cheecky buggers

what a cheeky billboard…..now why arent more people grabbing headlines and attentions like this!? i love it!!!

OPEN FOR BUSINESS !

Any one of you frequents the Pos Malaysia outlet at 1utama? then you probably remember a little shop across it that sells ( i think) TM broadband packages… i was at Pos Msia outlet recently and bcos the lines were long, i had time to “jalan jalan” to the shops….guess what i saw ?

heheh….no one at the shop…and this is not the first time either! almost everytime i passed by that shop to go to my car or pos malaysia, more often than not, the shop is empty…. i guess business is too good la….

So whats the point of my post? If you run a retail outlet, its ok to shutdown when you have to relieve yourselves – just put out a note to your customers

ps: forget about going into the store and stealing ok….there is plenty of cctv installed!

I was wrong again. Damnit!

Yeah. Busted! Really didnt know we already had this here in malaysia!!!

Went to 1U old wing tonite to grab a quick dinner and we went to the korean outlet. After ordering our food, we were given this nifty device….

Yes. This device functions as the same one as the one i detailer in my FIREHOUSE post! Basically once your order is ready, the device will emit a beeping sound that lasts something like 3-5 secs and thats it. no lights or repetition, so i wasnt able to film it on video for you guys.So this changes everything on my previous post in firehouse. I mean, in this scenario, where its a canteen system, i find this device TOTALLY useful. I am sure some of you had experience going to a PAY FIRST, WAIT FOR YOUR FOOD system in food courts/canteens!? (Especially in singapore!). Which is also one of the reason why i always avoid going to these “canteens” or food courts. Also, this helps to reduce crowd in the food court counters with people lining up waiting for their food while other customers can easily go and order their food. I wonder if this local company is making megabucks now…..

Again, my apologies for the CRAPPY pics…i really gotta get a new camera phone soon…but you know la…im really damn broke…..

Italiannies

Yeah, i know the spelling is different but its the only logo i can find on the net.

Ah….i was supposed to post this up weeks ago but life’s been hell lately.

Italiannies is one of my favourite place. Curve,1U,Gardens- ive been to all of them, frequently!

So few weeks back my family pop in for a quick coffee break at Italiannies 1utama. It was around 9pm and the place was around 70% packed (weekday). We ordered two coffees and then i took my son out for a stroll. 10min later, i returned and presto…..we were still waiting for our order.

I dont mind waiting but cant they at least serve us some plain water first? I got hold of the waiter that took our order and asked him whats taking holding up our order?!

Guess what our waiter did? He looked at his other colleague and asked him ” Didnt i tell you this table’s order?!” This other guy, looked like he just saw his grandma in her knickers, just stood there and look at us…..

So it turns out they were passing “orders” (pun fully intended) around themselves.

Just so happens, the manager overheard the conversation among his staffs and quickly came over to apologise. He told his staffs to quickly get to our orders and bam! our coffees came in less than 3 min. Which is what i have come to expect from italiannies!

Around 15min later, the manager came again to apologise (again!) and then we started to chat.  I asked him if i could take a pic of their POS (point of sale) screen as this reminded me of my experience in KFC

After we finished our coffee and my nice little chat with James, i asked for the bill from the waiter. James the  manager came again for the 3rd time and said the drinks were on the house! Damn! i should have ordered pizza and pasta to go! I insisted on paying but James is a BIG guy and you know what they say, never argue with the BIG GUY!

So there you have it, What would have turned into a bad customer service experience was rectified with the right actions : timely apology, quick resolution. Sounds simple enough but yet hardly practiced within the service industry in malaysia

Eyes wide shut

At what point does customer service begins and ends to you? Does it begin during your purchase of a certain goods/services or even before you decide to buy? Or is customer service just after sales service to you?

Last week i went to shop for contact lenses with my wife at 1utama. We randomly walked into any optical shops we could find as we didn’t have much time to spare with baby in tow. We came across this shop called Optique Avenue by Paris Miki and before we enter, my wife said ” Please ask if they charge for an eye test? I need to test before buying a new pair of contact lens”. I was shocked as to why my wife asked this puzzling question- Don’t all optical shops provide FREE eye tests? So we went in and i asked the sales ladies if they have contact lens and if they charge for eye tests.

NO FREE eye test here. shoo shoo....

The sales lady replied, “Yes sir, its RM3.00 (My wife insists that she heard it as RM30) but its FREE if you buy contact lens from us. Flabbergasted, i asked them “What if after the test and you dont have the particular lens with the right power?”

She replied “Oh, then we will order for you!” .

Hmn…..you probably guessed it = i told my wife that we can get better service (a.k.a. FREE EYE TEST) from other optical shops. We then came across England Optical in the old wing of 1utama and true enough, the staffs there were friendly and more than happy to give us the free eye test.

england optical. Free eye tests and friendly service.pity about their prices though...

Regardless of whether we are buying anything from them! After a quick 5 min eye test, we were about to buy from them but the prices were a bit steep, so too bad we decided to try another shop.

The last shop that we went to was probably the best optical shop in 1utama. its a very small scale “mom and pop” style shop and the staffs & tauke were very friendly. They didnt charge for eye test and they actually took around 15min to do a proper eye tests and give recommendation on what lens power my wife should use. Also the price of the lenses there were the cheapest out of 4 shops we went to in all of 1utama.

MY EYE shop in 1utama. The best optical shop in 1utama in terms of service and price. my personal guarantee man....

I had a chance to speak with the tauke (at least i think HE is the tauke) and i asked him

Q : why some shops in 1u CHARGE for eye test?

A: “its probably bcos they had too many customers going for eye tests and not buying.”

Q:  “But wait, dont all optical shops provide free eye tests anyways? so whats the big deal ?”

A : Well, its a malaysian practice. In spore, you actually have to pay S$20, regardless or whether you buy anything or not!”

Oh yeah, before we left, we also took pics of the tauke with my son for my other blog “PROJECT 1000″ (Click to visit and also some customers of his at the shops.

MY EYE Optical shop tauke with my son

SO there you have it. now coming back to the original question on the start of this post, i feel that customer service begins even before a customer transacts with any businesses. I feel especially today, in this globalized, web 2.0 and media centric market, one good customer service stories will really make or break a business reputation.

What are your thoughts? leave me a comment!