I was thinking that same thing today.If anyone has contacts in Ikea they should send them a link to this thread! Have you tried their social media, in the remote chance that it's actually monitored?
If anyone has contacts in Ikea they should send them a link to this thread! Have you tried their social media, in the remote chance that it's actually monitored?
I completely get why some things are more expensive here. Especially luxury type goods which are imported. But we live in a country where people line up for hours in the blazing sun to get a job paying minimum wage, take out loans from the mob just to pay for food, and very frequently go without. You would think that money would talk in such a country. But when you are spending money, trying to buy things, people just go out of their way to be unhelpful and rude, it's like they have all been on a training course and believe that this is how you should serve customers. Yesterday, another example, I wanted to buy 3 chairs in Alyss in Sambil. They were leather chairs, but RD$ 16,500 was too expensive, so i asked for a discount. Explained that I own a hotel, that there is a pandemic, that there are very few tourists, that all us businesses need to support each other, please help, blah blah blah. The manager looked at me like someone who was one of those window-washers at the traffic lights. She said she could give me 3% no more. And then when i was mid-sentence, she just picked up her phone, started speaking to someone and walked away. I walked out and she missed a nearly US$ 1,000 sale. I can pretty much guarantee the chairs will still be there in a month's time.
i just wonder whether the guys who own IKEA or Alyss or any other international chain have any idea how atrocious their staff are in Dom Rep and how many sales they are losing as a result.
The way I see it is that the employees are not motivate to do better and the owners are so filthy rich exploiting all, they also are not motivated to do better or change things.
I personally think it's more of a cultural thing. Employees believe that the most important person is their boss, and they will be automatically fired if something goes missing or an extra discount is given. Bosses reinforce this idea by constantly doing the Do You Know Who I Am act. And customers are seen as the enemy, the people who steal things and ask for discounts. Everything would be fine if there weren't any customers.
Put the service staff on a commission salary and see if that motivates them to make a sale. No incentive to do betters means no one does anything differently or tries to do better. Change requires understanding and motivation. If the owners don't see the need for change then the employees reflect this position. It seems that in this country at least as far as retail is concerned change is to be avoided at all costs so good customer service and satisfaction remains a rarity. Ask for a discount or something out of the ordinary and you can see the colour change in their faces as they search for an innovative way to say no.
The first assembly instruction for all IKEA furniture should be open 1 beer.
I read in the news down here a few
years ago the management vs. average
employee pay gap in the DR is the largest
of all Latin American countries but I will
say after working in the Outsourcing/ Call Center industry down here for the last seven years...
I understand why that is.
Maybe I've just been lucky.
Zero issues with IKEA DR.
It can be for both or either one. Its like you reply in post 27 your "Jumbo" cashier was motivated.The owners of furniture stores, or chain operations?
Call centers are a way of life, I guess. Yes, necessary evil.
Although, I must say, I have never received a Dominican operator (male/female) in any of my calls which required a central call center, in the last 30 years.
India, yes.
Timbuktu, yes.
RD, no.
Perhaps it is Chinese or Russian citizens who are redirected to RD to make phone inquiries.
Wow, just wow.
As the FOREIGN BORN OWNER of a hotel within RD, I am safe to assume from your statements that you approve of your Dominican employees (if any) of offering discounts that you are not directly aware of, to those that ask, or demand of such????????
If you found a Dominican employee of yours (again, if there are any) giving away comps, freebies, bennies to "special people" without your consent, or magic keyswipe/code would you be acceptable of this behaviour?
Of course, as the hotel owner that you are.
Hope you are feeling better after getting all those comments off your chest. All I would say to you is please try owning a hotel in Dom Rep right now, and then when you have done that, you will understand why we are begging for discounts. Please also understand that a luxury good is a good that is outside the reach of people on a normal salary. A single small chair for RD$ 16,500 would be a luxury purchase for most Dominicans even if it isn't to your taste. And regarding IKEA, the owner was the third richest man in the world, and I don't think he made all that money selling furniture to students. In Europe I think you'd be hard pressed to find a house without something from IKEA in it.
Yes of course it would be acceptable. I only employ people I can trust and I always pay above market salaries. And I only employ Dominicans, not foreigners. My staff would only offer comps or discounts if there was a justifiable reason and I don't micromanage them. Usually I have the opposite problem, a guest has a problem and they refuse to give a discount. The day I can't trust someone, the day I find someone with their hand in the till, I just fire them they all know that. I used to run quite a big company and my specialism is HR so I think I know how to employ and manage people to get the best out of them.
So, by all accounts within your own words, this poor employee/manager of the furniture store in question, was only doing their job.
Bravo to him/her.
She was just rude. I didn't think she was a poor employee who was just doing her job. She was the manager of a large store she would be making maybe RD$80000 a month and had a really nasty attitude.So, by all accounts within your own words, this poor employee/manager of the furniture store in question, was only doing their job.
Bravo to him/her.
It’s called beta entitlement. It’s destroying most western societies at the moment. They feel as if the world revolves around them, and that their emotions and feelings matter more than anything (there’s billions of people with feelings mind you).This is a hysterical/ludicrous/absurd posting, and it is time that somebody calls the truth on this shite.
Let us begin with the highlighted postings above......
Imported luxury goods.....from IKEA or Alyss? Again, luxury? 😂🤣😂
Then, you wanted a discount, requested a discount, and demanded a discount.....and were properly denied.
You did ALL but say exactly, "Do you know who I am?"; "Do you know who I know?"......but you probably did.
Is there any quicker way to get shot down in the service industry than this? Any place, globally? Please, those within the service industry feel free to chime in.
The manager offered you a 3% discount, but that was not good enough for you. Yes, in this time of the Coronavirus Plandemic BS, SHOULD SHE HAVE JEOPARDIZED HER POSITION, HER JOB, HER LIVLIHOOD......FOR YOUR DISCOUNT????????
For this, I may go to this location and buy 10 of these chairs, and give this poor employee a Christmas tip on top for being a good reliable employee.
Be real man.
I think you are right. I have never been in IKEA RD, but the kitchen items are of reasonable quality. We have a construction company in our family and with every reconstruction or new build they (I am not part of it) put always IKEA kitchens . Cheap, easy to install and last forever.In Europe I think you'd be hard pressed to find a house without something from IKEA in it.