Do you have any shopping pet hates?

[Skreecheeboy]

What kind of problems have you encountered with regard to shopping? Have you noticed any particularly pushy sales people in shops? Have you waited for ages to be approached by a sales person when you really need advice? What is it about some shops or shopping that really ****** you off?

[rabbitygirl]

Unless I really must have what they are selling I will not queue in any shop with 6 tills and 1 operative - especially on a Saturday!!! And I am quite happy to leave the item on the counter and tell them too!

[bigmamma]

Hi Skreecheeboy , why is that if you wish to browse , the shop assistant pounces on you as you enter and then stays close spitting bits of sale pitch at you til you either buy or fob him/her off , or leave .Yet if you go in to buy and need an assistant , the walls seems to have eaten them all !!!

[diamondrocks]

topshop in general lol
when the shops busy even then they only have about 3 tills on and the queue is miles along with about 20 people or more and even then they don't open more tills and they just have the rest of the sales staff floating about on the floor.
once in topshop when i was purchasing this item (shoes i think about �60) she went ok so thats �60 please and i said oh ive got my student card and she looked at me and said erm ive already put the transaction through you should of said earlier. erm yes ive just found my card and void the transaction you silly girl. grrr

i probs have loads more :)
in regard to the question since i work in a shop i hate askin people questions when they obv don't want to talk (im one of those in a shop id rather not be approached) but you really have to.

[diamondrocks]

oh i have another one
ive noticed in shopping centres when the shops close at 9 they all start 'closing' at about half past or quater to, as in putting the shutters half way or even further down. its really off putting

[pussnboots]

Classic comment from a shop assistant...."Are you looking for any particular size?"....errr yes my size!

[rabbitygirl]

I also reject shops which enjoy Hoovering or mopping around my feet while the shop floor is still mine.

[Reverandfunk]

The queues in Soccer Sports lol and trying to be sold "insurance" for something that has cost me a tenner.

[baremission]

i work in argos and hate having to offer people store cards and insurance because it annoys the customers so much. really sorry guys but we are made to ask it and unlike most of the replies i get suggest
" you after your commision or summat?"
WE DON'T GET COMMISSION!!! jsut have to ask.

[Skreecheeboy]

Cheers guys, I particularly like the points about which size would you like and that is shocking customer service skills from the person in topshopp! Imagine having the sense to hit cancel to recalculate it! Also insurance for soemthing that costs a tenner is a preposterous notion, what are the premiums on that, 20p? lmao! I know this isn't about a shop but I was in the pub at the weekend, ordered 2 guinness and a tennants and she hit me with a stella instead of tennants, then insisted that I had asked for a stella, even though I am watching my spending and whilst ordering it I'd reiterated "tennants?" to my mate that I was buying it for. Now it only cost me 25p more but the fact is the silly cow was completely wrong and then she started to call me agressive and drunk when I was complaining to her manager. I had just ordered my 4th pint and I had been calm up to the point when she suddenly said I was aggressive, now that's poor customer service!
Does any body have any more?

[Skreecheeboy]

You don't get commission? I'd tell them to shove it baremission!

[sense4all]

Any thing to do with JJB makes my blood boil. Particularly though : I can walk the scabby trainers to the till myself. It took you twenty minutes to get them from the stock room!

Anyone who thinks that their conversation ( on the phone or between assistants ) is MUCH more important than my purchase which lets face it is actually keeping them in a job. AlthoughI did once acquiese when a lovely girl said I promise I will be right with you but my boss is an old trout, and I would like to update my Mum with something, is that ok?

[sense4all]

The silly girl who wanted me to put two hundred quids worth of stuff through the self - service till, at Tescos - NOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Lets just say the store manager is very good at operating a checkout ... the girl and I just give each other the evils now. She shouldn't step in front of my runaway trolley ,ever.

[Reverandfunk]

Screech the insuarance actually costs more than the product lol

[Skreecheeboy]

If you can name your sources Rev I would be a very happy bunny! It's for a project I'm doing about the free market, consumerism and performance art, be great to get some examples! I never use the self service checkouts Sense for all, they put people out of a job!

[Reverandfunk]

Two examples where the insurance over 3 years or extended warranty has been a pair of earrings from argos and a pair of speakers for my laptop from PC world lol

[Sasha13]

Sorry to hijack your thread Skrrecheeboy, but I've just posted a question regarding complaints about on-line shopping for a similar purpose - can you lot all have a look at that too?

In response, here are my top 5 problems.

1) Sales Assistant saying 'Are you OK there?' to me - as if my personal life is any of their business. It's a lazy way of starting a conversation and is totally fake
2) Shops who don't take care of my goods at the checkout and just throw them in a carrier bag
3) Assistant who say that's all we've got when you're asking for a size or colour that isn't on display. How clever of them to know their entire store's stock holding in their head.
4) Following on from that, shops that don't have all the sizes out - I hate seeing something I really like then not being able to buy it because they haven't got my size
5) Sales Advisers who fall victim to the invisible magnet that must be behind the till, stopping them venturing any further than 2 feet away, even though there are no customers waiting to be served.

I used to work in retail management so I know why this all happens, but I still find it very annoying, as a customer, when it does!

[rabbitygirl]

I was once denied the changing rooms in a shop because it was 8pm. I complained that as they were 24 hrs I should be able to try on stuff round the clock. I couldn't because they were staffed so low they couldn't keep an eye on everyone. So I protested they assumed I was a shop lifter at which they huffily let me go in. The customer services lady said it was an ongoing problem which she solved by (wait for it..) suggesting people go outside those little shop lifter barriers and tried on in the ladies/gents loos!! Yep that will sort out shoplifting all right.

[diamondrocks]

heh this isnt a shopping pet hate from a customers view more a SA view
ive had plenty of people trying to bring back shoes ranging from 2 years to SEVEN years old claiming they've worn them and now their falling apart and they would like a refund
ermm yeh after a few years shoes are going to fall apart silly.
i think the worst one i've had is when these shoes had a dirty plaster in which i unfortuantley touched :(

about the 'is this all you have out?' it is annoying when SA say yeah thats it, maybe it is and they might know off by hand but they can at least pretend to go and look even if they don't :|

[nutgoneflake]

My biggest turn off is when staff stand around smoking outside the front door of the shop. There's a health food store here that lets one of their ladies do that, and I think it's horrendous. I was a retail manager too, and I wouldn't let my staff smoke outside the BACK door, let alone the front.

[arwenant]

perhaps not on the same line but i have a friend who works in a larger ladies store and when people have been waiting in a queue she's not allowed to say 'sorry about your wait' in case someone mis-interprets it as being 'sorry about your weight'. it may just be me but that is damn ridiculous!