Is MAPLINS getting worse?

[roy_bates]

i thought to myself,while im out and about i'll pop into maplins for some bits and peices.as the one in erdington is only up the road from me.and there only basic parts..i thought.

i walked up to the counter and asked for 2 28 pin dil sockets and 2 40 pin ones,after some time for the guy to get off his mobile phone...
then the person went to ask not one but two other people that worked there what they were:huh:
and,yes it gets better. none of them knew what a dil socket was.
after a bit of explaining which took some minutes...

i even went to the trouble to walk down the side of the shop to show them what one looks like from a lucky dip bag,only to be asked "what are they for"icard
so,i explained to them(yes, all three people) what they were for and they managed to find some 28 pin sockets...eventually.

15 minutes later there still looking for the the 40 pin sockets(not phisicly,but on a computer),yep..you guessed it,they dont even stock them???:double

so,i said. do you... ok forget that ,can you show me the catalogue?
and i went looking for pin strips..
i gave the number and...,what are they? came the answer.
i said..never mind that now,have you got any?
the response was,we only have one in stock,do you want it?
one?..no,i said i need four of them.


as you can imagine,i just said thank you for your help all,and walked out.
but before i did,i asked why they didnt stock 40 pin dil sockets not even in the catalogue as they were very common parts,i didnt get anything but a blank look from all involved...


so,i went on my way...when i got home i ordered some off the other bay in about 20 seconds flat

i wasent angry or funny with them or anything,im just...whats the word?

 

[ColourWheel64]

I don't know how reasonable it is for you to expect the staff to know those particular parts as I don't know them myself, but then I don't-know more than I do-know when it comes to electronics.

It's certainly unreasonable to expect the staff to know the catalogue inside-out.

Working at Maplin is hardly a highly sought after career.

How certain are you that they weren't expressing interest in your project instead of asking you to teach them their job?

"What are they for?" could mean many things

 

[scrappysphinx]

To be honest my local Maplin is more of a remote control car/plane hobby shop. I went in the other day looking for some desolder braid, they had none, i asked for a couple of 220uf capacitors, they didn't stock them but told me they could order them at a cost of £2.59 per cap...

I went home and ordered 100 of them for less than the cost of one from Maplin

 

[RED IMPACT]

I think it's unfair to ask any retail assistant to know everything about everything that they 'sell'. However customer service is what 'high street' shopping should be all about...

However, online shopping is much easier and usually cheaper but is faceless (whether good or bad!)

 

[roy_bates]

I don't know how reasonable it is for you to expect the staff to know those particular parts as I don't know them myself, but then I don't-know more than I do-know when it comes to electronics.

It's certainly unreasonable to expect the staff to know the catalogue inside-out.

Working at Maplin is hardly a highly sought after career.

How certain are you that they weren't expressing interest in your project instead of asking you to teach them their job?

"What are they for?" could mean many things

the catalogue has a search engine which is on the till theres a paper one that has a index and a computer one ,and the people working there are working in a electronics parts outlet.
a dil socket is a very basic part,being asked what there for when they have one in there hands is something else.

 

[Chinners]

I think it's unfair to ask any retail assistant to know everything about everything that they 'sell'.

Its unfair to expect they know everything, but its fair that at least one member of staff on duty knows something about stock they carry.

Maplin's seem to be changing their focus. They've always been about gadgets and "boy's toys", but that side of the business seems to be taking precedent over their component business - and who can blame them where it's possible to buy these bits far cheaper online.

 

[scrappysphinx]

I don't expect them to know the catalog but I would expect some basic knowledge if working in that kind of store.

 

[roy_bates]

I don't know how reasonable it is for you to expect the staff to know those particular parts as I don't know them myself, but then I don't-know more than I do-know when it comes to electronics.

It's certainly unreasonable to expect the staff to know the catalogue inside-out.

Working at Maplin is hardly a highly sought after career.

How certain are you that they weren't expressing interest in your project instead of asking you to teach them their job?

"What are they for?" could mean many things

the catalogue has a search engine which is on the till theres a paper one that has a index and a computer one ,and the people working there are working in a electronics parts outlet.
a dil socket is a very basic part,being asked what there for when they have one in there hands is something else.

the shops moto is they have experts working there,maplins did used to have people working there you could just ask.

 

[scrappysphinx]

There used to be an old gentleman in ours who knew exactly where and what everything was and suggested alternatives if he couldn't find it. He now works in Tesco

 

[Paul_s]

Last time I went in they tried selling me cheap tat when all I wanted was an RJ-45 socket.

Majority of their stuff is way over priced too. Never again. Can't fault their on-line store though - fast delivery when I used to order electrical components..

 

[roy_bates]

There used to be an old gentleman in ours who knew exactly where and what everything was and suggested alternatives if he couldn't find it. He now works in Tesco

i dont expect them to know where the parts are.(thats just a case of looking in the store room)

but as a company that sells electronic components to a hoby market,i do expect them to know what there selling in general even if its just basic knowledge, i think that is important.
they seem to have skipped that part over the years,and only capable of helping you if you want some batterys for your remote.
or only asking if you want a screwdriver while your paying for something else.

 

[fitzsteve]

Pretty much the only skills most shop assistants require these days is how to stack shelves and operate a till, gone are the days of employing an expert in the field.

You just have to look at all the empty units these days to know the high street is dying out, no one is prepared to pay the premium to shop there (although we like to browse shops and buy online later)

So you understand then why they pay so low and this is why the quality of the staff is low.

 

[roy_bates]

Pretty much the only skills most shop assistants require these days is how to stack shelves and operate a till, gone are the days of employing an expert in the field.

You just have to look at all the empty units these days to know the high street is dying out, no one is prepared to pay the premium to shop there (although we like to browse shops and buy online later)

So you understand then why they pay so low and this is why the quality of the staff is low.

i understand that.

but the thing is,they have a 10,000 page catalogue and alot of that is parts that they either dont have or dont have stocked in the shop.
if they find the part,they dont know what there handing you.
and if its wrong,it can be very frustrating.

 

[ColourWheel64]

It certainly is a shame. However, I find it encouraging that at least they were inquisitive about the parts you wanted, which at the very least is a sign of interest. So, they might learn.

It's possible that they might remember from after your visit and eventually get up to standard.

I hope so for your sake, as it's a shame to resort to the twisted evil that is the other bay

*screams*

Note: I don't really hate eBay. Please do not be offended.

 

[Bryce]

I haven't been into a Maplins for years, but I also didn't think it was possible for them to get any worse. But evidently they've managed it.

Unlike many posts here, I DO expect someone in Maplins to have a decent knowledge of the parts they sell, that's what they are there for! If I go into a wine shop I expect the guy to know quite a bit about wine, the same if I go into any shop that specialises in a particular type of product. So of course the guy in Maplins should know what a 28pin DIL socket is.

Here's a recent and very funny Dilbert on the subject: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2013-09-29/

Bryce.

 

[fitzsteve]

Note: I don't really hate eBay. Please do not be offended.

I do, but it's a necessary evil

 

[roy_bates]

It certainly is a shame. However, I find it encouraging that at least they were inquisitive about the parts you wanted, which at the very least is a sign of interest. So, they might learn.

It's possible that they might remember from after your visit and eventually get up to standard.

I hope so for your sake, as it's a shame to resort to the twisted evil that is the other bay

*screams*

Note: I don't really hate eBay. Please do not be offended.

yes,they were inquisitive.and they tried to help somewhat.

none of what ive said should be taken as a negative,its..just it was a completely different place years ago.
and it made the experience all the more frustrating.for them and for me the customer.

 

[johnim]

i know what you mean about erdington roy i use it myself sometimes but i check on line first to see if they have what i want in stock then look on the shelves before asking they are getting worse tho

 

[ratfink]

Maybe 10-15years ago I used to use maplin's quite often. Both in London and Leeds they had at least a few VERY knowledgeable staff behind their parts counter and reasonably knowledgeable staff elsewhere, right down to selecting components to fix some broken robot of my son's.

I don't buy this "what do you expect for that pay" attitude - I doubt pay is any worse than it was, and unemployment is higher so you might expect they can take their pick of potential staff.

It feels like they've changed focus to become a sort of argos-clone, they don't even try to recruit knowledgeable staff most of the time. Most of them are numpties who can't do much more than look helpless or read what's on the box. Bet they have a qualification in retail customer sales, and had to win some pathetic pseudo-competition about showing enthusiasm for electronics when they were recruited [like toys'r'us].

Having said that. recently I needed something fom the York store and I was pleasantly flabbergasted when the senior guy there knew exactly what questions to ask and rapidly focused in on what turned out to be exactly what I needed, including how the thing worked and all it's capabilities. Massively impressed, that is what used to be good about maplins.

Unfortunately I am still annoyed at the tosser at the Poole store who denied they ever sold mac pram batteries. Meh.

 

[Merlin]

CPC at Preston or Farnell in Leeds.

The first one to mention *RS* Components gets banned.

Enough said.