Mystery Shopper: Ipswich

This month we sent our Mystery Shopper to Ipswich in search of a keyboard dock for an iPad. Here’s how they got on.

7/10
I was greeted on arrival by a sales assistant who was neat and tidy in her appearance. I told her I was looking for a keyboard dock for my iPad and she understood immediately and took me straight to the right section of the store.

Her attitude was positive and knowledgeable about the stock and she was very attentive.

There were only two choices of product that was anything like what I asked for, one was the Cerulian Keyboard which could connect wirelessly with the iPad but could not be docked – it cost £29.99.

She recommended this and one other keyboard as good buys and I would have been happy to follow her advice and purchase the product she recommended.

At all times I felt comfortable with the store’s approach to my request and when I said it was my husband that would make the final choice and I was just gathering information for him the assistant suggested going onto the Maplin website where I could enter the model number and check out the products functions, specs and availability.

Although the assistant was incredibly helpful, it was a shame that there were only the two products in store. If there was a wider variety of products, Maplin would definitely have a higher score.

4/10
I entered this store – one very familiar to me – with great expectations as to date I have always had super service from staff here. To my amazement after about 15 minutes of looking at products and trying to look confused I had to actually approach a member of staff myself.

The store was clearly signed so I was very surprised when the member of staff I stopped first said he didn’t think they did those kind of items. He then pointed to a product that did not go with the iPad. When I pointed out that this was not compatible, he picked up the box and realised his mistake, and then looked around for some other products that might be compatible.

He found two products which he obviously did not know much about as he read the box to answer questions I put to him.

The first product was the £69.99 Kensington Keyboard Case which connects by Bluetooth, not a dock. The other was a Logitech tablet keyboard with cover stand costing £49.99.

As mentioned before I was surprised at the lack of response on entering the store.

Whilst answering my query the sales assistant neither put down the printer he was carrying at the time nor passed me and my query on to another member of staff to deal with. There were other staff about at the time, but none seemed to be interested in helping customers.

I would not have purchased either of these items as one was not what I asked for and the assistant didn’t know enough information about the other one.

8/10
Upon entering the store, I was greeted by a very nice, well turned out young man who enquired if he could be of assistance. I explained that I was looking for a keyboard dock for an iPad and he went straight to the correct section and brought out one for me to look at.

He showed me the Logitech tablet keyboard, which was priced at £49.99 and explained that it was not a dock as they didn’t have those but it could attached to the iPad wirelessly.

He also found the Kensington Key folio Expert Multiangle priced at £69.99 and described how it folds to offer different viewing angles.

The final product showed me was the Logitech Bluetooth Keyboard Case, which has a price of £99.99. The assistant recommend all three as good products.

I felt quite reassured that this sales assistant knew a lot about the products that he was talking about. I explained to him that I would be making the final choice later with my partner, and he suggested writting down all the information I needed. The assistant assured me he would be only too happy to explain everything again if we both came in on another day.

The sales assistant was incredibly helpful, he showed me a variety of products and explained their different features and functions. I would definitely come to this store again to ask for advice on products.

9/10
I had entered the store and was already looking at the iPad accessories section before a member of staff stopped to ask if he could be of assistance. When I explained what I was looking for, he passed me over to another member of the Currys team, having explained that he was in fact from PC World next door and the other assistant knew the store’s stock a lot better.

I explained again what I was looking for and this assistant took me to the products in store that might fit the bill.

He showed me the Kensington KeyFolio Multiangle Keyboard Case, priced at 69.99, and explained that it had suction grips to hold the iPad in place. He offered up the Kensington Keyfolio Bluetooth Slip-in Case, which came with face time software and a price tag of £69.99. The £99.99 Kensington Keyfolio was also in store and the assistant demonstrated the removable keyboard case’s ten angle stand. The final product was the Logitech Sandstrom Keyboard Case, priced at £89.99.

This sales assistant gave me plenty of products to choose from and he had a good knowledge of all of them. He even told me not to go for a particular product as the case was flimsy and did not protect the iPad fully.

I was impressed with the assistant and respected his judgement. I would have no problem with asking him for his advice again when wishing to purchase a product from Currys.

 7/10
I was met at the door by a very helpful man who took me straight to the accessories department once I explained what I was after. I could see lots of members of staff attending to customers’ needs as I walked through the store.

The assistant apologised because there was only one item in store which met my needs. He reassured me that the reason they only had one in store was because they sold so well. He said there were more on order, and they were expected in shortly.

The product he showed me was the Logitech Bluetooth tablet keyboard, priced at £49.99, which wirelessly links up to the iPad but does not have a docking feature.

This young man showed me such an air of confidence and product knowledge, it was unfortunate that there was only one product to show me. He was enthusiastic about this product and seemed genuinely sorry that he could not help me more.

The sales assistant knew exactly what I was looking for but unfortunately the options available in store were very slim.

I would have given a higher score to this store if there were more products available to look at.

SUMMARY
There seemed to be a lack of products across most of the stores that I visited, but most of the assistants that I encountered were very helpful and knew enough about the products to make some good suggestions.

I was very disappointed by the customer service that I received from Staples and the lack of knowledge from the assistant.

Currys had the best customer service, and the assistant had great knowledge of all the products that were available. I would recommend visiting this store to ask for advice.

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