Aaron Amos

I've only had 2 at my retail job so far. Although I expect to see more "bad" customers the closer Christmas gets. It kinda sucks that the store where I work at is ubderstaffed in several departments(including my department! ).

The first was on Thursday when I was helping a couple with a raincheck for a Playstaion 2 system. I was helping these people and this woman comes up to me acting like a rich snob. Of course most of my customers are middle class people like myself so I ca relate to them. But before I finally got to her, I had to help someone else on the phone at the same time! By the time, I got doen with both the phone and the couple's raincheck, another of my fellow employees took care of the rich snob lady.Thank Goodness! This was just before I was scheduled to get off at 6pm!

Then today, a male customer comes in today and yells at me about his shoppig trip at my store last Friday(I was off Friday-Sunday so I cannot account why this stuff happened). The guy was made at me about not having the CD's and DVD in our promo etc. I let him for a while.After he finshed he left me.Thank Goodness! Then I asked my one of my fellow employees about this weeks sales. She told me we put everything we had on hand for the promotion sales flyer out. I was also told we SOLD OUT of those items!

I only hope I get more good custoimers than more of these "bad" customers before Christmas and the other holidays!

Anyone else care to share or vent your retail horror stories this Holiday shopping season?

NitroJMS

I've had a couple of bad ones at Circuit City.

One guy last week kept coming and complaining to me that our prices weren't lower or the same as Best Buy's and that I should let my boss know. He tried to come off as knowing alot about both stores and DVDs and it made it look like a real jerk. He should know that we get all our pricing done by corporate and really have no say in the matter. I was about ready to ask him that if he likes Best Buy so much, why doesn't he just go back there?

One family came up to me to checkout with about 5 DVDs and over 10 CDs. When the total came up to over $200, they acted like I was overcharging them! Morons!

I had another guy come in about 2 weeks ago looking for the Dumbo DVD on sale. None of us had any clue what he was talking about and he kept yelling at us that he saw it advertised in our ad that day and asking why we didn't have any. Of course, we later found out it was BEST BUY's ad!

RDYoung

Haven't had any yet, thank goodness. Don't expect that to last, though. I'm pretty sure that when things get busy and people start waiting in line to the back of the store, we'll start getting some pretty irate people. Most are pretty cool about the whole thing(I work at HW video), but every now and again, we'll get a guy who rented 7 movies and returned every one of them 6 days late(like 50 bucks in fees). Then he'll quabble about the fees, claim he didn't do it, whatever. Spends 15 minutes(that's about 5-6 customers not being helped) at the counter arguing, then walks out with no movies all pissed off. Annoys the people behind him, too.

It's gonna happen.

robyn

Ben732

This is why I rent dvds online..

Video stores should have a camera mounted at the drop bin inside and outside the store. When a customer argues their late fee, just ask, "when did you return it?" Then it's, "Ok, lets go to the video tape!" I'm sure they'll remember and decide to change their mind and pay up!

I used to have a TON of late fees all the time. WHen I lived home and would rent movies I got so lazy that they'd sit in my room for up to 2 weeks before I'd bring 'em back... But I never argued abou them. Usually the people at the store would offer to cut the fee in half if it was big, because I never argued about it. Hey, I knew they were late, it was my fault, why should I argue!

bboisvert

I don't work in retail, but I witnessed (and participated in) a "bad" customer experience first hand today.


Customer: "I'm looking for the 4-hour version of DUNE on DVD." (fans of the film can already tell where this story is going).

Employee: "Our computer shows that there are 2 different DVDs. One says 'movie', the other says 'miniseries', so you are probably looking for the miniseries. They are both in stock and located under 'D' in the DVD section."

The guy then walks over to the Dune DVDs and spends like 5-10 minutes looking each one over from every possible angle. It was like he was conducting a science experiment or something. Eventually, the employee notices that this guy has spent an obscene amount of time looking for this film, and goes over to make sure that everything's OK.

Employee: "Find what you wanted?"

Customer: "No, you don't have what I want."

Employee, holding up the recent miniseries: "Are you sure that you aren't looking for this 2-disc set."

Customer, getting a little mad and bossy: "No, I want THIS one!" -- holding up the 1984 Lynch edition -- "But the 4 hour version."

Employee, who by now is completely confused: "Well, these are the only ones we have. They don't make any others."

Customer: "But this is only the 2 hour version... it's BUTCHERED!"


[at this point I can't stand it any longer... I decide to help out.]

Me: "Are you talking about the version of the Lynch movie that they showed on TV with the extra scenes?"

Customer: "Yes!" -- he turns to employee -- "See what happened was they gave the director all of the available footage and then he put together a great 4 hour version of the film. This 2 hour version is crap."

Me: "Well, actually it is only a little over 3 hours without commercial breaks. And, the director had nothing to do with it. The studio slapped it together from a bunch of outtakes and Lynch hated it. He had his name removed from the film. It's not available on DVD -- just the theatrical version and the TV miniseries."

Customer: "No, you're wrong. It was 4 hours long and the director put it together himself. It was great, way better than the other butchered versions out there."

Me: "Well, whatever. The point is that it isn't available on DVD and probably never will be. It isn't available."

Customer now begins swearing VERY loudly. Not at me or the employee, but rather at the sky -- as if cursing God because he can't buy a phantom 4-hour Lynch-approved cut of DUNE on DVD.

The employee and I walk away from this guy as quickly as possible...


That is an example of the worst kind of customer possible -- one who is completely ignorant, yet instead of realizing his ignorance, he feels that he is some sort of expert. I almost felt like telling him that the long cut of DUNE was on DVD in Japan and England -- just to watch his head explode.

It was really too bad... the employee couldn't have been more helpful or polite. She immediately (and correctly) pointed out the available product, its location, and then followed up to make sure everything was going OK. Unfortunately, she was faced with this Harry Knowles-wannabe psycho guy.

IC_Freeze

so which version of DUNE is the best? i'm interested in the 4 hours dvd version

Xander

My wife came home from working at Borders last night and told me that they had had an inordinate number of people complaining very vocally about how long the checkout lines were!! Hello, people! It's f***ing Christmastime!! What do you expect?! Gotta love retail.

X

AndyCapps

Oh, the bad customers don't rear their ugly heads until they begin returning things after Christmas. heh.

BrianLindstrand

Not so much a "bad" story, but a pretty funny one. I work at a bookstore and one of the women who works there said she had a customer come in on Tuesday who was looking for that "Tolstoy" book about the "harlot and a ring." The customer was rather concerned that her 12-year old wanted something like that. She did get steared to the section of the sci-fi/fantasy area where the Tolkien titles are.

On a related note, someone also has come in looking for the "James Tolkien" books. Boy, you'd think noone had ever heard of or read these books!

Xander

Hee hee, I have two more from my wife. She had a lady come in yesterday wanting "that new book from that Tolkein guy". She was really surprised when my wife told her he had been dead for about 40 years.

Also, she saw an approximately 40 year old guy start throwing a temper tantrum in Babbages yesterday because they were sold out of Final Fantasy X. Some people!

X

digitalboy

I work at BB part - time in home theater.

This middle-aged woman is listening to some speakers on display.
When I walk up to her, she immediately asks for 2 Sony 3 piece speaker systems and points to the sign with the info and the price. I get her the two speaker sets listed on the sign and she leaves. OK, right. No problem, right?

Well, she comes back a few days and says,"You sold me the wrong speakers, I wanted the ones I was listening to." I said,"Ok ma'am, let's look at which ones you we're listening to. It turns out she was listening to was a silver six speaker set, not a black three speaker like she specifically pointed to and asked for. I told her we could sell her the 6 speaker set she was listening to, but that it would be about 3 X's the price as those were higher quality, better sounding speakers, and there were 6 of them, rather than 3. I also showed her a better sounding (than the Sony set she bought) comparably priced JBL 3 piece speaker set. She says, "NO, I WANT A SILVER SONY THREE PIECE SPEAKER SET THAT SOUNDS JUST LIKE THE ONE YOU SAID YOU WERE SELLING ME FOR THE SAME PRICE AS THE ONES YOU SOLD ME. I then calmly and politely informed her that 1) I didn't tell you I was selling you a 6 speaker set, I sold you exactly the 3-piece set you pointed to and asked for. 2) We don't have a 3 piece silver Sony speaker set that sounds as good as the 6 piece you were listening to, and finally, 3) Even if we did, we can't sell you a 6 piece set for a 3 piece price. The customer got the signs confused and thought the six-speaker set she was listening to was the 3 speaker on the sign she pointed out to me. Simple mistake, easy enough to make. The problems started when I told her the points above. She went on and on and on rudely and loudly about how I didn't know my product and how I baited and switched her!

I'm thinking to myself, like, jeez lady, YOU'RE one picked the wrong speakers, not me. I sold you want you SAID you wanted.
Your mistake, my fault? Right. Bait and switch, sheesh, whatta maroon!

dirtrat

Maybe we should start another thread about BAD employees at stores. This really works BOTH ways you know!

OnkyoDVM301B

XANDER,

JRR Tolkien died in 1973, so that's not quite even remotely close to him being dead for almost 40 years as your wife claimed!!!
According to my math, that's 28 years!!!

Just thought I would post for your info

Xander

Uh, thanks. That was a LOOSE quote. I don't remember the actual number of years she said.

X

Heat

J.R.R. Tolkien died on September 2, 1973. As it is currently December 27, he died approximately 28 years, 3 months, and 25 days ago.

I say "approximately", because I am not sure at what time he died, or in what time zone.

digitalboy, so what happened? Did she buy the more expensive system, or did she go away mad at everybody but herself?

digitalboy

Heat,

She shambled off, without buying the speakers she SAID she NOW wanted, muttering something about returning the "other" speakers that she didn't want. She didn't though, at least not to the store I work at, because I would've seen them as "open box" buys.

It's really funny how some people NEVER seem to take any responsibility for their own F$%@ ups, ya know?

RDYoung

Usually, those threads outnumber the bad customer ones 3 to 1. I was suprised to see that this one hadn't been hijacked already.

Anyway, I had my first OAR discussion at Hollywood Video on Christmas day. The guy asks me to explain widescreen, and so I do. Then he tells me that he didn't waste his money to see only part of the screen, etc. So I tell him that it is something to get used to, for sure, but when he's used to it, he might like it. He then said, "I didn't pay $6000.00 for my home theater setup and my big screen tv to not see the whole picture." I say, okay, but he's not missing anything, figuring that if his tv was as big as he says, it would still be bigger than anything he had. Then he says:

"Those black bars just take up too much space on my 32" tv."

I asked what kind of dvd player he had, and he said he got it at wal-mart. $6,000.00? whatever. My store director held down the fort while I talked with this guy, and I finally just said that one day, tv's will fit the movies, not the other way around.

On another note, Many people came up to us and said, "I can't believe you guys are open today[christmas]! Shouldn't you be home with your families?" Here they are, they drove out, parked thier cars, came in, shopped, looked for movies, bought popcorn, came up to pay and then say we should be at home with our families. Sheesh. You can't please some folks.

r

Deadman31

Too many to list

TheVelvetRope

I had a very bizarre encounter a couple of days before Xmas. I'm part of the management staff at an fye, and one of my part-timers said, "There's some lady who has a problem with a special order and wants to talk to you." So I greet this woman, and she explains that she placed a special order for the "Bed Of Roses" soundtrack, but she was browsing in our bins and saw a sign attached to the artist card stating that it was "Under $15," but that she'd pre-paid "over $20." I started to explain that it's possible that one of the employees may have put that sign on the card because something else that was in front of it was actually under $15, but I would double-check the computer to see what the price was. Before I even had a chance to do that, she insists that we go to the section to look at it. So I headed over to the soundtracks and waited for her to join me. I noticed she hadn't followed, which really annoyed me since she was so insistent. As I returned to meet up with her, I see her head over to the DVDs. She stopped in front of the DVD card for "Bed Of Roses," which did indeed have a sign that read "DVD Under $15." I told her I thought she'd meant the soundtrack. She just said (all seemingly in one breath), "Well, the sign's there and you might as well give it to me for that price because I'll fight for that price because that's what the sign says and if you don't do it I'll go over your head and make you do it because that's the way I am." At this point, I'm getting pretty pissed at her and asked her to let me see her special order slip. I told her to let me see what the price in the computer was, since there are sometimes different SKU's with different prices and maybe that was part of the problem. I looked it up and told her that the "Bed Of Roses" DVD was in fact, $14.99 and the reason she'd been overcharged was that when her order was rung up, they used the soundtrack SKU, which was $18.99. I told her I could re-ring it at the correct price and give her back the difference. At this point, she got a funny look on her face as the realization hit her. She saw the sign in the DVD section, but had in fact wanted the soundtrack, which didn't have any such sign. She had been so quick to jump down my throat, she hadn't realized her ignorance until she'd already pitched a fit. She said it was "her bad," and at least admitted she'd made a mistake. I rang out her special order and sent her on her way.