Pandora’s box – ancient Greek myth and the go-to innuendo for unimaginative 80’s comedians. Well, I opened Pandora’s box a couple of weeks ago and, to be honest, I was quite disappointed with what I found inside.
I recently opened the door to Pandora’s box (their Solihull branch) – I was looking for a birthday present and had seen a bracelet on their website. I honed in on said bracelet as soon as I walked into the shop – no browsing necessary, I’d done the research online and was here purely to check it over and, hopefully, perform the transaction.
I approached the shop assistant and told her which bracelet I was interested in.
“I don’t think we have any more of those in stock.”
“Oh.”
“I can check…If you want?”
I did want, and off she went to check. Upon returning from the depths of the stock room she was already shaking her head at me from across the shop. That would be a no for the bracelet, then.
We stared at each other awkwardly as I waited for her to either tell me when the bracelets would be back in stock, or offer to order me one.
Thankfully, another shop assistant broke the silence when she said, “I suppose you could see whether they have them at the Bullring store?” I looked expectantly at the first shop assistant, assuming that the question had been directed at her.
Apparently it had not.
“OK! I think I’ll leave it for today, then,” I said, walking straight out of the shop and into Pret A Manger, to take my frustration out on their new macaroni cheese.
It was over that macaroni cheese that I pondered just what had gone wrong in Pandora. Was that disappointing service down to inadequate staff training, or was it a open and shut case of staff sabotage?
It’s a mystery.
A mystery that I will probably never solve, but it’s a situation that could have easily been avoided if it were for a few small, simple acts.
I’ve been around the EC long enough to know that the questions that you ask are important, and in the case of the first shop assistant this was true – she shouldn’t have asked if I wanted her to check whether they had any bracelets in the stock room, she should have just volunteered to go and look. It immediately irked me.
The other shop assistant didn’t really help, though, as she also asked a bit of a ropey question when she instructed me to check the Birmingham store.
What they could have done, if they’d wanted to do more than the bare minimum and go the extra mile, is offer to call the Birmingham store for me.
Maybe they could have put one on hold for me?
Or asked for it to be delivered from Birmingham to Solihull?
Or they could have let me know when they’re expecting new stock so that I could come back?
I still felt vexed about the whole experience when I returned to the office and you bet I told everyone around me all about the sorry situation. Customer service, good or bad, gets people talking and boy did I talk. And rant. And rave. In fact, when I opened the door to leave the shop that afternoon, I unleashed a right Minton Mood on the world.
