So I decide to visit my local Futureshop Monday Jan 2, 2012 at 2pm in search of a new TV for my bedroom that suddenly quit on me. I frequent the store on a regular basis and have always received great customer service but first time in search of a TV and hence first time dealing with their television staff. I walked into the TV section holding a piece of paper (went online and found some good deals and jotted down the TVs I was interested in) and walked by a female staff in the section who looked at me and walked right by without a word). I proceed to walk up and down the TV section looking for the items I was interested to no avail and looked up in time to see another TV sale staffer (male named Ian) look right at me and then proceed to head to the camera section to chat with fellow employees. Started to get a little annoyed as 2 staff had looked at me, noticed I was searching for something and had a piece of paper in my hand and proceeded to walk away without a word. The female staffer I first walked by was walking up and down the aisles of the CD section in a dream state and then noticed the male TV staffer walk from the camera section, look right at me and then proceed to walk to a table, lean on it and started texting on his phone.
This was the final straw and went up to him and asked if anyone was working and could help me out. Without an apology he asked what I was looking for? Hoping to hear an apology that did not come, I proceeded to tell him about the female staffer, who had walked by and then seemed to avoid me, and about himself as he walked by me twice without even a word. Instead of an apology I got a "well we are all a little groggy still from New Years". I mentioned hung-over or not, that it was rude to walk by someone and then start texting when it's their job to help and he said that he has buyers that text him all the time and that he was responding to a request. Not sure if in the employee handout it mentions anything about ignoring people in your physical area of work for someone that supposedly texted him while he was chatting with his buddies in the camera section. I said"well if that is the excuse you are going with" and he proceeded to tell me to file a complaint. Oh and that he was a part time store manager, along with a TV salesperson, and his name was Ian. Basically telling me that it would be fruitless as the complaint would go to him and that it did not seem to bother him one bit as he proceeded to talk to me with attitude and like he was doing me a favour. I could expect this conduct from general store staff but not from a store manager!!
Got help from another salesperson from another section and as I was standing at the register, I noticed Ian and the female staffer chatting and having a good laugh while looking over in my direction. Obviously discussing what I told him as when he looked over and noticed I could see them, proceeded to move and converse out of my line of sight. So instead of asking her why she had not aided me, Ian decided it was a good opportunity to joke about it with one of his staffers. Very unprofessional and first time in a long time that I wondered if it was this experience was racially motivated to ignore me as they seemed very keen on helping any non colored person over the age of 40 that walked by and ignored anyone of color. I monitored the trend from a distance and this is what I saw time after time. Will continue to shop at this store but will NEVER buy a TV from Ian and his sales staff that predetermine who they will help or ignore. If anyone else has had similar experience with Ian (part time manager, TV sales staff) or anyone else in the Futureshop TV section please post your experiences. Not expecting any form of action from Corporate but wanted to share this frustrating experience with so called store management and their selectiveness in aid.
