Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Moments

[Guartho]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

Well, I sell for direct interchange only, for vehicles 10 years old or newer.

I guess I don't get it. Doesn't that mean you won't sell me an engine? I don't need one now of course. It's not even my Jeep yet and there's nothing wrong with the engine, but it is rather high-mileage.

It's Cherokee sport btw.

 

[archeryguy1701]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

On the subject of American behavior, as an American, I can say that we're kind of a society of assholes. We ARE NOT wrong, ever. The costumer is ALWAY RIGHT. You can not do it this way because you need to do it my way. I would like to hope that this doesn't apply to most of us, but if it only applies to the minority, then it is a very loud, crabby minority indeed.

I'm not sure I blame the rest of the world for hating us.

 

[apostle83]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

Well, I sell for direct interchange only, for vehicles 10 years old or newer.

I guess I don't get it. Doesn't that mean you won't sell me an engine? I don't need one now of course. It's not even my Jeep yet and there's nothing wrong with the engine, but it is rather high-mileage.

It's Cherokee sport btw.

OK, I'll break it down for you.

Your '97 Jeep 4.0L can come out of the following vehicles as a "direct interchange":
CHEROKEE 96-98 6-242 (4.0L, VIN "S")
WRANGLER 97-98 6-242 (4.0L, VIN "S")

Since I can get that out of a '98 vehicle, I would sell you one. I don't sell anything older for a few reasons:

1. The older vehicles get, the higher the mileage they have. I only sell low mileage stuff. I can't get '97 engines with 20k on a regular basis. In fact, that is RARE RARE RARE. The average American puts 15k a year on a vehicle.
2. When I sell stuff that is "non-direct" interchange (that means you have to modify them to make it work) I go from problems being rare to them being... common. In other words, I have people wanting me to pay for their lack of skill. Can't do it, don't want to, costs me money. If you want to hire me to install it, I'll subcontract it out to someone I know will do a good job. I won't sell it to you directly though.


So, if you call in with a '92, I don't want to bother with it and I won't - we say on our call system that we sell for '98 or newer only. We then have a system where you press one for '98 or newer engines, 2 for older engines, 3 for other parts. 2 and 3 explain that we don't have those available, and then disconnect you.

I can't STAND IT when folks ignore that and get through to a person when they're looking for a '78 crown vic engine, etc. We're not rebuilders (yet)!

 

[AJBryant]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

Just think, folks.

These guys all can vote.

Scary, isn't it?



Tony

 

[apostle83]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

Just think, folks.

These guys all can vote.

Scary, isn't it?



Tony

You mean rob the treasury?

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

I had a real nice lady the other day.

She had ordered a cake from our store bakery. The price was mislabeled. Now, our policy is if the shown price and the scanning price do not match, then the item is free. This item was scanning correctly for the price shown on the label. It was the price on the label that was incorrect. In this case, the item is not free, but we are happy to adjust the label to the correct price. Of course, the lady insists that the item should be free. I (the floor manager at the time) try to explain our policy to her, but she starts screaming and calling me rude. The manager for the next shift comes in around that time, and we decide that her screaming is just so annoying that we'll give her what she wants just so she'll go away. (Isn't it horrible how the people that are the rudest are the ones that always get their way?) So I set the cake down at the register, and tell the cashier to give her the cake. Of course, she's not done yet. She asks to speak to the store manager. When he comes down, she pulls him aside saying that she won't talk in front of me.

The story she told him (later relayed to me by the store manager) was a complete lie. She claimed I was yelling at her (Not true. I kept my cool through the whole thing. It was her who was screaming.) And that when I had given her the cake I had thrown it at her (Also not true. I had set it down gently on the counter.)

I hate people.

 

[apostle83]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

I had a real nice lady the other day.

She had ordered a cake from our store bakery. The price was mislabeled. Now, our policy is if the shown price and the scanning price do not match, then the item is free. This item was scanning correctly for the price shown on the label. It was the price on the label that was incorrect. In this case, the item is not free, but we are happy to adjust the label to the correct price. Of course, the lady insists that the item should be free. I (the floor manager at the time) try to explain our policy to her, but she starts screaming and calling me rude. The manager for the next shift comes in around that time, and we decide that her screaming is just so annoying that we'll give her what she wants just so she'll go away. (Isn't it horrible how the people that are the rudest are the ones that always get their way?) So I set the cake down at the register, and tell the cashier to give her the cake. Of course, she's not done yet. She asks to speak to the store manager. When he comes down, she pulls him aside saying that she won't talk in front of me.

The story she told him (later relayed to me by the store manager) was a complete lie. She claimed I was yelling at her (Not true. I kept my cool through the whole thing. It was her who was screaming.) And that when I had given her the cake I had thrown it at her (Also not true. I had set it down gently on the counter.)

I hate people.

Surely you didn't get in trouble, right?

 

[Guartho]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

OK, I'll break it down for you.

Your '97 Jeep 4.0L can come out of the following vehicles as a "direct interchange":
CHEROKEE 96-98 6-242 (4.0L, VIN "S")
WRANGLER 97-98 6-242 (4.0L, VIN "S")

Since I can get that out of a '98 vehicle, I would sell you one. I don't sell anything older for a few reasons:

Ah, so I'd want my engine to go out this year if it's going to. What would that engine cost and are the packaged in a way that they can sit for awhile?

 

[TheBrew]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

I used to work summers for the CA state parks in Lake Tahoe. I have one epic story that I will save for later, but I will share this classic one.

All of the parks are around the lake. It is one of the biggest freshwater lakes. You cannot miss it. And yet, I had someone drive up and ask "Where is the lake?"

Oy.

 

[Emher]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

This reminds me why I shall avoid working with customers ever again. I just wanted to strangle people sometimes at my old job.

 

[Holdfast]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

OK, I'll break it down for you.

Your '97 Jeep 4.0L can come out of the following vehicles as a "direct interchange":
CHEROKEE 96-98 6-242 (4.0L, VIN "S")
WRANGLER 97-98 6-242 (4.0L, VIN "S")

Since I can get that out of a '98 vehicle, I would sell you one. I don't sell anything older for a few reasons:

Ah, so I'd want my engine to go out this year if it's going to. What would that engine cost and are the packaged in a way that they can sit for awhile?

Just a quick point of order, as they'd say in Parliament: before this exchange develops into an actual sales negotiation, may I remind you to take it to a more private venue? Thanks.

 

[Guartho]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

I thought of that after my last post... will do.

 

[Capn Flukie]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

I think some of the craziness is the ridiculous notion that 'the customer is always right', and they'll let you know about it!

 

[Trekker4747]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

I think some of the craziness is the ridiculous notion that 'the customer is always right', and they'll let you know about it!

That quote is the bane of my exsistance. It's got "some" merit but it's taken too far to literaly by people these days.

There are times when the customer, indeed, is wrong.

A woman plops down a grocery sack on my counter, inside of it is a severly cooked (read: burned) whole salmon fillet.

"Yes, I bought this at your store and it' tasted horribly and came out burned."
"Oh... Well, may I ask how you cooked it?"
"Yeah, I put it in my oven at 400* for about 45 minutes."

Thinking: (And what did *we* do wrong?)

Then there was the woman who brought in two whole loins of strip (USDA Select :blech:.) she bought at a competitor and wanted us to cut them into steaks for her. She got pissed when we told her we couldn't because, you know, it would violate about a billion state and local health codes.

 

[Holoaddict]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

In defense of my customers, I must admit that there are times when I understand why they get mad at us.

Example: Whenever we go into someone's account, we have to ask them several questions for authentication. 9 times out of 10 this goes smoothly. But, if they aswer a question wrong, then we have to ask more questions. If they get one of the next two wrong we have a choice. We can either keep asking questions until they give us correct answers, or we tell them to call back when they have their records straight. The kicker with this is that you just KNOW that this is exactly the person they claim to be. It is just that for whatever reason they cannot think straight or remember their facts. When we have to let them go, many of them do not take it well. Many colorful metaphors get slung in our direction.

Meanwhile back to the stupid customer stories.

I will never understand why some people try to handle their business with us on their lunch break. First off, as others have mentioned above, hold time with us can be quite long. Second, actually calls with us rarely take less than ten minutes. Yet some people have the nerve to ask us to hurry because they have to get back to work. What most of them fail to realize is that our lines are open from 7AM to 10PM across the USA. This means that just because THEY are at work, does not mean they have to call us.

 

[Aragorn]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

As a professional hitman, customer service really isn't an issue for me.

OdoWanKenobi, since I'm supposed to do pro bono work now and then to give back to the neighborhood, would you like that nice lady iced?

She seems like the very kind of person store audio/video surveillance would suit well.

 

[PsychoPere]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

Any of you get "I know the owner" at an employee-owned store or a mega-corporate entity like Wal-Mart?

I work for a national drug store chain, and I once received "I don't appreciate that. I'll talk to Mr. [name] tomorrow", referring to our store manager.

The customer in question had left several large items sitting on the counter at our prescription drop-off window for approximately eight minutes, blocking the counter and thus making it impossible for patients dropping off prescriptions to use. What she didn't "appreciate" was me asking her not to do that in the future. Those eight minutes were one of the very rare stretches of time someone doesn't come up to that window (we're a 24-hour location, and the busiest pharmacy in the second-largest city in our state), but I didn't want that type of behavior to repeat. The store manager never talked to me about this incident.

A common scenario for me:
Me (to a brand-new patient): Do you have your insurance card with you?
Patient: No.
Me: Okay, the cash price for this prescription will be $49.99.
Patient: But I have a $10 co-pay.

Or, a common variation on that scenario:
Me: Your insurance doesn't cover this prescription. The cash price is $49.99.
Patient: But I have a $10 co-pay.

Another one that annoys me:
Me: How can I help you?
Customer: Yes, I'm picking up a prescription for John Smith.
Me: Could you verify the address, please?
Customer: I don't know the address.
Me: Could you verify the date of birth or phone number?
Customer: I don't know those, either.

Is it so hard to know something about the person for whom you are picking up a prescription?

My favorite, of course, is the omnipresent cell phone, because it's somehow my fault that I'm interrupting the person on the phone when they came to me.

A fun one from a few weeks ago:
We had an allergy to penicillin listed on a patient's profile. She was picking up a prescription for Omncief, which is a cephalosporin. Cephalosporins have about a 5% or so cross-sensitivity to penicillins, so we obviously make sure to mention this to patients. The patient interrupted the pharmacist and very rudely snapped, "I know all about that. I'm a nurse. Just give me the damned prescription."

As if we were supposed to be able to read her mind and know she's a nurse...

 

[TorontoTrekker]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

Working summer jobs at various tourist attractions, I lost count of how many times US tourists tried to pay for their admission with Canadian Tire Money. One lady actually CALLED THE COPS when I wouldn't accept her wad of 5c bills

I'm pretty sure it clearly says on each note that they're only good at Canadian Tire.

Though I find myself wondering how many Canadian tourists in the northern US, in places where they will take Canadian money, have gotten away with just what you described.

 

[trampledamage]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

When I started working for the NHS, I needed an ID badge. I was duly informed that I had to go to Trust HQ, a round trip then of 80 miles to have my photo taken. I rang the relevent department, and suggested I should just email a suitable photo to them.

"Oh can you do that?"
"I should think so"
"Do you have a camera, then?"
"Yes"
"And you can take a digital photo?"

This was the point where I wanted to reply that I was planning to draw myself with some Nice Crayons and scan it into the pc...

'Fess up. You emailed a picture of a teddy bear, didn't you?

She is a teddy bear!

 

[M'Sharak]

Re: Your "I Won't Say Anything, but this Customer Needs a Brain" Momen

I think some of the craziness is the ridiculous notion that 'the customer is always right', and they'll let you know about it!

Even F.W. Woolworth admitted after a while that that motto was a load of nonsense.

Sometimes the customer needs to have an error pointed out; it doesn't always help, but it just might save time, in the long run.

Maybe.