As an international traveller arriving in Sydney, I was mandated to quarantine for 2 weeks prior to moving to my place of permanent residence. 14 days in a hotel, with limited contact with the outside world, can get quite boring, however, being on the 33rd floor allows for a pretty good view of the surrounding area.
I know! I'll buy some binoculars so that I can see things at range and in detail, and occupy myself by seeing what's around the local cityscape.
A quick google search revealed that Ted's Cameras was less than 50m from the front of the hotel - I could probably drop a cricket ball into the shop if it didn't have a roof - therefore, they should be able to walk the 20 seconds from their front door to the front of the hotel, hand the order over at the door, then return to the shop: common sense, right? Wrong!
Having emailed the shop a couple of times, on both occasions asking if they could drop the binos off at the front door, they avoided answering the question. I placed the order online and called the customer services to discuss. This took me through to speak to somebody in Melbourne who, to their credit, called the shop to see if they could make it happen. The shop refused; they also refused to have a member from the front desk pick up the order: 'too risky', they said, they would have to put the binos in the post! This is all despite the fact that: all the travellers in the hotel take Covid tests prior to travelling - which is a moot point anyway as we are all confined to our rooms; the staff of the hotel, and police and security, are subject to daily Covid tests; no unauthorised person is allowed into the hotel, and deliveries - which are numerous and daily - are dropped off at the front door. This hotel is for quarantined arrivals, not those with Covid. My assessment is that Ted's employees are more likely to catch something from people coming into the shop to click-and-collect, or by travelling home on public transport, or movement in the community, in general.
So, what am I getting at: this boils down to a lazy mindset where common sense is not applied, and people feel that they just need to turn up for their job, get paid, go home: absolutely zero customer service or willingness to be dynamic. Just think: this review got one star, and that is purely on account of the people on the phone in Melbourne being really helpful, nothing to do with the shop; if they had walked a pair of binoculars less than 50m and handed to a policemen / security, they would have got 5 stars from me. The reduction in rating, from 3 stars to whatever, may discourage people to shop at Ted's; it could have gone the other way and been better for the business. Think about the 2nd and 3rd order effects of what you do or don't do, not just about the computer saying no! read more
