Can You Believe I Passed This Up?

[brothers]

I probably haven't been at this long enough. If I'm going to go into a store (I'm a guy, and this is just the way I'm made) I like to walk in, look at the stuff, see what I want, buy it, and leave.

Maybe it's possible that Truefitt & Hill shaving creams, soap, and fragrances are highly technical and a savvy shopper wants to know all kinds of intricate details about the stuff that's inside the containers, and I confess I don't. I might like to hold them, read the package, and smell 'em, but beyond that, for the life of me, I can't think of any hypothetical questions I'd ask the sales person, other than, "can you order me a pot of lavender?" Or, do you have any more of this soap in the bowl, in the back?

More puzzling to me is the supposition by someone that I will be far better informed about these products if I go home and click on something and buy it that way. Huh? Didn't I already spend the past several years learning about these products via the internet?

Edit: I'm just wondering what is the definition of poor shaving product related customer service here? By making this post, I apologize in advance if I'm being offensive, that's certainly not my intent. I'm obviously missing the point, and thus this post.

[Squire]

Gary we have a local guy who is a genuine tailor. Small, low key shop, does the work himself with the help of a couple of trusted employees, and gives excellent customer service. Introduces himself by sticking out his hand and saying call me Sam. Good humored, competent, he takes the measurements, cuts your garment out of a bolt of cloth, and when finished it fits. No advertising, business was built on reputation and quality service, and he has a waiting list.

I expect that's the sort of business model the original Messrs Truefitt and Hill followed.

[brothers]

Squire, you're lucky to be able to find a guy who knows how to do it right. The concept is simple, but evidently too much trouble for many others. Many times it's the smallest acts of kindness and patience that determines whether a customer leaves happy or unhappy. Being knowledgeable is one thing, and appearing to care is quite another. Customer service that combines both traits is probably what we all hope to find when we walk in someone's place of business.

[jww]

...

Wendell, it's not so much buying from uninformed store associates as it is buying from vendors that don't give a damn about good customer service.

Amen to that!

[Rufus]

Edit: I'm just wondering what is the definition of poor shaving product related customer service here? By making this post, I apologize in advance if I'm being offensive, that's certainly not my intent. I'm obviously missing the point, and thus this post.

I don't think what I'm talking about is unique to vendors of shaving products. Sales clerks should have a good grasp of the range of products they are selling, its application, and what is currently available and what is coming down the line. I don't expect them, however, to have a profound understanding of how a particular shaving cream is made, but they should have an understanding of its composition and for which skin-types it might be siutable, for instances. During my first visit to the T&H shop in Scotia Plaza, about 9 years ago, I can still remember that the clerk who served me didn't know the difference between after shave lotion and cologne, a DE razor and a Mach 3 and what grade of badger hair was to be found in the shaving brushes in the shop. I distinctly remember asking the clerk if they had any bay rum and the blank look I got in return; when I finally ascertained there was none in stock she told me she didn't know whether it could be ordered or if more was coming in and wasn't inclined to find out either. My first impression was that the sales staff was apathetic and I still get that impression today. This is a specialty store and not a departmental store and the sales staff should thus be well versed in what they sell and when they don't know something they should willingly find out.

[Squire]

First impressions last and are rarely changed.

[jww]

First impressions last and are rarely changed.

Squire has hit the nail on the head. It isn't about the quality of roduct -- it's about the quality of service.

[brothers]

There is a shop in my city called Essentials. They sell, as one might imagine, everything a female might be interested in wearing and using, in terms of fragrances, home, and bath and body care products.

They also try to carry a small assortment of men's items, T&H, Musgo, Crabtree & Evelyn, L'Occitane, Lucky Tiger, and even Jack Black. For a while, they even carried the Floris line, but maybe the expense involved in carrying that line didn't turn out to be profitable, because they closed it out after about a year.

Customer service at Essentials is exemplary. They will order anything they can obtain through their range of suppliers. They do charge full recommended retail prices, however, but they have 4 occasions during the year when they offer 20% off. They are very kind and attentive, and just the opposite of apathetic.

They aren't on the internet, and I've suggested to them a few times that might be a good idea, but they maintain an active email list, and faithfully send out personal emails on a regular basis.

If they'd start offering one or two of the other English names, and maybe one or two Italian ranges, coupled with the slightest effort at marketing those, I think they might be surprised at the response.

[brothers]

and to be honest the associate was so thick/uneducated, that I simply couldn't justify giving her the commission. Next time, perhaps.

That has been my experience with both the T&H shops in Toronto, as I mentioned earlier. What is so disappointing about it is that it's been this way since they opened their first store in Scotia Plaza, which has to be at least 10 years ago. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that they don't give a damn about good customer service; hence they won't get any of my business.

<<sigh>> -- wet shavers of the world unite! We're not gonna buy from un-informed store associates -- and will take our business elsewhere.

Pardon the resurrection of a somewhat aged but extremely current subject, this is where the internet shines. Last time I encountered a less than informed store clerk it occurred to me that I did not expect to get any new information from a clerk because I knew more about what I was looking for than anyone else. Needing no help, it is far easier to just order it and wait a few days to have it delivered. Simple and easy. When I do want more information I can usually get the answer to my question on SMF or I can email the proprietor of the internet shop. Why ask a stranger when I can ask one of a dozen or more folks I have previously met on line that sell the goods I'm asking about.

[fallingwickets]

First off, jww seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth

I did not expect to get any new information from a clerk

On the subject of clerks: PET, PET peeve. Walking into a store like AoS and being greeted by a hipster with a beard!!!!!!!! Height of irony and displeasure

clive

[CMur12]

Careful, Clive; I've worn a beard for 45 years!

(I'm not a hipster, though.)

I do shave my neck and I shape it at the cheeks.

- Murray

[fallingwickets]

I thought of you when I posted Murray, but the non hipster part let me move forward with abandon

[CMur12]

We'll let this one pass then, Clive.

- Murray