Update 3: Aug 7, 2015.
This page has been
consistently viewed by hundreds of people throughout the period. Not sure how many people changed their mind from buying C&K, tell me please if you are one of those!
Update 2: Jan 15. I got a reply from C&K, as following. The tone of this email is the right attitude as a merchant. We as costumers didn't ask for anything difficult, but the staff kind of pushed all responsibilities away and just tried to protect himself. Maybe he faced some unreasonable customers before, but assuming all customers are bad people is just plain wrong. Maintaining basic courtesy is the bare minimum for a service staff to have. I hope C&K will do better after this.
Thank you for writing in your valued feedback to us.
We deeply regret to learn of the unpleasant experience you had
experienced while shopping with us, please allow us to apologise for the inconvenience
this may have caused.
Your feedback has sincerely brought us concern with the less
than desirable service from our staff, and as such, we will be reviewing our
internal channels as such behaviour is not acceptable in our operation
standards.
Please allow us to apologize on behalf of our service staff, Domic
for the lapse in service while performing his frontline duties. We are looking
into this matter and will send him to undergo retraining and counselling if
necessary.
In view of this, we would like to thank you for sharing your
experience with us, as it is only with such constructive feedback that we can
strive to maintain and improve the level of service provided to all customers.
On another note, please bring your defective bag to any outlet you
prefer to do an exchange. Do let us know which outlet you prefer so that
we may make the necessary arrangement with our colleagues for your visit to do
an exchange.
We sincerely look forward to your valued and continuous support
for Charles & Keith and to have the opportunity to welcome and serve you
better in future.
Hope to hear from you again soon.
Yours sincerely,
David TAN (Mr)
Senior Customer Service Officer
CHARLES & KEITH (SINGAPORE) PTE LTD
Update 1: I sent the message to C&K's Facebook page, and got a very polite message telling me to their customer care department via email. Very big company, very customer focused.
Recently I bought a bag from Charles and Keith (C&K) in the Suntec Store. However upon the first use, the bag already giving us some issue. Thinking this is Singapore, I brought the bag to the store where I bought it. However what I got is anything but good customer service. Here is the message I sent to C&K customer care department. Will update the blog if they respond.
------------------------------
Dear C&K,
Hope this message finds you well.
I am
writing regarding to an issue that I have had on C&K handbag that I
bought as wedding gift to my wife. Please find the attached PDF file
for images and description. [
NOTE: I will share the issue of the bag in a separate blog post]
On Saturday (Jan 11), I and my wife had taken the bag to the
purchasing retail store at Suntec, and I would like to commend on Domic,
the assistant shop manager, as a valuable asset to C&K. He has
performed exceptionally well in protecting C&K's interest. Details
follow:
1) Blame the customer: When we showed him the issue, Domic instantly
said something like "You are not supposed to carry heavy things in the
bag". My wife didn't bring anything unusual and she has been taking the
same items in a lot of other bags, including the S$10 ones she bought at
roadside, but so far only C&K bag has such problem. If C&K bags
really had a weight limit, why don't this communicated clearly so that
consumers will know beforehand?
2) Disown responsibility: After he opened up a new bag in store and
found out the new one didn't have the issue we raised, Domic
intelligently shifted the responsibility to the head office. He quickly
asked us to come back again on Monday and managed our expectation by
repeating: "I don't know, it depends on our head office. They need to
see the bag first. Nothing can be done here. I cannot commit anything. I
don't know"
3) Act blur: It was a good 20 secs where we stood face to face, and
Domic, chose to remain completely silent. So finally when I asked him
for a name card, he fumbled a couple of drawers for a few minutes,
walked to the back of store, and couldn't even find _any_ name card.
This is nothing short of impressiveness. C&K has an SOP, no?
4) Customer will exaggerate: Since my wife would fly abroad in two
days, we asked if we could call the numbers directly. He said direct
calling is not an option, because the description would be exaggerated.
The issue is, he himself and the staff there already have seen the bag
in person, why can't they help to describe the issue to head office if
they think we customers would exaggerate??
I understand products do and will have defects. In fact, we just
wanted to check if the current bag condition was normal, and what could
be done to fix that. We didn't ask for anything unreasonable, and
instead, how about some sympathy and help? For example, offer to take
down our numbers and help us to liaise with the office? It is appalling
and disappointing to see such lousy bag and defensive customer services
coming from a Singapore brand.
This shall be our last purchase in C&K.