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It’s been going through my head lately. A scene where Bruce Willis takes off on his newly acquired chopper in Pulp Fiction…

In this case I’m not thinking about Zed, I’m thinking about Yaletown. Is it me, or do they think the art of customer service is dead over there? Is Yaletown on a decline? I’m not going to make mention of the big box invasion coming from places like Earls since it’s not open yet and I haven’t been there and okay, OPUS, Pinkys, Cioppinos, Provence, and all the other fine establishments – they get it, life there is good but really, check out the shockers after the jump.

URBAN DRYCLEANING – ‘A Unique Drycleaning Experience’ (translated: we’ll screw you or at least you’ll leave unhappy)
1168 Pacific Blvd., Vancouver, BC V6Z 2X7
Tel: 604-899-2155 urbandrycleaning@hotmail.com

Recommendation: Don’t step foot in there – good alternatives:

Sperle’s Valet Fine Dry Cleaning on Trevor Kramer’s reccomendation
1177 Davie Street, Vancouver – 604-669-2942

Fletchers Fabricare on Sherani Volberg’s reccomendation
2096 West Broadway, Vancouver – 604-731-9313 (website)

You think that if you go to get services, you should greeted and treated in a courteous, conscientious (not contentious) manner. Sure, we deal with a number of different cultures day to day and sometimes protocols are different, great. So what happens when you go out and check out a new place and they screw up your initial order? Well, you ask to fix it, right? What happened at Urban Drycleaning is pretty lacklustre.

Firstly, the person serving me tried to feign ‘no speak English,’ but after realizing we’d had dialog previously, she fessed up and said she’d send the stuff back and make sure that they would try to remove the stains they added to my garments. After some additional inquiry, I also got the name of the manager, Elahe, an email address and phone number and a commitment that Elahe would call me back.

You’d think if you give them your business card, get the name of the manager and ask the manager to call you when they’ve fixed the issue, they wood. Apparently not. No call, no email, no followup, so two weeks pass, I’ve written off the clothing but I go back to check on my stuff. It’s great to see that they fixed the issue somewhere in that two week span but a drycleaner or any retail outlet nowadays is hardly too busy to make a call or send an email, aren’t they? Well, I presume the lack of communication amounts to a royal f*** you, sir. I’ll take my business elsewhere, thanks.

SUNSCAPE TANNING STUDIOS
415 Helmcken Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2E6
Tel: 604-899-2290 kkerr@sunscapetanning.com

Recommendation: Tan there, you might get ‘burnt!’ – I can’t recommend anything as my near perfect year-round tan is natural, sorry folks!

This one came to me via a colleague whom I know and trust to get ‘it.’ Apparently the issue started with a loyal client asking for some consideration on product he purchased which dropped in price substantially the following day. What ensued was the manager of SunScape tanning first implying that the loyal customer is cheap then telling the customer that competition (Urban Tan or Solar Eclipse) would better value him, then finally giving the customer business advice by telling him that he shouldn’t be complaining from his work email address as it portrays a bad image for the company. The exchange will follow later.

In the interim, I’ll definitely be enjoying the sun.