The Spark Retail Experience....

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jamesrt

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# 261804 16-Dec-2019 13:53

...is truly awful.

Their shops are busy; which they may think is great for them; but their retail customer experience just sucks.

Every Spark shop I've been into over the last 6 or 8 weeks (and there have been a few for reasons!) have been equally bad.

The main issue is there is no queuing system - lots of products to look at / play with scattered around the store is great; but zero method of letting (busy) staff know that you really want to talk to them. And nothing preventing the lucky person who just wandered into the shop the moment a staff member became free grabbing that staffer and totally bypassing the other 6 or so of us who have been standing there patiently (or not so patiently in some cases!) for upwards of 15 minutes waiting our turn....

Gaaaahhhhh.

Does Spark employ a "secret shopper" agency? 'Cause they ought to!

JaseNZ

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# 2376288 16-Dec-2019 14:06

Would have to agree re their stores, hit and miss being able to collar somebody, Depends on what day and time though.

I just tend to do it all on line so much easier.

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding : Ice cream man , Ice cream man

gzt

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# 2376289 16-Dec-2019 14:07

Yeah similar experiences. Also had a couple of potential store says call CSA, CSA says go to the store loops. On the other hand they have so many stores now I can pick one that's not busy at my preferred time and that tends to work for me. Also like that I can pick things up in store and put on my home account. Overall pretty happy with the overall experience provided I've made time for it.

jamesrt

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# 2376304 16-Dec-2019 14:12

gzt: Also like that I can pick things up in store and put on my home account.

"Picking up" implies they have the items you want in the store. Sigh.

gzt

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# 2376316 16-Dec-2019 14:20

Similar experience here running in to play with the first round of Nokia.

dougierydal

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# 2376410 16-Dec-2019 16:17

One person supports this post

I found this amusing in my last visit instore.

I have an unlimited mobile plan and wanted to add my partners phone for $29.99 a month (actually $19.99 as they give a $10 discount), and i walked in and they asked for ID, i didn't have it on me and they said we can't do anything unless you have ID.

So i went back to the hotel (I was in Auckland for business at the time), and logged on to their site and used the live chat feature to achieve the very thing they couldn't do in person with me with instore.

The only 'security' question they asked me online was my name, DOB and account number. All of which i could have told someone instore.

I can't see the difference??

gehenna

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# 2376413 16-Dec-2019 16:24

Disagree, every in-store experience I've had has been excellent. I've even posted as much on here a few times, calling out individuals who were fantastic to deal with.

That's a shame about your experiences OP.

networkn

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# 2376414 16-Dec-2019 16:26

To be fair that seems typical of ALL retail Telecoms companies, the VF stores I've been to in the past few months are much the same.

In the US, you can grab a ticket or get a number to indicate you'd like some help, then you browse and someone calls out your ticket number. It's an "interesting" experience, but means they know you are there at least and that you aren't just playing with the nice gadgets.

JaseNZ

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# 2376439 16-Dec-2019 16:57

Would agree its pretty much the same in any retail telco store, Sometimes you have to be the squeaky wheel gets the grease and speak up so you get noticed.

Now places like Harvey Norman etc are different they pounce on you when you enter the store hahahaha

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding : Ice cream man , Ice cream man

firefuze

433 posts

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# 2376468 16-Dec-2019 18:00

dougierydal:
I found this amusing in my last visit instore.

I have an unlimited mobile plan and wanted to add my partners phone for $29.99 a month (actually $19.99 as they give a $10 discount), and i walked in and they asked for ID, i didn't have it on me and they said we can't do anything unless you have ID.

So i went back to the hotel (I was in Auckland for business at the time), and logged on to their site and used the live chat feature to achieve the very thing they couldn't do in person with me with instore.

The only 'security' question they asked me online was my name, DOB and account number. All of which i could have told someone instore.

I can't see the difference??

Phone through to the contact centre there is an audio recording, ask you come questions - that serves as your ID equivalent. Same scenario with online chat but instead there is a chat transcript. In store these aren’t possible so the requirement for photo ID for face to face interactions.

jamesrt

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# 2376489 16-Dec-2019 18:40

networkn:

To be fair that seems typical of ALL retail Telecoms companies, the VF stores I've been to in the past few months are much the same.

In the US, you can grab a ticket or get a number to indicate you'd like some help, then you browse and someone calls out your ticket number. It's an "interesting" experience, but means they know you are there at least and that you aren't just playing with the nice gadgets.

Yup; agree that VF and 2D are very similar in-store as my original grumble.

I've used the ticketing system in Hawaii - it's great. Can't be that hard to implement at the least a low-tech "pull a ticket off a roll" system, surely? Probably doesn't meet the "look" for a Telco, however!!

graham007

109 posts

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# 2376821 17-Dec-2019 10:10

i have been to 2 VF stores and both got a excellent queing system so staff know that people are waiting to see them ,

and if you are browsing , the extra staff also come to help you.

so VF is all good as far as i know.

MikeAqua

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# 2376837 17-Dec-2019 10:36

Partner went to Spark last weekend and bought a new iPhone (no-one's perfect). She paid for it in store and got home to find it had also been charged to her account - one phone for the price of two! Couldn't resolve the issue via chat or phone so she had to go back into the shop. Trainee salesperson was blamed. No apology offered.

Mike

Oblivian

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# 2376841 17-Dec-2019 10:45

I was in Australia for the release of the Iphone 11 at the local apple store. Now that was a strange queuing system.

You book in with someone standing at the door with a tablet to be even able to take a look (unless it quiets down and you sneak past for a non personal interactive look) and then get an appointment to be invited to meet your sales person to go play and possibly buy your new phone. Even more of a wait if you have a fault to book in and sit down on little cushioned blocks. All the while there was a live sales pitch on wall to wall screens about your new IOS version awesomeness

And you aren't thanked when you walk out with one, but congratulated.

They're sure about experience there.. creepy experience :)

Not sure I'd like our local ones to go like that. It was a bit odd feeling.
But there should be at least a bit of mental note taken by agents at a glance to ensure the people 'lingering' are looked after in order at least rather than hone in on potential sales browsers

gzt

11026 posts

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# 2377028 17-Dec-2019 13:49

graham007:
i have been to 2 VF stores and both got a excellent queing system so staff know that people are waiting to see them ,
and if you are browsing , the extra staff also come to help you.

so VF is all good as far as i know.

I visited VF queen st ak a few months ago. No queuing system except actual queues. I was prepared for a wait and wait I did...

bandicoutts

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# 2378110 18-Dec-2019 23:59

Oblivian:

I was in Australia for the release of the Iphone 11 at the local apple store. Now that was a strange queuing system.

You book in with someone standing at the door with a tablet to be even able to take a look (unless it quiets down and you sneak past for a non personal interactive look) and then get an appointment to be invited to meet your sales person to go play and possibly buy your new phone. Even more of a wait if you have a fault to book in and sit down on little cushioned blocks. All the while there was a live sales pitch on wall to wall screens about your new IOS version awesomeness

And you aren't thanked when you walk out with one, but congratulated.

They're sure about experience there.. creepy experience :)

Not sure I'd like our local ones to go like that. It was a bit odd feeling.
But there should be at least a bit of mental note taken by agents at a glance to ensure the people 'lingering' are looked after in order at least rather than hone in on potential sales browsers

They have a similar experience at Telstra stores in Australia. I did the role quite a lot while I was there, and it was IMO the hardest thing to do in the store.

Because you need to stay free to greet people and make sure that nobody's missed, there's periods of time where you're standing at the front of the store twiddling your thumbs and there's customers waiting (and giving you death stares). Sometimes I literally had to chase people around the store to greet them and say "Hey, if you need something, come and have a chat with me and I'll make sure you're looked after". You'd be surprised the number of people who stuck their hand in my face as I tried to greet them, walked to the unstaffed front counter, and then got frustrated when nobody helped them out.

Personally, I think it's hard to find a solution that pleases everybody:

if you have nothing at all you're not catching people as they come in and then customers get served in the wrong order
if you have a self-ticketing system you're cold and impersonal, and treating everyone like a number
if you have a system like Apple/most Australian telcos you've got someone standing around doing nothing 'when they could be serving customers'

They're all pretty frustrating as a customer. I don't really know what the solution would be, but from my experience customers and staff alike weren't particularly fond of the person greeting at the front of the store.

I no longer work for Skinny.