Sports Direct, The Range, Homebase: worst online retailers for customer service

New study finds too many retailers are STILL using the pandemic as an excuse for their shoddy service.

Shopping online has become a far more regular feature for all of us over the last year and a half.

While the pandemic forced the closure of many retailers’ physical stores, it didn’t stop us shopping entirely; it simply meant that rather than head to our local high street, we instead did our shopping from a computer or mobile device.

It’s fair to say though that not all retailers have grasped how to handle an online proposition properly. While some stores have set the bar, going above and beyond to deliver a great level of service, others have fallen some way behind.

Delivering quality customer service

There will inevitably be occasions when something goes wrong with an order, and you have to contact the retailer’s customer service department.

There can be a sharp difference in how those retailers handle those issues though, and that’s what the consumer champions at Which? set out to establish in its latest customer service study.

It spoke to thousands of shoppers who have had to contact the customer service department of an online retailer recently to find out how it went. Shoppers were asked to score the store on a host of factors including:

• Helpfulness of customer support staff;
• Speed of dealing with the issue;
• Making the issue raising process straightforward;
• Efficiency of resolving issues;
• Access to customer support.

Which? then awarded the retailers an overall score out of five for their customer service based on the feedback.

So let’s take a look at who were the best performers, and which retailers have work to do when it comes to their customer service.

The best online retailers for customer service

Here are the businesses awarded the strongest overall scores in the Which? study, each of which managed at least a four-star rating
 

Both Screwfix and M&S picked up full marks in each and every category, showing that when things do go awry they move swiftly to resolve the issue in as straightforward a manner as possible.

There’s then a decent number of stores that racked up four-star scores, including some online-only retailers like Amazon. 

It’s notable that virtually all of the retailers with a four-star score performed particularly well when it comes to offering access to customer support staff and the speed with which they resolved those issues.

There’s a pretty clear message ‒ if your customers don’t have to jump through hoops just to speak to a member of the customer support team, and their issue is then dealt with quickly, then they are more likely to view the experience as a positive one.

The worst online retailers for customer service

This is a lesson that needs to be picked up by some of the businesses at the bottom of the table.

For example, one JD Sports shopper ordered some shoes which simply never arrived, and found it impossible to get into contact with someone in customer service to address the problem, to the point that they simply gave up and wrote off the £60.

Meanwhile, at Homebase, a fifth of those who had shopped at the store said there had been issues with their order and were unlikely to shop there again, while one in 10 said their issue either had not been resolved or they were not offered a solution.

A cornerstone of good customer service is showing some empathy and trust in your customers, but that apparently isn’t happening at Carphone Warehouse; three in 10 shoppers said they felt they were not believed when raising their issue, while one in five said they did not feel fairly treated.

Shoppers need long memories

A common theme from the Which? report is that an awful lot of these retailers are still using the pandemic as an excuse to cover for their customer failings.

This is something we’ve raised before on loveMONEY ‒ while it was somewhat understandable in the early days of Covid, the reality is that all of these firms have had more than enough time to adjust and adapt the way they work.

These excuses are just that ‒ a fob off, a convenient thing to blame to distract away from your business’s failings.

While the Which? study suggests that the poor experience has put some shoppers off returning to use those retailers in the future, only time will tell how serious those threats are.

I know from experience that it’s only too easy to be tempted back into using a shoddy retailer by an eye-catching deal, and you convince yourself that this time the experience will be better.

However, ultimately if we want retailers to improve ‒ whether online or in person ‒ then we need to retain long memories and turn our banks on the stores that consistently let shoppers down.

It’s only by hitting them in the pocket that they will recognise that they need to follow the model of retailers like Screwfix and M&S by treating their customers properly.