Seasonal Retail Stories

[Ragorn]

So who's worked retail for the holidays and has good stories to share with us?

Like I said in another thread, I worked for CompUSA for a year or two during summer and breaks from school. I worked the customer service desk answering general questions, giving advice on products, and taking returns. Wasn't such a bad job, basically got to stand around all day and watch TV, every now and then tell someone what kind of printer to buy or what kind of cable they needed.

So about 10 minutes before closing one day, a guy comes in to return a laptop. The product is opened and used. With open computers, refunds are subject to a 15% restocking fee, to cover the cost of repackaging the equipment, rebagging all the cables, cleaning the equipment, and replacing any documentation or inclusions that the customer has forgotten to return. He instantly declares that he is not going to pay this fee because "our equipment was damaged on arrival." I ask what he means, and he says the laptop has a burned out pixel.

FYI... at the time, laptop warranties were only redeemable for burnt pixels if you had more than SIXTEEN. It was pretty much accepted by laptop manufacturers that pixels would burn out during production or delivery, so the warranty against them was ridiculously strict.

So like a typical upper-class wanker used to being able to push people around, he starts screaming and yelling about lawyer this, sue the company that, lose my job, etc. So the manager comes over and basically tells the guy to get lost. Manager says he's not giving a refund without the restocking fee, but he'll process an even exchange since the customer obviously wanted to purchase the product. Manager explains the burnt pixel warranty and tells the customer that if he processes this exchange, there is no guarantee that the new product will be any better than the old one. Customer, believing that the burnt pixel was caused by CompUSA and that no other laptop in existance would have a burnt pixel, agrees. Manager then says that he will process the exchange as a one-time favor ONLY, and that we would not take the new laptop back for any reason without him paying the 15% fee. Customer agrees.

Manager nods, tells me to follow him to storage room. Goes up on ladder, retrieves another laptop box from the 5th or 6th shelf, and drops it 20 feet to the ground. Picks it up, dusts it off, walks back to the front, hands it to the guy, and gives him a no-refund receipt.

I have no idea if he returned it.

[Stamm]

It's not seasonal... but it is retail :)

I sell design and sell fitted kitchens.

We can sell them flatpacked, DIY style and people can fit them theirselves or get their own fitters in, which is pretty common.

So this guy comes in, sits down with me and I work out a design for him, he seems happy, and tells me he has a friend that's a joiner that will fit it.

I got my first clue when I went through the itemised list of stuff. A £20 delivery charge. He went mental at this point, really threw me off and declared that he was not going to pay a delivery charge considering how much he was already paying. Not being one to back down - I don't believe that meekly agreeing with a customer is always the best thing to do, I declared that it cost us £45 to get it delivered, we used a company of delivery specialists and it wasn't just some guy on a white van. He said he still refused to pay. I then said 'If you like I can remove the delivery charge and add it to something else on the list?' I probably shouldn't have said this, he certainly didn't like the idea anyway :P So in order to get the sale I just removed the delivery charge.

All goes fine until he gets the kitchen delivered. He's on the phone right away shouting at the top of his voice at me saying half the stuff wasn't delivered. He starts swearing, so I tell him I'm going to hang up and he can call me later when he's calmed down.

He calls back and I tell him that he is misreading the parts list and if he is still unsure he can come to the store and I'll explain it to him. He's there about 10 minutes later, and about 10 minutes after that he's left, ashamed and embarrased.

So all goes well, until 3 weeks later I get a phonecall. He's doing his swearing and shouting again, and I tell him I have no intention of taking any abuse and hang up. I don't have many problems with customers doing this to my face, maybe it's because I'm bigger than most, or because I don't show any weakness or cowardice from them, regardless I point blank refuse to take any abuse from anybody. He's down at the store 10 minutes later.

He tells me I've 'f***ked his kitchen up' I'm a 'useless c***' and I'd 'better get off my arse and fix it NOW!'

I'm confident I haven't made a mess of it, so I get the original plan out and my calculator, and take my time making sure that everything I gave him fits the spaces. It does. I tell him that I'm afraid the only way it could be going wrong is if he gave me the wrong dimensions to start with, or if his fitter isn't doing it right. Normally I'm helpful and I'll do what I can to help them salvage it, but at this point I just wanted to throw it back at him and leave him struggling.

He's home about 20 minutes and he's back on the phone again, shouting at me saying the doors won't open on his units, etc etc etc.

It eventually turns out that his kitchen fitter has no idea how to read a plan, guessed where the units were supposed to go, when it didn't fit he got his saw out and cut them to make it fit, the end result was the doors wouldn't open. He eventually realises this, and there's a bit of silence, then I end the call.

2 days later he's in the shop, big smiles, bottle of wine for me, and he's buying the units he needs to replace to fix his kitchen. I have no idea what he did to the kitchen fitter.

A week later my boss pulls me in and shows me the letter the guy wrote, which basically says I'm great.

And all a result of not backing down to him :P

[thanuk]

The first time i read that, i thought it said kitten fitters, which made the rest of it really weird.

But i guess its a good thing you don't sell custom made clothing for kittens, or else you would have to reroll and never tell anyone who you were to avoid the harassment:)

[Hyldryn]

You want stories? Here ya go.

http://www.customerssuck.com[/url]

[Tida]

All I can say about that website is OMG some of those things are just to funny. Been there done that hated it. :D

[Hyldryn]

There's more in their forums.

[Tasan]

I used to work at a liquor store in the twin ports(Duluth/Superior) which has like the 3rd highest per capita rate of liquor establishments/people in the US.

I had worked at the place for less than a month when the week before christmas my boss has to fire one of the incompetants he hired me to replace. He asks if I can work overtime and of course I agree. Ended up working solid 12+ hour shifts for about 11 days.

Needless to say, a few of the regulars got to know me pretty well, and here's the story:

New Year's comes around, and I'm not working, but I do go into the store to buy myself a keg and a case of champagne that I've set aside especially for my party. So I go in back, grab the keg and wheel it outside to the car, then come back in to pay and grab the case. Well what I didn't know was that we were sold out of that particular bit of champagne and my boss knew it and forgot to tell me to keep it out of sight. So I brought it out from the back and was bumrushed by people wanting to buy the stupid thing. Most of them were fighting about how much they deserved it, and a few that knew me from my time in the store before started trying to get me to see their point of view. When I tried to explain that I had purchased the case, and was on my way out of the store, the entire place seemed to blow up. My boss had to call the cops, and I ended up leaving about 3 hours after everything got sorted out. Some of the unruly customers had broken bottles or tried to steal things in the chaos, but all of them got caught not far outside the store.

I just can't believe what some people will do for a goddamned bottle of champagne :)

T

[Iaiken Toransier]

As some of you would know, I work for Footlocker and this is both a great time (mostly due to commissions of around $26/hr) and a bad time (christmas shoppers from hell) to work there.

Last night at my mall, it was midnight madness, it was INSANE! All of the kids were there as well as thier parents (somewhere in the mall) so the place was packed. To top it all off, we're having a friends and family sale right now where people who recieved these lil vouchers get 30% ON TOP OF the buy one get one 50%.

So this big fat angry mom comes in and demands a refund on an item angry (almost irate) that we overcharged her BECAUSE (this is her math):

2nd Item: Nike Hoodie $59.99
50% off -$30.00 (yeah we round up for some dumb reason)
30% off -$18.00 (Ok, this is where she goes wrong first)
$10 off -$10.00 (Yeah right lady, this one is taken off first)
Grand Total: $1.99 (In your f***ing wildest dreams maybe)

The reality: Nike Hoodie $59.99
$10 off -$10.00 (First as always.)
50% off what's LEFT -$25.00
30% off the REMAINDER-$7.50
Grand Total: $17.50

So she's DEMANDING the difference or her money back and I'm wondering to myself, how stupid can you be? However, I've learned that I look to young for crazy b****s like her to take my word as rule and I ran out of patience trying to explain to her that the math worked the way I laid it out on paper for her and she was still flipping out over a $60 sweater she got for less than $20 because of a voucher that came from one of US 'kids' at the store.

So she wasn't gonna go until she got her way, (espacially after she addresses me with "listen kid") I didn't even have the time that I had already wasted with her, so I call up my District Manager, as I was running the show, and I have him tell her. So she goes from yelling at me to a very calm respectful voice and explains to her "dilema" he says to her "No ma'am, you can be happy with a sweater for less than a third of the cost, or you can take your business elsewhere." She hands the phone to me and walks out, I thank Guy and hit the floor again.

Now,I had tried to explain it to her in detail, then I had told her that, but because I'm 22 and I look 18 she had to hear it from my DM for it to ring true. Whatever, people like her should act thier age, and respect others who far outstripe her in maturity, even if they are 'kids'.

Stupid b****.