Customer Service. My bug bear, or at least the lack of it. I rarely receive the level of service I require and if I do, you’ll have heard about it via this blog. Spurred on by an inspirational  Australian colleague, Clare Maxfeld, I decided to investigate locally and take my passion one step further. Clare had taken part in a Mystery Shopping expedition and was shocked by the appalling service levels in her native Melbourne. Knowing full well that I could expect a similar response in Peterborough, I decided to test it out for myself but using the shopping trip for a very valid reason. To buy a new suit ( we’re going to a wedding in less than a month) for my ‘much larger than he used to be’ husband.

Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather. The service we received from the 3 stores we entered was unbelievably brilliant. My husband’s chest has expanded to 52 inches and his waist is 10 inches smaller. Most men’s suiting has a ‘drop’ of 6 inches i.e. the difference between the chest and waist measurements so we were never going to buy off the peg – or were we?  M&S, Big on Style and Moss Bros ALL spent ages tracking down separate jackets and trousers from stores throughout the UK. M&S’s store manager went through every rack to see if they had any returns ( the store here is too small to warrant the larger sizes as standard stock) and his staff took to their computers to track down other ranges that would be suitable. Big on Style was fabulous but all the trousers were far too large, so at least hubby’s ego stayed intact, and I did buy him a fab pair of pink stripey socks care of Dragon’s Den’s Peter Jones.

I was literally gobsmacked and so was hubby. Has word got out that customer service is the only thing that differentiates a store if it wants to retain its customer base or is it just different for men?  Whatever the answer, let’s hope it continues.