Customer service rant but not what you expect.

[mrmike]

I work in a warehouse servicing my "internal customers", the technicians who see to the needs of their "external customers" out in the field. I always try to greet my customers with a smile and a cheerful greeting even if they are having a difficult or bad day and get them their parts and components quickly. When my customers are happy, hopefully their customers are happy, too. I give and expect the same type of treatment when I go out to a restaurant or to a store and I always keep in mind that these people are human too, and they should treated accordingly with all due respect.

[Pete J.]

Interesting read of all the responses. Glad to hear that I am no a lone salesman with the same impressions. I will flat state that there are situations where poor customer service is the norm and that is not good, but there are far more people out there who's job and livleyhood depends on giving good customers service day in and day out. They work very hard at it and deserve a little respect for that effort.

One last story about the "good customer". I've worked for Sears for the last 15 years and I still get customers in the store, probably 1 or 2 a month that want to know were the "cataloge" department is. When I tell that that we don't have a cataloge department they get all huffy and start muttering about that is why Sears is going out of business(no we are not). Really, you didn't notice that we published the last Sears general cataloge in figgin 1993!!!!! Now that is the epitomy of the not so good "good customer".

[Guest Johnny]

I know it does happen, I was just saying a lot of times it doesnt, trust me, I know .

Unfortunately sometimes an employee gets shown the door because they finally had enough of a foul mouthed rude and abusive customer. Especially when they pull out the race card and name drop a local civil rights minister! Happens way too often here!

[Rob McKee]

There are many people out there that no the old "The squeaky wheel gets the grease" saying.

Many intentionally play the rant and rave game knowing all to well that they will get something for it. I am sure we have all seen it where a clerk or a manager just give the person what they want to get them out of their hair

I managed in a 4 star hotel for many years and learned to recognize these people. Some would complain something wasn't working right (My favorite is the shower isn't right.) No pressure, too much pressure, too hot, too cold! On legitmate complaints I would be more than happy to reduce or refund the room charges to ensure we didn't lose a good customer.

Even when doing so, I ran into a very interesting situation one day. The complaint was about the lack of hot water in the shower. We were having some difficulties with one of the two boilers we had so I really didn't question the complaint. Instead, I refunded one of the 5 nights charged. We would credit the credit card charged. This guy wanted me to pay him cash instead so he could submit the full charge to his company for the 5 nights and pocket the cash.

Just goes to show ya, there is always somebody out there trying to con a buck out of someone else.

[jbwelda]

thanks for outlineing exactly why brick and mortar places are disappearing and the internet is thriving. oh and the brick and mortar places are blaming "the economy" for their failure.

now i dont mean you specifically because i have never met or dealt with you, but attitudes like you express in your original post just make me turn around and walk out never to return. i know you dont care and thats the problem. i can deal with uncaring personnel over the internet much easier and for far less money.

so...dont forget there are three sides to every story.

by the way: i have never and hopefully will never have to deal with the public in any job i have ever held. i dont have the disposition to deal with the situations you outline in a diplomatic way most of the time. luckily for the customer, there are plenty of places willing to get your money and also luckily for the customer, money speaks much louder than some wize comments about you after you have left the store. that said, i learned a long time ago that you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar. question is...why do bees want honey? maybe its flies you catch!

but i digress...the point is, the customer may not always be right but it behooves any retail store to make them think they are.

[Guest Johnny]

Places like WalMart where they will give in rather than "alienate" a customer is what has really led to this customer mentality that it should always go their way!

If the customer without a reciept argues long and LOUD enough the manager will relent and give them a cash refund!

I remeber a lady bringing in a gallon jug of juice with about an inch of juice in the bottom complaining it was bad and wanted a new gallon. The manager pointed out that it was all gone but that seemed not to matter to the customer who started yelling to everyone around that they seel rotten food. The manage r gave in!

WalMart has a formula that says for every customer you make mad you lose 25 more through relatives and friends of the pised off customer! So they give in on a regular basis!

[Junkman]

My rule is, treat everyone with respect, no matter who they are...

There will not be the day I'll treat a bloody politician with respect.

Anyone else? Of course!

[Chuck Most]

by the way: i have never and hopefully will never have to deal with the public in any job i have ever held.

Piece of advice... don't ever do it! It isn't terrible 100%, but working in retail made me really long for the burger flipping/paper-hat-wearing days of my earlier jobs.

[Johnag4004]

There will not be the day I'll treat a bloody politician with respect.

Anyone else? Of course!

I don't class those scum-bags as being human...

[Bobdude]

Here's a situation nobody has mentioned yet. Cell phones.I have been in stores where the employee has been on their phones and customers doing the same.Can you say RUDE.

[Art Anderson]

This is an issue that cuts both ways (unfortunately or fortunately--take your pick). Far too many people, of course, seem to carry the attitude that retailers are there to serve their EVERY need, whether or not it's even possible for a particular retail store to do that. Likewise, too many retailers seem to carry an attitude that they are doing potential customers a service simply by deigning to be in whatever business is their stock & trade.

Face it, in spite of all the quality controls most manufacturers have in place, defective product still slips through the cracks, I've spent more time in retail (hobbies) than in any other career field in my 50-years now of working life. Yes, defects in model kits do happen, although I can be brutally honest and say that I cannot remember the last time I bought a model car kit that was missing any parts (Oops, yes I can--the AMT/Ertl Hogan's Heroes Jeep reissue which had 5 wheel rims, but only 4 tires, AND AMT/Ertl took care of that issue very quickly indeed), or truly defective parts (although my first Trumpeter Pontiac Bonneville did have that horrid dull chrome, and there again, Stevens International corrected that problem ASAP when complaints rolled in, to the point of supplying hobby shops that had stocked the kit with replacement chrome trees, again as ASAP as air-freight from China to New Jersey and then to LHS's would allow--got mine with no problems whatsoever). In my 10 years of owning and operating The Modelmaker Hobby Shop here in Lafayette, my defective model kit returns to wholesalers was less than 1/2 of one percent (I held onto defective kits, just in case a missing part complaint came up for a part that could be replaced from a kit previously returned for another issue). Even with RC cars, where people ignored ALL the warnings about overcharging a 7.2V Nicad battery pack (the results from that could be quite dramatic!), I often replaced the battery pack in question THE FIRST TIME ONLY, with quietly but firmly given advice as to how to avoid that happening again (I have raced enough RC cars in my time to know that those battery packs almost never burned up if treated properly, politely and most kindly thank-very-much).

Far too many LHS owners try to refuse to back up merchandise when they know that they certainly can (however, some items, notably RC equipment and most model RR power packs are sold to retail stores with the clear understanding that all warranty service or customer complaints are to be solved BY the manufacturer or importer, NOT by the hobby shop or the wholesaler distribution chain--and that has to be explained to the customer up front at point of sale, frankly!) without fear of upsetting their wholesaler(s). In Champaign IL, there is a LHS that has a large "scratch and dent" section, they being just across town from Hobbico and Horizon Hobby Distributors--they are able to stock and sell potentially defective model kits for mere peanuts, and I understand they do quite well with that end of their business--and that's perfectly OK too.

However, it makes no sense to me whatsoever for a "customer" to walk into a retail store, be ready to check out, and insist they be allowed to write a check for more than the amount of the purchase, particularly if the retailer has a stated and posted notice regarding "checks for the amount of purchase only", or to get upset if the retailer or his/her employee insists on seeing valid identification, and perhaps a driver's license number they can write on the check (in Indiana, a DL number on written on the check must be there for the local prosecutor to be able to take a bad check complaint to court--been there, done that as well when I owned the hobby shop).

Pay by credit or debit card, then go back to return something and insist on cash rather than a credit to your card? Well, just this past October, the Dean of Student Affairs at the University here was arrested for theft and shoplifting at Walmart. Seems he had developed a pattern of doing just that, and then going back to the same department where he bought the item, picked another one up, walked brazenly out the door, waving an old sales slip at the greeter, smiling all the while--he's lost his job, and now faces a court trial, and quite likely a few years in the Gray Bar Hotel (wonder if his PhD will be of any use punching out license plates?).

Back when the Moebius Hudson kit first came out, even though I was given a sample production kit by Moebius in recognition of my bit of assistance in helping out with the development of the kit, I wanted some more of them: I stopped by my LHS (truthfully though, I don't go in there very often, as model car kits are there stepchild, their main thrust and interest is RC in all forms--which is OK, it's their business!) and told the owner that the kits were rapidly becoming available, and asked him if he could get me a couple of them. "Sure thing!" was the answer, but I noticed that he wrote nothing down, it was all verbal. After the kits started arriving in shops and at Spotlight Hobbies, I called that store one morning, inquiring if my kits had arrived: The person answering the phone was NOT the owner of the store, nor was he the one clerk there whom I've known for 25 years. His answer was less than helpful--he didn't even know "Moebius", what a "Hudson" was, nor did he even offer to go check. OK, so I waited a week or so, repeated the process--same clerk, same answers. OK, so the guy must have forgotten that I wanted a couple of kits. Now, here we are, 5 months later, and I find out that the owner of the store is wondering why I never picked up those two Hudson kits! Needless to say, I am still less than enthusiastic about stopping in to retrieve them.

But seriously though, this thread has talked a lot about obnoxious, unreasonable customers. An interesting story in the Wall Street Journal this past week--"Shopping Mobs"! It seems that groups of people have started banding together, ganging up on locally owned retail stores, go in, and actually shop the place, drop a lot of cash in total. Before they target a store, they do let the merchant know ahead of time, so they have time to prepare--it's all in fun, and apparently is being done to kinda fight back against the big corporate chain stores, by taking some time to "pump up" the smaller, locally owned retail establishments.

Wouldn't that be a cool thing to do with a local hobby shop? Good clean fun, drop some surprise money on them, build some camaraderie--all of that?

Hmmmmm!

Art

[Longbox55]

Art, that would be Slot & Wing Hobbies, a long time hobby shop in the Champaign County area. They've had a long standing relationship with Hobbico, and were instrumental in the founding of Great Planes (they sold the founder his first RC unit). I'm somewhat of a regular in there, they give exellent service.

[Chuck Most]

Art- the paying by check/driver's licence thing reminds me of a story from my retail days. No real reason, just a funny story.

At my last employer, it was required to have the person's driver's licence number on the check- the check could not be entered into the system and verified without a valid driver's licence number. Some people have the licence number on the check, some do not, and in that case, it was the cashier's job to ask the customer to see their driver's licence, then write it down on the check. When I got a check and did not see the licence number printed on it, I got into the habit of asking "May I see your driver's licence, please?"

One day I was working at the register, and another employee asked if I could ring up the purchase of the customer he had been waiting on. Two men approached, I noticed the man carrying the merchandise, but not his companion. I rang up the order and gave him his total. The man pulled out his checkbook, filled out the check and handed it to me. Now, right about this time it sank in... the man who'd been holding the merchandise had on a white shirt, black pants and suspenders, and a 'chin strap' beard. His companion, who I hadn't really noticed until he'd come closer to the counter, had the same type of beard AND the same clothes, plus a wide-brimmed hat. And before I really took note of this, I asked "May I see your driver...aaaaaaaaaaaaah... never mind". I rang up the sale as cash and thanked the duo for their purchase.

Across the top of the check, instead of the customer's driver's licence number, I simply wrote "Amish".

Edited March 18, 2012 by Chuck Most

[Longbox55]

But what if they had been Mennonites?

[Chuck Most]

But what if they had been Mennonites?

I decided to let the fine folks at Telecheck wrestle with that issue.

[jayhkr]

Boy, I can so relate. I work for Toys R Us and lets just say the Holidays aren't so cheerful and delightful. Like I talk to Santa Clause and tell him NOT to make anymore of this years HOTTEST toys. I've been in retail for over 20 years and everyday is a new experience with customers. What consumers need to realize is that retail stores are only as good as their suppliers/manufactures. If they can't supply us with the product that the consumer demands it is not the retail stores fault. But I love to kill those "special" customers with kindness. Just smile, nod and tell them no in the politest, friendliest way possible all the while trying not to throw up. Sorry, as much as everyone would like to believe, the customer is not always right, we just have to make them THINK they are.

[Scott Colmer]

Wow. What a thread. I've worked in customer service almost exclusively since 1978. In the begining it was a gas station, then the local drug store. Later is was a sign shop and then a small print shop. Then behind the counter in the collectibles section of a specialty auto sales place. Finally, I became an account manger at a national print company. You probaly see our work in your newspaper and mail every week.

I've done OK following some of my father's advice. He said he liked the groucy ones. He looked at it like a game to win them over. It takes putting a lot of pride aside. I occasionally joke that dignity is overrated. What did that get me? .... When I first interviewed for account management, I said "I like the difficult customers." That got me a job managing an account that was huge. (I only wish I got any type of commision.) This was a tough account, and I took some unfair abuse sometimes. But I did make it work and upper rmanagement did not have to deal with so many complaints and the company made a good deal of money. Even though it was very frustrating at times, it also got me a career. Sometimes it is worth it.

Maybe, sometimes it is right to send them packing, but only as a last resort. Oh - I also do not eat out with people who are rude to the servers. They ruin the meal in more ways then one.

Scott

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Edited March 19, 2012 by Scott Colmer