BWS Kingston

"Clean and large range which was stocked well"

"Never seen more than one staff member at a time in there.....so there's a good chance the place will be locked with a "back in 5 minutes" sign on the door...really inconvenient to have to wait while a staffer goes to the Gary Glitter."

"I've been a customer of BWS Australia wide for over a decade and I'm both in shock and appalled at the way I was treated today by customer service member Rebecca. I'm from Brisbane, however, I have purchased products from the BWS Kingston store several times over the last 2 weeks as it's the closest bottle shop to the hotel I'm staying at(Abode Kingston). On all of my previous visits to the store, the customer service level has been consistently good. But today was a different story. As I entered the store at roughly 7pm I noticed a board that noted they had 2 varieties of cocktails on tasting. My curiosity got the better of me and I walked over to their tasting bar to try what they had on offer. Once service member Rebecca completed serving another customer, they directed their attention to me and asked what I was after. I informed them I had noticed their cocktail tastings sign and asked if I could sample the cocktails they had on offer. Rebecca responded by saying "The tastings are for customers only. Are you going to buy something or not?". Keep in mind I had barely spent 30 seconds in the store so by no means could it presumed I was loitering or abusing the tastings on offer given that I hadn't tried anything yet. Completely baffled by their response, I responded by saying "Excuse me, what did you say?" as I initially couldn't fathom the way I was being treated. They reiterated their initial response and asked if I was a customer. I informed Rebecca that I was both insulted and appalled at their behaviour and that I had previously purchased from the particular store location multiple times before. I informed them I'm upset and would prefer to take my business elsewhere. I have lived in Australia my whole life, and I have never been treated this way by a customer service attendant before. I exited the store feeling profiled because of the colour of my skin as I believe there was no other reason the attendant could have to be treating me this way. I returned to the store approximately 30 seconds after I exited because I felt it was necessary to get the name of the attendant who served me so I could take the matter further. As the service attendant had a few customers to serve I waited for them to process their transactions before I approached the counter. I politely asked for their name. They asked me why I'd like their name. I informed them that I would be reporting the way they treated me and I'd like their name so I could file the report. They initially refused to provide their name. Stating that they didn't have to provide me with a name. I explained that I wouldn't have to ask for name if they were wearing a name tag. I went on to explain that I was not interested in their surname, just their first name so I could follow up on the interaction. At this point I noticed other customers showing disgust at the way I was treated, which appeared to put pressure on the attendant to provide their name. They reluctantly provided their name and I proceeded to exit the store. Overall I'm extremely upset and disappointed by the way I have been treated today. I've never been treated this way in my entire life and do not believe behaviour like this should be tolerated by any citizen, resident or visitor to Australia, let alone a paying customer in a store. I assume BWS wouldn't condone this type of behaviour but it baffles me that during the recruitment process that personnel such as Rebecca would be weeded out given their disgusting behaviour. I would like to be contacted by management to take this matter further."

"Great selection of craft beer. So many I couldn’t decide. V nice man stacking shelves explained discount on every eight single beers but make sure lady at checkout scans each one individually. Got to checkout and told lady same. Her response was “he shouldn’t tell you that” and then served us with the WORST ATTITUDE I have ever experienced in a retail outlet. If it were my business I would NOT have a person like that working for me."