A Catalan Starbucks, “Impossible!”
I recently attended a meeting with some leading Spanish Internet gurus that was attended by the press. The next morning, the title of the article that appeared in the newspaper quoted one of the local gurus saying, “A Spanish Google? Impossible!” That was in answer to the question of whether a company of the calibre of Google could ever start and survive in Spain.
That phrase came to mind again with two independent events that occured today:
1- Starbucks announced it was going to start providing 2 hours of free wifi per day to its customers. Fabulous!
2- I just had a meeting with a colleague in a local cafe in Barcelona. There’s no wifi at all, but that’s not the point. We took laptops and sat at a table near a power outlet. I plugged in, we ordered coffees, and had our meeting for an hour. But when we paid the bill, the lady at the cafe charged me 1 euro “for the electricity you were using all that time” (!!!!) To make things worse, I’m a regular customer, someone who’s been there at least 30 times in the past year.
I know, Starbucks is evil and expensive etc. But it actively encourages people to do whatever they want at their stores. Come in, get comfortable, stay as long as you like. Use our freaking electricity at no charge! It may be cheezy, formulaic customer service, but it’s still customer service where the customer’s needs come FIRST. There are exceptions, but generally the level of customer service here is so bad that it’s not surprising at all to understand why there isn’t any equivalent success as a Starbucks among local service companies.
Ouch!
You’re right, of course. There are so many places here (in fact it’s hard to think of an exception) that really, deeply, don’t get it. They don’t understand the most basic things – like that if they take an item back and give you a no-questions-asked cash refund, that you will shop there even more, perhaps much much more. That if they give you a fraction of a cent in electricity, you’ll come back repeatedly and spend 1.5 euros on a coffee or 2 euros on a coke. That if they let you sit around reading their new books and magazines that you’ll go there preferentially, and also buy books and magazines. Etc.
There are many things I don’t like about the US, but they really do understand customer service in a way that’s so much more “advanced” (if that’s the right word for it) than almost anywhere else. I still know where I’d prefer to live though
We live in hope. E.g., I do think the next Google will come from Barcelona
Terry
Terry Jones
February 12, 2008 at 8:30 am
You should have asked for the price list, and demand to see where the price of 1 hour of electricity was.
All the shops are obliged to have a detailed price list.
But yes, that is not the point.
And just to play devil’s advocate …. how much did you pay for the coffee ? In Spain it’s normal to charge only 1 euro or 1.25 ….
Was the coffee plus the electricity still cheaper than the 4 euros Starbucks mocha coffee ?
hombrelobo
February 12, 2008 at 6:08 pm
There was a time I was working in Boston when I would make a regular stop there to pickup one of their lemon poppyseed slices of bread. Nothing compares. When they stopped selling those I went into morning (sort of.)
Times like this I wish I could give them a 101 on customer satisfaction and their profits. But then again, they have been doing this a lot longer then American’s, so maybe they know something we don’t. Just think of Venice the original tourist destination – they have been doing this for over 400 years
Wayne
February 13, 2008 at 4:22 am
hi Terry: I’d love to have a Barcelona-based Google as well! When I make such comments, it’s not because I don’t want it to happen, but because I think we need to be realistic in addressing the barriers that exist…
hola Hombrelobo: I know, starbucks has its (big) problems, too. Love the idea of asking for a price list, I will remember this for next time! (cool blog, btw- have subscribed)
hi Wayne: to paraphrase Terry, America has its problems, etc., but is really world-class in customer service. The only place that compares (in my experience) is the service in Asia- now that is *incredible*!
yannick
February 13, 2008 at 11:28 am
Oh, I miss Catalunya. One euro “for the electricity”. They should also charge you for the napkins you used and, of course, the water you dispended in the toilet. They should may be bundle all that in a “all you can eat” tariff. These are funny people!
rodrigo
February 20, 2008 at 3:21 pm
[...] Shitty service: One of my biggest pet peeves. The customer is the enemy, or at best irrelevant, in many Spanish businesses. If you want to come back, great. If not, who cares? Are you a loyal customer? That’s your problem! Just pay for your meal, and go — and I’m going to try as exploit you as much as possible while you’re here. Carpe Diem! For example, I eat at the same restaurant almost every day. For dessert, I usually get the arroz con leche, but one day I asked for the yogurt with honey. The waitress told me that they had honey, but I’d be charged extra for it. For a few drops of honey! Since then, I’ve been a little more reluctant to eat there. I don’t feel valued as a customer, so I’m trying to find my “Cheers” place — where everyone knows my name. And I’m not the only entrepreneur who laments this entrepreneurial short-sightedness in Spanish businesses. Yannick recounts a similar experience where a waitress charged for electricity when he plugged in his laptop! The title of the post says it all: A Catalan Starbucks, Impossible! [...]
Gary Stewart » Blog Archive » Paradise Lost
March 28, 2008 at 9:25 am