Mystery Shopper: Manchester

5: Asda

Product range – 3/5
Product knowledge – 1/5
Airtime knowledge – 1/5
Questioning ability – 1/5
Sales ability – 1/5
Shop appearance – 2/5
Total – 9/30

4: Tesco

Product range – 3/5
Product knowledge – 4/5
Airtime knowledge – 3/5
Questioning ability – 3/5
Sales ability – 4/5
Shop appearance – 2/5
Total – 19/30

3: Orange

Product range – 4/5
Product knowledge – 4/5
Airtime knowledge – 3/5
Questioning ability – 3/5
Sales ability – 2/5
Shop appearance – 4/5
Total – 20/30

2: T-Mobile

Product range – 4/5
Product knowledge – 4/5
Airtime knowledge – 4/5
Questioning ability – 3/5
Sales ability – 3/5
Shop appearance – 5/5
Total – 23/30

1: Phones 4U

Product range – 5/5
Product knowledge – 4/5
Airtime knowledge – 4/5
Questioning ability – 5/5
Sales ability – 5/5
Shop appearance – 5/5
Total – 28/30

Summary

Asda was the only store to really struggle. Not knowing about the product is bad enough but not giving good customer service is inexcusable.

There are some reasonable deals to be had in the supermarkets. But when you actually work out the price, the independent multiples can offer more in comparison. They also offer more than one network and thus more variety than dedicated network retail outlets.

Phone 4U excelled in customer service and store layout.  Sam actually listened to what I wanted, wrote things down and considered the options before making a recommendation.

Full review in Mobile News issue 445 (August 10, 2009).

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