Response from Loblaw (No Frills)

I received this email response from Loblaw regarding the No Frills incident.  I consider the response to be satisfactory:

“Thank you for taking the time to write to us. Please accept my most sincere apologies for the fact that you have not received a more timely resolution of your concern.

At Loblaw Companies, it is our hope that customers have a positive experience every time they visit us. This includes maintaining a store environment in which our customers feel comfortable while doing their shopping. I’m so sorry to learn about your recent experience at Michael’s No Frills. Please know that I have been in touch with James Chung, the Associate Store Manager at your No Frills, who also asked that I extend to you his apologies for any undue inconvenience the presence of these two individuals have caused, as well as for the fact that store colleagues did not alert management of the concern when you shared it with them. James informed me that the matter was brought to his attention and the solicitors were asked to leave immediately, as they did not have permission to collect donations in front of the store. Please be assured that James will certainly monitor this situation closely moving forward and asked that I invite you to speak to either himself, or Michael Lo Presti, the Store Franchisee, if you have any further concerns.

Thank you again for bringing this matter to our attention. I truly hope you will continue to allow us the pleasure and privilege of serving you as one of our valued customers.

Sincerely,

Julie Dunham

Senior Customer Relations Representative

Loblaw Companies Limited”

Customer harassment at No Frills

I visited Michael’s No Frills (Silver Star Blvd., Scarborough, Ontario) recently. At the entrance were two individuals who were aggressively soliciting money, which they claim were for some charity. They were very persistent and were harassing customers who were entering or leaving the store. I informed the pharmacist about this, and she said “I don’t know” and did not do anything. I next informed the cashier in the lane nearest to the entrance (not the express lane, it was the lane next to the express lane) about this, and she also said “I don’t know” and did nothing.

I have two concerns about this:

1. Customers should not experience harassment when entering or exiting a No Frills store. If these two individuals were authorized by management to solicit funds at the store entrance, I ask that this authorization be revoked immediately. If they were trespassing, I ask that store management be more vigilant to ensure that such harassment does not occur again.

2. The “I don’t know” response from the pharmacist and the cashier were unacceptable. Security and maintaining a harassment-free shopping experience are the responsibility of every employee in the store. At the very least, employees should immediately contact management when they hear that customers complain about harassment. Saying “I don’t know” and doing nothing is absolutely wrong. In this case, the worst that could happen is customers be scammed of some money by a fake charity; if the situation were a pedophile abducting a child, would the pharmacist and the cashier also reply “I don’t know”?

I ask that store management take these events very seriously.