Peats staff a nasty bunch

10000maniacs

Went into Peats Parnell Street recently to buy a cake of blank DVDs. There were no price tags on some of the DVD packs so I politely went to the counter to enquire about prices. There was a fat employee and his mate behind the counter and they decided to have a giggling competition while they were dealing with me. I know its hard to get good staff these days but Peats have lost a good customer because of this. I ended up going to Maplins (just around the corner) to buy my DVDs.
I had my eye on Bose sound system at Peats that I was going to buy for Christmas, I am going to buy it at Clerys instead. What prats.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

I hope you're telling Peats this as well as us?

Gillo

Have to say I agree entirely with what you are saying, the service is generally crap.
I'd suggest you write to either Ben or Andy Peat AFAIK they are the two top dog's within the company.

I work for a company mystery shopping and had to do Bose, the guy in West & Gardiner (Clery's) was great I think his name was Andrew or Anthony, he actually had me ready to save up and get a system. As for Peats, I had to visit the place a number of times just to get served and even at that I had to stand between the sales guy and the TV he was watching just to get noticed. I'd say the place gets fleeced rotten by lifters, the staff never seem to notice what's going on.

In fairness to Peats I have on a few occasions been pleasantly surprised, one guy Warren who sold me earphone's was quite good.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Mmmm... cake.

The only thing I don't like about Peats staff is that they'll stand there waffling to some customer for 15 minutes while the queue grows... I appreciate that they can give helpful advice, but I'm fúcked if I'm standing there waiting just because some muppet doesn't know how to (a). RTFM or (B). Google it.

Nasty though? No that's not been my experience at all.
To give credit where it's due, Peats staff generally have a reasonably good knowledge of hardware, or if they don't they'll at least fetch one of the staff members who does.

I still think they need an express line for people who don't actually have any questions.

10000maniacs

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

Mmmm... cake.

Thats actually the official name for a pack of DVDs that don't come in individual cases, but instead as a tube shaped pack.

johnnyrotten

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

Mmmm... cake.

The only thing I don't like about Peats staff is that they'll stand there waffling to some customer for 15 minutes while the cue grows....

To make a cue grow get one of these

DonkeyStyle \o/

johnnyrotten wrote:

To make a cue grow get one of these

Stop giggling at me you fat bastard.
That's it, I'm never shopping here again.
*storms out*

whiskeyman

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

I hope you're telling Peats this as well as us?

Why? I'd only complain if I needed the level of service increased and I knew I couldn't take my business elsewhere.

The best thing you can do for the company is complain - then they can resolve the issue and keep your custom, and probably that of others who may encounter the same poor service.

The best thing you can do for you is to take your business elsewhere and advise others to do the same. That's what'll hit the company much harder than any complaint.

DonkeyStyle \o/

10000maniacs wrote:

Thats actually the official name for a pack of DVDs that don't come in individual cases, but instead as a tube shaped pack.

Yeah I know.
The thing is though, most people I know call them spindles... even the peats website lists them as spindles.
If the staff had never heard the former term and assumed you thought there was a little cake inside, I'd see how they'd find it something to giggle over.
I wonder if that's what it was though... did you say the word 'cake' at any point?

10000maniacs

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

Yeah I know.
The thing is though, most people I know call them spindles... even the peats website lists them as spindles.
If the staff had never heard the former term and assumed you thought there was a little cake inside, I'd see how they'd find it something to giggle over.
I wonder if that's what it was though... did you say the word 'cake' at any point?

Good observation, and alas no i didn't use the word 'cake'. Although would that have given them an excuse to be nasty?. maybe it was the lurex suit I was wearing at the time. Only kidding.

DonkeyStyle \o/

10000maniacs wrote:

Although would that have given them an excuse to be nasty?

No, but if people were giggling and I thought it was at my expense, I'd sure want to know what the joke was.
I'd rather they were laughing at me for something I'd find funny aswell like the cake wordplay than something more cruel like my hair standing on end.
You seem pretty certain it was aimed at you in a nasty way, so I suppose it doesn't matter really what the joke was.
Putting myself in your position... yeah I wouldn't go back either.
You can get the same stuff cheaper elsewhere anyway.

Wishbone Ash

10000maniacs wrote:

I ended up going to Maplins

:eek: Maplins - I'd take the staff in Peats anyday. :eek:

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

whiskeyman wrote:

Why? I'd only complain if I needed the level of service increased and I knew I couldn't take my business elsewhere.

The best thing you can do for the company is complain - then they can resolve the issue and keep your custom, and probably that of others who may encounter the same poor service.

The best thing you can do for you is to take your business elsewhere and advise others to do the same. That's what'll hit the company much harder than any complaint.

Do both. Complain. Don't go back. Someone deserves to have their knuckles rapped for that.

10000maniacs

Wishbone Ash wrote:

:eek: Maplins - I'd take the staff in Peats anyday. :eek:

The Maplins blank DVDs were all priced correctly, so I didn't have to interact with any of the staff except to carry out the transaction of DVD purchase.
Ill ask them a hard question, like how much is this cake, (er sorry, spindle) of DVDs when the case ever arises in the future.:)

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

Do both. Complain. Don't go back. Someone deserves to have their knuckles rapped for that.

yeah, Might just do that.

wyndham

10000maniacs wrote:

There was a fat employee and his mate behind the counter and they decided to have a giggling competition while they were dealing with me.

What were they giggling at? You didn't 'accidentally' have your lad out or something?

Revalco

Agree with the OP, service is generally poor, but the products/prices are sumtimes good. Its like everywhere theres good and bad staff,just luck of the draw really.

Would also like to know what was so funny?

Kintarō Hattori

You could complain to me and I'll see what I can do.

KTRIC

I worked in Peats many years ago for a good while. The staff back then were very helpful, although there was always one or two pr!cks. Many of the original staff are still there 10 years later and the impression I get is that the new younger guys are the messers.

The management in Peats tend to take a fairly old-school / corner shop attitude to the shop and their staff and I think they would be fairly approachable when dealing with complaints.

the_syco

I think Peats are pretty good, and if they know they don't have X, they tell you where you could get X, such as Maplins around the corner, or Y shop at Z street.

My only complaint would be that when they moved, the customer service dropped down a notch. I blame this on there being no barrier between the PC stuff, and the other stuff. In the old days, I could go into peats, go upstairs, find the area and get the item with ease, or if not, one of the 3 guys at the counter would know where it is. Now, its a case of looking around for 15 minutes, not finding it, asking the guys at various counters, each of them trying to fob me off, untill I get to one of the (I presume) techs, who can help me.

MrVestek

Trust me mate, they weren't giggling at you. I've heard this story from the other side already.