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(longish)No, I can't rewrite corporates return policy for you.

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  • (longish)No, I can't rewrite corporates return policy for you.

    its been a while since I've posted. Life has been a tad nuts. Mainly, I got promoted to customer service at "Anthracites." It's basically the complaint department, so all of my customers are sucky and have a chip on their shoulders. Normally i can handle it, but today was the straw that broke the camel's back. I've never had a customer make me cry before. Anyway, here goes.

    Me: moi.
    SL: Sucky lady
    12: My supervisor.


    Today I had a lady come in , who was returning a load of items she bought in February....of 2011. Now, if you know anything about "Anthracites," You will know that we have a open return policy. Receipt or no, we have no date on our returns, and will take anything back that was bought from our store. There is one exception. We have a promotion that is basically called, "Anthracite Cash" . If you spend $50, you get $10 dollars of this "A Cash". thats for every 50. so if you spend 200, you get 40, etc, etc. If you make a purchase where you earn this cash, and later spend that cash, when you return the item that was purchased to earn the cash, your return amount is reduced by the amount of cash you earned. so if you buy a sweater for $50, and get 10 in this cash, and then use the cash to buy say, a cup, if you then return that sweater, we will give you back $40 dollars. its complicated, but it makes sense to me.

    So, This lady came in today with her return, from last year, each of the 4 items were on a different receipt. No problem, i can condense multiple returns onto one receipt. Heres the problem. She earned and spent the "Anthracite's cash" on each separate receipt. each being for $15 dollars instead of the usual $10, as it had been for a valentines day promotion. So the three $18 dollar sweaters she bought, she was now only getting $3 back in return. She of course..... did not like that. it went pretty much like this.


    SL: What! WHY DO I ONLY HAVE 3 DOLLARS?
    Me: "Ma'am, It shows here that you earned on each individual purchase, $15 Anthracites cash. You've spent it already, and since you are returning the items used to earn the cash, your refund is being reduced by the amount of the Anthracites cash. That is our policy.

    SL: Oh hell no. you WILL give me my money.

    ME: I'm terribly sorry but the system will not allow us to override this, so theres nothing i can do. I'd be happy to get you a manager.

    SL: NO YOU WILL GIVE ME MY DAMN MONEY. no. you know what? you are INCOMPETENT. you are INCOMPETENT AND STUPID. for all i know your lying and your going to POCKET MY MONEY.

    ME: Ma'am, the policy is written right here, right in front of the register. see? it says exactly what i just told you. I'm not trying to cheat you out of anything, nor do I have any designs on keeping anyones money. This is how our system works.

    SL: is IT? i doubt you know. Your an idiot. thats why you only work in retail. Well you won't for long. Get me your manager. I'm going to see you fry.



    So i called the boss. Fortunantly i got the 12(our bosses have numeric codes. we never use their names) The 12 is a great guy. he still has about 1/4 of his spine left. So he came over to see what was wrong. By this point i was shaking and about to cry so he sent me into the little customer service work room where we keep holds. So i sat there and had a good cry while he dealt with this woman. he spent 40 minute. FOURTY MINUTES. with her. He told her EXACTLY what i had said, and restated that there was nothing that could be done, this is the policy. finally she accepted the refund, and he gave her a 10 dollar coupon to use on her next purchase so she wouldn't call corporate. Then she said this.

    SL: By the way, That little bitch you have back there? you need to fire her. she's obviously too stupid to do anything other than flip burgers. She's incompetent. you better get rid of her or i'm never shopping here again.

    now, the 12 is an ex marine. And he views those of us who work for him as his regiment. especially the girls. we are "His girls" he is kind to us, he makes sure we are treated decently, and he's an all around great dude. When someone says something like that about one of us, he goes on the warpath. this is what he did.

    12: "Do you mean "Iloveasunflower?" Well ma'am, she's been with us for two years and i've never had a complaint about her, so i'm thinking that the incompetence is on your side. since you won't be shopping here anymore, i'll just be taking that coupon back. *Reaches over and takes it* Now you just go have yourself a very nice day."
    as i said, he still has a quarter of his spine. so it ended well. lady made a catbutt face and huffed off. afterwards the 12 gave me a break so i could splash some water on my face since i had been crying. I've never had a customer make me cry but that one was a doozy. thank god for managers that still have some spine!!

  • #2

    Wow!
    Sounds to me as if 12 has a lot more than 1/4 of his spine -- to reach over and take the coupon back! Good for him!

    And I'm sorry this SC was the last straw. That was awful. Hopefully she will keep her word and take her vitriol elsewhere.

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    • #3
      thanks. I hope the same. the 12 is really good about stuff like that. the other 9 members of the management team are totally spineless. Knowing them they would have given her FAR more coupons, and chastised me, and probably even offered to push the lady's cart for her. I've seen them do that. I just thank GOD i got the 12! or that situation would have been VERY bad. haha.

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      • #4
        Applause all around for the 12. Don't you love the logic that you were incompetent when you followed policy, but the 12, who said exactly the same thing as you, wasn't.

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        • #5
          That woman is a nova-class bitch. Don't waste another thought on her. With her attitude, she is probably hated by pretty much everyone she knows. The staff at other stores probably hides when they see her coming.
          When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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          • #6
            When dealing with SC's, you just need to get a "happy place" that you can go to when they're yelling - the half smile on your face as you appear to listen drives 'em crazy

            Great manager, I'd consider that more than 1/4 a spine if he's that way all the time. I was expecting the best he'd do was tell them you wouldn't be fired for following the same policy he'd just explained to them. But wow, telling her she was the incompetant one, AND taking back the coupon - double slam.

            Madness takes it's toll....
            Please have exact change ready.

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            • #7
              Major props to the manager.
              I can't believe the customer actually gunned to try to get you fired for something you have no control over, wish the customer would actually keep their word that they won't return but we all know that isn't true.

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              • #8
                I can't believe she went through so much trouble to get such a pittance back; bitch to the nth power, that's for sure! Sorry she made you cry
                "If anyone wants this old box containing the broken bits of my former faith in humanity, I'll take your best offer now. You may be able to salvage a few of em' for parts..... " - Quote by Argabarga

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                • #9
                  Glad to see your boss stood by you. One of the greatest moments I ever encountered at the workshop what builds bears was when our GM berated and ordered a lady out of the store for making one of his Bearbuilders cry.
                  "Sigh, I'm going to Hell.....but I'm going with a smile on my face." -- Gravekeeper

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                  • #10
                    Does 12 walk funny? Because damn, that takes a major set.
                    A fact of life: After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says W T F.....

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                    • #11
                      Holy crap! ANOTHER story featuring an Awesome Manager With A Spine!

                      That settles it. Clearly the secret AMWAS breeding program is producing solid results!
                      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!

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                      • #12
                        It was nice to have the happy ending, but for me it was still overshadowed by what she said to you. I swear, some people have no conscience...

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                        • #13
                          I'm honestly surprised at the result of this. Anthracite's is all about "hassle-free" returns and seems more inclined to rump-swab its customers than most other stores are.

                          Maybe it was just a case of having the right manager at the right time. Who knows? If only we could convince him to take a job at the swamp, where customers routinely get two or three uses out of the same loyalty coupon because "we're not going to argue with the customer over $10."
                          Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

                          "I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily

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                          • #14
                            So glad your manager stuck up for you! I honestly would have walked away from her and let her run her mouth if she was talking to me that way. There is absolutely no excuse for it. I wish I could have seen the look on that bitches face when awesome manager took that coupon from her.

                            Hopefully if she calls corporate your manager would have already reported the situation and he won't get in trouble for it.
                            "The old saying "The customer is always right" is Bull S*it, but you should always treat the customer with respect."~ Professor of Management at UTA

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                            • #15
                              its complicated, but it makes sense to me.
                              makes sense to me too.

                              it prevents customers from say spending 50, getting 10 bucks back, returning the stuff and pocketing the 10

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