Maplins and "out of stock"

RicardoSmith

Just to warn anyone thats asking for an item in Maplins, and are told that the item is out of stick. That it probably isn't and if you ask another muppet they'll likely get it for you. On a number of occasions I have asked for items and been told its out of stock by a staff member who can't be arsed to go look for it. Usually getting some sob story about why its not in stock. Everytime I've then gone and asked someone else who without fail have always managed to find said item in stock. My last experience the 2nd person actually told me the item was on special the next day and if I came back the next day I'd save a few euro.

Why in Ireland do we have such crap shops?

Greenman

Why in Ireland do we have such crap shops?

"Don't get me started" When in the ROI I sometime feel I'm disturbing the shop workers by asking a question, I thought I was the only one!!!. From time to time you get a great person to assist.
I put it down to management and the low expectation of the punters. Finally I find if you go into the "One Man Band" operations they tend to give better service.:mad: :mad: :mad:

Winters

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Why in Ireland do we have such crap shops?

Not really crap shops. Its not like its store policy not to check if items are in stock for customers.

It seems its crap employees.

eth0_

Originally posted by Winters

It seems its crap employees.

Crap employees which the management/owners turn a blind eye to, therefore making the shop crap :P

A few months ago I went into Maplin to get a spindle of dvd-r which I saw advertised on their flyers outside. When i eventually got an employee to help me, he went off to see if they were in the back. 10 mins later he comes back with a spindle of cd-r....I explain i want DVD r and he says they don't have any in stock but hang on!
He goes off for about another 5-10 mins and comes back with a battered and ripped booklet of those 'spend 50 euro get 3 euro off' type tokens and hands it to me.

What the ****! I think there was definitely something not quite right with that dude lol

OfflerCrocGod

Ye I asked for one of the "pre-modded" cases from Maplins recently and was told there were none left then the guy rang Jervis to see if they had any, the jervis guy said that the shop I was in DID have the cases I wanted - a little bit of searching later I got the case they had 10 in stock:rolleyes:.

Venom

Eirscum employees are the worst for this kind of behaviour Iv found. Guess its just easier to tell the customer no and hope they go away than to do their job.

Pataman

try www.cpconline.ie ordered monday 3pm delivered tuesday morning. catalogue 4 times thicker than maplins

elexes

i hate going into maplins there muppets .

urg....

but i dont fully agree with the out of stock thing. they do thousands of lil bits a bobs . the staff cant know every item thats in the shop at all times . working in shops myself many a time a customer has come up to me and asked if i had somthing i would search where i saw it last ask a m8 if hes seen any then go and say no we dont have any only for the customer to say aint that it over there .

its annoying when it happens but they cant be blamed for it fully

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by elexes
i hate going into maplins there muppets .

urg....

but i dont fully agree with the out of stock thing. they do thousands of lil bits a bobs . the staff cant know every item thats in the shop at all times . working in shops myself many a time a customer has come up to me and asked if i had somthing i would search where i saw it last ask a m8 if hes seen any then go and say no we dont have any only for the customer to say aint that it over there .

its annoying when it happens but they cant be blamed for it fully

When he tells you he checked for the item that morning, and they definately have none, and that he can't check with any other store because their line is down? Then another guy tells you on special the next day. Thats not making a mistake, thats deliberate.

Falkorre

I am torn here,
as a customer, i hate this behaviour too.
but as somone who 6 months ago started working in a large large store, I can see how and why it happens.

we get asked the most amazingly stoopid questions, every minute of every day somtimes in our place. eventually, u just almost start to tune out, specially when u havent had a hour luchbreak to recouperate a bit.

I was once asked, believe it or not, if it was ok to file down the prongs of a small bayonet cap type bulb, and tape it in place?!?! because he couldnt find a screw in type the same wattage, he was not satisfied with my dumbfounded look and answer of no, and kept asking the same damn question for 10 mins. This is not unusual behaviour.

another one that had me wanting to slap was a customer who was trying to blame the store for her watering her xmas tree, over the top, with a watering can, with the lights on and getting mildly shocked.
Apparently we had told her to "make sure to put water in the base" ?!?!?!?!

And, our uniforms are VERY VERY obvious, very luminous, and yet, nearly every customer starts with the question, "do u work here?"............i mean, c'mon, ur taking the piss surely?!?!.........

another time u love joe public soooo much is when ur walking back thru the store, laden down with a sandwich and cup of coffee, obviously making ur way towards the staff only area, and somone feels perfectly justified to stop u and question you on the type of lampshade that would go well with the colour of their girlfriends aunts yorkshire terrier....... for 20 mins.......grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I get pissed, I somtimes soo wanna just say no, we dont have it, piss off and let me have my lunch....... but these places dont really like that.

no, the only time i get really pissed at people working on the floor specifically to deal with customers all day, is when they cannot speak a word of english. PCWorld is VERY guilty of this, having no grasp of the english language seems to be one of their criteria.

B:rolleyes:

Ryaner

That cpc crowd have some good stuff. All the prices are in sterling and they are based in england making me wonder was it the following tuesday that it was delivered patman? Thanks for the link tho.

mike65

Originally posted by Dawntreader


another one that had me wanting to slap was a customer who was trying to blame the store for her watering her xmas tree, over the top, with a watering can, with the lights on and getting mildly shocked.
Apparently we had told her to "make sure to put water in the base" ?!?!?!?!

Mike.

Venom

Staff of a shop not being able to speak English have no place dealing with customers but the blame for this mostly lies with the fools who hired them.

Kid Icarus

Originally posted by greenman
"Don't get me started" When in the ROI I sometime feel I'm disturbing the shop workers by asking a question, I thought I was the only one!!!. From time to time you get a great person to assist.
I put it down to management and the low expectation of the punters.

I work in a large supermarket for a certain company, and you are dead right. It is the managers fault. A customer asks me to look for something in the stock room, so I go out to look. Once or twice I asked a manager about it, they say "just tell them we have none". It is bad management. Plus, when at the end of the day and you're asked why you're behind (if you're behind), "I spent about 10% - 12% of my day helping people" is not a valid excuse. basically, the management say we're there to pack shelves, not help the customers.

Call it personal pride or whatever, but I'll always look for the product before I say "we don't have it" (most of the time it's out of stock anyway).

But the flip side of that is when I know in my heart and soul that the product is out, yet the customers won't believe. I've had mates in work bring a customer over to me that I've already said "no, it's not in". Times like that, you just tend to say, "ah **** it, what's the point".

Basically, it depends on the person you ask and what kind of day it is. Some days you could be asked 40 times for the same thing. Other days, you're glad when someone finally asks for something; just to break the monotony(sp?).

Gerry

The management of maplin is a joke, but they can't be expected to keep their employees from being lazy, unless they know about it. So the next time it happens, ask for the manager, and tell them how crap their employee is.
You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Genghis

In maplins I always go for the most senior looking assistant, and that way I get the answer / product I need. While I have not seen what you describe in Maplins itself, I have seen it in many other places - have you noticed that in almost every shoe / clothes shop if you ask for another size the standard answer is 'we only have whats out there already'. Once upon a time shop assistants would do everything to find you your size - ring other stores, check to see when it might be in, offer to hold one for you, or failing all that help to find you an alternative. Now it is just 'tough!'

Pataman

Originally posted by Ryaner
That cpc crowd have some good stuff. All the prices are in sterling and they are based in england making me wonder was it the following tuesday that it was delivered patman? Thanks for the link tho.

yes it was the next day. very quick service. They have an address in crumlin, dont know if its a po box or a depot
as you are ordering they tell you the euro price for each item

griffdaddy

very off topic, but all this talk of employees and how bad they are compelled me to mention richer sounds where every employee was excellent and seemed like they'd actually burst into tears if they couldnt help you. then again profits are shared amongst employees. rip richer sounds