Mystery Shopper

O2

This tiny O2 store lurks inside the small shopping precinct that acts as a foyer for High Street Kensington tube station. Despite its size, however, its windows were welcoming with twinkling blue Christmas lights.
The interior had seen better days, though. The store was well laid out, using what little space there was to full advantage. However, it wasn ‘t the tidiest O2 store I ‘d ever been in.
Some of the dummy handsets were missing, especially in the
i-mode display. Does this mean that the service isn ‘t going as well for O2 as the marketing would suggest?
There were a few staff in the store, but only one person seemed to be serving anyone. The rest seemed to just want to joke around by the door of the back room.
The one sales person who was occupied was busy telling a customer that he couldn ‘t port his contract SIM to pay-as-you-go. I detected a patronising tone, as if the punter had asked him to do something too complicated and should have known.
Everyone else in the store was kept waiting. Eventually the patronising chap glanced up from his customer and asked me if I had a quick enquiry. I told him unfortunately not.
Then someone else (I think I caught his name as Ozi) popped his head around the door of the back office and asked the same question. I managed to tell him I needed a phone to connect my computer to a Wi-Fi hotspot. He waved at the smartphone display, but said that O2 didn ‘t recommend users to connect their phones to hotspots, even if the phone was compatible.
He said I ‘d have better luck at
a T-Mobile shop. Huh? Do O2 and T-Mobile have a deal to cross-sell into each other ‘s networks?
Why was an O2 employee telling me that the network didn ‘t want me to spend money on data
services? Basically, I think Ozi couldn ‘t be bothered to serve anyone with a complicated problem.

Mobile News rating 6th

O2
Product range JJJ
Product knowledgeJ
Airtime knowledgeJ
Questioning abilityJ
Sales ability
Shop appearance JJJ
Total 9

3

3 has a large store just at the entrance to High Street Kensington tube station. The outlet is relatively new and has a large frontage which it makes quite good use of.
Looking at the outside did actually fill me with positive anticipation about what I would find inside. Alas this excitement wasn ‘t fulfilled when I entered.
Superficially things looked good. But closer inspection revealed that the store was in need of a spruce up.
Some of the décor was peeling from the walls.Store walls were decorated with signage offering deals on the Sony Ericsson W850, the Z610i exclusively in Pink and the Nokia N73.
The floor space was filled with Perspex display counters holding real phones in secure stands. But none of the phones were powered up. Nor could they be. Some of the stands were vacant. 3 ‘s boasts about moving away from the static displays of dummies to something more interactive has turned out to hollow.
I waited a very long time at the counter. Customers were coming in. And then wandering off because they weren ‘t being served. It got to the stage that the only staffer there, serving another customer, was forced to phone one of his colleagues and ask them to serve some customers.
Eventually, Vanessa turned up carrying her lunch. She immediately went behind the counter to serve me. She seemed unenthusiastic about selling me anything. but warmed up once I explained what I wanted.
She tried to help me, even though she wasn ‘t able to supply me with the solution. The customer behind me only wanted voucher. They couldn ‘t even supply him . He was told to go to The Link. By the end of the encounter, Vanessa was firing on more cylinders and gave me lots of information on tariffs.
She even got out some live handsets for me to look at, but didn ‘t actually explain any of them with me.
She needed to leave the counter to photo copy some information as there were no spare brochures to take away and then she swept up all the handsets and put them in a box under the counter.
On the way out I noticed a window display for an exclusive offer on Lily Allen ‘s new single ܘLDN ‘
But wasn ‘t ܘLDN ‘ a hit single in August?
Perhaps its time to take that
signage down now.

Mobile News rating 5th

3
Product range JJJJ
Product knowledgeJJJ
Airtime knowledgeJJ
Questioning abilityJJ
Sales ability J
Shop appearance JJ
Total 14

The Link

Someone had made an attempt to stick up some Christmas decorations at this Link store, but the result was a bit jarring. All those warm Christmassy reds and yellows clashed horribly with the deep goth purple of The Link ‘s usual colour scheme.
I was instantly approached by Magda. In some ways this was a welcome change from some of the other stores on this outing, but I did feel a bit pounced on, as at least three other staff were also hovering around.
I had the impression they were a bit bored with the lack of passing trade. Just as well as the store didn ‘t seem to have much stock, aside from a few Samsung D600s and Sony Ericsson K800is.
Magda didn ‘t think that the Link would be able to help me in my Wi-Fi quest.I was passed from pillar to post, eventually ending up with ܘArvin ‘, who told me that a Wi-Fi-compatible phone on my current network was available through the Link, but there were none in stock.
He didn ‘t have any information about it either. He offered to print off the information from the Link ‘s web site, but didn ‘t try to sell me a new contract with another network  even though I said I would change for a better deal.

Mobile News rating4th

The Link
Product range JJ
Product knowledgeJJJJ
Airtime knowledgeJ
Questioning abilityJJJ
Sales ability JJJ
Shop appearance JJJ
Total 16

Vodafone

This was a small split-level Vodafone shop with a wheelchair ramp running up one side. There were no decorations inside yet, but it did have a festive window display.
The store was fairly busy, but there was at least one store staffer sitting behind a counter playing with his phone. I had to wait three minutes before being approached by Dave.
Not that he was the most enthusiastic salesman I ‘ve ever encountered. In fact, Dave seemed like he would rather be somewhere else. But he knew his Wi-Fi and recommended a Palm Treo PDA or the Nokia E61. Dave also asked what my mobile number was. There was a little confusion. I think he assumed I was already a Vodafone customer even though I ܘd explained that I was ready to change contracts.
He failed to explain any of the other phones on display, even though there were others handsets on offer that appeared to have the data function I was after.
His knowledge about relevant Vodafone tariffs was good and he went through some offers in the brochure.
But I didn ‘t really get the impression that he was going the extra mile to try to get a sale from me.

Mobile News rating 3rd

Vodafone
Product range JJJJ
Product knowledgeJJJJ
Airtime knowledgeJJJJ
Questioning abilityJJJ
Sales ability JJ
Shop appearance JJJ
Total 20

Virgin Megastore

This Virgin Mobile outlet is tucked away inside a Virgin Megastore, so most of the floorspace was devoted to CDs, DVDs, and video games, leaving the mobile offering right at the back.
The concession was in good order, with around 15 dummy handsets on display. There were lots of free-standing marketing material advertising tariffs and offers, including lots of advertising for the new Virgin TV phone.
The network ‘s wares were very well laid-out and there was plenty of leaflets around for people to pick up and read.
I approached Victor about my Wi-Fi needs. He asked useful questions about my usage and quickly got me to tell him my requirements.
Unfortunately, he wasn ‘t able to offer me exactly what I wanted as his technology knowledge about Wi-Fi was simply not up to the job.
Victor was very helpful in his sales approach, though. He showed me a touch-screen that could summon up some information instantly and he had a good understanding of tariffs.
When another customer interrupted us, Victor excused himself and dealt with her quickly, while managing to remain courteous to both of us.
After quizzing me about how many minutes I used on my current contract, he made me an offer of 100 free minutes. Victor also pressed me for a sale then and there. His performance would have been a winner had he been able to actually demonstrate a handset in full Wi-Fi mode.

Mobile News rating 2nd

Virgin Mobile
Product range JJ
Product knowledgeJJJJ
Airtime knowledgeJJJJ
Questioning abilityJJJJ
Sales ability JJJJ
Shop appearance JJJJ
Total 22

Carphone Warehouse

This Carphone Warehouse branch sits on a prominent corner with a huge frontage.
Its windows were festooned with Christmas and posters advertising the ܘCath Kidston ‘ range of Nokia handsets.
Samira was unusual for a Carphone employee as she was out from behind the counter. She spotted me immediately and said she would be right with me, even though she was dealing with another customer.
The store was moderately busy and Samira was tied up with more than one customer most of the time. After 30 seconds with me, she was accosted by another customer, who she attended with good grace.
She didn ‘t seem to be getting much support from any other staff, even though it emerged that there were at least two other sales people in the store.
She asked for help from one salesman who just said he was too busy and went back into the back office. Undismayed, Samira explained tariffs and the handsets in great detail and showed me working versions of two of the handsets.
But neither of them were powered up. Samira knew about all the cosmetic features, but was a bit vague about the actual functions.
Yet she was very eager to get a sale from me, offering me extra minutes in the tariff bundle and a £50 price reduction off the handset.
Interestingly, though, she didn ‘t offer anything from T-Mobile. This was surprising as T-Mobile purports to lead the way in Wi-Fi. Instead, Samira said that Carphone Warehouse preferred to recommend O2 ‘s tariffs paired with a handset from O2 ‘s smart phone range.

Mobile News rating 1st

Carphone Warehouse
Product range JJJJ
Product knowledgeJJJ
Airtime knowledgeJJJJ
Questioning abilityJJJJ
Sales ability JJJJJ
Shop appearance JJJJ
Total 24

Summary
No one really sounded like they knew exactly what they were talking about. O2 ‘s performance was appalling. Vanessa ‘s demo was let down by the overall poor service and an untidy shop. Meanwhile, staff at The Link were all like rabbits caught in the headlights.
Dave at Vodafone had the solutions to sell me, but didn ‘t bother doing so. Victor at Virgin had the verve to sell me a solution, even if it wasn ‘t the one I was after. Had Samira at Carphone done a bit more in the demo her performance would have been perfect.