Just a few days ago, I wrote about some of my experiences while shopping for some IT gadgets at Sim Lim Square, today I received a letter from a reader on his real life ridiculous experience there.
Here is his story:
“When I entered Sim Lim Square this evening, I casually walked into the Song Brothers shop on the first floor and was served by a young salesman, who would later provide me with the worst form of insult and threat that a shop could possibly give to a customer at all.”
“I was talking with this young man on some camera models and when I asked him about the expected life expectancy of a particular brand of camera, that was when he went offensive. To my utmost surprise, he insinuated that I did not take care of my camera at all, and subject my camera to dropping etc! I was utterly shocked at such transgression of good customer service! Later on, I asked for the manager of this shop and to my another shock and utter disappointment, he actually defended his staff by saying that this young salesman has been with them for half a year and so far he has no bad experience with customers, immediately, hearing his words, I retorted that I have never met with such unkind comments coming from the mouth of a salesman. The manager was totally unapologetic and kept defending his staff, and said ‘Sorry’ unreluctantly, he even said, “I have already said ‘Sorry’ to you 3 times, what more do you want?” I let the matter rest and moved on to another shop.”
“I went on to the second floor and again saw another Song Brothers shop again. I wanted to see whether there is another redeeming factor in their staff and to compare the prices offered between the two shops (the early one was in level one). The customer service officer who served me this time round was kinder and the price offered by her was lower than the price quoted by the rudest customer service officer who has served me. While enquiring her about some features of the camera I was interested in, I noticed that some of the staff from the Song Brothers shop on the first floor came and told some of their staff what has happened earlier, one of the young customer service officers even gestured me to his colleagues (he must have seen me talking with the manager earlier in the shop below) and what transpired later was that I overheard one of them saying “Just find some guys to beat him up!” I was utterly shocked and found it ridiculous of the service Song Brothers provided me: earlier was a rudest remark, insulting me and here was some indirect threats to me… I could have lodged a police report against these young people Of course, I left the shop without buying another thing, even if they cut the price down… first was a customer service officer who insulted a customer, then there was their manager who defended his staff and apologized unsincerely, next my life was being threatened!”
“The next shop I went was Canon Cameras Talk which also rendered me a horrible service. After I have asked the price of the camera, the Indian customer service officer who attended to me was arrogant, saying that their shop offered the best price (of course it was not, as I have compared the hefty price it charges with lower prices offered by some shops)… further when I told them customers still have choice to decide which shop to buy from, he went even further insinuating that good customers are those who buy from them! I left the shop, remarking that the prices it charges was high, I just want to ignore these horrible sales persons!”
“I am super angered by these two shops! How could they treat a customer like that? I left Sim Lim Square without buying any cameras at all, but with a stomach full of anger!”
Singapore Short Stories: “Don’t be sad, customer is always right! These two shops are really too much! No sense of customer service at all! Sim Lim Square’s reputation as a great bargain mall for IT gadgets would be tarnished if shops there adopt such an attitude towards customers. I have observed many students being hired as promoters or salesmen in Sim Lim Square. Customer Service officers and salesmen should be properly trained to handle customers. Can you imagine if tourists come and experience what you have experienced? They will never come and worst, words of mouth about the bad service will spread fast and I believe Singapore’s shopping industry will be hit! Thanks for sharing the story!”
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