Customer Service Review: Borders Bookstore

Business: Bookstore
Location: Berjaya Times Square; The Curve
Website: http://www.berjaya.com/berjayabooks.htm

The Situation:

I'm looking for The Biggest Loser Cookbook, because I'm going to be on study leave for 1.5 weeks and I thought I'd cook at home. I'd heard that the book has simple recipes with simple ingredients as opposed to those ingredients where most people go "... what?"

So of course I go to the website of my favorite bookstores, in order of preference: MPH, Times and Borders. MPH and Times are pretty easy, with simple and user friendly websites that allow searches of the stores' inventories online by Title, Author, etc. Now comes Borders.

Borders doesn't really have a website. Not only that, the crap website that it does have doesn't give you the phone numbers of all the two stores that they have, which as I understand is way too difficult to put down two phone numbers. So nevermind, I call the number that they do have and ask for the number of their other branch which isn't situated in such a ridiculously inconvenient spot, and I get it easy enough.

So get this: not only do they have a crap website and only 1 phone number, they also have a phone system that doesn't put you on hold when the customer service officers are busy. If you happen to call and the lines are engaged, you just have to call back and try your luck!

That's ridiculous!

Verdict:

I know that Berjaya Group has a history of low levels of customer service, but just once I'd like to be surprised. The verdict is a 1 star customer service level for a purportedly 5 star brand name and outlet.