Customer service varies too much from one store to another

[Anonymous]

The customer service in O2 stores differ by so much from really great service to absolutely mediocre where you would want to just leave because of how bad it was.

O2 Store in Lakeside lower ground floor flately refused to show me the silver version or the black of the moto 360 smart watch, they had 1 variences on display the gold version but I was not convienced and wanted to see silver version and the black version, the customer service representative in this store said they had some in boxes which was unopened in the back, I asked to see them but he flatly refused and said it was against policy to open it as it would deem it used, I replied how can I buy something I could not see, if I wanted to do that I would buy it from the internet, the whole point of seeing it in the shop was to look at it and decide on my purchasing decision whether to buy or not, after some more debate over the issue the customer service representative said that he was not going to open it up for me to look at and that was that.  I left the shop  bemused that the whole point in having a physical presence in a shopping centre is for customers to have a look at the product before they purchase otherwise I would have just bought it off the internet.  

Next day I went to another branch located in Basildon town centre, the customer service in this branch was exceptionally good, they had 2 versions of the moto 360 on display but I still wanted to look at all 3 variances before I would decide and it a good thing I did as all 3 variances were very different from each other and not just the colour of the watch, the material that the watches were made of were different.  I  was impressed with the customer service in this branch and the way I was allowed to compare versions that I bought one there and then.

My suggestions to O2, if you are goign to sell variances of products then have them in store for people to look and compare, otherwise why are you there in the first place, people buy from stores because of the service they recieve  and the ability to eyeball and touch products otherwise they would buy from the internet which at most times would be a cheaper option.

[Cleoriff]

A fair point @Anonymous. Particularly as you say all 3 models were different. if we are paying a lot of money for something I think we have the right to see it before we buy...:smileywink:

Oh and welcome to the forum by the way....

[jonsie]

I can understand up to a point. Personally I want to see before I buy but maybe the policy is different in different stores. Maybe a franchise store one of them? When you buy a phone or camera in stores I'm sure like me, the first thing you look for is whether the seal is broken. For instance I would never buy a phone where the seal is broken. The only way round it is like you say, have all model variants on show.

[Anonymous]

As I am lead to believe some stores are O2 owned and some are franchises.

Franchises are less likely to open boxes as they 'buy in' their stock whereas O2 owned can return them.

This is where the discrepancies/variations come from.

[MI5]

It would be very expensive to have one of every varient as a demo?

[jonsie]

It certainly would and I can understand why certain stores will not break seals.

[Anonymous]

You can understand why they wouldn't want to break the seals as they usually say don't accept if the seal has been broken. I know myself I wouldn't accept an unsealed product, despite any assurances given by the company selling me the item.

[Cleoriff]

I agree with all of the comments about broken seals but as the OP said there were a lot of differences between the three models then they also have a relevant point....

[jonsie]

What's the saying? Damned if you do, damned if you don't.....

[Cleoriff]

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@jonsie wrote:

What's the saying? Damned if you do, damned if you don't.....

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Then it's down to different working display models then.....