Marlee Daly

Review of The Good Guys

I was very disappointed in the service myself and ...

I was very disappointed in the service myself and my partner received today from a staff member of The Good Guys, Essendon, Maria.
Whilst my partner and I were looking at the laptops on show, we waited for a retail assistant to become free so we could ask a few questions. My partner then gained the attention of Maria and asked her about which laptop would suit our needs and if finance was an option.
Her first reaction to this question was to get finance you need to have a full time job, it felt by her tone that she was implying my partner was unemployed but I ignored this as I am well aware that it is necessary to be able to service your finance and that this is usually confirmed through recent payslips.
He advised her that he was employed full-time but looking to start up his own business which is why he required a laptop, again without asking further questions she advised that wouldn t work because he would need to provide proof of income. At no stage did he say he had resigned from his current job, and previously mentioned he was currently employed full-time, so it felt like that was an unnecessary statement.
She then backtracked once we re-confirmed that he was employed and could provide payslips but went on to ask what identification he had available. She asked if he had an Australian drivers license, a Medicare card or an Australian passport. He advised that he had both the drivers license and Medicare card but no Australian passport. She went on to ask if he was an Australian citizen which he is not, he is a New Zealand citizen, which he explained.
Again, she tried to advise why we could not go ahead with the finance, stating that they do not do finance for New Zealand citizens.
We asked which company their finance was done through and she advised Gem, we explained that this was definitely not the case because we had used this finance company in the past.
She continued to tell us that we were in fact incorrect and must be confused, and that our previous finance was most likely done by GE New Zealand.
(I m assuming this is because he is a New Zealand citizen that she decided to make this assumption? However he has lived here for the past 13 years which she failed to even ask)
We requested that she ask her manager just to double check, she spoke over her headset, asking if non residents are able to do finance through Gem, after her brief conversation over the headset she said sorry guys, can t help you .
This to us still seemed wrong so we asked if we could have a chat to a manager in person, she then proceeded to head over to her manager and explained her version of the story. She explained that we were the customers who were asking about finance but that he is not an Australian citizen, making it sound as though she had assisted us to the best of her ability when in actual fact she had only come across to us as extremely dismissive and rude.
The manager said to her that she was in fact incorrect and that we were eligible for finance and instead of apologising for her mistake she walked away.
Although we had gotten to the bottom of this issue we chose to leave as my partner had felt mistreated and that her tact towards him was solely based on his appearance and that she was not actually listening to what he had to say.
The manager followed us out to our car and asked for our feedback, he was kind and apologetic and unsure why she was acting in this manner, and could see why my partner had felt discriminated against. He thanked us for our feedback and advise he would follow this up with her.
I felt the need to follow this up myself though as it was an extremely horrible experience. Her customer service was poor, she was extremely dismissive and then proceeded to be unaccountable for her own error.
I would greatly appreciate a response in relation to this matter as this to me is not appropriate behaviour, especially in a customer facing environment. I am not requesting that her employment be terminated in any sense, but that she obtain further training and education in relation to her role. Disappointed!