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Months back I posted a tale about a customer, my boss, and how I almost quit over the situation that happened. The original story is here:
http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ead.php?t=8600
To recap – customer gets sofa, doesn’t like the color, makes everyone’s life a living hell, finally hiring some movers to drop it off at our showroom. My boss allows the return after telling me to not accept it, making me look like an ass and infuriating me to the point I almost quit.
Round 2, and there’s just as much fury this time around.
So, the SC randomly walks into my store, about a week ago while I’m there working, and I notice her, and obviously recognize her for who she is.
Here is the conversation.
SC: Oh, you’re still working here?
Me: Yes, I am.
SC: Well, that’s too bad. I was hoping that THIS time around I would deal with someone who was knowledgeable and understanding.
Strike one.
Me: What do you want, ma’am?
SC: Well, when you messed up on my order last time, I had to go through all sorts of trouble to get it returned due to your incompetence. I’m here to buy the couch in the right color this time.
You know what? Fuck strike two. You swung, the ball knicked the top of the bat, and the catcher caught it.
Me: Not from here, you aren’t.
SC: Excuse me?
Me: Ma’am, first off, you’ve come in here and immediately insulted me, which I do not appreciate. Let me tell you exactly what happened last time you came here, since we both have very different memories of the incident.
Her jaw had dropped at this point, and I’m counting it off on my fingers as this conversation progresses.
Me: You came in and purchased the couch in brown. You signed the order form. You signed for it when we delivered it. Then you decided you didn’t want the piece of furniture and that we had messed up. Instead of trying to work a solution with us, you didn’t wait for my callback and instead went directly to Visa and filed a chargeback, ending any resolution we might have tried to work out. You came in several times, verbally harassing and insulting both myself and my coworker, and anyone else in corporate that would listen.
Now, you need to understand something. We were completely in the right. Then you said you would bring the sofa back and corporate was going to allow you to do that in the interest of customer service. But the sofa you returned smelled like an ashtray, and we had to sell it at a huge loss, and get other pieces in the showroom professionally cleaned.
SC: What exactly are you trying to tell me?
Me: I’m saying that I’m exercising my right as a retailer and I am refusing to do business with you. If you want to purchase the piece, you’ll have to go to another store and purchase it from someone else. Neither myself nor my other associate will sell you anything again due to your prior history, the way you’ve treated both of us personally.
SC: I...I...I demand to speak to the manager!
Me: You’re speaking to him, and I am telling you that you are banned from purchasing anything from this store.
SC TOTALLY loses her shit. Now, you all need to understand something – this woman was pure vile the last time I dealt with her so I was in no mood to deal with her, much less sell her something. She had ignited a bit of a war inside the corporate office last time because certain people were approving things they shouldn’t have, and I got the shit end of all of it. Ultimately, once you factor everything in, she cost us about 3 to 4 times the value of the sofa, when if she had just waited for a solution another two hours, she would have had one that made her happy.
Long story short – she leaves, and the next day, all hell breaks loose. She’s calling me, calling all the OTHER stores to just complain about me, calling corporate office to complain about me, etc.
My immediate boss (the one who lost his spine at the last second and let her bring the sofa back) is getting all sorts of heat from those members of corporate who’s knee jerk reaction is to reprimand anyone who makes someone unhappy. On top of that, the members that dealt with her shit the last time around are agreeing with me.
The kicker? My boss agrees with me. But…because of the heat from corporate, he “has to give me a reprimand.” I told him not to bother wasting his time, as I wouldn’t sign anything, and fortunately, had still saved all my other notes from months ago when this bitch tried the first time to make everyone miserable.
So, about half of corporate is on my side, and the other half isn’t. I got my written warning, and refused to sign it, instead faxing it back with the three pages of notes from the previous encounter, INCLUDING all the emails from corporate months ago regarding the matter.
My coworker is also getting heaps of it for being involved in the original incident, something she doesn’t deserve. When the corporate office tries to reprimand her for stuff that was sorted months ago (the original visit) she got very upset over it.
Corporate called me and wanted to find my opinion on the issue, and I told them. We had done everything by the book the last time and as the manager it was perfectly within my rights to refuse to sell to her given our previous history and the fact that everyone knew she just decided to be the biggest pain in the ass possible to get her way, not to mention returning DAMAGED merchandise. I issued them an ultimatum:
If they allow this woman to buy from us, if they demand I sell it to her, then I’m quitting with no notice.
The other thing? My coworker issued the same ultimatum – without me even telling her I had made one myself.
IF they sell it to her, our market collapses. See, we’re incredibly short staffed as it is – 4 people trying to keep 3 showrooms open 7 days a week. I’m the only one with reliable transportation so I work at all 3. By only leaving two people, we would have no choice but to close the stores until they could bring in someone else, and the turnover rate is so high because of shit that is pulled – just like this.
Not to mention I’m the highest rated person in the state.
So yeah. Now that the cards are on the table, we’ll see if they think I’m bluffing and call it.
http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ead.php?t=8600
To recap – customer gets sofa, doesn’t like the color, makes everyone’s life a living hell, finally hiring some movers to drop it off at our showroom. My boss allows the return after telling me to not accept it, making me look like an ass and infuriating me to the point I almost quit.
Round 2, and there’s just as much fury this time around.
So, the SC randomly walks into my store, about a week ago while I’m there working, and I notice her, and obviously recognize her for who she is.
Here is the conversation.
SC: Oh, you’re still working here?
Me: Yes, I am.
SC: Well, that’s too bad. I was hoping that THIS time around I would deal with someone who was knowledgeable and understanding.
Strike one.
Me: What do you want, ma’am?
SC: Well, when you messed up on my order last time, I had to go through all sorts of trouble to get it returned due to your incompetence. I’m here to buy the couch in the right color this time.
You know what? Fuck strike two. You swung, the ball knicked the top of the bat, and the catcher caught it.
Me: Not from here, you aren’t.
SC: Excuse me?
Me: Ma’am, first off, you’ve come in here and immediately insulted me, which I do not appreciate. Let me tell you exactly what happened last time you came here, since we both have very different memories of the incident.
Her jaw had dropped at this point, and I’m counting it off on my fingers as this conversation progresses.
Me: You came in and purchased the couch in brown. You signed the order form. You signed for it when we delivered it. Then you decided you didn’t want the piece of furniture and that we had messed up. Instead of trying to work a solution with us, you didn’t wait for my callback and instead went directly to Visa and filed a chargeback, ending any resolution we might have tried to work out. You came in several times, verbally harassing and insulting both myself and my coworker, and anyone else in corporate that would listen.
Now, you need to understand something. We were completely in the right. Then you said you would bring the sofa back and corporate was going to allow you to do that in the interest of customer service. But the sofa you returned smelled like an ashtray, and we had to sell it at a huge loss, and get other pieces in the showroom professionally cleaned.
SC: What exactly are you trying to tell me?
Me: I’m saying that I’m exercising my right as a retailer and I am refusing to do business with you. If you want to purchase the piece, you’ll have to go to another store and purchase it from someone else. Neither myself nor my other associate will sell you anything again due to your prior history, the way you’ve treated both of us personally.
SC: I...I...I demand to speak to the manager!
Me: You’re speaking to him, and I am telling you that you are banned from purchasing anything from this store.
SC TOTALLY loses her shit. Now, you all need to understand something – this woman was pure vile the last time I dealt with her so I was in no mood to deal with her, much less sell her something. She had ignited a bit of a war inside the corporate office last time because certain people were approving things they shouldn’t have, and I got the shit end of all of it. Ultimately, once you factor everything in, she cost us about 3 to 4 times the value of the sofa, when if she had just waited for a solution another two hours, she would have had one that made her happy.
Long story short – she leaves, and the next day, all hell breaks loose. She’s calling me, calling all the OTHER stores to just complain about me, calling corporate office to complain about me, etc.
My immediate boss (the one who lost his spine at the last second and let her bring the sofa back) is getting all sorts of heat from those members of corporate who’s knee jerk reaction is to reprimand anyone who makes someone unhappy. On top of that, the members that dealt with her shit the last time around are agreeing with me.
The kicker? My boss agrees with me. But…because of the heat from corporate, he “has to give me a reprimand.” I told him not to bother wasting his time, as I wouldn’t sign anything, and fortunately, had still saved all my other notes from months ago when this bitch tried the first time to make everyone miserable.
So, about half of corporate is on my side, and the other half isn’t. I got my written warning, and refused to sign it, instead faxing it back with the three pages of notes from the previous encounter, INCLUDING all the emails from corporate months ago regarding the matter.
My coworker is also getting heaps of it for being involved in the original incident, something she doesn’t deserve. When the corporate office tries to reprimand her for stuff that was sorted months ago (the original visit) she got very upset over it.
Corporate called me and wanted to find my opinion on the issue, and I told them. We had done everything by the book the last time and as the manager it was perfectly within my rights to refuse to sell to her given our previous history and the fact that everyone knew she just decided to be the biggest pain in the ass possible to get her way, not to mention returning DAMAGED merchandise. I issued them an ultimatum:
If they allow this woman to buy from us, if they demand I sell it to her, then I’m quitting with no notice.
The other thing? My coworker issued the same ultimatum – without me even telling her I had made one myself.
IF they sell it to her, our market collapses. See, we’re incredibly short staffed as it is – 4 people trying to keep 3 showrooms open 7 days a week. I’m the only one with reliable transportation so I work at all 3. By only leaving two people, we would have no choice but to close the stores until they could bring in someone else, and the turnover rate is so high because of shit that is pulled – just like this.
Not to mention I’m the highest rated person in the state.
So yeah. Now that the cards are on the table, we’ll see if they think I’m bluffing and call it.
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