I saw a small convection oven on line for 159.00 at home hardware. When I klicked it the sale was over, but I did find another local store which would bring it in for me at the full price of 179.00. I preferred to give the local home hardware the opportunity to make the sale before I went elsewhere. I called the Home Hardware in Collingwood and explained about missing their sale and asked if they priced matched. He said yes and I told him I would be in to pick up the oven. We made a 30 minute trip in from Singhampton and when we arrived at the store took the oven to two salespeople that were chatting. The young lady
looked up at me as if we were interrupting their conversation and and
ask what I wanted in a very rude manner. I explained that I had checked online to confirm that Home Hardware pricematched and then
confirmed it again by calling the store. She turned and said well we
don't pricematch. I reiterated that online it said they do and she said I
must not have read the fine print excluding their store. There was no
fine print excluding their store, but she kept insisting there must be. I
then told her I had called the store to confirm and she said "well their
wrong we don't pricematch". I explained how far we had come to pick
up the oven and told her who we had spoken to. He happened to be in
that night. He came over and said he was sorry, because the other store
sold this product on line as well they would not pricematch. None of
this was explained before we arrived and the young sales associate was
rude, condescending, and smug from the point where she asked what
we wanted. I told her that she needed to hone her customer service
skills if she ever intended to move ahead in the the business world. I
told her that the conversation had started off badly and had nowhere to
go, but downhill. She said I'm going to write my boss a letter and tell
her all about you and proceeded to take a paper and pen and write a
letter all the while taking time to look up at me with nasty looks of
disapproval. This is no way to treat a customer. I have been in the
customer service industry for over 30 years and this type of behaviour
from my staff would have had to be dealt with in order to continue
doing that job. The gentleman that came over whom I had spoken to
earlier that day was very nice, but never apologized for being misleading. He told us we would have to come back tomorrow as he
had no authority to make a decision. We explained that we had just
wasted an hour of our coming into Collingwood to pick the oven up and
would have to waste another hour tomorrow doing the same. If the
store is open, then there should be someone there that can make a
decision. No matter what time of the day you choose to shop your
entitled to the same quality of service that a person shopping during
the day would receive. My husband and I are seniors and the disrespect
that the sale associate had for us was disheartening. It use to be
understood that you respected older people even if you didn't agree
with them. To sum it all up. It wasn't the oven that bothered us, and the
lack of someone to make a decision as much as the treatment we
received. We were humiliated, disrespected, and treated in the rudest
fashion imaginable. I would never return to that store as there are
other places which treat people as valuable customers. Both my
husband and I contacted the store by email and have had no response
to date and it has been quite a while now. I guess they don't care how
their customers are treated, that's why the parking lot and store are
almost empty most of the time.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $179.00