MY Consumer Experience

I originally thought that shopping in the UK would be pretty much the same as at home, and for the most part it is. Take away differences in size and convenience that come along with living in a big city instead of Durham, (and the 15% Value Added Tax tacked on to everything), and virtually everything you can buy at home you can buy in London. However, there are some very distinct differences in the way consumers are treated and apparently in the way the customer experience is viewed by UK companies.

Commercials are much racier in the UK, and one can swear and show boobs on public TV channels. All the same commercializing strategies are in use here - coupons, sales, rebates, billboards, give-aways etc. Most of our major brands are here (US and Unilever as well as domestic brands), sometimes in different forms - Lay's chips are Walker's crisps, etc. - and high streets in London look just as they would in any other major city in the US (malls, department stores, restaurants and etc.) But customers in London are willing to put up with inconvenience and hassle to a far greater degree than I think would ever fly at home (or at least given what we're used to.) Examples: You have to ask for a shopping bag, even if you're buying a few things - this actually isn't bad I think. So you want to buy a hairdryer? Good LUCK! No Walmart, no Rite Aid, and the one brand carried at the drug store will set you back a cool $50... so on to a store called Argos - the WEIRDEST place on Earth, and one of the most popular and ubiquitous shops for personal electronics and household devices in London.

It's not a store - it's a room with catalogs in it - you shop the CATALOG, write down your items, pay at the cash, and someone brings them from the back store room for you! Even with limited space, I can't understand why someone hasn't said, "if we make some appealing shelves with popular items on them, people will see and touch them and want to buy them!" Fascinating. And Londoners do not think it's weird at all. They thought I was weird when I demanded that 5 hairdryers be brought out for me to look at them before I would choose which one I wanted to buy... hmmm.

There are few comparisons emblematic of the differences in the consumer experience between the US and the UK than the following:
-A Chinese national studying at a UK institution receives a check for rent from a US citizen drawn on a US banking account. She arrives in the US to study for a term at Kellogg, and within 24 hours has opened a new banking account at a US bank that provided free checks, a bank card and free checking with no minimum balance for a year, deposited the check and cleared the money. This was done in really less than 24 hours of landing (as my banking statement proves).
-A US citizen studying at a UK institution arrives in the UK and walks into a UK bank that is the official partner of her bank in the US (Barclays). She is told she has to make an appointment to see someone and to come back in a WEEK. A week later she shows up for her appointment and is told that she needs her passport, personal letter of recommendation from her bank in the US, a personal letter to the bank from the UK school at which she is studying verifying her student status, oh and the account will be pure checking, zero interest, no check card, no cheques, and it's going to cost over $10/month for the account with a minimum balance of 200 pounds. Discouraged, she decides to shop around and finds the situation similar at three other major banks in town (Lloyds, HSBC and NatWest). Frustrated at one bank she says, "You know I would like to keep this account open and I'll be using it at some point in the future in my career - no chance you'd like to be more accommodating?" No dice.

One might try to argue that this rigor and attention to absurd detail is what protects the UK banking system - but we're talking DEPOSITS here. In effect, the system just stopped a few thousand US dollars from making their way into the coffers of UK banks that probably needed it and instead is earning a US bank a few more dollars in fees as I'm now drawing cash as I need it out of protest. I was told by a fellow student from Italy that there the situation is even worse - if I had walked into an Italian bank with the same request, I'd probably be laughed at. "You're not Italian, you'd never get an account... unless you were really rich or something, then maybe."

I also find it amusing that no matter where I am or what I'm buying, clerks ALWAYS insist on checking my signature against my credit card. One clerk said to me, "Do you have another sample, this card's been smudged a bit and I can't see your signature well enough." I rolled my eyes at her and said kindly, "You'll notice that my PHOTOGRAPH is on the front of the card... If I had stolen a credit card, do you think I'd use it to buy milk and bread? Actually, I'd be in Tahiti right now or in the electronics store buying a flat-screen." She didn't think I was funny, and I should be grateful that they're so worried about my protection. But when in a rush, I find myself constantly thinking, "Come ON people!"

Someone who knows more about the differences in credit and banking regulations systems might point out here that our looseness in the US pervades all the way down to the consumer experience and may be exactly the reason why our system is being checked and buckled right now. Maybe it's time we started being just a little more careful, even if it slows us down? If you ask me, in London, trying to get sh$^%^ done on a rainy day when I've no patience for inefficiency (which is always), I'd actually probably say, "screw it, this is ridiculous!" But maybe that's part of the problem. Thoughts??