Complaint about Woolworths

chrisc

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My wife sent the following email to "[email protected]" on 8th August . Today, a lady from Woolworths phoned, saying they had received an email from her. What was it exactly she wanted Woolworths to do? My wife asked her whether she had read the email. She had not, but was just following up. When asked what she could possibly be following up on when she had no knowledge of the contents of the email, she muttered something about this not being her department and hung up the phone.

Such ignorance and atrocious service is amazing for a company like this. You cannot get through to the Head Office. They adamantly resist all complaint calls, saying instead there is an 086 number you can call. When told that the staff there are unhelpful, they simply repeat the number, saying that is all they can offer.


On 22nd July I called the Cavendish Square store to enquire whether a "King Size" electric blanket was in stock. Being advised that it was there, I went to the store, but the staff could not find the product and after 20 mins, some fellow came along and said there was no stock. On advising that the sales person I spoke to said there was, I received a shrug. It was suggested that Blue Route had stock. I asked that they phone Blue Route to find out, and was told they cannot phone other stores.

So I went along to Blue Route to find they also did not have any

I then called the 086 "customer service" line. I was told that unless I had the exact "style number" they could not help and I was to go to a store, ascertain this info and call them back. Not wishing to put up with this nonsense, I hung up the phone.

Do you really expect customers to run around doing your work for you?

The person on the phone was totally disinterested in what I was requesting, saying he had no knowledge of the product. Why do you employ fools who do not know what they are doing?

I then completed am on-line form on 31st July and submitted it. To date no reply has been received.

Is there something I am missing here? Customer service, IMHO should be staffed by people who are knowledgeable about your products and helpful, not giving the impression that they would rather you get off the phone as quickly as possible and stop wasting their time.

In case you do not know what I want to buy, here is a picture of it (except I would like a double one). I purchased one two years and want another. Is that not why Woolworths exists, to sell merchandise?

<pic attached to original mail>
 
It's a real shame that WW standards have been allowed to slip. The store or customer care should've tracked a blanket down and had it delivered to a branch of your choice.
 
Maybe your wife should have included a tl;dr version of that email... :D
 
Ok we boycott them for not hiring whites and now we find out not only do they not hire whites, they hire idiots too. But YMMV.
The seapoint manager and I swop parking money for the orange vest brigade when I'm short a few. So it's the little things that count. I'll even test him sometimes. I need a bottle of sweet sticky rib sauce. And lo and behold, he gets it. Incredible. In a dash, first time and not the BBQ version. Bravo. If I had a bells I'd drink one to him.
 
Take a chill pill and let it be.

Ignorant staff is par for the course in SA. And yes, you as a consumer are generally required to chase after them, rather than the other way round. There are companies where this does not apply, but generally you pay a serious premium for that (yes I know WW is aimed at upper end).

Generally I find the best approach is to evaluate whether it:
A) Caused you serious financial damage
B) Endangers the public
C) Incompetent beyond comprehension

A & B I'll pick up a phone & start phoning people. This depends on experience & personality to some extent, but I find that people generally back down fast when fast with a (male) ice cold serious voice. Protip: Clip off all words and focus on speaking in a "crisp" voice & show zero emotion - freaks people out to no end & gets results fast.

C I'll provide a public service by warning others about their service at every opportunity. McCarthy Silverlakes comes to mind for example. This is the most difficult to evaluate though...people tend to get overly excited about their situation.

That being said, I have a high tolerance for bullsht. e.g. I didn't report the worm I found in my peanut butter jar. Or the worms & eggs I found in my peanut butter flavoured chocolate. Speaking of point C...both those instances relate to every South African's favorite peanut butter brand. ;)
 
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A copy of the email was sent to the Sunday Times. The editor of the consumer watch column asked to be advised if and when Woolworths reply, since they had received similar complaints
 
A similar inability to communicate with the customer caused me to pay up my Woolies account in full and close it, earlier this year.
I had been a fan of the chain for years, but drastically falling standards and rank incompetence have assured that I never set foot in the place again.
 
In my experience, if you complain by EMail, it is very unlikely that you will receive an EMail reply, they, if you are lucky, will phone.

Companies do not seem to understand that it is common courtesy to reply in the same medium that you contacted them.

I presume that the primary reason is that there is a major shortage of people capable of stringing a few letters together to form an understandable reply.

Woolworths, Pick & Pay and Standard Bank all fall into the same category. I am sure there are many others.

How do deaf people complain?
 
When you are unhappy with customer service in WW say aloud in the shop: "This would never have happened at Checkers!"
 
I complained via their online customer contact thing, and gave a phoney number so they had no choice but to email.

They did respond, but were completely unhelpful.
 
Take a chill pill and let it be.

Ignorant staff is par for the course in SA. And yes, you as a consumer are generally required to chase after them, rather than the other way round. There are companies where this does not apply, but generally you pay a serious premium for that (yes I know WW is aimed at upper end).

Yes, and this is why SA is ****ed.
Allowing this mentality to permeate into general South African behavior is a large part of why this country is in massive decline.
 
OP, did your wife try phoning the "if you've waited too long in the queue call this number"

Generally have had good service at the Cavendish Woollies so I'm quite surprised actually (Southern Suburbs home execs are generally a PITA so they are geared towards sorting out problems quickly otherwise it gets painful for the Store Manager)

Blue Route Woollies has been 'slap' all the years - not surprised.
 
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