Staff training

Yesterday we went to Bennetts in Longwater.  After looking at a few TVs we placed an order for Panasonic Viera TXL42D25B. The waiting time is about 3 weeks. We were given two stapled sets of papers, one was the receipt and the other was the paper for the 5 year warranty stapled to a another paper. They said once I get the TV I should fill in the serial number on the guarantee paper and send it off to Panasonic. From Bennetts we went to Sainsbury's where I had coffee and Kake did some small shopping. On reaching home I had a better look at the papers we had got from Bennetts and I saw that the paper attached to the 5 year guarantee paper was not for me but for someone else. So I went back to them and this guy on the till says "Oh you don't need this paper" and simply detached it. I asked for the second piece of paper I was supposed to send along with the guarantee paper and he just said all I need is the receipt and the guarantee paper. He was right, but I did not know that. I said that I needed another paper to send to Panasonic along with the guarantee paper. I also insisted to speak to the girl who had served me. Ultimately she came out of a cabin and gave me a copy of my receipt saying that this is what I needed. I said that this is not the same as the paper I had been given earlier but in a different name. When I asked to see the original paper again she said I cannot see it because it is somebody else's.

I this whole conversation the word "sorry" was not mentioned even once. The idiots had made a mistake, given me somebody else's guarantee paper, I had driven 3 miles to bring it back to them, and they did not have the decency to either thank me or apologize for their initial mistake. I am not going to buy from Bennetts again. But the issue is much bigger than just Bennetts. What has happened to staff training? What has happened to training in general? Why do I come across clowns doing jobs they are not properly trained for so often?

Some time ago we bought a digital clock from John Lewis. We ordered it online and then collected it from the store. So far so good. On opening the packaging I found that although the clock was what I had ordered the invoice/receipt was for something else in somebody else's name. I did not bother to do anything about it because it was only a £30.00 clock and I could afford not having proof of having purchased it.

In both the Bennetts and John Lewis incidents, a well trained staff whould have double checked the papers they were giving me and spotted the error before any damage. In Bennetts, they should also have explained to me how the 5 year guarantee works. It wouldn't have taken long and I would have known that the second piece of paper that I have to send to Panasonic along with the guarantee paper is nothing but a copy of the purchase receipt. Had this been done I would not have insisted on a second piece of paper thinking that it is something special. Finally there is the matter of common business courtsey. If you make a mistake you apologize. You do so in your day to day life so why can't you do it in your working life. At the very least do not treat the customer as incapable fo understanding anything.

Until now my experience of Jessops has been nice. When I bought the D60 from them there was a cashback of £30.00 on it. They explained to me very clearly what I had to do to get the cashback and also gave me a duplicate copy of the receipt to send to Nikon.

Companies are simply not paying enough attention to staff training. They just hire people and let them loose to learn on the job. The trouble with relying on your staff to learn on the job is that you do not have any control over what they will learn. Depending upon circumstances they will learn good and bad things. It will probably work out on average, but what you are loosing here is the opportunity to build a corporate culture which leads to consistently high performing employees. Maybe companies are not aiming to build a good corporate culture. Maybe they are simply just aiming to make money. Maybe the senior management doesn't know what corporate culture is. Whatever it might be, it leaves me very disappointed.