A rant on customer service in Poland

I always wonder what they do when they have filled their tills. The concept of a 'float' seems alien to Polish shopkeepers. Whenever I come to pay I have my loose change ready in my hand, so the check-out assistant can help themselves. (If only everybody did this. The wait would be so much shorter.) I guess it's all a hangover from communist times when, presumably, there was a shortage of loose change.


It's much worse in Russia. I once told a supermarket assistant that I didn't have the odd change. "Look!" she literally shouted at me, before getting me my change from a till full of all kinds of coins and slapping it down aggressively.

In my local shop they never, ever had change. If you wanted something for 9.65 zl and gave them 10zl, the ladie sin the shop would say in an accusing censorious tone "and not 9.65zl?". I actually once or twice saw them taking the till drawer into the back room of the shop groaning with coins and replacing it with an empty one.

There's a law in Poland (an old one but still on the books) that says items and services should be paid for using the exact amount. And in the morning they don't start with a float - the concept just doesn't exist.many shopkeepers wouldn't see the point and would rather lose a sale than go to the (very little) effort of having one.

That and the shop culture still harks back to a time when goods were scarce and customers didn't have the choice to go elsewhere. Plus shop assistants were sometimes there because they had to be rather than through choice. All this has gone, however it's be a couple of generations before the culture has changed. Roll on Pakistani corner shops to shake it all up.

So they really are doing us a favour by giving us change!

I didn't realise any of this. So it's not that they are nasty and unkind just because they are (although they can be too), it's just that this is how it is in Poland and they are used to it. It's the customers duty to have the exact money.

This is totally alien to somebody in the UK or USA where if you give more than the amount of the item, it's totally natural to expect change, even if it is a silly amount in coins. Nobody makes a big deal over it. Obviously in Poland they still do.

Not really. In most places they ask for the odd, but if you don't have it, they just give you the change. Sounds like your shopkeeper is just a black enamel b1tch. They can be found everywhere.

From what I know, it's rather an issue with the introduction of the PLN - for some reason, they really struggled to get change out there. Even the banks have problems - I have a friend that wanted to get a lot of 2zł and 5zł coins before a major event that he was hosting (as most prices were 8zl/13zl) - and the bank couldn't supply them. Madness.

You'll find a big regional variation in this. Warsaw is probably the worst for it.

Tesco in store customer desk, ''need to change the address for my clubcard'' sorry sir you need to do it by phone, the number is on the back of the card, great, easy NOT, I make the call and explain, ''sorry sir you need to do it online or in store'' WHAT!!!!!! I then go online, to be greeted with, ''sorry this service is currently unavailable'' AGHHHHHHH.

Something similar but different I guess. Iphone wifi stopped working, I visit the local repair shop in Wroclaw, the guy makes a phone call, comes back and tells me the price is zl480. The next day a Polish friend goes into the same shop, (I'm hiding around the corner) talks to the same guy about the same problem with the same phone, guess what, no ''special'' phone call and comes back with a price of zl135, I go into the shop and say to the guy, ''remember me from yesterday'' his answer, ''I've never seen you before in my life'' unbelievable.

That happened to me in wroclaw in 2013. I told the lady to keep it because she looked like she needed it then I turned my back and left.

Hey all, easy answer, lets all go and live in Belarus, no coins, paper money only.

Now the customer service there really is bad!

Seriously, it's slowly improving in Warsaw.

Merged: Bad customer experience

This is something Im sure has been covered before on this forum. But on the whole Im finding shopping experience at most large stores, be it DIY or supermarkets, a less than agreeable experience. It has nothing to do with my concept of how I have been treated in other countries, its to do with common courtesy and manners. These people are employed in a job which means contact with customers and Im pretty sure they would have received training but their most favourite word seems to be NO. Im not trying to tar everyone with the same brush, I have also encountered people who have been incredibly helpful but unfortunately they are few and far between. We have one electrical shop who we always use, even if they dont have the model or are the cheapest and that is because they have always been very helpfu and knowledgeable.

Todays example is fairly typical of my 'customer experiences' here.
My hubby and I went with a friend to take a large electrical item back to a big DIY store because the motor had blown. He had the receipt, it was barely a few months old. Guy at the customer service desk straight away had the demeanor of total distinterest, he eventually did try to turn it on and tripped all the electrics on his counter which I dont think helped. He then demanded out friends name and address, no explanation as to why, when questioned he said they would have to send it away for 2 weeks to get it fixed. Our friend wasnt happy and remonstrated that he had spent multiple thousand zlotys in their store over the past few months and had the receipts to prove it. The thing wasnt fit for purpose and he either wanted a new replacement or a refund. Customer Service guy then remarked to his colleague in Polish that he doubted our friend could find any receipts - effectively branding him a liar. He didnt realise my hubby speaks and understands Polish perfectly well and it was at this point he joined in. After making a complaint to the guy about his remark the manager was called and eventually a refund was given, no questions.

A remark we constantly get from people like this is 'you are in Poland now', What is that supposed to mean, because you are in Poland you should except 'sh#t' service? And yes we are but Poland is in the EU and as far as I know EU regulations covers Poland. But that isnt really my point, my point is so many times I have come across rude (I can tell the difference between rude and uninformed) disinterested, unhelpful, belligerent staff who huff and puff and give the impression they are doing you a favour. There are countless times I have left a store without the thing I went in for because I havent been able to find it and have tried unsuccessfully to find someone to help me (my Polish is rubbish I admit but I always try to speak Polish whenever I can, that too has led to people 'taking the pee' out of me because of the way I have asked or pronounced something... at least I am trying).

Have all pople who live here just come to except poor service?