You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
JSUTA been to town to bimble about anfd doe some random stuff. One of my jobs - print 200+ photos for our wedding.
Went to Boots, and they do an hour service at 25p per print so it came in at over £100. noticed they have a 5p 24 hour one so thought "that'll do the job", comes in at £13 or something.
When i'd finished faffing about with the machine, I went to see the girl on the counter and asked what the chances were of it maybe being done later that day, just in case, and that I'd be passing so could just nip in on the off chance - she says "Well we're quiet now and I can see the machine processing the order so if you come in later on chances are it'll be done, but it'll def be done by tomorrow."
Fast forward four hours and I nip in. Lo and behold, i can see my prints sitting waiting in the print tray.
Explained to the woman what had gone on that morning and that it was great that I could pick them up now, really handy etc
What does she say? WHAT DOES THE BAT SAY? "I CAN'T LET OYU HAVE THEM NOW, I'LL HAVE TO CHARGE YOU THE 1 HOUR RATE!!!"
[b]WHAT THE FLYING CHUFF??[/b]
I says to her, but I can see them there, you've had to do nothing and i can just take them and and everyones happy
No she says, you have to pay the one hour rate.
A bit daft that isn't it? Says I?
No she says. That's the rules, the girl this morning it's her first day.
Right, I'll get my girlfriend to come in tomorrow I said.
As I walked off I ehard her repeating the rules to her equally jobsworth Loose Wimminy, overly made up, fat dyed hair, fake tan encrusted harpy of a colleague.
Seriously? Where do jobsworths get off? Vindictive cowbag.
Have you already paid? If not, I'd have left them there and gone somewhere else I reckon.
No i hadn't.
I was too overcome by middle class indignation and Katie Price perfume to think straight.
Did she have a go pro helmet cam attached to her head?
with photos i always think of it as paying for being a certain place in the queue, if there's no queue, they get done quicker... 1 hour photos dont cost more to print than 24 hour photos, so the shop makes no loss on that set of prints, but looses a customer... silly fools.
Couldn't see through the shit perm. Maybe hidden. She was a weird lycra-esque orange colour.
Sorry, I think she's being fair, you want 1hr service but to pay for 24hr?
Have a proper think about this. You didn't have an unsatisfying, drunken one night stand with her when you were younger, did you? Near the bins behind the kebab house?
Nope.
I was quite happy to wait for the 24 hour service but the girl said they'd probably be done anyway before the end of the day as they were quiet.
edit: binners, no. No i didn't.
You pay for the guarantee that it will be done in one hour.
Just like you pay for guaranteed next day delivery even though first class often arives the next day anyway.
It's total stupidity to turn a customer away when they're already done.
Explained to the woman what had gone on that morning and that it was great that I could pick them up now, really handy etc
You should have stopped yapping. She probably wouldn't have checked the time they were dropped off if you'd just given her the receipt.
I'd have asked for the manager if I was bored enough to care.
I wanted a cup of tea at the train station. It cost £1.50. She poured the drink and I gave her a £10 note. She didn't have change and I only had £1.20 in loose.
So rather than taking my £1.20 she poured the tea away leaving me thirsty. Soppy cow.
Where do jobsworths get off?
In the toilets, just the same as us slackers?
What sort of photos were they pook? 😯
Maybe she wasn't an S&M fan.
Al, you're wrong. Op willing to wait 24hrs, and if shop was busy, would have to have done. However, shop wasn't and at their decision, did them early. Why wouldn't you then be able to collect? What's the shop lost?
transapp - MemberAl, you're wrong. Op willing to wait 24hrs, and if shop was busy, would have to have done. However, shop wasn't and at their decision, did them early. Why wouldn't you then be able to collect?
I'm not wrong, I simply have a differing view to you 🙄
What's the shop lost?
Income for a premium service.
What's the shop lost?
A future customer, probably more.
Same at our local morrisons last year. Went to get a load printed off one morning for the wife. Asked if I could nip back that afternoon to see if they were done. By all means she says but I'll have to charge the 1 hr rate!!
I wanted a cup of tea at the train station. It cost £1.50. She poured the drink and I gave her a £10 note. She didn't have change and I only had £1.20 in loose.
So rather than taking my £1.20 she poured the tea away leaving me thirsty. Soppy cow.
Should've asked her just to pour away 30p's worth.
I wanted a cup of tea at the train station. It cost £1.50. She poured the drink and I gave her a £10 note. She didn't have change and I only had £1.20 in loose.
So rather than taking my £1.20 she poured the tea away leaving me thirsty. Soppy cow.
Thats not a jobsworth, thats someone who lacks any customer service skills or common sense. Either that or she is a Computer with a AND/EQUAL only gate.
Income for a premium service.
The photos were ready four hours later, so the OP hadn't received the "within one hour" premium service anyway.
Incidentally,
No she says. That's the rules, the girl this morning it's her first day.
I don't believe that their inability to train their staff is your problem as a customer.
Very Germanic wasn't it. Where were you Das Boot[i]s[/i]? 😆
Hora you're just thinking of long hard things full of seamen again.
(good pun though)
These people need to recompile their synergies and think outside of the box. 😆
Das Boots .. ? Nah.
One hour Photo...
IGMC
I'd have asked for the manager if I was bored enough to care.
+1 and ranted in full earshot of as many customers as i could find
Might be worth complaining to their HQ saying that your experience may stop you using Boots in future - they might even give you a discount off a future purchase as a sweetener. I think companies, particularly high street retailers, really need to sharpen their customer service skills as there are plenty of alternatives both shops and on-line to buy products and services from.
Cougar - Member
The photos were ready four hours later, so the OP hadn't received the "within one hour" premium service anyway.
The only way he could have got them in 4 hours was to pay for the 1hr service though.
(good pun though)
I think thats my pinnacle for the year.
Might be worth complaining to their HQ saying that your experience may stop you using Boots in future
This; make sure you address it to the CEO by name, and explain that snapfish offer excellent rates...
200 photos! They should have charged a boredem tax! 😉
in't he the bloke playing the baddie in the new bond film??
I think I would have asked to speak to the supervisor / manager there and then, I bet you would have got them without an argument.
Boot's position seems very reasonable to me you were only prepared to pay for a lower priced service but you expected a higher value and higher priced service.
In any business it would be at their discretion as to whether they were willing to take the hit on revenue dilution. IMO the staff were not being a jobsworths at all they were protecting their company's margins and shareholder value, but I accept that you personally may not agree with this. It their business and their judgement call.
I can't help but think that you seem to have the misconception that spare and idle capacity should result in lower prices, an easy mistake to make.
Just offering a different perspective 😆
The badly informed perspective. I didn't [i]expect[/i] a higher value, higher priced service at any point.
I went entirely on the guidance of their staff.
Last time i used boots to process a film, before digital, they mucked up the prints, so i complained, the manager lady came out and apologised,she asked how many pictures were ruined i said 24, she then went to the display and gave me 24 films as compensation, i dont think she quite understood the process of fotography.
Make a fuss Boots have more cash than us.
Boot's position seems very reasonable to me you were only prepared to pay for a lower priced service but you expected a higher value and higher priced service.
I doubt very much that it's the policy of Boots to withhold photos that they finish early to be fair, just the interpretation of the of that member of staff. I'm not sure they want stuff taking up space unnecessarily anyway.
Like pook said, there was no expectation of a premium service, and I'm sure he wouldn't have made a fuss if they hadn't been ready. It was unreasonable and petty if you ask me.
If she'd said yes the place would be full of folk hanging around saying "those prints I ordered 24hr, any chance they are ready early?"
And they'd say "No, they aren't. Come back tomorrow."
Boot's position seems very reasonable to me you were only prepared to pay for a lower priced service but you expected a higher value and higher priced service.In any business it would be at their discretion as to whether they were willing to take the hit on revenue dilution. IMO the staff were not being a jobsworths at all they were protecting their company's margins and shareholder value, but I accept that you personally may not agree with this. It their business and their judgement call.
I can't help but think that you seem to have the misconception that spare and idle capacity should result in lower prices, an easy mistake to make.
Are you the witch who works in my local post office?
I of course would accept that it was petty, and Boots should probably make if clear that if you pay for a 24 hour service then either they are not available for collection until the next day, or at the very least there is no guarantee that they will be available for collection
But the margin difference is huge £83 of additional margin, not revenue but margin, straight to the bottom line. As cynic-al says no company would want to educate a market in thinking it can pay for a 24 hour service and in return get a 2, 3 or 4 hour service etc.
Perhaps Boots should introduce 1 or 2 more products (2, 4 hour service sort of thing). Years ago in the days of film they had several services. I wonder why these no longer exist, other than there must be no market for them.
Personally I can not see many people pay the premium for a 1 hour service, but perhaps the figures are distorted by Pook's large print run. Would I pay 5-10 times as much for a single print then yes, but for 100 then no?
Anyway I have a broom to rub down, before an early start in my new job in bedmaker's local PO.
And they'd say "No, they aren't. Come back tomorrow."
Erm, no, because she's already started saying yes.
I think in most of these cases it comes down not to staff being vindictive or petty but erm...not very intelligent. I genuinely think they just don't really understand the meaning of flexibility or exercising your own initiative. I seriously doubt she was thinking of 'protecting the companies margins'.
Sometimes people are just arseholes though- I've always had a grudge against the post office after I tried to renew my girlfriends passport for her through their 'guranteed successful application' service (or whatever it's called). Obviously there's a fair few hoops to jump through if you want to renew somebody else's passport for them and I dutifully amended the forms a few times over a week or so after being turned away several times by the same guy who had a very poor attitude. By the fourth time he turned me away we ended up having a heated discussion about what the hell was going on and he was asking me stuff like 'where's she going on holiday anyway?' which seems utterly irrelevant. So I explained that she was needing to go to Cyprus because her dad was seriously ill (true) and his whole attitude changed and he sorted it there and then. Just to put the icing on the cake our loud discussion had drawn one of the other staff over who then said that the original forms I had submitted like 4 days ago were fine anyway. Why the guy felt the need to behave like that I have no idea. Possibly he just hates other people going on holiday.
Of course this isn't indicative of the whole post office but I quite like holding a grudge so they can all get ****ed now anyway.
Did he then try to sell you life insurance? They always do with me. No, just the book of stamps I came in for will do me fine thank you very much.
If the OP selected the 24 hour service how is it his fault if the photo's are ready well before the time, therefore he did not ask for the fast/premium service so he wasn't doing anyone out of anything, the assistant was being ridiculous for the hell of it. I would of gone elsewhere and left them with a bunch of photo's, afterall OP hadn't yet paid for them. That'll teach them.
The 24 hr service is cheaper because the staff/company get a chance to have a proper look at your photos. It gives them the opportunity to make copies for themselves, scan and email funny ones to colleagues, and photoshop in amusing additions before the customer pics them up.
Going in early and demanding the photos denies the bored workers an opportunity to enjoy your pictures.
Good grief.
You pay a premium to guarantee a one-hour service by you're essentially queue-jumping. The regular price doesn't guarantee that, you'll go to the back of the queue and your processing will take up to 24 hours.
I'm sure, *sure* that Boots intention was never to make you wait 24 hours for prints that were ready early. That's madness. It's a lower priority service, like second class post, not an intentionally withheld one.
I'd be tempted to write to head office, not to complain but to solicit clarification on their policy. I suspect they'd be very apologetic. (I wouldn't, because I'm all mouth and no trousers, but I'd really want to).
Take a photo of your bell end, and ask her to develop that in an hour tomorrow. In A4. Simple.
I'm with you. Absolute dross customer service.
My best friend was once barred from a pub in central London for using the stairs at the front of the pub to go to the loo. You were allowed to go down them but not up to discourage people from the street nipping in to use the toilet. We'd been at the pub a couple of hours with a large group (well behaved for a change too) and although the manager admitted the rule was for our benefit (cleaner toilets for paying customers) and we'd spent quite a lot of money but "rules are rules mate". He gave one concession and said the rest of us could stay if my friend left (we all went).
On the other hand I once had a traffic warden who saw me go into a bank and waited for me then explained that he SHOULD have given me a ticket but sometimes just reminding people is enough and that I should be more careful where I park next time.
The next step:
200 posed photos of your manhood on sd card - check
Return to the same boots -check.
1hour printing of said photos -check.
Never return to store again -chck.
(all without paying too!)
DrP
Beaten to it by paulosaxo!
Used to work in a 1hr processing lab many years back & it was policy to keep 24hr work back.
We even offered a 15min service, so you can guess how bad the grading was!
We would get roughly 10% of our 24hr customers trot back in after an hour, chancing it.
Saying that, all the 1hr labs I worked in, quality was terrible, most staff on low wages, could not care less about quality, customers!
Get yourself to a pro lab and pay for decent prints & service 😉
Just a thought, do they have a money back guarantee if your 1hr photos aren't ready in an hour? If so, pay for them, then say they took 4 hours and get a refund.... 😈
I would check every single print for colour cast, exposure & framing, then...
Reject all that fail..
Then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon, then reject the corected reprints & ask for them to be redon........
😉
Completely pathetic. I can't believe shop workers would act like this when high street retailers are struggling.
Al et al - a 24 hour hour service is a guranteed service WITHIN 24 hours. If they're done after 4 hours then they haven't provided them with any premium service. They haven't rushed the job, they haven't done anything within an hour.
Sending customers away is ludicrous.
I take it your stance would remain if he returned the next day after 22 hours. Would you expect him to be told to come back two hours later?