The Consumer Complaints Blog

I’ve decided to start publishing positive experience in order to showcase incidents where companies “get it”. The goal being to reward those that do it right and to show those that don’t, that there is a right way and a wrong way to provide customer service. Maybe something will actually sink into their thick skulls.

Following is an exchange with Dominion. (A supermarket chain run by A&P. That’s for those not in Toronto or Canada.) Upon waiting in line for an insufferable amount of time for the 4th week in a row, I asked the cashier why there weren’t more people working in the evenings. The poor woman’s hands were flying as she was scanning food through. This was not the fault of the employees for once. She explained to me that I’d have to complain to the head office because there was nothing that she could personally do about it. I could find the number on my receipt.

Note for employers: This is an example of a good employee. She dealt with my question, gave no attitude and gave me a viable option. Dominion also got it right by including a customer service number at the bottom of their receipt. I didn’t use this and chose to write to them from their site instead.

This was submitted to them from the Dominion website.

Please add more cashiers at night at the 24hr DOminon located at Wilson and Keele. I go there about 4 times a week, and it’s always understaffed. ALthough most of the cashiers are efficient, there are usually only 2-3 working at night, and the lineups are terrible. It sometimes takes up to 30 minutes to be served! thank you

This was their first response.

Dear Mr. Smith,

Thank you very much for taking the time to write to us concerning your shopping experience at our Dominion store at 1090 Wilson Ave.

I have forwarded your concerns along to the store Manager, Dan Wright, for his review and investigation with his staff. I have asked the Manager to follow up with you regarding your concern.

Mr Smith, you are a valued customer in our store and I sincerely hope you will give Dominion another chance to satisfy you.

Best Regards,

Lucie Gignac

Customer Care Specialist
A&P Canada Co., a subsidiary of METRO INC.
1-877-763-7374

Then the manager from the store actually wrote!

Good Afternoon Mr. Smith

First let me apologise for the experience you had at my location. I would also like to assure you that I have taken corrective actions in order to fix the line up situation with the addition of not only more cashiers, but the timing in which they are scheduled. With the summer months now upon us we are finding our business to be much greater than expected during the evening hours and are working diligently to rectify any line ups over 3 – 5 minutes in length. I find this to be an acceptable number, however I do not find 20 – 30 minutes al all acceptable and will do whatever it takes to make this right. If you find yourself in a line up that exceeds my time frame, outside of extenuating circumstances please feel free to contact myself at the phone number or e-mail address below so I can continue to create an enjoyable shopping experience for you at my location. Also if you are ever in my store during daytime hours or on Saturday evening, please have them page me so that we may talk more in person. I look forward to keeping you as my customer and will do what is necessary to make this right.

Thank You
Dan Wright
Store Manager
Dominion store #493
1090 wilson ave.
North York, ont.
M3K 1G6

Now if they actually improve the situation with the long lines in the evening, I have to say that they certainly understand what customer service is all about. It’s too bad that they use preservatives on their cuts of pork but that’s a post for another day.

Good work on your customer service Dominion.

Lessons learned.

1. Empower the customer and the employee by providing a method for customer feedback and complaints. Putting the number right on the receipt was excellent.
2. Respond to the customers’ complaints right away. The followup from the Manager excellent. Just responding with a generic message and no actual action or followthrough is disingenuous and will actually make the customer fell less like to trust your brand and give valuable feedback in the future.
3. It pays to complain if you don’t like something. I have watched several people leave Dominion and abandon their purchase because of the long lines in the evening. They didn’t complain. The situation didn’t get any better and the store lost business. Not a good proposition for anyone.

If you’re experiencing bad customer service at a larger retailer, pick up the phone or mouse and make your voice heard.