Long and bitchy

[MoonCat]

Trying to keep this vague in details.

Had a customer last week very anxious to get an ad in the paper ("it's urgent"). Didn't have the payment ready, though; had to wait for spouse to call back to pay

Spouse also all exercised over how OMGIMPORTANT it is to get the ad in. It's paid, it's all set.

So of course they called a few days later to cancel it . Problem: They called LONG after deadline, left a voicemail. Next morning (weekend) left TWO more voicemails, still wanting to cancel ("for today and tomorrow"). Problem: That day's paper's already been delivered, we're closed, and it's STILL (even further) past deadline.

Upshot: Customer bitched at manager , manager refunded entire cost of ad for something that was NOT our error in ANY WAY.

Kicker: Memo is issued to staff about "always calling back on voicemails."

Never mind that there was nothing that could be done for this customer; never mind that no one was able to call back because we're severely understaffed in the evenings and on the weekends; never mind that we make every effort to call back on voicemails, but with hardly anybody here and the phones going crazy, something's got to give.

TL;DR: I hate self-important jackhole customers. Your lack of organization is not my emergency. Get your shit better organized next time and LISTEN when we tell you things like deadlines.

[eltf177]

Let me make sure I understand this:

1) Customer is adamant that unless ad runs the universe will come to an end
2) Customer then cancels ad after the deadline and ad has already run
3) Customer gets totally unwarranted refund
4) Manager who gives refund wants phone calls returned immediately

OK manager, who's going to pay my O/T for coming in on weekends just to answer the phone? And BTW, in this situation all the customer is going to be told is that it's too damn late to cancel now - no refund!

Or better yet the following conversation:

Manager: Mooncat, how many of those projects you were assigned did you complete?
Mooncat: (Proudly) None!
Manager: What?
Mooncat: You wanted phone calls returned promptly. I've had no time to do anything but answer the phone as you requested.
Manager: But...
Mooncat: There is no problem here, your new order was followed. So not one word about my lack of progress on these jobs!

Yeah, that'll really fly... Manager needs to tell this idiot that no refund was coming due to their inability to make a decision.

[MoonCat]

eltf177, I think I love you....

Yes, your four points nailed it exactly! And I've wanted to have that exact conversation with management.

I'm not proud of the fact that I didn't get to call the customer back, if only to tell them it was too late to cancel and have the inevitable argument about a refund. But incoming calls are priority one, and there were other voicemails that I could actually DO something about. The end result would likely have been the same anyway, and I can't even really blame the manager. I LIKE this manager. But it was the memo that really pissed me off.