Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Never been one to complain... much, but I’m astounded at the rudeness of the checkout girl and I assume the manager of Lemar Alsancak! Called in after work for a much earned 6 pack of Efes, as I often do. Always one for a bargain I like to take advantage of the offers, well the efes is buy 5 get - 1 free! Bargain! On getting to the checkout, she scanned the beer in and I handed over 100tl, didn’t really take any notice as she handed me my change but when I was walking away noticed it seemed a lot . Anyhow turns out she’s only charged me for 1 can! Now I like a bargain just as much as the next man, but thought she might end up with a rollicking over it or maybe even charged for it. So I pointed it out to her, after trying to tell me I was wrong and she was right she realised her mistake and called someone over to sort it out! No smile or acknowledgement from this person at all. Anyhow, after the transaction was cancelled and the correct entry made she then wants to charge me for another 6! No love I’ve already paid for one! Anyhow it gets sorted and she virtually threw my change at me and went on to serve the next customer! I felt as though I was a hindrance to her! No thanks, no smile, just a look like I was something she had stepped in! As I was leaving I said she was very welcome and not to mention it! Now I didn’t want my feet kissing but a thanks and a smile would have been nice! I’ll tell you what if it happens again in there I shan’t be in a rush to point it out! I would say I’ll never shop there again but I do love a bargain!

I've seen yer feet, and there wouldn't be many takers!

That's a hard one to call with Lemar as I am always short changed of Kurus on every shop to their advantage. So in your example, I would have walked away knowing they'd get it back in the long run!
Turkish mentality is that they are never wrong and by showing 'them-up' of an error is disrespectful.

Keithcaley wrote: ↑

Thu 24 Sep 2020 4:26 pm

I've seen yer feet, and there wouldn't be many takers!

Here, back in the day my feet were on the cover of foot fetish monthly

Brinsley wrote: ↑

Thu 24 Sep 2020 4:54 pm

That's a hard one to call with Lemar as I am always short changed of Kurus on every shop to their advantage. So in your example, I would have walked away knowing they'd get it back in the long run!
Turkish mentality is that they are never wrong and by showing 'them-up' of an error is disrespectful.

Yeah, I can see how it could be my fault and I shall certainly not be as disrespectful again!

Similar happened to me in the 'new' Ileli. After standing my ground for over an hour when they had charged me over 80ytl for an item they didn't even have on the shelf, they gave me my money back with no apology, nothing. They couldn't even look me in the eye. (It turned out my wait was because they were checking the cameras on the tills). Why are the shop assistants mostly so miserable?

Oh dear IPMAN, you've lit my touch paper.

I've been saying for years that (based mainly on my experiences in the UK) that customer service in retail these days hasn't a patch on what it used to be in the "Grace Brothers" days. I often find on asking about product availability for example, "all we have in stock is out", or asking if they stock the item, "if we do it'll be in aisle 22" and such like. Asking if they know the product i am asking about, "err, no"!!! The best is when i ask for further clarification on a product and the member of staff, no sorry, "store colleague", simply looks at the shelf label and tells me how much it weighs and how much it is.

I get the impression that many (not all) youngbloods in retail these days simply want to do as little as possible with as little customer interaction as possible and learning as little product knowledge as possible, as long as they get paid at the end of the month.

I do generally find though, that my custom in TRNC is much more appreciated and the level of customer service is much more notable, accept in that supermarket next to the Pharmacy on the main coast road near Esentepe when i was last there;

I bought a bottle of wine, a bottle of Raki and a packet of crisps, oh and a carrier bag. The bag split on the way out and both bottles broke in their doorway, leaking everywhere. After a while of hanging around thinking someone was going to bring me replacement bottles, i asked the "manager" outside who was more interested in playing with her phone and fagging it with her heavies, and i was told it was my fault as i should have asked to buy an additional carrier bag.

"Oh i am sorry it's my fault your carrier bags which you charge for are not up to the job of transporting two bottles of plonk 10 meters from the checkout to my car outside". I told her the next and only time i will be going back there is to introduce her to a 10 bottle toting Tesco bag for life so she can see what a carrier bag is designed to do. I wouldn't trust theirs to put dog turds in a bin!

MnM, Just like the tin of white emulsion I bought earlier this year from Gepaz in Alsancak. About 6 foot from the car, the plastic handle broke in two and the plastic container split from top to bottom and fell to the floor plus the lid came off. I stood there with my trousers, shoes and the side of the car plastered in paint. People stood around and did nothing, so I turned round marched into the YAPI Market with white feet marks all over the place, wiped my hands down my trousers and then placed them firmly on his desk, leaving lovely hand prints. Someone then got yards and yards of kitchen roll to wipe myself down. He refused to refund any money but told one of his mates to take a fresh can of paint to the car. I called out "and whilst you're there, you can wipe the b++++y car down" My white foot prints were on the car park for weeks!! How I did laugh!! NOT.

I wish that I'd had advance notice of that!

if staff are rude, the solution is easy. Vote with your feet and wallet.

rowan wrote: ↑

Fri 25 Sep 2020 5:56 pm

if staff are rude, the solution is easy. Vote with your feet and wallet.

Ask for their Supervisor, and complain there and then in language that both the Supervisor and Staff member will understand.

If the Supervisor does not respond in the correct manner, demand to see the Store Manager or Owner.

They will never learn if you don't tell them in a manner which makes the point.

If you simply walk away, the rude person 'got away with it' and the store suffered without knowing why!

What's the point of that?

I used to be a "walker outer", but frankly no one cares. However, been "spoken to" in public is much more effective. But be prepared for locals to join in the discussion, even if they were not even in the shop at the time. They just can't resist it?

I too have walked out, and refused to go to 2 establishments here after their complete rudeness. Both businesses have since disappeared, but am sure it wasn't due to lack of sales just from me. Most people are pleasant, I suppose it can depend on the customers attitude too though, it's not all one-sided. However in the OP's case, that was definitely ridiculous, and I'd not be so keen either to point out their mistake again.

I too vote with my feet, but have to at some point stop doing that, as am running out of places to go.

The thing is to get them so pissed off with your complaining that they actually make the effort to do things the right way - just to shut you up.

There's no logical reason why you should be the one to suffer inconvenience!

Can see your point KC, and yes if constantly complaining works, then all good. I just cannot be bothered with all the hassle and the shrugged shoulders.....if they can't be bothered, then I can't be bothered shopping there. Luckily, in Tatlisu, we seem to have very friendly, but small shopping places. I can afford to be picky when venturing elsewhere.

Revenge is easy, fill the trolley with frozen items, have an argument, walk out leaving frozen items to thaw-out rendering them unsaleable.

Always assuming they will be good enough not to just replace them in the freezers for the next poor unsuspecting mug to come along.

I never get any of these problems, I must be too easy going.

Don't think you'd be too easy going if you were standing dripping white emulsion.

On a plus side, Erdener on the main road in Ozankoy, bought 2 trolley loads of cleaning stuff when we last out there in our own place for the first time and spent a week cleaning it top to bottom, as the previous English owners didn't know the meaning of the word clean. Come to think of it they didn't know what "working properly" meant either but that's another story.

Anyhoo, 2 trolleys full of cleaning stuff including about 10 rolls of kitchen roll and 4 jumbo bottles of laundry liquid - and as we'd spent so much, the little checkout girl gave us what must have been an extra 10 rolls of kitchen roll and 4 jumbo bottles of laundry liquid free off charge. I said oh hang on and i put back 10 kitchen rolls and 4 jumbo bottles of laundry liquid and said i don't need two lots and she deleted them off the bill - what was bloody good customer service though was that she let me keep the free of charge 10 kitchen rolls and 4 jumbo bottles of laundry liquid - result!!!

Erdener are very good, where we were charged twice for several items and only discovered it when we arrived home. Went back and checked it with them and they refunded the difference straight away, we've been shopping there since the days when they gave you a box of matches and some sweets in lieu of small change.

Erdener is the absolute best, never shop anywhere else.

Could it be that sometimes the customer is the problem?

nah, they're always right.

MnM.........you are putting the locals down and you don't even live here yet,am sure you will be received with open arms,get a life.

happyinthesun wrote: ↑

Tue 29 Sep 2020 5:54 am

MnM.........you are putting the locals down and you don't even live here yet,am sure you will be received with open arms,get a life.

Could you point out the sentence or paragraph where mnm 'put the locals down' please?

bought a bottle of wine, a bottle of Raki and a packet of crisps, oh and a carrier bag. The bag split on the way out and both bottles broke in their doorway, leaking everywhere. After a while of hanging around thinking someone was going to bring me replacement bottles, i asked the "manager" outside who was more interested in playing with her phone and fagging it with her heavies, and i was told it was my fault as i should have asked to buy an additional carrier bag.

"Oh i am sorry it's my fault your carrier bags which you charge for are not up to the job of transporting two bottles of plonk 10 meters from the checkout to my car outside". I told her the next and only time i will be going back there is to introduce her to a 10 bottle toting Tesco bag for life so she can see what a carrier bag is designed to do. I wouldn't trust theirs to put dog turds in a bin!

There you are ........Mr. Oracle.

Well that seemed like a valid complaint to me - would you have been 'happyinthesun' if that had happened to you, and you got the same response?

It seems to me that mnm was factually reporting an actual incident , not making unfounded generalisations about all 'locals'

What would you have said in the circumstances? - "Oh dearie me! Don't worry about it, that's perfectly satusfactory, I don't mind at all" ???

I don't care where you are in the World, if you receive bad service, you have to do something about it unless you're a complete wimp.

I don't get the point of your 'Mr Oracle" comment by the way - was it intended as an insult, or what?

I've just Googled some definitions of Oracle. You can take your pick and then decide whether it was an insult or not!!

In Robert Graves' book 'I Claudius' , didn't the Oracle at Delft keep the corpse/skeleton of her predecessor in a cage suspended from the roof of the cave?

I don't see how that's relevant!

sophie wrote: ↑

Sun 27 Sep 2020 3:43 pm

Don't think you'd be too easy going if you were standing dripping white emulsion.

I always hold it from underneath in case the handle breaks.

Exactly frontalman, I never trust any carrier with bottles, common sense in my world...…

happyinthesun wrote: ↑

Tue 29 Sep 2020 5:54 am

MnM.........you are putting the locals down and you don't even live here yet,am sure you will be received with open arms,get a life.

I wasn't as you said, "putting locals down". In my original post above about customer service these days, i did say my experience was mainly based within the UK. My subsequent post didn't name and shame the Esentepe supermarket concerned as i am not in the habit of doing so.

As has been pointed out above, my comment was valid and topical. Whether i live in the UK or TRNC is irrelevant, though i do have property in both.

The very essence of any forum is to share information and experience. Forums are also about making friends and i doubt i'd make many by telling people to "get a life" at any time, unless in jest and especially after only having posted 28 times. Probably due to that as well as other attributes, I am always welcomed in TRNC with open arms by the many, many friends i've made there over the years, most of which are TC's.

I notice you did not commend my later comment re Erdener.

That is all.

You chose to refer to the owner of the store as "fagging it with her heavies" along with other insults.....maybe you should use common sense and not expect a plastic bag to carry two weighty bottles of wine.In view of the only other local market being closed you will have a fair journey to pick up any wines locally......all because you made a fool of yourself,good for you.

happyinthesun wrote: ↑

Thu 01 Oct 2020 8:12 am

You chose to refer to the owner of the store as "fagging it with her heavies" along with other insults....

I get the feeling that you are one of those woke blokes who look through the minutiae of everything to find something to get virtue signaling upset about.

Actually l am female,what a poor judge you are.I also happen to be married to a member of the family who owns the establishment so l am more than qualified to defend them.