by Biddie
I have been a customer of The Real Canadian Superstore since it opened in Alberta. My son & I were in store # 1566 on July 9, 2009 & upon leaving the store my son was stopped by a gentleman at the exit door. My son was taken back by this as we have never been stopped leaving one of your stores before. I have to admit that my son is not subtle & develops a rude attitude very quickly so when he was asked to stop, he basically stated “What the f— for?” The gentleman asked him for the receipt. My son attempted to keep walking & he was again asked for the receipt. At this point, my son yelled at me as I had already walked through the exit door. I passed the receipt through the small opening left as the door was closing & then opened the door manually & went to stand beside the gentleman. I did not hear what my son said but I’m sure that he was rude & the gentlemen looked at him & said “If you don’t like it, don’t come back”. Even though I had not heard what my son had said, I definitely heard this gentleman tell my son not to come back. When I challenged him on this statement & the way he was talking to my son he told me “If you don’t like it don’t come back” At that point, I was infuriated at the lack of respect & customer relation skills of this gentleman so I took my receipt out of his hand & left the store.
On July 10, 2009 I returned to this store with my daughter to speak to the store manager regarding the incident the day before. I was disgusted to find out that the gentleman that I had dealt with on July 9, 2009 was actually the store manager. I attempted to speak to him about how he had treated my son & I the previous day. As I started to speak, he interrupted me & told me that I did not hear the whole initial conversation with my son. I then stated to him that I know how rude & obnoxious my son can be however, that did not give him the right to degrade & demean another human being. I again attempted to speak with him to try & somehow resolve this or to at least receive some acknowledgment that the situation could have been dealt with in a more appropriate manner. This gentleman attempted to take over the conversation & turn it all back over onto my son (who certainly is responsible for being rude) & would not let me speak. I forcefully then asked him to stop talking & listen to what I had to say. He then said he would listen but within less than a minute he was again interrupting me by talking about having a responsibility to his 400 staff & 5000 customers. I let him know that I did not have a problem with loss prevention as I have worked for a major Canadian retailer as an inventory control supervisor & know how much money that can cost a company. This gentleman still showed me no respect & would not listen. I let him know that I was contacting Head Office & lodging a formal complaint against him. His response was “Go ahead, I’ve had lots of complaints laid against me” as he walked away from me. This situation was dealt with in front of the Assistant Manager & the staff at customer service. It was very apparent that they were all embarrassed to be there & the Assistant Manager would not look at me at all. As this gentleman walked away, I said “this is the disrespect I am talking about”. He completely ignored me & waved his hand in the air as if to say “get lost” & kept right on walking.
At no point was there any acknowledgment that he had been disrespectful, no attempt at any type of resolution, no apology & no assumption of responsibility for the role he played in this situation. Furthermore, to be disrespectful to the same customer twice in 2 days is beyond belief. this type of behavior. If this gentleman treated me this way both times I had contact with him, I have to wonder how he manages his staff & what other customers have been offended by him. As I have managerial & supervisory experience I was absolutely appalled at this man’s behaviour. As a manager you have an obligation to your staff to set an example & it is your responsibility to deal with complaints in an appropriate & respectful manner. I guess I have to ask “What kind of reputation does Loblaws/Mayfair Foods wish to portray to their customers?”
After my experiences over the last two days, I have decided that my grocery dollars will be better spent elsewhere. I will not return to the Superstore for anything that I have always purchased there. I will be transferring my husband’s prescriptions from your pharmacy as well. My children are in support of me & will not be purchasing their groceries, gas, liquor or cigarettes from any of your stores either. I would think that in times where people are pinching pennies & watching where they spend their money, retailers would ensure that their customers are treated with respect & that any complaints are dealt with in a reasonable & fair manner. Where has the idea gone that without customers, retailers & their employees don’t have a job?
I have e-mailed a complaint to the customer service department in Ontario. So I await their response