Tell him you will give $25 store credit for it. Just to shut him up. Corporate will hate you for it even if it’s what they would make you do anyway. Be sure to tell Stuart that. He should still remember.
If she gives the customer what he wants, Stuart would be proud. If it was me, I would tell him to leave. But since Grumbles could lose several hundred or thousands of dollars in sales from him and his friends slash family, give him twenty bucks. Hopefully the money can be made up in future sales or if she gives him a store credit hw will buy something more than the twenty. Or it could be late and I’m over thinking this. Worked a double today and closed. I can barely read what I just wrote.
With customers like this the company rarely loses anything by kicking them to the curb. Since he’s not purchased anything from them he’s not a customer, he’s an annoyance.
Had he pulled this crap in my store I’d have shown him the door by now and turned to take care of a real customer.
I think I’d call Stuart and tell him to handle it! Seems either way he will be angry even if she does what he’d have done. So let the burden be on his head!
The only problem with that is you end up throwing poor Amber under the bus, because Stuart will just tell her to “apologize to the customer or I’ll write you up”.
I was thinking the same the thing… if memory serves, this is the longest a single customer issue has ever lasted. Now she’s already in a bad mood – next she gets to hear the news that Stuart is staying in the store. Hilarity ensues.
Had a conversation like this with a customer over a carton of cigarettes, we didn’t carry that brand and I’d certainly never heard of it before. I’m willing to bet they stole it from a gas station. They talked to three different managers before leaving finally. Same guy came back two weeks later trying to return something else without a receipt, he didn’t recognize me, but I recognized him.
There are several ways to handle this. 1) show the non-customer the door since he is tying up staff and diverting them from other duties like helping real customers. 2) bureaucrat the dud. That is ask for sales slip, receipt, i.d., and anything else you can think of and fill in a form and say without all correct forms there is no transaction to be made. Then when they ask you say it’s store policy to protect the customer from defective problems and to track measures for statistical purposes all to better serve the customer. Most people will not have the paperwork or will not want to fill out the paperwork. They go away. You can even say to the customer in a pleading voice, I want to help you but store procedures need to be adhered to for everyone’s sake and safety. 3, Lie to the customer and say they must have been purchased at the $5 sale and offer $5 cash from the till. Replace the $5 if they go for it after they leave and take home a $150 bowling ball and bag to sell on-line. Pocket the difference to use in future. If customer complains it cost more than $5 ask for receipt that shows the difference. When they produce receipt for different store direct them back to there. If they don’t produce receipt tell them to find an identical item i.e. in this case another bowling ball, in store to exchange for. When they don’t find it then explain it was part of $5 Freaky Friday sale and that would be the only time it would be carried. That usually stops customers in their track when they hear the special sale because in those cases all sales are final. 4) and finally call mall security and explain this head injury is having a stroke and needs to be taken away to urgent care right away. A lot of mall security love to have a chance to play the hero and here is their chance to foist your problem on to them. There are probably other ways to deal with this such as speak in another language or a made up language or ask them to pay the difference in exchange an only offer them high end (expensive) and or inappropriate (bra to a man) items and make the exchange again something nominal like $5 on a $100 or more item.
Wait, number four, he has a head injury because he had a stroke? Or are you declaring the guy a head injury? Or is the having a stroke line to cover up the blunt trauma that a certain bowling ball caused?
Hey, sometimes you have to speak like that to customers. Its the only way they will understand you. I did it many times when I worked customer service at my (big box) store. I even did it once in front of the new co-manager, and instead of catering to the screaming customer, he had her escorted out of the store and then bragged about how I handled it to another manager later. LOL
I used to get people like this all the time, would insist on returning an item we didn’t carry. If they kept insisting, I’d offer a dime or a dollar. Usually they’d leave and come back with a receipt, or they’d take it and the store wouldn’t be out too much money, and I’d stick a 50 cent clearance ticket on it and resell it.
Tell him you will give $25 store credit for it. Just to shut him up. Corporate will hate you for it even if it’s what they would make you do anyway. Be sure to tell Stuart that. He should still remember.
Ah, stubbornness. The most prevalent of humanity’s, er, “virtues.”
If she gives the customer what he wants, Stuart would be proud. If it was me, I would tell him to leave. But since Grumbles could lose several hundred or thousands of dollars in sales from him and his friends slash family, give him twenty bucks. Hopefully the money can be made up in future sales or if she gives him a store credit hw will buy something more than the twenty. Or it could be late and I’m over thinking this. Worked a double today and closed. I can barely read what I just wrote.
With customers like this the company rarely loses anything by kicking them to the curb. Since he’s not purchased anything from them he’s not a customer, he’s an annoyance.
Had he pulled this crap in my store I’d have shown him the door by now and turned to take care of a real customer.
He’s not a customer customers BUY things..he’s trying to get money for a bowling ball that they don’t even sell.
I think I’d call Stuart and tell him to handle it! Seems either way he will be angry even if she does what he’d have done. So let the burden be on his head!
The only problem with that is you end up throwing poor Amber under the bus, because Stuart will just tell her to “apologize to the customer or I’ll write you up”.
I’m a bit worried about this one customer lasting several strips.
I smell something major getting ready to happen.
Same here. Maybe he’s a plant sent by corporate.
I was thinking the same the thing… if memory serves, this is the longest a single customer issue has ever lasted. Now she’s already in a bad mood – next she gets to hear the news that Stuart is staying in the store. Hilarity ensues.
Had a conversation like this with a customer over a carton of cigarettes, we didn’t carry that brand and I’d certainly never heard of it before. I’m willing to bet they stole it from a gas station. They talked to three different managers before leaving finally. Same guy came back two weeks later trying to return something else without a receipt, he didn’t recognize me, but I recognized him.
There are several ways to handle this. 1) show the non-customer the door since he is tying up staff and diverting them from other duties like helping real customers. 2) bureaucrat the dud. That is ask for sales slip, receipt, i.d., and anything else you can think of and fill in a form and say without all correct forms there is no transaction to be made. Then when they ask you say it’s store policy to protect the customer from defective problems and to track measures for statistical purposes all to better serve the customer. Most people will not have the paperwork or will not want to fill out the paperwork. They go away. You can even say to the customer in a pleading voice, I want to help you but store procedures need to be adhered to for everyone’s sake and safety. 3, Lie to the customer and say they must have been purchased at the $5 sale and offer $5 cash from the till. Replace the $5 if they go for it after they leave and take home a $150 bowling ball and bag to sell on-line. Pocket the difference to use in future. If customer complains it cost more than $5 ask for receipt that shows the difference. When they produce receipt for different store direct them back to there. If they don’t produce receipt tell them to find an identical item i.e. in this case another bowling ball, in store to exchange for. When they don’t find it then explain it was part of $5 Freaky Friday sale and that would be the only time it would be carried. That usually stops customers in their track when they hear the special sale because in those cases all sales are final. 4) and finally call mall security and explain this head injury is having a stroke and needs to be taken away to urgent care right away. A lot of mall security love to have a chance to play the hero and here is their chance to foist your problem on to them. There are probably other ways to deal with this such as speak in another language or a made up language or ask them to pay the difference in exchange an only offer them high end (expensive) and or inappropriate (bra to a man) items and make the exchange again something nominal like $5 on a $100 or more item.
Wait, number four, he has a head injury because he had a stroke? Or are you declaring the guy a head injury? Or is the having a stroke line to cover up the blunt trauma that a certain bowling ball caused?
A little from comlumn a) a little from column b).
Smack his stupid face, Marla.
No, seriously, that’s a bad idea, but he really deserves it!
If you do have to credit him something token, make sure to push that he has to have the credit put on a Grumbel’s credit card (fill out the app!).
Hey, sometimes you have to speak like that to customers. Its the only way they will understand you. I did it many times when I worked customer service at my (big box) store. I even did it once in front of the new co-manager, and instead of catering to the screaming customer, he had her escorted out of the store and then bragged about how I handled it to another manager later. LOL
Once, I witnessed a situation where the manager had reached the point where he asked the ‘customer’ to “Please leave. Now.”
I used to get people like this all the time, would insist on returning an item we didn’t carry. If they kept insisting, I’d offer a dime or a dollar. Usually they’d leave and come back with a receipt, or they’d take it and the store wouldn’t be out too much money, and I’d stick a 50 cent clearance ticket on it and resell it.
Did anyone else notice Marla hasn’t even had a chance to put down her purse?
I agree with everyone else… that little detail leads me to believe that there is something big behind this non-customer.