Jessops regularly plants mystery shoppers at its high street stores in a bid to monitor customer service which, admits its boss, is not as good as it should be.
Jessops chairman David Adams said that the firm, which has more than 200 shops nationwide, invests heavily in monitoring customer service.
In a recent interview he told Amateur Photographer: ‘We receive a lot of letters from customers, both good and bad. We do listen and we take action.
‘We have an extensive programme of mystery shopping – we commission a firm to act as the customer and to go in.’
He added: ‘Are we as good as we should be? No we are not.’
Adams said that areas tracked by the mystery shoppers include the extent to which store staff ‘engage with a customer’.
He told us that recently appointed chief executive Trevor Moore is ‘absolutely committed’ to improving customer service.
‘I think we have as good a service, if not the best in the marketplace but there is still plenty of room for improvement.’
Last month we reported that Jessops expects to be de-listed from the London Stock Exchange before Christmas.
At the time Adams said he is optimistic about sales over Christmas but less certain about the early part of 2010.
He described the government’s reintroduction of 17.5% VAT as ‘madness’ – a measure that will hit smaller businesses in particular like a ‘cold, wet towel’ in January.
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH DAVID ADAMS HERE
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