Why do some customers think they can **** you off?

One of the happiest days of my life was the last day I ever worked in a customer service job. We'd just found out that the entire company had gone bust, we were pretty sure we weren't getting paid that month and yet we still had to keep the store open until the end of the day.

Having a day where you can say pretty much whatever you like to customers with no comeback from management was what I'd dreamed off all the time I was working there and that's exactly what I had :D
 
HEADRAT said:
This is the problem, why on earth should it take so long to transfer an item from a nearby store, I can order something today online and it will be here tomorrow. This needs raising to Management to get it sorted, obviously if they don't give a stuff because customers are just stupid then there is a systemic issue.

I would have just apologised and left it at that!

HEADRAT
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tbh, most companies wont allow inter-store transfers unless there is some sort of big customer service issue or an incident at the store (e.g. robbery, power cut, etc).
most shops also don't know what is going to be in their deliveries so they can't personally guarantee that it will be in by a specific date.

Online stores have specific stock set aside which is (usually) dispatched and sent through next-day delivery. this stock reserve is usually much higher than in store hence the availability and speedy delivery. What would you do if something was out of stock online?

even if a store could do an inter-branch transfer, how long would you expect it to take? it would take at least a couple of days, assuming you don't expect one of the employees to personally go to the other store, get it for you and bring it back.

tbh in most cases, it's easier for the customer to go to another store and get it rather than have to make two trips on separate days
 
there would most probably be a load of paperwork involved too, taking one serial numbered item from one shop to the other, as chances are the stock computers aren't linked directly? I'm not too sure as i work in such a small shop, and all the stock is easy to find. someone correct me if im wrong though. :p
 
Cuppa said:
My pet hate, staff who chat to each other or chat to someone on the phone whilst they are supposed to be serving me. If it were my shop I'd sack them instantly.
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Haha, give me a break! How can you be so autocratic?

I was brought up with the 'treat others as you like to be treat' mentality :)

Thankfully I no longer work within retail, but I can see how many in this thread have formed their opinions, both for and against retail staff.
 
garyh said:
Haha, give me a break! How can you be so autocratic?

I was brought up with the 'treat others as you like to be treat' mentality :)

Thankfully I no longer work within retail, but I can see how many in this thread have formed their opinions, both for and against retail staff.
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Seems a bit OTT yes, but if I ran a shop - people could chat to each other all they wanted but not when there are customers to be served and they are being ignored.

Rich
 
I sadly work in retail at the moment and you really do get people from both ends of the spectrum. I dont hate my job, but I dont find it stimulating either. If a customer is polite to me then I'll help them the best I can, however should they be rude then they just wave goodbye to any help from me!

Got some woman in the other day ranting about how it was illegal that we were advertising unleaded for 99.9 (this was a weeks back mind) and yet didnt have any as the tanker hadnt turned up! She ranted and raved, tried to convince us that we were breaking the law and told other shoppers not to shop here. Eventually she went and I hoped to never see her again given her dislike for the place, but she still comes in every week!

A lot of the public are idiots, its a fact of life sadly. What I resent however is people looking down on me because I work in a shop - not all of us are morons who left school at 12
 
Bengaboy said:
I was at work today, and it was quite busy obviously because xmas is nearby and a couple wanted a certain laptop.

I went and checked the stock of a laptop, a nd we didnt have it in stock, so I told the customer we had some in a nearby store. She said, "how long till you can get it in?". I said, "I wont be able to guarantee it will get here before xmas (it was an xmas pressie) , so I would not want to disappoint you by taking your money and potentially letting you down".

She then goes on to say , "well thats customer service..."

That instantly ****** me off. Its hardly my fault is it?

So I said I can ring up the nearby store and see if I can get one in for her, which she was still ranting on , but accepted.

So I was ringing the store for like 20 mins, and they wernt picking up. I was apologizing for the inconvenience, but she was going on saying, its pathetic saying I cant put one by for the customer from my end - think she wanted me to teleport over there and put the laptop aside.

I explained to her that its not my fault, and I am doing everything in my power to try and make sure she gets this laptop reserved for her so she hasnt wasted a journey. She then goes on saying that if she goes and the laptops are sold, that I must provide her with the money she wasted for the petrol. I think she thinks I own the company or something, and can authorize that sort of stuff...

I started to have a bit of a go at her, but not blatantly making it obvious. I said look, I cant make them pick up the phone can I? She then started waffling on again.

In the end , she wanted me to get a manager, so I went and got him, and she was doing the same to him, and the manager basically told the **** to leave.

I am getting paid £11,500 a year and its not enough to be given abuse from stupid ********** like that. Thinking that because the company doesnt provide robots at all stores to transport a laptop to a holding bay to assure it doesnt get sold for the company , that its my fault.

I really wish that I would have given her more abuse. Because I work in retail some people think its ok to treat you like something on the bottom of their shoe.

I have all the time in the world for customers that have been let down and will try and make sure they leave happy with a solution fit for them. But this one silly smarmy ho...

I dont mind when they start saying the companies letting them down, but when that abuse is aimed at myself and they make out its me personally who has let them down, thats a big no-no for me now.

Sorry about the long post - just needed to vent! :D
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No worries dude :) You'll probably find that in some cases, maybe this one, that what really upset her wasn't this situation but instead another and this was simply a trigger reaction. Some of the elderly folk I've met the way they carry on - you really wouldn't think that they've been through a war.
 
On the day of the iPhone 3G launch, there was a huge power cut that effected our end of the shopping centre. because our tills weren't working without the power, we ended up transferring around 40 of them to two other nearby stores where we also went to serve.

It took an hour or so to get authorisation to transfer them, and then another hour when we got there to have them put onto the stock at the new store and that was with three people in each store helping each other get it sorted. on top of all that, O2's credit checking system had crashed so we had upgrade checks timing out after waiting two and a half hours

it would have taken a lot longer, if we weren't in the unusual situation of having one manager working in three stores who was allowed to send us to work at the other two.
it would have taken longer still if we had to send them by courier like we usually do


One type of customer that annoys me would be the ones who come in, fully prepared for an argument. The ones that throw around terms like "Not fit for purpose" and "False Advertising" without actually knowing what they mean.
They also sometimes overlap with the ones that void the warranty and still expect a free repair
 
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I get it daily. People turn up and want a red DS, which are like trying to find Jesus right now, and expect us to have one, and then whine at me for not having one available. Frankly, if you come in and be nice to me, ill do whatever I can to help you get what you want, but if you come in and are a pain, my resopnse will be "no we dont have one, feel free to try x store", even though I can check other stores stock from where im stood.

Had a woman ring up a couple of weeks ago with a comment along the lines of

Me "Hi, how can I help"
Her "I bought mirrors edge last week and I just dont like it, can I return it for a refund"
Me "Erm no sorry miss, if its still sealed I can give you a refund, but since youve admitted to using it then theres nothing I can do"
Her "Well its not my fault your member of staff didnt know what it was about, and there was no blerb on the back"
Me "So you bought a £40 game that you knew nothing about and expected to be able to return it if you didnt like it?"
Her "Yes, its not my fault your member of staff couldnt tell me what it was about"
Me "Miss, we have over 5000 items in the store, do you really think we can possiblly be expected to know about everything we sell?"
Her "Yes"

I was in a bit of a bitchy mood myself, so the second she started on me she got it back :p
 
People sometimes laugh when my name and customer service are mentioned in the same sentence.

I have an intollerance to intollerant people who don't have a clue what they're doing or dealing with. I now work in a less customer oriented part of the company!

To turn the tables around, when I worked behind a bar I was once asked:

Her (with teenage daughter): Excuse me, where might I find the lavatories?
Me: The bogs are round there *points*

Oooops! I'd had a rough one the night before and just blurted it out. Her daughter saw the funny side mind you (and was pretty hawt).
 
Stellios said:
I get it daily. People turn up and want a red DS, which are like trying to find Jesus right now, and expect us to have one, and then whine at me for not having one available. Frankly, if you come in and be nice to me, ill do whatever I can to help you get what you want, but if you come in and are a pain, my resopnse will be "no we dont have one, feel free to try x store", even though I can check other stores stock from where im stood.

Had a woman ring up a couple of weeks ago with a comment along the lines of

Me "Hi, how can I help"
Her "I bought mirrors edge last week and I just dont like it, can I return it for a refund"
Me "Erm no sorry miss, if its still sealed I can give you a refund, but since youve admitted to using it then theres nothing I can do"
Her "Well its not my fault your member of staff didnt know what it was about, and there was no blerb on the back"
Me "So you bought a £40 game that you knew nothing about and expected to be able to return it if you didnt like it?"
Her "Yes, its not my fault your member of staff couldnt tell me what it was about"
Me "Miss, we have over 5000 items in the store, do you really think we can possiblly be expected to know about everything we sell?"
Her "Yes"

I was in a bit of a bitchy mood myself, so the second she started on me she got it back :p
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Bit of a difficult one that because you could argue that she bought the game to entertain herself, if the game doesn't do that it could be argue she is entitled to a refund based on the product isn't fit for purpose. Grey area but I've got away with it before ;)
 
Brian Stuart said:
You shop there :eek:
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Occasionally yes, if I'm buying for people who don't want the crap associated with an online RMA.

Some of the stuff they sell is often well below the price you'd pay online, for example, I bought somebody a laptop for just over £400 recently, I tried the same spec elsewhere and couldn't get it for less than £470.

It's just a shame they're let down by their staff, I don't expect them to know the in's and out's of every product they stock but they should at least be able to identify the difference between something like a USB cable and a hole in the ground.
 
Heh I worked in Sainsburys for over 3 years dealing with 'the public' and now work at the Jobcentre, think its the only place you can to where u actually have to deal with more hostel 'customers'.
 
Cuppa said:
Only being paid £6/7 an hour is not an excuse for being an apathetic pratt. You take the job you know what you’re getting into. However I think the finger needs to be pointed at the companies who seem not to be able to train/motivate/monitor their staff.
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Quite right. If you were paid £26000 to stack shelves would you really care about the job anymore, or just more abnoxious thinking 'Hahha they pay me laods to do this, Im clocking off as early as possible and will do as little as poss for the hell of it.'

I'm awlways polite to people in shops, if I need help, then I generally need help and am grateful if they give me some. If I have read up loads then I won't annoy them by spouting out more than they know, I just tell them as it is and what I'm considering.

But on the odd ocassion I do bait the odd member of staff in the odd high street electrical store when it comes to tvs, something of a speciality for me. Mainly just to see if they come up with the 'Buy this old model samsung, it has 1080p LULZ', or 'get this HDMI cable, the others don't work' :D

Normally I'm just happy to be able to chat with someone in a store and brighten up their day, it's highly likely quite boring anyway !
 
Cuppa said:
Bit of a difficult one that because you could argue that she bought the game to entertain herself, if the game doesn't do that it could be argue she is entitled to a refund based on the product isn't fit for purpose. Grey area but I've got away with it before ;)
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Errmm not really. The implied term of goods being fit for purpose under Section 14(3) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 only really applies in situations where you have spoken to the seller of the goods before the contract has been formed and told them you require them for a particular purpose.
 
xander_uk2 said:
Have you ever worked in a store?
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Yep I've worked in an independant greengrocers a small computer shop, Safeway and Morrisons, all some years ago now.

Since then I've worked in many jobs where I've had direct contact with customers, I admit not the general public for some years now.

I enjoyed the experience but obviously have moved on, I have no "problem" with people that work in stores and always try and be pleasant and curtious towards them. That said the utter ingnorance of the products that are being sold and at best the total apathy and at worst the hostility that I have encountered by sales staff stagger me.

The underlying hostility towards "stupid customers" just drips from this thread!

HEADRAT
 
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lucasade1 said:
Errmm not really. The implied term of goods being fit for purpose under Section 14(3) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 only really applies in situations where you have spoken to the seller of the goods before the contract has been formed and told them you require them for a particular purpose.
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also applies to the obvious purposes

e.g. a lawnmower should be able to cut grass, kettle should boil water, a phone should call people


Contrary to popular belief, something going faulty in six months does not mean it is unfit for purpose
 
-Ad- said:
Normally I'm just happy to be able to chat with someone in a store and brighten up their day, it's highly likely quite boring anyway !
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Yea, it can be boring working in retail, we have a lot of regulars I know reasonably well now, and its nice having a quick 5 minute chat with them. Had a mint one with a customer a few weeks back, he came in asking about the Xbox 360, and we ended up chatting for 45 minutes about consoles, internet connections and other random crap. Lets just say my manager didnt look too happy when he just walked out the shop and didnt buy anything.
 
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