With the recent Hong Kong trip still fresh in my memory, I find it hard not to compare the customer services experience in Hong Kong and in Singapore. Back in Hong Kong, one evening I entered an electronic shop not unlike Courts near closing hours. The salesperson was very helpful full of enthusiasm showing me the subtle differences between Plasma TV and LCD TV of various brands. Beyond the statistical information and general product descriptions that some Singaporean salespersons can’t even memorise, he showed me the TVs in the viewers’ perspective. In particular, he was pointing out the color vibrancy, the feel of realism, the comfort level, amongst many other key feathers that a viewer should look out for.
Today’s lunch time, I took a train to Raffle City and walked all the way to Suntech to visit the optical shop that I have purchased the contact lens from since 1995. I forgive the fact that as a salesperson, he has thick nose hairs sticking out of his nose (eeeewwww) but I can’t forgive the fact that after looking at my long record card, he said that the product that I have been using is a monthly disposable lens. I told him that no, it is bimonthly. He insisted till he has to refer to the one who sold me the lens (does that make a difference?!).
Excited by new toric lens, I asked this salesperson what the differences are. “Supposed to have more oxygen” was I think the only reply. “Stick with the lens that work for you” was I think his only suggestion. Fine, I have ordered a trial pair to see for myself what the differences will be. Don’t they know that they can easily solicitate customers’ feedback when the customers have decided to place an order after the trial period is up?
Walking back to the office, I stopped by Funan for lunch. Passed by the Nokia shop at ground level after my fish soup rice meal and besides me was a foreigner who was interested in one of the phone. He asked how much the phone is in US dollars. The friendly salesperson even borrow his colleague’s phone and did a live demo on what the phone can do. After the foreigner has gone, I proceeded to ask a few more questions and all his smile suddenly disappeared and gave me a two or three words reply like “It’s a designer phone” and turned his back to me. I am not kidding, he has literally turned his back on me! I asked another salesperson to show me one of the phone and she passed it onto me without a word. She was not even trying to sell me anything. Not a single smile. Like I was a waste of time. Even in Hong Kong, the salespersons are professional enough to give the potential customers a good impression