Mystery Shopper: Worcester

This month we sent our Mystery Shopper to the home of Worcester sauce and fine porcelain china with the task of finding a console-style controller for PC, here’s how they got on…

STAPLES 8/10

This was a well maintained store with a clean and inviting entrance. The shiny windows were nicely decorated with posters promoting special offers and new releases.

I was immediately greeted by a very well presented sales assistant who was well spoken and polite and asked if I needed help. I advise that I was happy to browse for the moment. The greeting was a great start and I had high hopes for my shopping experience in this store. I continued to walk around in search for the product.

After a little trip around the store I returned to the member of staff that greeted me earlier as I could not find what I was after. She didn’t know if they stocked console-style PC controllers, so she went to get another member of staff to help with my query. He immediately knew what I was asking for, but informed me that the store did not sell such items. Not giving up, he asked his manager if they were going to be stocking any in the future; unfortunately they were not planning to.

Even though they didn’t have the product, the staff got top marks for customer service as they genuinely wanted to help me find a suitable product and were as quick and efficient as possible. The shop floor was very tidy and the shelves were full of stock. It was very easy to find products within the store, which was clearly a well looked after retail unit.

PC WORLD 7/10

Once again, this retailer boasted a clean appearance with a plentiful supply of graphics and posters inviting me in to part with my money.

I was greeted as soon as I entered the store by a very well presented member of staff who asked if I needed any help. As soon as I had finished the details of my shopping quest, he was dragged off by another customer who obviously wanted his help more than I did at the time.

Unperturbed, I continued to search for the product myself. The isles were clearly signed and easy to navigate, so finding my potential PC purchase was fairly quick.

Alas, there was only one on the shelf – a Microsoft Xbox controller priced at £34.99. It looked exactly like an official Xbox controller, but it could be used for the PC as well. There were no special offers, which was a shame as it would have been nice to have been bundled with a game.

Eager to find out more information, I went to find another member of staff to ask about other variants. She didn’t know of any but did try to look it up for me.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t find the information so asked another member of staff to help. He advised that the product instore was the only one sold.

I felt all the staff I spoke to helped me out as much as possible and really tried to take the time to help me with everything I needed without trying to sell to me.

MAPLIN 10/10

This was a small and well maintained store which was very tidy in its appearance.

With no obstructions to the doorway I entered the store to be greeted promptly by a very polite member of staff. Initially I preferred to look for the product I was shopping for by myself, so chose not to ask the store greeter at the entrance.

I found the product extremely quickly. In fact, it took less than 30 seconds. Everything was clearly labelled and at eye level.

As soon as I had started to look at the range before me, another staff member approached and asked if I needed help. We talked about each of the products on display, which included the Speedlink controller, which was priced at £12.99, Power Pad, which had a price of £16.99, and the XEOX, which cost £29.99. All of these products closely resembled the Playstation controller.

He began by recommending the more expensive option, the XEOX, giving the reasons that it was wireless and easier to set up than the other products. He continued to chat for a while asking about my interests in games and what I was playing at the moment.

Overall, I felt completely satisfied with the customer service and was helped with everything I needed. The sales assistants were very polite and the store itself was in great condition and was very welcoming and presentable. I would return to this store again for shopping advice.

CURRYS 7/10

This store was easy to find and had plenty of inviting offers and deals placed at the entrance to entice potential shoppers.

It had a large, open plan shop floor, however, unlike the other stores, spotting an available member of staff was more challenging. All sales assistants seemed to be busy with other customers.

I tried searching for the PC gaming controller myself but couldn’t find one even though there were signs in place to indicate where the stock should be.

After a while I managed to find a member of staff that could help me. He was very polite, but informed me that Currys did not sell the type of product that I was looking for.

After a brief discussion about the type of controller that would best suit my needs, he suggested that looking online would be my best chance of finding what I was looking for.

The customer service was good but I was unable to find any suitable products.

SUMMARY

All the stores I visited on this trip had very good customer service. However, finding my PC gaming controller was somewhat of a challenging.

Most of the stores had a very little selection of products and some did not stock any PC gaming controllers at all.

Maplin was the only store that offered a good range of products that were relevant. The sales assistants were very helpful and polite and I felt completely satisfied with the customer service I received. The Maplin store is the only one that I would definitely return to again for advice.