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

I've encountered this type of customer before. She decided she would try to wind me up as much as possible, by slagging off the village where the shop is located, the shop itself, and then finally me. Why? Because her debit card wouldn't work in our machine, the card was in tatters and just couldn't be read so she had to pay in cash.

The problem with some customers today is that they think they have more rights than they actually do, and they seem to forget that the guy behind the counter also has rights.
 
malc30 said:
^^ Agreed Headrat but it always seems to be the tiny little pedantic points that are discussed rather than the relevant issues.
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Welcome to the internet

(I win)


To the OP all customer dealing jobs are like this, it helps to have a massive amount of sarcasm on hand at all times
 
Morba said:
i would guess you could have went online for the customer and reserved the laptop for them at the other store, then they could have went and got it :]
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Bengaboy said:
It wouldnt let me, they had 3 in stock and wouldnt let me do a collect at store.
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And that is a customer's fault? You work for the same company as that other store, there must be some in-company procedure for aquiring goods from one store to the another, or for reserving items in another store for a customer. If there isn't then the customer is correct in slagging you off for failing to provide the best POSSIBLE service, even if you tried to provide service to the best of your ability.

If it is a problem with inter-store communication then perhaps calling the manager to sort it out would have been a good idea.

In this day and age it is not an unreasonable request to go into one store, see they don't have something in stock and to then get them to get it from another near-by store that does have it, that would be a service I would expect were I buying something personally.

(And btw I hate excuses from customer services that say "oh we can't do that, our system won't let us". If it's a sensible request, as this was, then it is not my fault your system is so antiquated that you can't do it.)
 
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Problem is people expect the old kind of customer service where they go into a shop and they are speaking to the guy who owns and run its total operations. So of course he should be able to do anything they require and is totally responsible for that.

The opposite is in fact true now and this one bloke may often know less then the customer does & has less power then they do to actually do anything about it. I would not get stressed about it personally, 'this is what Im able to do for you', repeat until they get it.

Every place should have a clear line where you can walk away from people threatening, shouting and yep 5 quid an hour doesnt cover that bs. If you dont do that you will find some people enjoy arguing with you, taking the pee basically
 
drunkenmaster said:
Unfortunately people simply don't surprise me anymore and neither does that, people...... are scum.

You keep hearing that its only a few and its not often, but thats balls isn't it.
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It most certainly is. I've never worked out why but my theory is this. When this kind of person was a Kid their parents gave them everything they wanted straight away & they grew up thinking they could be like this all the time. When the kid did not get what it wanted straight away they throw a tantrum. So just think of this. The customer ****** & blinding at you is no more than a toddler having a paddy that's grown up. ;)
 
I think it is down to a number of things, not the least of what sort of day the customer and or assistant is having.

Also, many people in service industries/retail etc in the UK, appear to feel that because they get paid peanuts, they should not be proud of their job and treat it like a profession; anyone who has been on the continent will have seen the marked difference; the waiters/waitresses and shop assistants walk tall and act like they are professionals, they also expect to be treated as such. Over here, most people doing the same jobs either act in a servile manner or just don't give a ****!

All of the above is somewhat tarring everyone with the same brush and I know that there are some exceptions but from an old grumpy person's point of view, that is how it seems.


Throughout society as a whole we appear to be getting more and more insular; when was the last time you said hello or good day to a someone? ..... No, it's earphones in, head down and do whatever you feel necessary to achieve you goal, whether that be just getting to or from work or the way one conducts business.

If we all made a few allowances for each other and made a positive effort to be a little more pleasant and sociable, this world would be a much nicer place to live.

Here endeth the lesson for today... ;)
 
rypt said:
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It's not the customer's fault but if it's out of stock and can't be reserved, it's not the salesperson's fault either. Working in the same company means nothing, people in shops just don't have the authorisation to do something like that. I don't know about other shops, but we are given the option to have an item sent out to the customer/store, provided we have some in stock at our warehouse. I'm sure you can imagine however, if an Item is popular enough, there may be none left in the warehouse either.

As for reserving items in another store, reserving them automatically is simply impractical and just could potentially just p*** more customers off. How would you feel if you were about to buy something in a shop, had been through the specs, a demonstration and decided this was the right one for you, only to find out you couldn't have it because someone a mile away had just reserved the last one.
An automatic reservation system also has no idea about the condition of the item. Often, parts may be taken from boxes in the stock room because of customer care issues etc. It would annoy you even more to drive to another shop or to come back to the same shop the next day, only to find out the laptop that was delivered for you, had no charger or manuals.

Often, because of these limitations, the only practical way to reserve something at another store, is to phone them and have them wrap a piece of paper around it with your name on. If that store is busy (as most are around this time of year) then nobody is going to be able to answer the phone and thus, your item is not going to be reserved.

If there is no way to get reserve the item automatically and the other store is not able to answer the phone, what good is calling the manager going to be?

If all of the options available to them have been exhausted, then you can either pick something else similar, or take the risk of going to the other store. As long as the customer's expectations are managed correctly, it's reasonable to suggest this. It's not reasonable to use it as an excuse to have an argument with the salesperson, it's not going to get you anywhere and will just risk being refused service.

Also, if they are telling you their system doesn't let them do something, it usually means they are either not allowed to do it, or it's simply a not a service the company offers
 
I remember when I used to work in a supermarket in my teens. I just found it funny to be honest and sometimes couldn't stop laughing when people got worked up about there not being any Whiskers Tuna on the shelves. Some people are just bizare. I think for a lot of people it's like their weekly outing at the shops and they like to pick on Mr/Miss 17 year old trying to make a living as if everything is their fault just so they can enforce what they percieve to be some kind of power thing. Weird.
I was in Tesco the other day and heard some poor girl being shouted at by some coffin dodger...went something like:

OAP: *points to freezers that suppoosedly aren't cold enough* "Well sort it out otherwise I'll make sure you get shut down for this"
Poor Girl: "Well sir I apologise but these are the fridges not the freezers"

I walk past in astonishment whilst one of my kids utters "Daddy why is that man shouting" right next to him. I replied in full volume whilst making eye contact with the fool "because he's a complete ****" ;)
 
rypt said:
(And btw I hate excuses from customer services that say "oh we can't do that, our system won't let us". If it's a sensible request, as this was, then it is not my fault your system is so antiquated that you can't do it.)
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Systems have lots of limitations. Screaming at staff won't overcome those limitations. You have to be realistic.

If someone comes to me searching for an item that they have no tracking number for, the system has a number of ways of trying to locate it using various parameters. But it can't search by weight or number of pieces.. You can get the CEO involved if you like and it still won't get your parcel found by searching on the weight. The system cannot do it, it really is that simple. I'll do everything that I can to locate it by other means, but searching by items and weight can_not_be_done.

EirePlane's points are entirely valid.
 
EirePlane said:
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I have had items reserved plenty a few times, I'm also sure that the purple shirted place can do it. I've even had a company owned by same people as purple shirts do it at other store for me, so there is no problem there.

Any open box items should not be shown on the system as in stock though, or they should be shown as B grade, if the system is unable to do that then it is as I said antiquated.

Why is it that Toyota or MB or Honda, through their dealership network, can let me buy a car at my local dealer, even if the car is located in Scotland and they'll still gladly deliver it to local dealer; and yet this place can't get an item from 2 miles away?

I think the OP got exactly what he deserved, perhaps he did not personally deserve it, but as a representitive of the company in question he got what the company in question deserved.

Lopéz said:
Systems have lots of limitations. Screaming at staff won't overcome those limitations. You have to be realistic.
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Yes, but asking for another store of the same comapny to hold the item for you IS realistic, asking to find an item by weight is not ... there is a difference.

Now, if your system would not let you find an item posted from a particular area (post office?) on a particular day, going perhaps to a particular place ... then it would be as I said antiquated.
 
rypt said:
I have had items reserved plenty a few times, I'm also sure that the purple shirted place can do it. I've even had a company owned by same people as purple shirts do it at other store for me, so there is no problem there.

Any open box items should not be shown on the system as in stock though, or they should be shown as B grade, if the system is unable to do that then it is as I said antiquated.

Why is it that Toyota or MB or Honda, through their dealership network, can let me buy a car at my local dealer, even if the car is located in Scotland and they'll still gladly deliver it to local dealer; and yet this place can't get an item from 2 miles away?

I think the OP got exactly what he deserved, perhaps he did not personally deserve it, but as a representitive of the company in question he got what the company in question deserved.



Yes, but asking for another store of the same comapny to hold the item for you IS realistic, asking to find an item by weight is not ... there is a difference.

Now, if your system would not let you find an item posted from a particular area (post office?) on a particular day, going perhaps to a particular place ... then it would be as I said antiquated.
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Only when there is 3 in stock, and even then we have to use the website. We could request items from other sites, but this is not stock system compliant. With a car dealership you are also talking completely different volumes of items, try getting a good idea of the serial on every pc released by Dell and you'll find it not so much fun, hell Fujitsu-Siemens has trouble with thier own laptops, let alone multiple manufacturers! And yes we can see if local stores have the item listed as B-Grade.

There is realism and idealism, a shred of both appearing in this thread. The purple shirts are not perfect, but then neither are many chains/groups dealing in the same volumes of items. Hell even Ama--whatsit and Pl-uh online make stock mistakes, and they're some of the largest online retailers and use stock warehouses not shops which are more volatile!

I'm not saying the purple shirt network is perfect, far from it, however the system, nor the workers are to blame for some of the criticisms and behaviours aimed at them.
 
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I didn't say they are always to blame, however I am saying there were to blame here.

Yes stock control systems are not perfect, but still...
 
I used to work for the indian food place. I was on customer services so got an endless amount of ear bashing. I didnt mind it really, it was quite funny really at the time. Just remaining calm, and asking them to talk like a human being instead of shouting like an animal usually gets you off to a good start.

Its even more satisfying when you know you are 100% absolutely right aboutany information you are giving our etc, and they point blank refuse to believe you, only to see the embarrassment creep up on their face when you provide proof.
 
rypt said:
I have had items reserved plenty a few times, I'm also sure that the purple shirted place can do it. I've even had a company owned by same people as purple shirts do it at other store for me, so there is no problem there.

Any open box items should not be shown on the system as in stock though, or they should be shown as B grade, if the system is unable to do that then it is as I said antiquated.

Why is it that Toyota or MB or Honda, through their dealership network, can let me buy a car at my local dealer, even if the car is located in Scotland and they'll still gladly deliver it to local dealer; and yet this place can't get an item from 2 miles away?

I think the OP got exactly what he deserved, perhaps he did not personally deserve it, but as a representitive of the company in question he got what the company in question deserved.



Yes, but asking for another store of the same comapny to hold the item for you IS realistic, asking to find an item by weight is not ... there is a difference.

Now, if your system would not let you find an item posted from a particular area (post office?) on a particular day, going perhaps to a particular place ... then it would be as I said antiquated.
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I litterly hate you already.
 
Because there ***** heads and need a beating. It's like passengers when trains are delayed due to equipment or weather. What do you expect the station staff to do about it?
 
rypt said:
What about when a train is delayed because "they could not find / get a driver"?
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it wouldn't be up to the station staff to find a driver, they just keep the station itself running.
it would be up to the line operators to find a driver.

Even if you do phone the line operators, arguing with them isn't going to do anything. Are you expecting them to turn around and say "oh we never thought of that, lets do that"
 
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