It’s been a heck of a week. I’ve moved house and have only just been connected back online. Phew!
Right, this is a really irritating one in some ways, but great in others. I have £20 worth of book tokens (the paper ones!) sat in my wallet. There is a book I would like to purchase for £40. As it’s an oddball title about Hypnosis, nobody is likely to stock it. Unfortunately, I still can’t use paper tokens online. Therefore, I decided to ring our local WHSmith and order the book over the phone, to pick up in person later. Hmmm, maybe not…
It turns out that if I want to order a book through WHSmith over the telephone, I must pay the full cost of the book up front. “Well, I have twenty pounds worth of book tokens and so want to pay for half the book using a debit card now if possible”, I explained. They told me that “company policy” states that if I want to use book tokens to pay for the book, then I need to go to the store to place the order in the first instance! Pardon?
The whole point of telephoning them was so that I didn’t have to visit the store twice! So, I have to get in my car (petrol cost), drive to the local town, find somewhere to park (parking cost), walk to the local WHSmith, pay for the book and go home again. Then, wait for however long it takes them to get the book, and go through the whole visiting process again when it arrives?! I think not. Not only does that involve a lot of pointless effort on my part, but it smacks of poor service and I am still recovering from an illness and don’t feel well enough for two trips.
I then went in search (online) for another local bookshop, with little hope these days. To my delight, there is an independent one listed locally called Fred Wade Bookshop (website: fredwade.tbpcontrol.co.uk/). I spoke to a very nice, helpful lady who was only too happy to place an order for the book with their suppliers. She took my name and telephone number and offered to call me when the book arrives. She even declined to take partial payment for the book over the phone. What a great service! Was that so difficult Mr WHSmith? Thank goodness there are still independent book sellers out there. Now that I know Fred Wade exists and provides a friendly, personal service I will be using them in future.
I suppose I should thank WHSmith for their poor service as I would never have come across Fred Wade otherwise.
Cheers,
Jim
The Rant Man 
Jim
Seems a bit harsh on Smiths. I can imagine for every one person like you who will turn up to pay for the book, they might get a number of timewasters.
I remember the days when you didn’t need a cheque card in a shop. Then a lot of thieving scum made it impossible. So us honest folk bear the brunt of the problem.
Having run several shops myself, in different fields, I can tell you it’s astonishing how many times people just don’t turn up after you’ve ordered something in specially. Even the regular customers, sometimes.
Well done on finding a supplier who was willing to do it for you though!
Amin, thanks for your comments.
Perhaps it was a little harsh, but I was irritated by the usual unbendable rules and bureaucracy from a large organisation. I was happy to pay half the cost of the book. I’m sure a company like WHSmith could get the book on sale or return anyway, so they wouldn’t lose out if I decided to waive my 50% deposit and not buy the book.
As I said in the post, I’m still recovering from a serious illness I had earlier in the year and really don’t have the energy to trek to WHSmith twice. This made me wonder how people who are housebound manage? Presumably, they just don’t ever use book tokens.
Jim
The other point I wanted to get across related to service. Go into WHSMith, Waterstones or one of the big supermarkets who sell books. See how long your expectations last when you simply require a personal and more intimate service! I’d hazard a guess at less than thirty seconds.
I’m talking here about the good old days where shopkeepers actually remembered their customers, often by name, and were more than willing to show common courtesy and good customer service and relations. It’s things like this that engender customer loyalty, repeat business and word of mouth recommendations. This just doesn’t happen when you visit the big chain stores, which is why I was so delighted to find the independent bookshop.
I know the chains don’t care because many people just care about speed and price. However, there are still dinosaurs like me out there who would rather pay that little extra for a product to support local businesses and to get the better service.
Jim
What’s very strange is that I was just trying to purchase a book (costing around £40) online, about hypnosis, using a gift token. I found this blog whilst googling around …
Coincidence…
Out of interest, was the book by Ormond McGill??
For your information there is only one bookseller in the world that accepts book tokens online (uk national book tokens). They can be found at http://www.firstbookshop.com
Swineshead – Sorry, your post slipped through the net and I didn’t see it until now! No, my book (which my local, independent bookseller was only too happy to acquire for me) is: Ericksonian Approaches by Rubin Battino et al. Quite heavy going in places, but a very good textbook and well worth the money. It cost me £39.50.
Paul – Wow, thanks for that link. I’d never heard of this company before, but you’re quite right. They appear to be the only ones who do accept paper tokens online. Fantastic.
Cheers,
Jim