We caught up with Vaughan Potter, Head of Customer Services at Hamleys to find out how Aquarius has assisted in answering their calls and emails, since the company came on board in August of last year.
Tell us a little about Hamleys?
Hamleys of London limited is known as the finest toy shop brand in the world. With a rich legacy of over 250 years, Hamleys is known for its toys range, entertainment, and service. The flagship store of Hamleys is set in Regent Street, London and has over five floors, with more than 50,000 toys on sale. It is considered one of the city’s prominent tourist attractions, receiving around 5 million visitors each year. The chain has a variety of other outlets in the United Kingdom ranging from small travel stores to larger outlets and more than 60 franchises worldwide.
What issues did you identify in your business that prompted you to approach Aquarius?
As Head of Customer Services I made the decision to review our Customer Service support, and with this in mind, searched for a new Call Centre Partner to assist with calls and emails during Hamleys busiest time, in the lead up to Christmas. The overall aim was to find a support team to work very closely with our own in-house Customer Services team, and deliver a personal service in line with the Hamleys brand. Having discussed Hamleys requirements with a few call centres, Aquarius was identified as the team to become part of our Hamleys team!
How does Aquarius support Hamleys?
Aquarius support with answering a proportion of our customer calls & emails over the weekends and soon became a very key player for us during our peak period with supporting us 7 days week and answering 50% of our calls during December.
How do you feel the partnership with Aquarius works?
In a very short period, the Aquarius team have shown to be very supportive, showing flexibility and commitment to the partnership. The management team have worked closely with myself in preparing and implementing the training for this program and are very conscientious about their contribution. They have strived to ensure they are providing the expected service and proactively look for feedback to improve. I look forward to working with Aquarius during 2019 with the aim to strengthen our partnership further!
How do you feel Aquarius has benefited your Customer Service?
Having the Aquarius team on board has given us the flexibility with workflow and in time will provide us with a larger window to extend our aftercare service and availability to our customers, for which we wish to extend during 2019.