And funnily enough it appears to be coming from management outside of the branches.  I’ve had a spell working for a small branch of Tesco’s so I do feel justified in making these comments.

My first complaint is with the ‘fantastic’ voucher swapping they have been advertising.  Just pop in to your local branch and exchange your £5 vouchers to double the amount.  Wow . . . on the advert she just handed the vouchers over and IMMEDIATELY got given the £10 vouchers.  Not so in real life.

I only had a small amount but never the less having double the amount to spend in store was worth it.  Imagine my and other customers disappointment when we turned up to find out the system was ‘off line’.  My husband jokingly asked if they’d turned the system off and on again. We were told we could go to another local store who were still on line to change our vouchers and then come back in store to spend them.   The problem with that was the fact that if the whole system was playing up we could have ended up going to the other store only to find out they were down too.

We don’t go to our big store often (it looks such a mess in there and the clothes department looks like a jumble sale) but I knew they had school blazers from the year before that my son liked.  With the system down the staff had absolutely no back up plan.  It was a case of the ‘computer says no’.  We asked why they couldn’t sort something out at the tills but this was beyond the staff.  I asked to see the manager and was seen by a Compliance Manager who tried in vain to call Head Office but kept getting an answering service.

It was a Sunday when we went, but, if you insist on opening on a Sunday then provide a full service, not a half hearted one.  The Head Office had left their stores in chaos.

The only saving grace was that as we headed towards the tills we realised the system had come back on.  They’d rebooted it (so my husband was right!).  This then caused queues while people had their vouchers exchanged which took ages!!  Not a straight forward swap like on television.

The second problem was they didn’t have any blazers in my son’s size.  I therefore asked when they would be getting their next delivery only to be told – we don’t know.  We should be getting some in within the next few days but we don’t know what will be sent through was the response.  I’m sorry but not being able to tell a customer what stock is coming in is pretty poor.  Again a Head Office issue not the staff within the branches.

I duly went back in a couple of days later to find that they’d had any more.  I asked someone else who repeated the same line of we don’t know what will be coming in.  I was about to really get cross when I had to check myself because I was angry with the wrong person.  I could look on line I was told, but with a growing son I needed for him to try a blazer on.

I asked the staff member if they had a suggestion box and was told that a number of staff had made suggestions about the ordering process.

My mother phoned another store to find out they had one blazer left in the size we thought my son needed and they offered to hold it for 24 hours.  She took my son to try it on only to find that they hadn’t actually put it by for her.  They found one for him but it was too small.  Good job Asda was close by because this is where we ended up spending our money.

The upper echelons of Tesco really need to re-think their customer service attitude and get their hands dirty on the shop floor to see the problems staff face.

In the small branch I worked we had 2 self scan check outs along with 3 people operated ones.  I suggested (amongst many other things) that there should be someone posted on the tills at all times so that there is a point of contact when a customer comes into the shop.  I was told that Tesco is all about productivity and they wouldn’t like that.  So that sums it up really.

Get the numbers right but stuff the customers.

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2. RBS Boss in Huge Pay Deal
3. It’s Official – NatWest Staff Are Machines

Vince Cable the Treasury spokesperson says:

“Our overall tax proposal is about lifting four million people – workers and pensioners – out of taxation and cutting taxes for people at the bottom end in a fair way.”

People on low incomes do need support but is the right way forward?

Many people these days own homes that have extremely inflated house prices – this doesn’t mean they have the cash to pay for further taxation.

In fact with the way house prices have been soaring, we could all be living in £1 million houses!

A lot of people struggle to survive these days, not just low income families.  Those with mortgages are facing ever increasing fuel bills, water bills, council tax and other financial burdens, making it a job to even ’survive’ let alone live in any modicum of luxury

In fact what is a luxury these days?  A luxury to many is a full fridge of food, being able to pay for necessities, house repairs and that’s without thinking about holidays which for some is a ’super luxury’.

People should be allowed to earn good salaries when they deserve it after working hard for it and be allowed to own £ million houses without being penalised for it otherwise there would be no impetus for people to succeed.

However, with so much greed being thrown in our faces these days, how about taking a good long look at all the ‘unnecessary’ wastage in government and the civil service and especially the  senior people in banking and industry who are being paid ridiculous amounts of money (look at the MG fiasco).

Before they start treading on people even more, lets see some other options.  In fact why don’t they put it to the ‘ordinary’ people to come up with suggestions. Maybe they wouldn’t like what they hear!

No related posts.

Once upon a time there used to be a place where you could go to withdraw cash and deposit your money in a friendly, helpful place called a bank.

A place where cheque books used to be printed on the premises, staff knew your name and you could carry out just about any transaction within the branch with the exception of ordering foreign currency.

There were no hard sales directed at the customers, privacy was a given and the Bank Manager had a proper role within the branch.

There was a hierarchy which sat rightly so and you knew as a customer that if you had a query there was a 99% chance the branch would sort it and quickly.

All the staff were multi trained so that there was always cover, there was a rota system for serving customers on the counters and a rule that if you were serving a customer and two more were waiting, you would ring a bell and back up would arrive.

There was also a ‘don’t let the phone ring more than 3 times before being answered’ rule and ’smile you’re on the telephone’ attitude.

In addition there was an unwritten law that within the branch there would most certainly be a member of staff who had worked in that branch for a number of years who knew the majority of customers.

This would be a great reference point for all new employees especially when serving on the counter and brilliant for continuity.

The atmosphere was just more friendly, more customer focussed and you felt important when carrying out any transaction.

Fast forward 20 years and what a difference but not for the better.  The so called new processes seem to be in place to better serve the staff than the customers.

Bring in more machines, reduce the amount of actual customer contact staff need to have, centralise everything to a faceless call centre and ensure that staff in the branches and staff in the call centres have no idea what each other does or how banking should really flow.

The thinking must be that the more machines there are, the quicker the customers will be in and out and the less real people are needed in the branch.  The branches are taken up more with ’sales figures’, ‘number of products being sold’ and quarterly reports about goodness knows what but it can’t be about what customers really want and the service they require.

Yes, there is a place for technology.  Online banking is extremely useful and far quicker to access information than phoning a call centre and having to go through an ID check.  Cash machines are great for when the bank is closed and the new machines in branches have a place for the busy person IF there were the staff to help customers learn how to use them.

However there are those transactions that can not be conducted through the machines that require the use of a real person and therefore a NEED for counter staff.

It is not a good sign to see counter positions closed down in return for providing another machine to do their job.  All it serves to do is anger customers and limit (as in a local branch) to ONLY being able to put on 4 cashiers.

Sixteen people in a queue waiting to be served by only 2 – 3 people is not good for business.  All these people obviously need a counter service. The annoying thing is this is USUAL.

Not only that on a recent rip to the branch there was a queue for the new machines (!) and clearly a customer was having difficulty with no one around to support her.  Add to this a queue to see the ‘front line’ people in the banking hall, it does not paint a good picture.

How many of the ‘corporate’ bankers know what customers want, how many of them actually visit a branch to see first hand what happens on a day to day basis?  How many bother to listen to customers complaints?  How many actually realise that customers aren’t happy?

Indeed how many of the so called ‘bosses’ that the staff call ‘THEY’ actually listen to the front line people and take any notice.  When querying the queues and lack of staff it’s as though the people in the branch are resigned to the fact that they can do nothing about it.  When asked if they can feed back to Head Office, it’s as though a veil is drawn, as though it’s not allowed.

It’s become a standing joke in our local branch.  People tutting, laughing at the situation but not in a good way.  One lady admitted she usually brings a book in while she’s waiting to be served!  The usual jokes about putting moving seating in with a coffee machine are just light hearted attempts to cover customer contempt but surely something has to be done.

Coupled with all of this is the lack of privacy for your own business.  People do NOT want their private information being discussed at the counter where everyone can hear everthing the cashier is saying.  People do NOT want their banking information being discussed in the middle of the banking hall at ‘customer service desks’ which are placed right by the queueing area.  People do NOT want to queue for ages at counters where they know there will only be 3 people serving.

The first bank to put customers back ahead of everything else will be the winning bank, but who has the balls to do it and in doing so admit that the banking world so has it wrong at the moment.

Related posts:

1. RBS Boss in Huge Pay Deal
2. Tesco – Every Little Helps – Unless It’s Customer Service
3. It’s Official – NatWest Staff Are Machines

To many of us advertising on the television is one of the most annoying of all as it only serves to interrupt our programmes unless of course you’re watching BBC.

They obviously boost a company’s image probably because people feel re-assured if the company has been mentioned on television.  But how many of the current adverts do you actually remember?

Personally I feel that many of the advertising agents have got it wrong, what a brand needs is a good old fashioned ‘jingle’.  Although I don’t use the service 118 247 is beginning to stick in my mind because of their catchy tune and it’s the same for some of the products that used to be advertised all the time.

See how many of these tunes you remember?

Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut

A little bit grainy but memorable never the less.

Penguin Biscuits

P P P Please watch this . . .

R Whites Lemonade

Are you a secret lemonade drinker?

More later . . . . . .


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1. Tesco – Every Little Helps – Unless It’s Customer Service

I’m not ashamed to say I shed a tear when they all closed.

I understand that maybe it wasn’t everyone’s favourite shop, but I loved it for the fact I could buy anything in it. Even now when planning a children’s party, needing a photo frame, toys for presents, party costumes, shoes, pretty much anything actually, I immediately think of Woolworths. And the stationery. My mom used to say I had more stationery than Woolworths. I loved their inexpensive range.

Oh and the sales, were always brilliant. Not like a lot of shops who bring out the crap they can’t sell, you always felt that it was a genuine sale.

The store is irreplaceable because now it means I have to make several journeys to other stores instead of being able to buy everything under one roof. And to be honest, the feedback from people I know is the same as mine. There is no other store to compare, so I really don’t know what went wrong. The nearest shop like it now is Wilkinsons, but I don’t have one close by. W H Smiths is impersonal and expensive and also only available in larger towns. Toys R Us is a mammoth trial because there is too much stuff in there which is distracting.

We used to buy all our music from Woolworths in the good old days of vinyl through to buying CDs of more up to date artists.

Although it’s not the same I was pleased to hear that finally the on-line store is up and running and it’s a nice, clean site. But still needs some work. When you click on an ‘info’ button, you don’t get any bigger pictures or more detailed information on products such as the party items (maybe you don’t need them although I would prefer it.). To be successful Woolworths are going to need to change that although they are offering free delivery on thousands of  dvds, games, books and cds.

But do go and look at the Pick and Mix – that’s fun.

I will no doubt while away the time having a good look around the site. It won’t be the same as spending time moseying around the store, because that was also the beauty of Woolworths. I use the internet a lot, but Woolworths drew me in to the store.

I hope it works for them, but really I’d love to see one or two shops back up and running. Maybe if the on-line side works it may happen.

Meanwhile if you want to read who’s behind the new on-line store click here to take you off to the on-line Wall Street Journal.

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1. Tesco – Every Little Helps – Unless It’s Customer Service

The package allegedly is made up of £1.2m in pay, up to £2m in non-cash bonuses and up to £6.4 m in long-term incentives. And yet, according to the BBC – in February, Mr Hester told the Treasury Committee: “I do think banking pay in some areas of the industry is way too high and needs to come down and I intend us to lead that process.”

Hypocritical or what?

The trouble is the further up these people seem to go within large corporations the more they forget about us little people. Maybe they need bigger binoculars to have a look at us mere mortals.

In times of recession do they reduce the banking charges for people to give them a helping hand no, they just hike the fees up without a care.

I went into NatWest recently which is now owned by Royal Bank of Scotland and was asked if I’d like to complete a customer satisfaction survey. Unfortunately for the lovely lady who asked me, she ended up having her ear bent on why I hate going in to the branch. Suffice to say the box on the survey form was not big enough for me even to write my first sentence.

So if I were to write to Mr Hester (which I had intended to do if I had an address) here is the letter.

Firstly, may I congratulate you on the newest advert I saw recently for mobile banking. Very friendly and believable and it brought back memories of how NatWest used to be when I worked there over 20 years ago.

A brilliant idea taking banking to areas where people need it I especially loved the line in it where the customer says “it’s nice to see a friendly face”, and the NatWest staff member says “you don’t get that from a cash machine do you” or words to that effect.

It really made me sit up and take notice of you as a bank.

Now, lets step back to last week, where I visited a local branch of NatWest. I go in about once a week to pay cheques in, but the majority of my banking I do on-line And there’s a reason for that. I can complete tasks on line a lot quicker than it would take for them to get sorted in the branch nowadays. I have to go to the branch to pay cheques in because there isn’t the technology to do that from home yet.

So I was standing in the queue and a very lovely member of staff asked me if I’d like to pay my cheques into the paying in machine. “Have you got the stamp” I asked. “No, she said we’ve stopped doing that”. This was the process where if a queue had built up a member of staff from in the banking hall would take your paying in book, stamp in and you’d be on your way. Call me old fashioned, but if I come in to pay cheques in, I like the book stamped. The cold faceless machines inside the branch are not what I came in for.

“I hate coming in here” I told this lady. “Do you?” she replied, “why is that?”. After reasssuring her it wasn’t any individual staff I had a problem with, I explained that it was the general service in branch.

Being an ex member of staff is usually the worst type of customer you can have, because I have something solid to compare the level of service with. And I have to tell you, the Bank has it so wrong.

During my chat with the lovely lady she explained that within my branch they would soon be installing more machines for paying in, withdrawing money etc and removing some of the counter staff. After seeing my incredulous look, she agreed with me that this is not what customers want.

You would assume that because I do on-line banking I would welcome this use of computers within the branch, but no I don’t. If I have to go in a branch to pay in money then I want to do it with someone greeting me with a smile. I choose on line at home because of the ineptitude within the branches and I can do it far more quickly.

So have you asked customers why they use the branch and what they would like to see? I bet not. A good piece of advice I had years ago when setting up systems for a company I worked for was “who are the systems for?” Meaning are they to make life easier for your customers or yourself (ie the company).

Elderly people without a doubt like the chat factor. People generally like to be served quickly at the counter. When I worked for the bank we had a really simple system that if you were serving a customer at the till and two more people were waiting in the queue, you called for back up. Everyone in the back room was till trained and there was a rota as to who went on first. It worked, people got served quickly and the till operator could go back to their other job straight after. I have lost count of the number of people who stand in the queue and complain, unfortunately no one takes it further and ultimately leave it to have another moan the next time they’re in the queue.

Today, I feel that the roles have been diluted so much, there is no multi skilling. This is clearly seen in the interaction between branches and the call centres. There is no urgency any more, it’s the given that tasks that would take a few hours to sort out years ago now take days. All you want people to do is sell your goods and products, not provide a good old fashioned service. And if you did, you would take the lead in the banking world.

You have no idea what people want and if you think you do with your new advert, then again you are being a hypocrite by putting faceless machines into branches and then having someone on telly saying “you don’t get that from a cash machine do you” in response to a customer saying “it’s nice to see a friendly face”.

Rant over.

Related posts:

1. Unhelpful Banking
2. Tesco – Every Little Helps – Unless It’s Customer Service
3. It’s Official – NatWest Staff Are Machines