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Bad Service?...No, More Like Bad Attitude!

Happy New Year!

At least that is what I expected when I went into an M1 Shop at Vivo City on New Year's day. M1 also known as MobileOne Limited is a public listed telco company in Singapore. It is one of 3 major telco companies providing various telco services to Singapore.

I wish I had never stepped into that shop on New Year's Day. I thought I had a bad case of hangover or at least I thought the ones that are serving me had one. Simple basic service gesture has just gone out the window.

I am an M1 customer for approximately 10 years. About this time of the year it is time to do my ritual very two years...that is to change a new mobile (cell) phone and renew my contract on my mobile (cell) phone with M1. I was on a happy New Year's Day shopping with my family on the first day of 2007. I saw an M1 shop and told my wife, it is time for me to renew my contract. Before I went in the shop, I browse around for the latest mobile phone. A young and very attractive lady approached me and ask, "Can I help you"?

Hey I thought it was suppose to be Happy New Year or something like that. No smile greeted me but I am having a great time with my family thus far so I will not let that affect me. So "Yes", I said. "What are the Nokia phones on offer and I would like to renew my contract if that is possible."

The young lady then pointed to me on an advertisement board and said, "Over there". So I went "Over There" and took a look and I narrow it down to 2 phones that I might like but could not decide at that moment so I ask, "Can I take a look at the 2 phones, please." She then said to me, "Take a seat."

So I sat down and within a few seconds she came out with 2 boxes. She took the 2 phones out of the boxes and pass them to me. So like any shopper you like to get a feel at your future purchase and that was what I did, I touched, have a feel and I was curious about the weight of the 2 phones, so I asked the young lady, "Is that the exact weight of the 2 phones"? Now this it where it gets to me. She looked at me (didn't seem happy) and her hands went into one of the box and took out a small cell phone battery and SLAPPED in on top of one of the phone.

Stunned. Both me and my wife looked at each other and just gave a little shook of our heads. So I took the slapped phone and began to feel how heavy it was. I ask her about the weight of the other phone and the same thing happened - SLAPPED, the battery was on top of the other phone. Now I am beginning to feel very uncomfortable but I was thinking to myself - let it go, it is New Year's Day. At this time she then ask me for some details to proceed to check if I am eligible for a contract renewal. So I gave her the details. After the check she gave a nod of the head which I presume I qualify.

Me and my wife made a short discussion on which phone to purchase and finally decided on one. The young lady then proceed to do the documentation and then I ask if I can trade in my phone as I showed her my current phone which was a Sumsung. She picked my phone up and check that I could do a $60 trade-in and the new phone I chose is $98, so if you make a simple calculation, I only need to pay $38. That made me smile for once in the shop.

What I was concern next was my data. I ask her if she could help me by transferring all my data and pictures somewhere so that I could keep them. She then said, "I don't think so, because a Sumsung phone could not...". I don't really understand what she was saying about all those technical jargons. She then signal a Sumsung promoter of the shop to help her. As the Sumsung operator browse through my, she too said she could not do anything.

Concern I proceed to ask her what else can I do. She said I got to manually write down all the numbers and re-installing into my new phone. I was thinking to myself, a stupid pig would not want to do that and I am certainly not one. I got impatient with such attitude and I said to her since it is so inconvenient I will not renew my contract. Sensing my discomfort, she tried a little harder this time and said, it is only 15 datas that I need to copy down and transfer it manually that was because the rest are on the card memory and the 15 names are on phone memory. But she still could not do anything about my pictures. The only other solution she told me was to MMS to my wife's phone.

By this time I had enough and I said, "If it is so inconvenient, forget it. Thank you." And I stormed out of the shop. I never got a reply. How rude?

What made me sick was not the poor service the staff gave for both me and my wife. But what made me sick about it was a 10 year loyal customer just walk into a completely problematic attitude environment. If it is just poor service we can understand, Singapore is extremely poor with that. But if it is poor attitude, something is seriously very wrong here.

Basic service gestures like Thank You, Please and with a Smile are all missing. We were not made welcome at all, in fact we felt like we the customer are more of a hinderance than an asset to M1. I just have not experience something like that before. And this is a complete opposite of what I experience when I was in Kuala Lumpur recently. The service staff are always attentive and there was one instance when I really like a shoe and it was the last piece but just did not have my size. I told the service staff sorry I really like the shoe but you did not have my size. Instead he replied back, "We are very sorry we could not provide a shoe in your size, thank you and please come back again." Wow! That is Knock Your Socks Off stuff man.

I would suggest M1 to seriously considering terminating these bad hats because loyal customers like me and my wife are switching companies. It is no use employing pretty young ladies who do not smile and give customers a hard time. It is no use to have brawns with no brains.

Calvin Yeo
A Totally Unsatisfied Customer of M1
Singapore
01 Jan 2007

Disclaimer: The facts stated here are the opinion of the author through his experience with M1 and by no means an opinion of others. This incident only relates to the author and by no means relate to anybody for that matter. This incident only relates to that very instance and very day and by no means an indication that it is a precedent for any other instances on any given days.

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Singaporeans' Shopping Fever Spreads Online

Hitting the shops may be the ultimate Singaporean pastime, but non-store retailing - particularly Internet retailing - has boomed. Last year, the sector grew by 19.5% and it has grown again this year by an estimated 18%, according to interim data by research company Euromonitor International. An estimated 28% of this year's growth could be attributed to Internet retailing.

The non-store retailing market is now worth an estimated $1.39 billion, up from $1.18 billion the year before. In addition to Internet retailing, the figure also includes the amount spent on direct selling, home shopping and purchases from vending machines.

Leading the non-store retailers is the Coca-Cola Company, which has 3.3% of market share, in a large part thanks to the numerous vending machines it has across the island. Alticor, the parent company of brands like direct-selling firm Amway, which has in its product range everything from nutritional supplements and cosmetics to cleaning products, has 2.7% of the market. Another direct-selling company, NuSkin Enterprises, has 2.3%.

One item people go increasingly online for is groceries. both FairPrice and Dairy Farm International Holdings, which owns Cold Storage, were among the top 10 non-store retailers. While the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore's survey on online buying for this year has not yet been released, last year, at least 27% of Internet users here bought at least one item online, with each online shopper spending an average of $1,068.

Key purchases include travel products, clothing, footwear and sporting goods. And the sector looks set to grow, as people look to be able to shop anywhere, any time, since online shopping offers 24-hour convenience, said research manager Loo Geok Leng of Euromonitor International.

Still, it does not spell the triumph of clicks over bricks, she adds, explaining that while the two formats do compete to some extent, each provides "gratification" in different ways. No matter how well the evolution of information technology and the internet will be able to imitate real life, at the end of the day, it remains an imitation and, as we all know, this pales besides to real deal.

"Being physically present in a shop and able to touch and try a dainty frock before buying it is not an experience that can be fully replicated online."

Arti Mulchand
SPH
Singapore
29 Dec 2006

This article is abstracted fro The Straits Times, Friday, December 29, 2006

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