Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Dear Store: I hate you!

My latest letter of vitriol campaign:

RE: Poor customer service experience at Edmonton store location

I would like to let you know of a disappointing experience we recently had at the store name in Edmonton.

Last weekend, we intended to purchase a Britax carseat at store name in Edmonton. I called the store before we left our home. I asked the person who answered the phone for hours of operation and whether Britax carseats were in stock. I was told there were certainly some in stock. When we arrived at the store, however, we were told that the only Britax Marathon in stock had a floral pattern (we have a one year old boy). All the other Britax Marathons on display had hand-written signs that said "out of stock". I asked a staff person to double-check on this and it turned out that even the "in stock" floral pattern was out of stock. There was only ONE Britax Roundabout carseat left, but we are not interested in that smaller model. The staff person told us that it would take at least 4 weeks for a new shipment of carseats to arrive.

Although the staff person that we dealt with in the store was not particularly helpful or apologetic, my complaint does not lie there. I would have expected more from the staff person who took our initial phone call, such as some indication that there was a stock problem with Britax carseats or that in actuality only one Britax carseat was in the store. The location of the Edmonton store is more than 30 minutes away from our house, so this was a wasted and frustrating trip for us. I also don't understand why store name would allow Britax carseats to run completely out of stock. This is poor customer service all the way around. We could not wait 4 weeks for a carseat and because of that the store lost a $299 sale from us that day.

Until the weekend, I did not know that big chain store carried Britax carseats. We bought our seat there. Although I would normally enjoy supporting a small store like store name over a big chain department store, in this case the lesson learned was that store name is the last place for us to try, not the first.

Emily Fringer
Edmonton, Alberta

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