Earlier in the week I posted about a bad shopping experience at David Jones. Maybe the post lost something in the writing - it attracted the ire of one person (see comments).

After leaving the store I filled in a web complaint form and was pleasantly surprised to receive a gracious reply:

Dear Mr Jennings,

 

Thank  you  for  contacting  David  Jones.   Firstly,  please  allow  me to apologise for any disappointment or frustration caused to you when shopping in the Foodhall of our Market Street store recently.

 

I  can  offer  no  excuse for the series of events that have occurred. Your requests  were  simple  and  consequently  our  staff  should  have had the knowledge  of  all  current  promotions and the skills to be able to fulfil your needs with no difficulty.

 

I  apologise that we have let both yourself and David Jones down in the way in which we handled your shopping experience.

 

I  can  assure  you that we take all feedback seriously, and have forwarded your  feedback  on to the Store Manager  and Foodhall Manager of our Market Street  store  to  follow up with our frontline staff.  As a result we have agreed with the Management Team on the following actions:

 

1.    Review the communication of promotions to our frontline staff

2.    Reiterate to supervisors their ability to deal with situations

professionally and promptly so as not to disenfranchise our customers

 

Once again, thank you for taking the time to provide us with your feedback as your comments will enable us to improve our service in areas where it does not meet our standards.  I do hope you will allow us the opportunity to welcome you in our store in the future.

 

Kind Regards

 

(name withheld by blogger)

Customer Service Specialist

That was a great response - thanks, David Jones.

Then this morning I arrived at work to find two boxes of chocolates in a David Jones bag with a trademark purple ribbon. The ‘Store Customer Service Manager’ also read the complaint - and probably the posting - and apologised for the poor service and response.

Companies understand that a disenfranchised consumer is a powerful anti-marketing device. And maybe it’s due to the public posting of the poor experience that warranted the chocolates. I am thankful David Jones treated the single issue seriously but feel uncomfortable accepting a gift of “thanks”. On my walk home I pass the Red Cross blood collection centre. I’ll drop in the chocolates. No doubt donors require a shot of sugar after giving blood.

And I’ll make sure they know they come from David Jones.