egafd.com

But the guy pissed off the customer straight away, so Rodders is quite right to tell him why. The manager's customer service skills were lacking. I'm not saying I would have reacted in the same way, but can understand why someone would.

Well I think you are a pratt pornoshop. Perhaps you were the pratt of a manager who lost a few hundred quid sale.

I was in Waterstones in Sheffield on Saturday. A nice shop with a good selection and even a coffee area to sit down in. I saw a book I fancied, RRP 25 quid but they had it reduced to 20.

Now in the pre-Internet days I'd have bought it there and then, but instead I decided to leave it and check the price on Amazon when I got home. And sure enough, there it was for 14.75 and free delivery.

It was a similar story on a 13.99 book that Amazon have listed for 8.99 (and again, free delivery)

Much as I'd prefer to give my business to a proper bricks & mortar store and help boost the local economy, why would I when I can get the same two books for over a tenner less simply at the click of a mouse? Extrapolate that over thousands of customers doing the same every week, and that's why the future of the High Street looks very bleak.

I did have a cup of tea though.

- Eric

Interesting Eric - I would have done the opposite and bought it there and then because I'm that kind of person who doesn't want to wait

Me Too, and I would have had coffee, because I know they have a costa in there.

Have to say that it's genuinely heartening to know that not everyone is a tight cunt like me! Perhaps the outlook for the High Street isn't so bleak after all.

- Eric

Inevitably online shopping has hit the high street and out-of-town electrical and electronic retailers hard.

Personally for a major purchase I want to see the item first and don't mind paying a reasonable mark-up over the best online price so long as I get good service.

However service across the sector is certainly patchy and unless the item is available from stock to take away or for same day delivery there is no gain over purchasing online.

A couple of years ago I needed a washing machine.
I ordered online for I recall about ?170 including Saturday delivery plus ?10 to take the old one away.
The store price was around ?250 plus delivery with evening or Saturday delivery being an additional charge so ?270ish excluding disposal of the old machine. Had it been ?200 plus disposal I would have bought from the store.

Two days before I was given a delivery time slot of 8 - 10 am.
Just after 8am the driver called to say he was 20-25 minutes away.
22 mins later he was on my driveway.
That is what I call service.


'Flat_Eric' mentioned books.
Last Christmas I wanted a book as a gift.
Waterstones had just the one copy on the shelf that obviously has been handled a few times at the official price of ?16.99.
I came home and ordered it from Amazon at ?8.99 plus another with a big saving.
If Amazon had been ?12.99 or more I would have asked Waterstones about ordering and reserving another copy despite having to go back to collect.

I am very fortunate that my local Royal Mail delivery office is less than a mile from home and I can arrange for larger items to be delivered to where I work.

I feel for those where nobody is at home daytime and can not make easy alternative arrangements for large deliveries and/or who are far from the Royal Mail local delivery office.

Something I hate about the lingering chains is the second you put the first atom on the tip of your toes over the threshold on your way in you get some cunt right up in your face with 'can I help you?'

No, I just want to browse! Go away!

Game are particularly bad for this.

Gator wrote:

> Something I hate about the lingering chains is the second you
> put the first atom on the tip of your toes over the threshold
> on your way in you get some cunt right up in your face with
> 'can I help you?'


Yes, that really irks me as well.

Especially given the fact that usually, it cuts the other way as well, i.e. when you actually DO need help/advice there's not a free assistant in sight.

- Eric