TGJones

It was a good place with lots of gift offerings and stationary etc.

I always buy products weekly at W H Smith stores. but this week I had problems in this store. The store attendant refused to sell the gift certificates available on site, especially AIRBNB. I was told that to purchase the card I would need to call the person I was sending the gift card to. I asked why? if it was a surprise gift. and he told me that I could be purchasing it for my own use, which was not the case. But if it were? Is the card not displayed for sale for the consumer to purchase? So why refuse to sell a product that the customer has the money to pay for, regardless of the purpose? Finally, after a lot of questioning about why they didn't want to sell it to me if I had the money to buy it, he informed me that I would have to call my sister (who I intended the gift card for) in front of them, so I had to take my cell phone and call my sister in front of them. When I called my sister and tried to give her my cell phone so they could confirm about the Gift Card, the attendant simply replied: no need, you have already confirmed. 🫣 So I was wondering, why expose the customer to this embarrassment of calling someone to simply prove that they are allocating a gift card to them? If it's a gift, should I really call the person and ruin the surprise of the gift? I really didn't understand why the attendants on site acted that way and if it was company protocol, but I've never experienced a situation like this inside a W H Smith store. If, to purchase the card, the customer needs to call the recipient to confirm, then this product should not be displayed on the sales area. And to conclude; Do all customers purchasing any product from W H Smith stores really need to declare the purpose for which they are purchasing that product? Otherwise, should employees refuse the sale if they don't know why the customer is buying the product? So after a lot of insistence, they sold me the product with great difficulty. I have already purchased other types of gift cards at other W H Smith stores and have never experienced the situation that occurred on 06/09/2024 at around 2:30 pm inside the W H Smith stores. Finally, it's best to instruct your employees not to refuse to sell products to customers who have the money to pay. especially why refuse to sell a product and harm W H Smith's coffers. 😉 I hope to never experience this situation again at W H Smith stores, mainly because I have been a customer for a long time and every week I need to visit the store to buy my items. I have always given 5 stars at W H Smith stores. but this one unfortunately I will need to rate with 1 star for everything that happened.

Dated interior and the staff would benefit from some public relations training. Decent selection of magazines, but the stationary is overpriced. The post office upstairs is invariably busy and understaffed. I would always advise using the other post office at the bottom of Scotch Street.