Is there Ever an Excuse for Poor Service?

Feedback on yesterday's blog post Trust Games has got me thinking: is there ever a legitimate excuse for poor service?

It intrigues me that more than one person (on and offline) has defended Tesco's "security led" approach, claiming it "makes sense" that they protect their store and their goods on offer from petty thieves and serial shoplifters. I don't deny that it does make sense.

My customer "experience", as one of the many millions of law abiding, big spending Tesco customers, however is continually tainted by this security led approach. The first person who greets me, for instance, in the Tesco store is the security guard.

It is possible, however, to run a major retail business with multiple lines and stock with good street value without making the customer feel like they are entering some sort of homogenous police state. Ask Marks & Spencer: they've been managing it for years. Anyone noticed Morrisons' security team? I haven't. How about Asda? Nope.

They are there in all three cases, but they are not "present" as part of the customer's retail experience.

So, back to my original questions - is there ever an excuse for poor quality service? Does the old trio of "Quality, Price, Service: Choose Two" still ring true? Or can we have all three?

I believe we can, and without much extra effort or cost. So how could Tesco improve?

Well, the changing rooms are easy: Pop a person on clothing to man the changing rooms - it's what all the other fashion retailers do.

The automated tills are easy too: weigh the customer's bag before they start packing. That way they are not trying to juggle car keys and their shopping at a set of tills that have clearly been designed by men who also haven't sussed that women carry handbags (that's a story for another day).

The CD cases, again, I think are easy: HMV seem to manage with a simple, unobtrusive, stick on alarmed bar code sticker.

So when it comes to quality, service and price, I want all three.

And I don't think security is a valid excuse for not delivering on them.