A 1st impression I'll never forget!!! (East Gate Mall)

Wow wow wow...

I'll never forget the experience from the Markhams in Eastgate store!

I am a new customer with Markhams and picked up my card on Sunday the 22nd of July at around 12pm...upon my arrival...I dealt with one of the best employees you have at that store by the name of Ntombi...she helped me with everything very politely and in a very friendly manner...Infact, even the guy I had opened an account with was very friendly and a pleasure to deal with at the Carnival Mall store – it’s just a pity I cannot remember his name.

As a new account holder - it is advertised on the floor that I'd get vouchers for opening an account with them to the value of R1500. This was when all my problems began...the very lovely employee called their manager to assist her with what seemed like loading of the voucher...the manager (very relaxed mode) eventually gets there to assist and gave us vouchers for R1000 which was when I took note of the shortfall and queried it to which I subsequently received the correct vouchers.

As I needed to activate the account – I needed to do some shopping, I then fitted on a blue all-star sneaker which was valued at R750 which I was happy with...however while fitting it on at the mirror, I saw the very same shoe but in a different colour (cream like colour) and I liked that one better and asked the floor assistant to get me the same shoe but in the different colour (thinking it's the same price - but it was R1000 which I didn't know and found out later)...

When I got to the till I paid and used my R250 voucher and was surprised that I'd still been charged R750 on my slip and I queried this however the lovely lady I'd been dealing with (Ntombi) was unfortunately stepping out for lunch and I then was asked to wait to get served while the customers at the till were being concluded...

I am not sure what had happened to the person I dealt with before I got there (her name is Xoli) but there was a total change/shift in my customer service experience as she was very cold and seemed like she just needed to get home already and customers just irritated her by simply existing (don’t know how to explain this, but this is the perception I received and felt as a customer)...anyways I explained my situation to her and opted to rather get the other shoe if it's R250 more for just the colour and I RETURNED the 1st shoe immediately... When I asked her for my voucher back as I'd returned the shoe she immediately jumped to telling me that I wouldn't be getting the voucher anymore...she didn't take the opportunity to nicely explain to me that the voucher had been allocated to the other purchase nor did she come up with solution of maybe escalating the matter to her manager for a solution...her immediate thing was to tell me it's gone and that that was it...I told her I'm not happy with that answer as I hadn't used the voucher. Throughout the entire encounter there was no effort whatsoever to either help with the situation or perhaps let down easy on me as it wasn't good news...you'd swear she was happy that I wouldn't be getting my voucher anymore (for what reason? I don’t know as I’d just met her for the 1st time)...

So to my dissatisfaction - I then went on to escalate to the manager which was another total disaster...to start off with, he was standing on some ladder chilling up there with his hands folded and when I got to him as unhappy customer, he didn't even have courtesy to get down from those stairs and address. Instead, he chose to address me from his high pedestal (which on its own doesn’t help in addressing an unhappy customer). Anyways, I ignored that I told him my store – he too gave me the same answer and I tried to explain to him that I feel ‘******’ from my voucher as the reality is that I hadn’t used it and the shoe hadn’t even left the shop. There was absolutely no difference in dealing with the manager – it was like I was dealing with another consultant who had no managerial vision in terms of customer retention which requires good service. I then asked him if I could then rather buy the 1st shoe for R1000 which is the colour I want and then still use my voucher and simply take back the other she and still pay the R750 (basically asking to revert back to the original sale) – he still said no I can’t do that as the voucher has been allocated to the 1st transaction. Here again, I as a customer tried to come up with a resolution to which wouldn’t have hurt anyone or cost any more but would kept me happy as a customer…the manager didn’t even consider it – which then brings me to understand why the 1st employee lacked customer service…they are simply following from their manager who deals with customers from his high pedestal.

Now here is my issue – I am not disputing that the voucher has been allocated to another transaction…I am saying ‘can we look at alternatives at helping me as a customer’ and that is being shot down. I hear what they keep on telling me about audit and tracking purposes – I am disputing none of that…but those are Markhams’ internal affairs and procedures which I believe can be worked around. For the record, those vouchers are printed on a piece of paper and there are several pages of them lying around there…would it have ****ed the manager to cut out another one and replace it for me and then account to whoever it is they need to account to from an audit perspective? That is my exact issue!

The reason I opened the account is because of me wanting to have a good credit record on a larger scale (and because my partner like’s you the company’s style) – not because I need or because I need to ‘credit’…I could have literally opened my account anywhere because it is not about the money as I usually buy my clothes cash – so now when I have to deal with such service it really makes me wonder if I want to continue in the long run if the 1st impression is such. I think I used about R4k on that day in shopping at the store and I am really contemplating just paying it up in one go and discontinuing with the account (I have previously done the same with other poor service providers).

I have since been called by some other people from Markhams which have offered me additional services and I have declined their offers because of such a terrible experience!

Another thing I want to bring to the attention of whoever is reading this – I myself am a professional within the retail space and manage a store within the Eastgate mall amongst many others. With being in the retail industry I have a very vivid understanding of how imperative customer service is in the manner in which the general store is run. At the Eastgate mall, the work etiquette is very questionable as it seems like it there is a ‘chilling vibe’ going on there as opposed to an energetic, vibrant and competitive environment pushing to continually meet or exceed the customer’s expectations where possible. In this day in age with the rand being tight and there being many options for customers – customer service then becomes a key differentiator in the business that succeeds and is sustainable and the one that fails. You do not want to be a business that is succeeding just because of the company’s brand – but rather want to success based on your customer engagement as that is something that lasts when fashion trends change!