The Consumer Complaints Blog

This is a lesson in how not to do customer service.

Okay so say you’ve never stolen a thing from anywhere in your entire life. And say there’s a store where you’ve been a regular for 7 or 8 years, spending thousands there in that time. And say they take your full shopping basket and say you can’t buy your products, in fact you’re banned, and they treat you like a robber. Isn’t there a communication/conflict resolution step that investors might prefer? Doesn’t common sense come in somewhere?

I am in my local Shoppers Drug Mart every two or three days, and spend upwards of $100 a week there.

A couple of months ago I was there buying concealer. There was no colour indicator on the package, no testers, and no colour indicator on the display, so I opened the package to check the colour. As I did, a store employee – with the name tag Aris – came up and began yelling. He was correct that packages are not meant to be opened, and I indicated that but also explained it wasn’t possible to know the product colour. He continued raising his voice and demanded the product, I explained that I was buying it, which I did. At the makeup counter, I said that I was shocked by the aggressiveness of the employee – and the behaviour, that immediate accusation with no discussion costs a business customers. I explained that I am a regular. The checkout person explained that there have been problems with thefts in the store, and so staff are very sensitive and angry about anything that might be understood as such, and the staff member therefore reacted inappropriately.

Later, I filled out the Shoppers Drug Mart survey online based on a till receipt with a survey URL. On the survey, I explained the incident and explained my extreme dissatisfaction with the situation. I recommended that staff training include better preparedness for situations like this. In my view, approaching a customer immediately with ‘Can I help you?’ at least allows for the possibility of a miscommunication and not losing a customer. Checking the Optimum card and seeing how much a customer spends there could be another recommendation before deciding that a regular customer is a thief.

I had no response to my online complaints.

Today, perhaps two months later, as I entered the store I saw the employee with the furious temper, whose name is Aris. I was surprised, I had not seen him and thought he may have been been suspended based on the previous incident and his people skills. I had a basket and went around the store getting things from my list, when a security guard identified himself and asked if I had ever been banned from the store. I was baffled, and said I’d never been told that I was. He was persistent. I was extremely offended. This is a dreadful way to treat one of your regular customers. I asked to speak to the store manager. The store manager Vincent Yeung asked for personal ID. I was puzzled, as I was there to complain, but passed it over. The staff member with the past-visit furious temper entered the pharmacy and spoke with the manager who then curtly informed me that I was permanently banned from the store, and could not make my purchases. No willingness to discuss, to look at my store card to see that I was such a regular, or to explain their situation.

The message suggested by staff, security and the manager was ‘the customer is wrong if we say so’.

I’m someone who’s never stolen in my life. I was escorted out by security and treated – well, as though I’m a robber. I was quite shaken, and I still am quite stunned and enormously disappointed that a customer could somehow be treated in this way and at levels up to manager treated as guilty.

I sent the company a complaint with my optimum number encouraging them to look both at my purchasing history, and the amount that not having me as a customer will be costing at this location.

I am enormously offended and humiliated that this happened to me in my community, appalled by how these incidents have been handled, disappointed that an earlier customer complaint was completely ignored, and so enormously frustrated. To be clear – I have never stolen anything in my life. I have been a very regular Shoppers customer, and am known to be an extremely honest person in my career and my charity work.

I feel that I have been accused of a crime I didn’t commit, verdict and punishment with just the humiliation and no recourse.

It’s awful business, and it is not fair.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

Auto Dealer Complaint – Whiteoak Ford Deceptive “Bait & Switch” Sales Program

I contacted Whiteoak Ford on Saturday October 31 about an advertised special on the internet. I spoke with Ray Kulchysky, a salesperson at the dealership and went through the line by line financing on the Ford F-150 pricing advertised. Ray said that they had vehicles in stock although colours were limited unless I went with the XLT package (an additional $2K). Ray advised that the price would be available until end of day November 2.

When I called today to make an appointment to view and purchase the vehicle, Ray advised that the vehicle was no longer available. When I pointed out that the vehicle was still advertised with the same price, ($24,995), he said that there were no more available, and the best price he had was $28K for the same year, vehicle, and model. I then spoke with sales manager Ben Cliff, and dealership co-owner Dave McQuillan. All said the same thing, that they couldn’t honour the advertised deal.

I contacted Ford Canada because this “bait and switch” practice is appalling. Ford Canada was able to view the same advertised price on the internet, and also said that there was not too much they could do except contact the dealership and give them feedback. I told Dave McQuillen that I would be contacting Ford Canada and he told me that they couldn’t do anything.

I believe this kind of response to consumer complaint is a problem. It seems to me that deceptive advertising practices are all too common and frankly, car dealerships have enough problems with perceived lack of integrity to perpetuate it in this obvious way. I’ve now done some searches to see if other consumers are having a similar experience and as one consumer says, “Go ahead and contact Ford Canada about the dealership. Nobody will care.” I’m concerned about this dealership and the lack of integrity. It looks like I’ll be buying a GM, which is too bad, because all of my previous vehicles have been Fords. However, if a dealership behaves this way at the point of sale, I can’t imagine how unfortunate the sales experience would be. I wonder how many other people have been jerked around by this dealership and their bait and switch practices. I guess the internet has opened up a whole new way of doing business, where a dealership can post a price for a vehicle and then back out of it when asked to honour the internet price. I’m concerned as a consumer that there is such limited recourse for these tactics. The dealership is not held accountable for their behaviour to Ford Canada. And, despite the millions and millions in advertising from Ford Canada on behalf of the dealership, there seems to be little consequence for advertising deception by the dealership. There doesn’t seem to be any way to address this situation – the dealership and Ford don’t care. How will consumers be treated fairly in an environment where there are no consequences for this kind of behaviour?

As far as I’m concerned, Whiteoak Ford should have a new slogan, “We’re People Too. Sometimes.”

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.