This is in response to the column “Gazzaz: Home of scents, silk” by Farouk Luqman. The article strongly praising the luxury Gazzaz shops (May 3) wisely made no mention of the standards of services that customers may expect there.
Nobody could deny that they have for sale many high-quality and stylish items. However, the customer services are shockingly poor, and out of keeping with what should be an up-market store. In the first place, it is often difficult to get any shop assistant’s attention, since they mostly stand around chatting among themselves, completely ignoring customers.
I recently attempted to pay for an item in one of their shops but the cashier refused to sell it to me! SR 80 was the price clearly marked on the item. However, he insisted that this was a mistake and that if I wanted it, I would have to pay the so-called “correct” price of SR 130. If the shops’ staff had received proper training, they would have accepted responsibility for their own mistake and accepted as the price to be paid, exactly as marked on the item for sale.
On a later occasion, I asked another Gazzaz shop assistant if they had an item of clothing in a different color. He said, “I don’t know,” before walking away. If Gazzaz is to live up to its high-end aspirations, it clearly needs to employ more helpful and professional shop assistants. — Paul Grant, Jeddah
Poor customer services
