Customer Service vs. Price

[nissangirl74]

I had to go to Wal-mart for a few things today (I detest Wal-mart ) and I spent over 20 minutes in line. There were 3 lines open, that was it. I got fed up, pushed my cart into an empty aisle and left. There's nothing in this world I need bad enough to make me wait that long in line for. I spoke to someone at the customer service desk (there were 4 people there, with no waiting ) and told her why I got out of line. She looked me dead in the face and said, "it won't make any difference. Management doesn't care." She turned away and walked into the back.

I couldn't believe it. I understand the whole concept of profit and what you have to do to make one but for Christ's sake. How many people are just not coming to your place of business because your customer service sucks?? How much business do you have to lose before you wake up?

The local grocery store, Fry's, is where I shop for almost everything (unless I get it online from Amazon). The prices are a bit higher than Wal-mart but if there are more than 3 people in any line, the management personnel on staff will open up another line and ring up your order so you can get on with your day. The cashiers and baggers are friendly and they looked a lot less depressed/aggravated/homicidal/suicidal than the associates working at Wal-mart. Plus, I get points for fuel. It's not much, but as much as we drive, it adds up.

Personally, I would much rather spend more money at Fry's and have a better shopping experience than have to wait in line forever and get s*** service from Wal-mart. Your thoughts?

[Jesda]

I used to go to WM frequently because they're open late and the prices are fair, but even in the middle of the night it's possible to be in a line 10 people deep!

As a result, my business has shifted back to my local grocer across the street which has enough household items to cover most needs. The sale prices are always lower than WM though regular prices are usually much higher. Not a bad trade-off for significantly better service from a family-owned local chain.

[Bubba1]

The problem is the "service" factor that we all miss in the old fashioned neighborhood stores, like extra cashiers when lines get too long,is that we Americans are usually unwilling to pay that additional cost at the checkout line. And a one reason why mega box retailers ike Walmart do so well, and smaller stores located aywhere near them are disappearing.

I also try to avoid Walmart.

[frapjap]

I rarely go to WM, but when I do its usually IMMEDIATELY after work when there are far less people/degenerates than usual. However, on the weekend I typically go to Target, literally across the street, because its more pleasant to shop there unless I know for a fact that Wally World has what I need for far less or has a better selection. This usually applies to car care items and oil.

A funny thing about WM in New England is that Super WM's are few and far between in comparison to the rest of the country. Probably because grocery stores can have unions here. I won't turn this into a union vs. non union rant, but there are 3 big stores here- Shaws, Stop & Shop, and Market Basket. MB is non-union, has the friendliest employees, the BEST prices, and a fantastic/larger selection than the other two. Because its cheaper, and due to its demographic location the folks who shop there aren't the savviest, but since almost every register has somebody at it ringing up orders, you can be in and out in no time. Those other two lame stores have noticeably higher prices (I save at least 1/3 of the $$ on the same items while shopping at MB) and only 2-3 registers only. They suck, and its due to the union bleeding them dry which causes them to cut personnel and raise prices on goods.

[Kompresshun]

I usually try to avoid Wal-mart as well, unless I need something for a meal, because it's the closest "grocery" store to our house. If i'm not in a hurry though, I usually will drive the extra five miles to Kroger instead. I despise shopping at any Wal-mart locally, especially for groceries, because they're always out of EVERYTHING. It annoys the heck out of me, because this one services like three counties and they never stay stocked well at all. The only other time you'll catch me at Wal-mart is if it's in the middle of the night and something is broken, so I have no other option. I have stood in line for up to 30 min before to get groceries and wish I would've just left, instead of waiting.

So yes, I will almost always pay extra for better customer service. If you go in any other retail store around here(Meijer, Target, Kroger, ect) they always have plenty of cashiers and plenty of people to help. I shop around for everything, so most of the time I may not even buy locally, but when it comes to the basics, my time is worth a little extra money.

[gwoods]

Target now carries some fresh food and they are much cleaner and nicer. If you get a Target Card (can just be a link to your bank like a debit card) they give you 3% off. The price is about the same.

I hate walmart too but still shop there time to time

[Jesda]

Target has as much selection as a Soviet bread line. Their socks and shirts are nice though.

[Kompresshun]

Target now carries some fresh food and they are much cleaner and nicer. If you get a Target Card (can just be a link to your bank like a debit card) they give you 3% off. The price is about the same.

Actually, we don't have them here in Lexington, but Super Target has always carried groceries and fresh food. They have quite an awesome selection of stuff too. They just have added fresh food and more groceries to our regular Targets here too though. They Target Card is excellent as well.

I've always been a huge fan of Target for shopping overall. Meijer isn't bad, but they're groceries can be overpriced at times. Clearance racks at both places are pretty awesome at times though. I've got some really awesome deals at both places on stuff.

[elwesso]

Target also has the biggest concentration of MILF's of any department store, so that's enough for me.

I haven't been in a walmart for a LONG time, primarily because it's not convenient for me, and I don't miss it. I've *heard* that the products at walmart are walmart specific. Even things like tires, electronics, and other things, I've heard that if you check the part numbers or SKU's, they're different even if they look the same.

I definitely prefer Meijer for the "one stop shop" deal.

I definitely will pay extra at a smaller, local place for better service and quality, especially for food. Food is basically the only thing I go to a store for, otherwise I usually get it online so I'm not bothered by the hassle.

[OriginalWheelman]

I avoid Wal*Mart whenever possible. I can't stand the place. I had the same experience. I sat in line with a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff and just walked away because I got sick of waiting. Two lanes were open, and the cashier was just sitting there chatting away with a customer whom I assume was her friend. They were just chatting with like 10 people in each line. No one seemed to care, but they all looked at me funny when I said "Screw it." and just walked out.

[gwoods]

I bagged my own saltwater fish at Petco yesterday after asking for help twice and waiting an honest 20 min. The fish girl showed up as I was looking for a pen to record the skews and take up front to pay. She' all like hey did you just bag those yourself. And I was all like yep, I got tired of waiting. Then she was all like thats not allowed. I closed with and yet here they are pointing to the bagged fish. Then I offered to put them back in the tanks so she could catch them LOL

[nissangirl74]

Target has as much selection as a Soviet bread line. Their socks and shirts are nice though.

I really like Target. The local Super Target has a great selection of food. I've never went there looking for a food item that they didn't have. They even have an organic section in the produce department. Their cashiers and customer service people all seem to be very friendly. I have a feeling Target, as a whole, probably treats their employees better than Wal-mart does.

I worked for Wal-mart for a couple of years, about 17 years ago, Katrina was just a baby. At the time, I probably would have stayed with them if they had been willing to give me benefits but a full-time position with benefits wasn't available. I needed insurance so I left. It turned out to be the smartest move I ever made. After Sam Walton died, the company started going to hell in a hand-basket. Their profit shares are down too, two quarters in a row.

[gwoods]

I dunno I found one employee at Target to be LESS than helpful

[PapaSmurf2k3]

I bagged my own saltwater fish at Petco yesterday after asking for help twice and waiting an honest 20 min. The fish girl showed up as I was looking for a pen to record the skews and take up front to pay. She' all like hey did you just bag those yourself. And I was all like yep, I got tired of waiting. Then she was all like thats not allowed. I closed with and yet here they are pointing to the bagged fish. Then I offered to put them back in the tanks so she could catch them LOL

hahah sounds like something I'd do.

The wal mart by me is actually quite nice. I rarely have to wait in line. We JUST got self service checkout about 2 months ago. They have everything I want, and the layout is logical and doesn't change much.

There is also a brand new (about 1 year old) Kroger about 2.5 miles from the wal mart.The exterior is built like a taj mahal, as is the interior. The shopping carts are MUCH nicer (and don't pull left/right like the wally world ones do), but I can't make heads or tails of their layout, and the lines genuinely seem longer. That and dealing with kroger cards and the weird points system (some expire within a month, some don't???), and multiple prices on the tags (some show no card price, some show the card, some show both). I rarely go in there, but the milf factor is through the roof. They have a better beer and steak selection.
I went there for lunch one day (they have a deli that makes sandwiches), and I s*** you not, it was the slowest I've ever seen anyone make a sandwich, ever... in my life. Mind you, I've seen a lot of sandwiches get made. Luckily they had a lot of cheese samples out so I definitely got my money's worth. It would behoove kroger to get a faster sandwich maker to save on cheese.
...f*** thing wasn't even that good.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Here in Podunk Hickville Farmland Special BFE Edition, Walmart closes at 11pm. Yes. WALMART CLOSES.
This Walmart is always JAM PACKED and never has enough registers operating at once. Also, because it's not a super walmart, the aisles are amazingly narrow, yet the staff still stuffs them full of bargain bins and other crap. There's no room anywhere, ever. It's incredibly unpleasant and what would be a quick 5 minute visit anywhere else easily takes 15+. It means I NEVER go to the store for something simple...I wait until I've accrued a list of a packed cartful of stuff before even thinking about walking inside that place.

There's a K-mart, too, but as with all Kmarts it might as well be a pile of dead fish and gold-package Lexus badges. As long as I can remember, I've been baffled at Kmart's ability to NEVER have ANYTHING I need despite having shelves covered with actual merchandise.

As a formerly nocturnal person with a broken circadian rhythm, not being able to go buy groceries or dish soap or whatever random s*** I think of while bored at 2am on a friday night is immensely frustrating.

As for the cost vs customer service issue...

Back in Utah, I had a TON of options for internet providers. I had Comcast for a long time and hated their customer service AND their actual service (internet...the product itself...you know...). I tried a couple of fiber optic providers with names I don't recall. Pricing was all pretty similar. The biggest difference was Comcast's atrocious customer service. (Should be noted that customer service training is sort of my job, so I get really picky about it in a hurry.)

When I moved to Idaho, I had two options that were worth considering: Cable One and CenturyLink. Cable One offers faster speeds, so I went with them.
Here's the thing: Cable One's customer service is a lot better than Comcasts (NOT necessarily a compliment, but not an insult, either). However, the PRODUCT service is garbage (and don't forget that I've already stated I hated Comcast's service, too). I rarely see advertised bandwidth, bandwidth is aggressively throttled, and I get data caps. And I pay TWICE what I paid for a comparable-on-paper Comcast service tier.

Thanks to this experience, I've learned one thing:
I'd rather put up with the worst customer service on earth (Comcast) than sub-par PRODUCT every single day of the week. Give me unhelpful, irritable, barely-English-speaking customer service reps. Because, when I get off the phone with them, I get to USE the service I pay for.
Friendly customer service doesn't fix things like paying NINETY DOLLARS A MONTH for internet service that can't even play a 5 minute HD youtube video without pausing halfway through to buffer.

Good customer service is absolutely necessary for doing business. But if you're selling a product that no one wants in the first place, your customer service is never going to come into play. It's like putting big fancy Ferrari brakes on a Chevy Sonic. It sounds impressive but they end up being pointless.

[frapjap]

Target also has the biggest concentration of MILF's of any department store, so that's enough for me.

I worked at Target for a summer and have some insight to this. They determined that their target (no pun intended) audience is 20-40 year old women with and without children. They do a great job of raking them in. Summer is almost here, Wes. Time to visit the Target on Saturday afternoon!

I haven't been in a walmart for a LONG time, primarily because it's not convenient for me, and I don't miss it. I've *heard* that the products at walmart are walmart specific. Even things like tires, electronics, and other things, I've heard that if you check the part numbers or SKU's, they're different even if they look the same.

This is also true of Target, and usually applies to expensive items (dvd players, TV's, tire service). The product is exactly the same, but the model number will have an extra "Y" or something stupid in it that makes the item specific to the respective store. It helps them out when the customer is using the "we'll meet competitors prices, guaranteed" tag line. They're able to say that they're not the same item and the customer gets to pay the store price.

[Jesda]

It's true that Target is usually MILF city, but during the day out here you get baseball players super hot wives shopping at both WM and Target. In the evening, the hot college girls shop at Target.

Lately I've been going to Aldi which is populated by spinsters and crazy cat ladies. Can't beat the prices though.

I bagged my own saltwater fish at Petco yesterday after asking for help twice and waiting an honest 20 min. The fish girl showed up as I was looking for a pen to record the skews and take up front to pay. She' all like hey did you just bag those yourself. And I was all like yep, I got tired of waiting. Then she was all like thats not allowed. I closed with and yet here they are pointing to the bagged fish. Then I offered to put them back in the tanks so she could catch them LOL

[frapjap]

It's true that Target is usually MILF city, but during the day out here you get baseball players super hot wives shopping at both WM and Target. In the evening, the hot college girls shop at Target.

Lately I've been going to Aldi which is populated by spinsters and crazy cat ladies. Can't beat the prices though.

Aldi has some of the worst quality products on the market, period. Don't do it man, stay the eff out of that store.

[elwesso]

Some of the stuff at Aldi isn't that bad. Some of the things you can't really screw up like dried pasta, cooking oil, aluminum foil, baggies, and whatnot. Most of their produce was pretty lackluster. There was one time they had a special on ribs that already had sauce on them and they were pretty amazing. I also found their generic pop and potato chips to be pretty good too.

That place got me through college, I could buy a solid 2 weeks worth of food for $100.

[Dattebayo]

Aldi here is full of EBT/food stampers and located only in bad or declining neighborhoods. No customer service there, unless you try to butt in line they will shoot you and have everyone in the large line clapping as they do it.

Every supermarket here is crammed most of the time, unless you shop at weird hours. Sunday morning is the time I buy groceries, because there's never anyone there. +1 to being an atheist, I guess...

[Jesda]

It's true that Target is usually MILF city, but during the day out here you get baseball players super hot wives shopping at both WM and Target. In the evening, the hot college girls shop at Target.

Lately I've been going to Aldi which is populated by spinsters and crazy cat ladies. Can't beat the prices though.

Aldi has some of the worst quality products on the market, period. Don't do it man, stay the eff out of that store.

Nonsense. Produce is produce. A Chiquita banana at Aldi is identical to a Chiquita banana at any grocer. The fruits and vegetables come from the same distributors that supply Target, WM, Safeway, Publix, and Wegmans.

[Jesda]

What sucks at Aldi are the canned goods. Blech.

[frapjap]

I suppose I should rephrase- the value added goods (most items in a box) are awful quality.

[AZ89two4Tsx]

Perishable items from stores like Aldi scare me. Same with the produce section at the 99 cent store.

[Jesda]

The German company that owns Aldi is the same one that owns Trader Joes. Their product mixes cross more frequently than people realize with rebranding (and repricing) suited to each store.

Aldis are a common sight in the EU alongside Tesco.

[Dattebayo]

According to my very good German buddy, Aldi in america is total BS compared to what it is in Germany...

[gwoods]

According to my very good German buddy, Aldi in america is total BS compared to what it is in Germany...

So are alot of German products, DHL being a Nazi ect. Porsche seems to 'translate' well... BMW has some hits, Mercedes hate being German so much they became Dodge for a while. I can't fathom the self loathing it would take to choose Al Bundy over David Hasselhof

[Jesda]

According to my very good German buddy, Aldi in america is total BS compared to what it is in Germany...

Many of their specialty items, like chocolates, are German or EU exports.

I think your German pal is just being nationalistic.


Their version of Honey Nut Cheerios is better than the original because there's less overbearing sugar. Their knockoff of Honey Bunches of Oats is terribly bland. It seems impossible for anyone to duplicate that cereal without ruining it.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

The German version of Aldi is most definitely superior to the US version. Except for their milk. Good god does German milk suck. They sell it un-refridgerated.

PS, I found this thread title a bit ironic. Customer Service vs Price, like we value customer service, but then we're on a Nissan board. Nissan being notoriously bad for customer service.
Example: my-dashboard-is-melting-t569582.html

[Jesda]

Wait... warm milk?

HOW?