A Customer Service Revolution?

Mary Portas' current show Secret Shopper, whilst meeting with some critiscism as to the approach (such as from Furniture Village chief Peter Harrison who said in Retail Week that it was "morally indefensible" and a "biased, ill-informed perversion of the truth"- come on say what you really mean Peter), has a noble aim.

To highlight the poor standards of customer service in British retail, and start a revolution to bring about change- one retailer at a time!

She's right on this of course, but surely this issue isn't as black and white as it seems.

Yes when we're spending a lot, or more than we could be elsewhere, then we expect to be accorded a certain level of service and respect. But if we're not prepared to spend more than £2 on a t-shirt from Primark, do we have a right to expect the same attentiveness?
Or should we instead be considering how they afford to keep those t-shirts so cheap (I'm not even going to go into the production end but it starts there!), and whether part of that cost saving is by  under-staffing stores and paying shop workers lower than average salaries- shop workers who we then apparently expect to lavish us, and their store, with care and attention? Motivated staff require investment, and yes perhaps you can argue these retailers should prioritise price and service equally... But which retailers excel at both? I think there is always a trade off at some level..

I was going to do a bottom five retailers for customer service, but upon reflection, I reckon if you're only willing to pay Primark and H&M prices for your clothes, then I don't think you should expect John Lewis service. And if you do want John Lewis levels of service, then you know what you can do?

Vote with your feet and spend your pound with a retailer who 'cares'..