Complaint Review: Shaun Belding Retail Track

I am part-owner of Simply Computing in Abbotsford. I contacted Mr. Belding and the Retail Track company in regards to doing some

customer service evaluation in my store as part of a national campaign for Simply Computing. We have stores located in British Columbia,

Alberta, and Manitoba. Our specialization is selling, trading, fixing, recycling, and refurbishing Apple Computer products exclusively. Mr.

Belding claims to be the CEO of Retail Track alongside other companies, Belding Co, that specialize in training programs. He positioned

himself as the head of a successful company that offered guidance through mystery shopping programs for business. He told me that he

hired personnel himself and interviewed, screened, and trained them himself through a series of qualifications, including background

checks and identity confirmation. Mr. Belding assured me that I would receive accurate monthly reports on how my employees were

promoting the product. I was particularly interested in the promotion of three products: MacBook Pro, iMac, and all of our iPad tablets. I

wanted to be certain that the staff was explaining our policies on warranties including our extended warranty from Apple and not just the

manufacturer's warranty, the differences between the two, etc. I also wanted to know if they evaluated the needs of the customer before making recommendations based on pricing, screen size, desired features, and use. I noticed that the iMacs were being brought back by customers who wanted a 2-in-1 convertible device similar to Microsoft Surface or Lenovo Yoga, or a combination tablet and small notebook, and were pressured to buy the iMac, which they likened to a bulky PC. I also noticed that the staff was not telling customers about financing programs, repair poilcies, used models, refurbishment, recycling options, credit card options, in-store promotions, and other matters. I wanted to retrain our staff on key areas to make certain that they were doing their job so their sales would go up.I

expressed these concerns to Mr. Belding by email, in person, and over the phone, He assured me that I would benefit by joining the

national campaign and that the reports were carried meticulously and honestly by the staff he claimed to train. I was not informed that

anyone could sign up for the assignment with Retail Track and was told they went through training at Belding and Co, only to find out

that they were actually independent contractors with no experience who were automatically approved of without training or screening

or experience. I was terribly disappointed. We pay almost $200 per shop. The shops turned out to be done by the same people over

and over under different names, and sometimes, they simply called in or grabbed a card. I checked the cameras myself and also

interviewed staff, and they could not recall specific incidents or transactions. I found that what was mentioned in the report was not

generally true, e.g. comments on merchandisers and promotions in the store, staff being there at certain times, doing the shop on

certain days and times, claims about buying iMacs or receiving free goods, and other things. I also found out that the turnover was

supposed to consistent with new people performing the shop each time and not the same two or three people, even one person

doing the shop, often under fake names with fake addresses. In one case, someone had several accounts with different names. It is

impossible to verify the identity or track the person, let alone confirm this was true. I feel that Mr. Belding was dishonest about the

effectiveness of his programs, and found his fraudulent information and promotions useless, a waste of money, and damaging to my

business. I have significant doubts about the company and would like to be compensated in full, receive an apology, and have

detailed writing about what actually did and did not happen on these shops, as I have had to confront some salespeople wrongly

under the impression they were not doing their job, when the information provided was false, unreliable or even irrelevant. There was

a lot of focus in these reports on advertising, cleanliness, setup, and store exterior. I was interested in sales staff techniques and

received little commentary on it. This was a disappointing venture.