As the inspiration for H.G. Wells’ classic novel we were expecting an out of this world service from Woking and the surrounding area’s bike stores. Mystery Shopper goes in search of a folding bike that is fit for ET himself…
IT’S NEVER obvious how visits to a Halfords branch are going to pan out, apart from those where you can see an excessive amount of staff behind the counters and few on the shop floor. As I neared the top of the mezzanine section where the cycles are found I passed a lone staffer running around with component stock, looking flustered. Customers were already queuing by the empty upstairs counter at this point. I browsed the Apollo folders, which typically had discounts of £70 to £100 and were handlebar tagged well with three for two offers on accessories also touted as part of the deal. Problem is, that after ten minutes, there was still no-
one around to serve upstairs, Meanwhile, I could see three behind the front counter downstairs. I wasn’t the first of the queuing customers on the upper level to get bored of waiting, or to place their product back on the shelves before leaving. Unfortunate, as I could clearly see one staff member from the cycle section working their socks off gathering stock, yet unable to dedicate any real time to serving customers.
18 BIKEBIZ OCTOBER Wellington Trek
ON ENTRY this Sunningdale store was busy seeing to the needs of a family, with kids in tow. Realising it may be a while before I was seen, I browsed the store and observed the staffer show the patience of a saint while he fitted helmets to several young girls who cared only for how the headgear was messing up their hair. Despite not being sure if Mystery Shopper would have been patient enough to deal with these young customers, Wellington Trek’s helper laughed it off with polite charm. Well played and multiple sales secured, as a result. Once greeted, my folding bike brief was unfortunately not one the shop could accommodate, with the assistant explaining he didn’t have the suppliers in place. Although this time not securing any business, the assistant remained helpful as I attempted to salvage the experience with a MTB component query. Realising I was the second consecutive difficult customer for this poor fellow I decided to give him some peace and went on my way. I left satisfied that the staffer had attempted to help me to the best of his store’s abilities.