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When free isn't good enough

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  • When free isn't good enough

    Well ... having been a member of this site for some years now, I suppose I wasn't TOO surprised to hear about this. (I wasn't there but heard about it from Head Cashier when I came in.)

    My store had two weeks of a "Scratch and Save" event. You know how it goes: scratch the ticket and win the amount off your purchase, up to the full amount of your purchase. Up to, of course, an arbitrary maximum.

    In our case it was a guaranteed minimum of $15, up to $1,000.

    BUT ... here are the kickers (and I'm sure these are standard):
    1) You DO NOT get a credit (if, say, you win $500 and you only spent $100, which was the minimum required to even get a card), and
    2) You can't run back into the store and grab more stuff to bring your final bill up higher.

    No doubt you see where this is going.

    SC won BIG ... $1,000. BUT ... he'd only bought $100+ worth of stuff. So then the shitshow hit the fan.

    He wanted a store credit. No.

    He wanted to run back into the store and grab more stuff. No.

    Then he started flipping out. He wanted to take a picture of the winning ticket. Head Cashier (HC) who had only just started her shift said no, it was store property. He wanted somebody to write on the receipt that he'd won $1,000. Nope.

    SC argued and protested and yelled.

    He finally demanded to see the manager. Manager was fetched.

    SC went through all the same arguments, insulting the HC in the process. Manager stood firm and firmly behind the HC: No, SC couldn't get a store credit and no, he couldn't run back and buy more stuff. No, you can't photograph the ticket. No, neither the cashier nor the head cashier is required to write "WON $1,000" on your receipt. Manager also told him he owed the HC an apology (!)

    "YOU ARE GETTING YOUR PURCHASE FOR FREE, SIR."

    Not good enough. Cue more ranting and raving.

    He finally started with the tough stuff (?): photographing the picture of the store manager, which hangs on the wall behind the cash registers, and I don't remember what else. I believe he also threatened to call corporate.

    I think he was in there for at least an hour and a half, trying to bend the rules and bend the staff to his will.

    I'm pleased to say it didn't work.
    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
    ~ Mr Hero

  • #2
    I think that promotion was guaranteed to produce SCs. I recommend you tell corporate to quit it.

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    • #3
      Like they'd listen to me ...

      I did my utmost to explain it CAREFULLY whenever I handed one over -- "You will win a minimum of $15 off your purchase, but you MIGHT win the TOTAL of your purchase UP TO $1,000" -- but of course you never know if the person was listening, or understood.

      But yes, the way it is written on the card, and the way it's often explained to customers, it certainly is a major cause for confusion and the resulting SCs.
      Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
      ~ Mr Hero

      Comment


      • #4
        Agreed. Whatever policy is, you gotta enforce it, so it's not your fault, of course ...It's Corporate's. All they need to do is allow you to suspend the transaction and let him go back for more stuff. Yet another example of the disconnect between Corporations and the people on the ground.
        "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
        "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
        "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
        "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
        "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
        "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
        Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
        "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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        • #5
          I imagine Corporate was thinking "... so they'll buy more stuff, just in case they win the big prize". Idiots.

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          • #6
            All those scratch 'n win promos I've seen give a percentage off the purchase, up to 50%... I think that would be a logical way to go.

            Comment


            • #7
              Stupid people will be stupid.

              It doesn't matter how clearly it is explained on the ticket.
              It doesn't matter how clearly you explain it.

              There will always be someone.

              Without seeing the R&Rs, I can't say for sure, but it sounds like a reasonable person should understand this.
              Life is too short to not eat popcorn.
              Save the Ales!
              Toys for Tots at Rooster's Cafe

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              • #8
                I can't speak for everyone, but I'm the kind of person, if I'm told I can get $1,000.00 of ANYTHING for free, and it's at a place where I buy things anyway, I'm picking up $1,000.00 worth of everything I'd normally buy right then and there.
                "All I've ever learned from love was how to shoot somebody who out-drew ya"

                Comment


                • #9
                  "All they need to do is allow you to suspend the transaction and let him go back for more stuff." Yeah, but the point of the promotion is not to give the customers as much off as possible but to encourage the customers to /buy/ as much as possible in the hope of getting money off their purchase...

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth Sheldonrs View Post
                    I can't speak for everyone, but I'm the kind of person, if I'm told I can get $1,000.00 of ANYTHING for free, and it's at a place where I buy things anyway, I'm picking up $1,000.00 worth of everything I'd normally buy right then and there.
                    Which per the OP, you're explicitly not allowed to do, or at least not to get it free. Neener Neener from BigFoodCo! Shoulda been buying large to begin with, don'tcha know that's the American Way? Agreed with prior commenters, they should have at least tried it on a sample market. And then thrown the genius who came up with it to the enraged customers there.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth Mental_Mouse View Post
                      Which per the OP, you're explicitly not allowed to do, or at least not to get it free. Neener Neener from BigFoodCo! Shoulda been buying large to begin with, don'tcha know that's the American Way? Agreed with prior commenters, they should have at least tried it on a sample market. And then thrown the genius who came up with it to the enraged customers there.
                      Ah yes, Buy n Large is the way to go.
                      "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        TreeRat - Aye, but they really should have accounted for the possibility of a customer demanding something like that. I realize that they WANT every customer to go in and make $1,000 transactions (and NEVER return any of it!), just in case, but that ain't gonna happen

                        That's right up there with assuming that every return will become an exchange.
                        "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                        "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                        "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                        "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                        "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                        "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                        Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                        "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Ironclad Alibi View Post
                          Ah yes, Buy n Large is the way to go.
                          ♪♫ Beee Ennnn Ellllllllll~ ♪♫
                          PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

                          There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            [reading cover] "Instruction...Manuel."

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              MJ - I find that the problem with those is that much tends to get lost in the treanslation.
                              "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                              "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                              "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                              "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                              "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                              "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                              Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                              "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

                              Comment

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