Disclaimer: The following article describes my personal experience in Singapore and is not representative of the service standards in Singapore as a whole.
This is a topic that I wanted to blog about many months ago. You see, besides value for money, quality etc, Sucre and I like good service. And we won't mind paying a little bit extra if we get good service and would rather not save a few bucks to endure a bad one.
According to Turban et al, 2002, “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation.” - wiki----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thumbs up
Examples of exemplary service, going the extra mile.
Sony Gallery IMM - Was there to check out A700 accessories and get my camera updated with the latest firmware as I was having problem updating it myself. So I asked about the vertical grip since I was there. The store manager was kind enough to let me test it. I knew that I could save 10% if I travel to AMK to buy it, at the expense of time and also petrol. The grip was the last unit they had and the condition wasn't perfect, but I was keen to get one for myself but thought I won't be getting it from Sony Gallery. But the manager went to call up other branches to check if they have new stocks, and promptly made arrangements for a new grip to be delivered to IMM if we want it. No deposit required and they even note down my phone number to give me a friendly call to inform me that the grip has arrived. They went the extra mile to provide great service. Easy 5 thumbs up on service.
Woodcove - Strictly speaking, Woodcove was the 3rd company we sourced for our carpentry work for our new house. The first was a company recommended by my Dad's friend but the exorbitant price means it does not fit our bill. The second was a company from some home deco fair which will be featured in this post later. What we liked about Woodcove's service is their sincerity. They came up to our new house in 3 separate occasions, without taking a single cent, listen to our requirements and gave us valuable suggestions and advices, draw more than 5 pictures to illustrate the carpentry work for free. Their service has been great so far but the final verdict will be passed when I see my carpentry work completed. 4 Thumbs up on service (to be reviewed later)!
There are other examples such as Design light, Calibre and even Qian Hu fish farm. Companies that I dealt with in the recent months while shopping around for my new home.
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Thumbs down
Examples of abysmal service, going the extra mile to rip you off.
Red Dot Interior Design - Days after we booked our flat, we dropped by one of the fair and met one of the boss for Red Dot. His price was significantly lower than the first contractor and the boss seem to be able to provide what we want and was knowledgeable. After spending 1/2 a day there collecting information and listening to many other companies, we decided to let them get our contract, worth more than $10K, which is a lot considering that we DIY quite a few things ourselves and our flat is premium contract (i.e. Floor tiles are completed). That was the beginning of our nightmare as that boss passed the contract to two incompetent workers in his company.
Salesperson A - Wanted to get us to commit to a contract before we even get the keys to our new home which is ridiculous. I wanted a wall where I can put up pictures anywhere I want the way I want it which does not involve nails and stuff, the salesperson couldn't give any intelligent answer except "I'm doing sales, I don't know design". We even had to give ideas to Interior Designers, what kind of company is this? Worst is to come as he messed up our plans, the living room platform went into the bedroom, the picture gallery feature wall became a tv feature wall. We totally wasted our time to look at some lousy pictures that are completely wrong and they even refuse to let us take home a copy of their poor design even though we paid $500 deposit because we didn't sign a contract to give them $10,000 more. Crazy way to do business compared to Woodcove. I would understand if they have any new novel ideas unique to them hence they have to protect their original work but what they did was some standard fare that everyone else did but is not what we want at all. That's not all, the salesperson went on to top the ranks of poor service, when asked the price of certain items, said that he didn't know (and he didn't bothered to call and check it out)! So here we have a salesperson who don't know the prices and refuses to provide service of any kind... great...
Salesperson B - Wanted to get us to meet him in the office once again but I insist on him coming to our new house to look at stuff so he don't get things wrong. He agreed, but only when he realised that there was no way for me to go down to their Kaki Bukit office again. This salesperson was slightly better than salesperson B, he seem to be able to bluff his way.. give some semi intelligent suggestions here and there and promise to quote a different kind of feature wall for me. End up, I get a quotation that had the old feature wall, added in stuff that I don't need at all, missing a door and a bookshelf and best of all, an overall increase of price by more than 10% in every item! In comparison, salesperson A gave a quotation that costs less and did more things barely 2 months ago, and if this is their price in the first place I would have walked away from the fair happily without giving them my deposit. And that fellow dared to give reasons that I did less stuff so will cost more when in fact he missed out a couple of stuff I wanted and gave me stuff that I didn't want and that it never made any sense for 'less' stuff to cost more than 'more' stuff no matter how you weasle your way. Sincerity = ZERO.
Without doubt, Red Dot Interior Design deserves a wholehearted Five Thumbs Down. I'm amazed at myself for wasting so much of my precious time on them.
Cycle and Carriage KIA Showroom - This happened a couple of years back when I was hunting for a set of wheels. The problem that needs service - my sister wanted to sell off her car and I wanted mine, the best situation is sell off my sister's car and transfer the 50% no claim bonus to me. Initially wanted to get a Picanto because it was cute so paid deposit for it and explained our situation to the salesperson. She promised to check it out for us and try to get the no claim bonus thing done. After all, that no claim bonus could amount to more than $2400 in savings. Long story short, that salesperson screwed up and used my name to bid for COE before ensuring that I could get the no claim bonus. When I asked, she said that the transfer could be done only between parent and child or husband and wife. I was furious as I brought my Dad along. If she was sure that this was the case, I would have used my Dad's name to buy the car and I'll get the car loan as his guarantor and save up mega bucks for insurance! I was so pissed off with the service I dumped $10,000 at Cycle and Carriage, took my COE and brought my business to get my Getz. Easy 4 thumbs down
2 comments:
- At 4:32 pm Anonymous said...
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hi,
is the carptener from woodcove good? in terms of quality and pricing. If possible do possible to share his contact wif me? coz i'm also looking for a carpenter. Email is elgin_79@hotmail.com
Thanx a million - At 5:52 pm Mastermind said...
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check back in a month's time. Can't comment about quality when my carpentry work is still ongoing
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