Microwave Acquisition Adventure, August 7

My old microwave oven had finally died so I set off to find a small replacement.

At the Jubilee Village on Monday I visited the Courts booth where I was told I could get five percent off on purchases. I had already been on a recon mission (I never spend major money without some level of comparison shopping) at Courts in the Boulevard Supercentre, Kingston, and at Bashco in Mandeville. To my surprise Courts actually had brands that I recognised (both GE and Whirlpool) at a price slightly less than a similar size at Bashco. I explained that I wanted to look at the ovens at Price Smart before making a final decision and the ladies at the Courts booth assured me that I could still get my five percent discount if I came in the next day to the branch at Michi Centre in Kingston.

The Price Smart ovens were too big for what I wanted. I arrived at Michi to discover that there is also a Singer branch located there. Comparison shopper that I am I set off to Singer to investigate. I arrived in Singer, family members in tow. After a few seconds I started to murmur about not knowing where the items were after observing two sales reps sitting at their desks. One of the sales reps got up and offered to help. Singer had an identical microwave to the one at Courts, a 0.7 cc Whirlpool. I pointed out to the sales rep that their oven was a few hundred dollars more than the one at Courts. 

Well! How dare I? Her friendliness level immediately cooled and she immediately walked away and resumed her seat. Did I say the items were identical? They were, except that Singer had both black and white ones whereas Courts only had the white. I preferred the black and may have been prepared to fork over the extra few bills to get it but not after that discourteous display.

Over to Courts… Upon entering the store I was immediately greeted by not one but two sales attendants welcoming me to the store. Did I mention that one of them also opened the door for us? I explained about the promised discount and was fairly promptly attended to with a promise to go find the manager to authorise it. She did. It turns out that one of the ladies I met at the Jubilee Village the day before WAS the manager who came out and greeted me. I left Courts with my oven, and my five percent discount escorted by one of the Courts employees who cheerfully brought my purchase out to the car.

Kudos to Courts at Michi Centre. You kept your promise and the customer service was excellent. The only problem I encountered was a “longish” wait to pay for the purchase.

Singer at Michi, no points for you. I probably would have bought the black oven even for a few more dollars but your attitude turned me off.  The next time a customer mentions a lower price at another store you could smile sweetly and not respond, mention that sometimes your prices are lower, or any other positive or neutral tactic but don’t become cold and walk away. It’s rude!