My Fridge Saga

I had a week from hell last week, which started with a burglary on the Sunday afternoon, where we lost R's laptop with all his work and his debit order application code, the watch I bought him for Christmas, and a pair of earrings. So on top of a hectic work load and R away in JHB and arranging his conference, I was organising insurance claims, quote for an alarm system for our house, quote for the insurance claim, my house bond and transfer requirements and deposit payment and all sorts of other problems. To top it off I got home from work on Thursday night to find that my fridge was broken.

Not only was it not cold it was actually HEATING the contents! My fridge and freezer were full of food for the kids and nanny for the week-end while I was to be away and I was close to panic stricken. The fridge repair people I
phoned were less than helpful and finally reluctantly agreed to come around 'some time after 8' that night but of course at a higher than normal rate. But I didn't really want to spend more money on a fridge I have had problems
with before - last time it broke the day before Christmas a year ago, also while fully stocked. Plus I tried to get ice from Spar and they also wouldn't help me in a hurry...

So at about 6:30pm, after rushing to collect the kids, I phoned P'nP Hypermarket in Ottery, and got through to Jainal who was extremely efficient, helpful and calming on the phone. He described all the fridges they have to me. When I asked about deliveries, he told me that deliveries could be arranged, but only a Tues & Thursday during the day - I told him quite firmly that didn't help me and I made an audacious and demanding request that I'd buy a fridge *right* then if he could get it to me immediately. Thinking there's no way this can happen, but desperate times call for desperate measures...

Instead for the usual no-can-do attitude we have all become used to as consumers, Jainal took the challenge and said he'd see what he could do and promised to call me back. Not 5 mins later he called to say he'd arranged for it to be done as one of his colleagues has a bakkie and he'd be able to assist to deliver a fridge to my house!

I agreed to drive to Hypermarket to select and pay for my fridge. When I arrived (with half-dressed and hungry Quinn & Griffin in tow!) Jainal met me and showed me all the fridges and helped me chose a suitable one, giving
qualified advice and opinions on each. He arranged a speedy payment through the music department (where there were no queues) got the delivery arranged with his colleague Clarence (at only the usual delivery fee of R70) who
assured me I could go home and settle and feed the kids and that my new fridge would arrive shortly.

Sure enough once home Clarence and another colleague arrived and efficiently and politely unloaded my fridge, set it up and got it running, all this before the repair man would have even arrived! I have never had such good, helpful, efficient, can-do service ever. I am hugely impressed with Pick 'n Pay Hypermarket Ottery in general, and especially with Jainal, and Clarence, who both went well beyond their call of duty and their obligations.

And if that's not impressive enough, once home I looked through all my news papers and marketing flyers and found that I had got the fridge at cheaper than the other retailers are advertising it for! :)

*UPDATE* I was so impressed by the service that I received that I took this further. I made sure to let Jainal's manage know about it. I emailed the store, region and CEO, to let them know what good customer service looks like and what an impact difference it makes! I heard that as a result Jainal had won an regional customer services award and had been entered into a bigger event to win a trip to Disneyland. I do hope he got to go!