Rutland Arms Antiques Centre — Local services in Derbyshire Dales

Truly gobsmacked at the experience we had there. Arrived yesterday (Friday) at approx 3.40 to have a look around. As a group of 8 visiting antique centres regularly I anticipated we would find a few things and wasn't disappointed. Upon earmarking a few potential purchases downstairs some of the group got to the upstairs section at 3.50. The group were then texted by my wife at 3.55 to explain that they had just been told by hostile staff downstairs that we would have to leave as they close at 4pm and even if we wanted to buy something that we were not able to as the sale couldnt be processsed as they wouldnt be out by 4pm . The staff member lacked not only basic knowledge of customer service but on this occasion cost their dealers within the centre dearly. Some simple points would have prevented this review. Perhaps an ‘A’ frame board outside the entrance advising of an earlier than usual closing time ???? Or a courteous sign inside advising of closing time?? or even a simple hello advising as much. Indeed heaven forbid the initial interaction from them to us could have been to alert us to their impending closure and ask us to complete our purchase? As it was a Friday we could be forgiven for guessing that 5 or maybe 5.30 was a likely closing time? There was seemingly no awareness from the staff that telling customers to leave at 3.55 spontaneously is poor customer service as well as simply rude. As a business owner myself I would be appalled if my staff acted in such a way and would wish to act swiftly to ensure no such repeat. Certainly if it were my staff they would be expecting retraining or dismissal if repeated. Sadly all to often businesses don't react and then after closing down the owners scratch their heads wondering what went wrong with some still deluded that they did everything right. Please react to this even if simply out of respect to the dealers you represent , it was disgusting service, something we felt compelled to pass onto others as we left who asked about your business. I left deeply unimpressed by the customer service with my spending money not spent. The hard work of the dealers is wasted if the the reason items arent being sold is something so inexplicable simple to correct and out of their control. The single star on this occasion is an...

Fascinating shop to look around. But the cafe let it down. We waited so long for food I swear they'd forgotten. People who'd arrived after us were served long before us. We ended up going to tell them to forget the order because we'd waited way too long but they'd (at long last) started it. The excessive wait was acknowledged and we got a free drink by way of apology, but that said they didn't admit they'd forgotten or lost our order and I'd swear that was the real reason it took so long since we'd ordered a sandwich nothing complicated. Overall not sure if I'd risk another visit in case it wasn't a one off. Especially since the prices were higher than other cafes in the area and it's taken nowhere near as long to be served in those. We only visited because it was a very busy weekend and everywhere else was full. They weren't and now we know why. Could do better. And for their prices,...

Hostile staff lack basic knowledge of antiques and do not even offer the courtesy of a 'hello' to their customers. I left deeply unimpressed by the totally subnormal levels of customer service. The women who work there seem to either be gossiping with each other or following customers around upstairs and making people feel uncomfortable. Some pretty decent dealers, especially the old oak unit on the ground floor by the entrance, however the hard work of the dealers is undermined by the 'front of house' team who do not seem to want to work in an...