to think that anyone in a service industry would be in any way pro-active in their desire to fix something that was going wrong. It reminds me of years ago when I worked at a company and my desk 'phone wasn't working properly (intermittent fault), the guy who came to fix it said "can't find a fault sorry", I was so annoyed I took the headset, smashed it on the desk and said "right it's broken now can it be fixed", he fixed it.
To the guy on the Genius Bar... Rather than look at all interested, I showed you the fault and then you sat and surfed some internal site to check the problem. You then suggested to me that it was my incorrect use of the screen that was the problem. Do I look like some total retard who doesn't know how to use a computer and hasn't been using laptop computers for nearly 20 years ? You were completely useless, easily replaceable by a robot (like 2 Ronnies doctors sketch). If I had known the service I was going to get I wouldn't have even bothered making an appointment (and therefore wouldn't have had to wait for the late appointment). When I asked how I could escalate, you said 'Call AppleCare', not even bothering to give me the number.
I'll go to the London Store over the next few weeks to get it sorted.
Virgin Media
Broadband still not working properly, let's summarise how the process to get it 'sorted' works:
REPEAT
* Call 151, option 2, option 3;
* Speak to someone in India Call Centre, who does line test and agrees there is a fault, need to send Engineer out;
* Service Engineer Arrives, tests the SNR level and tell me that everything is okay and that's all he can do;
* I'll get irritated, Service Engineer will say he'll escalate (but never will);
UNTIL I MOVE OVER TO BT (who can't give me a high speed connection though)
So far we've gone round the cycle 4 times...
Customer Service (or lack of it)
Yesterday morning I decided to take the bus into work, got to the bus-stop and realised I only had a £10 note (not an issue when you live in a big city, but hey we're talking Cambridge here and to people here £10 seems to be a lot of money- strange given that it will buy you next to nothing). Got to board the bus and handed the driver the note, the look on his face said it all, followed by the words "got anything smaller". Now of course if that had come from some people I'd have taken it as a form of flattery - but in this case I assumed he was referring to the fact that he'd have to give me £9 in change. Of course if Cambridge had a similar transport system to any other modern city in the world then I'd simply swipe a pre-loaded card. But alas no - we still have to deal with cash. My reply was "really sorry, no".
Well, no surprise that the textbook Cambridge model of customer service kicked in. The fact that I wasn't presenting exactly what was needed was my fault (not the fact that the bus driver had inadequate change). Quote I had was "If I give you change then I wouldn't have any other change left, you'll need to wait for the next bus". To which my reply was "not my problem". I presented him with several options to move forward:
- I have just under £1 in change, you can have that
- Keep the £10 note - I'll claim the change back from the company at a later date
- Let me ride for free
Of course these options weren't suitable as it didn't fit the model perfectly (and of course thinking out the box wasn't an option)- my comment "what a joke" I'm sure didn't help. Asked other passengers if they had change- one guy replied "sorry mate I don't get paid until later today" (found that funny). Eventually we agreed that the best course of action was indeed for him to give me change.. Here you go - first picture posting::
On The Train
Writing this on the train where (of course) I've been displaced by the typical self-centred Cambridge family (2+ children) who take over the carriage and everyone has to move around for them to ensure that they get to all sit together in the optimal configuration. I'm surprised - the kids are eating 'normal' British food - not the usual fair for Cambridge children (breadsticks and hummus all round). The mother has just asked the child 'have you ever been to London before'- he's about 8 and hasn't. Unbelievable (I'd been to London when I was a kid several times at the age of 8 and I lived at the other end of the country). Obviously all of the food is strewn over the carriage now. It's times like this I think there is a market for T-Shirts with some anti-child phrase on it (but in the interests of this being a clean blog I'll omit the exact wording I've conjured up - if you know me drop me a mail and I'll let you know).
Dry Cleaning
Dry cleaning for people who stay in Cambridge during the week is only for the unemployed. I figure this by the fact that the opening hours are solely constructed in a way that anyone who works a 9-5 (ha!) job would have no way of actually conveniently being able to drop off or collect their dry cleaning. There are 2 main branches of a popular dry cleaning service that have their own advantages in terms of opening hours (but distinct opening days and opening times). Oh, and of course it isn't like China where you can drop it off in the morning and have it ready later that day.
