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Sorry it's a bit long, but here are a few of my favourites from my current job.
1. Lady brings in a watch for a battery replacement. It is quite clearly a fake designer watch, and she openly tells us so. We change the battery but because of the poor quality, one of the batons (hour markers) becomes loose (this is a massive PITA but not uncommon with fakes). We apologise and offer to send it to our watch maker to re fit the baton free of charge. She refuses and says we can't send it away as our watchmaker will keep it and hand it in to trading standards as it is fake. We try to explain in the nicest possible way that our watchmaker really doesn't give 2 hoots and will just repair it and send it back. Customer goes absolutely mental at us that we have broken her watch (it still worked perfectly well), grabs the watch and storms out. She then leaves us a negative review in which she conveniently forgets to mention that a) the watch is a fake and b) that we offered to right our mistake free of charge. Luckily the review site she used has a 'reply' option, so I made sure that I filled in the bits she left out.
2. Christmas 2015 a lady comes in wanting to buy a bracelet for her daughter. (At this point it is worth pointing out that I also work with my boyfriend). He goes to serve her and she picks out a bracelet. She asks him to try it on his wrist so that she can see what size it is (?) so he obliges and puts it on and fastens it. She is happy and she buys it. Just after christmas she comes in.
SC "I bought a bracelet from you for my daughter and it's too small, I need you to make it bigger"
Me "Ok, have you got it with you?"
SC "No"
Me (a bit puzzled) "OK well if you bring it in I can have a look at it and see if we can add some extra links to make it longer"
SC "Oh right. Well you see my daughter has it and she doesn't live around here."
Me (still puzzled. Does she want me to make the bracelet longer without actually having the bracelet??) "Ok no problem, when you next see her, get the bracelet and bring it in, I'll have a look and see what we can do. If we have to send it to our goldsmith there will just be a small charge."
SC "Ok. I guess I'll have to try and get it from her and bring it in then."
Fast forward 2 hours and I get a furious phonecall from the daughter shouting and screaming at me that I had refused to help her mother, and that I had told her there was nothing we could do! She then continued to phone another 3/4 times, each time shouting and swearing and being abusive, until I gave u with her and passed her on to our boss, who happens to be one of the rudest people on the planet when he wants to.
In the end they kept the bracelet and we barred them from the store.
3. Again, around Christmas last year a man came in and bought a pair of earrings for his wife. Now, even before i worked in a jewellers I was aware that *most* places will not accept returns on earrings for hygiene reasons. We also have this printed on our till receipts and on signs dotted around the shop. He chooses earrings and is very chatty and happy with his purchase he goes on his way.
Later that week, his wife comes in, with the earrings, stating that her husband had bought her the wrong earrings, they weren't the ones she wanted. I told her that we don't usually exchange earrings but I would speak to the boss. Boss says no problem just exchange them for the ones she wanted. I offer her this option (the earrings she wanted are still in our window, same price, just a straight swap and a course of disinfectant on the returned earrings for good measure). No, she doesn't want the earrings, she wants the money. I explain that we have already done more than we need to by offering an exchange and that we will not give a refund for a £100 pair of earrings on to a debit card that is not even hers). She says she will speak to her husband and that they "will be back". Oh deep joy.
Later that day I get an email from him that can only be described as blackmail, giving us 5 days to change our mind or there "will be consequences!" We continue to stand by our offer of exchange. He says that if we refuse to refund, he will start a hate campaign against us and will go to all the local papers and the news! For what? Because we went over and above the service we have to offer? After the 5 days he plastered his "hate campaign" all over our facebook page, which happens to be moderated so nobody can post to our wall without approval. Needless to say none of the local papers printed his "story", but in reading it we learned that he had encountered the same "problem" in many many local independant shops, so we think it is his way of having some "fun", being old and retired and all.
I will add some more as I think of them
1. Lady brings in a watch for a battery replacement. It is quite clearly a fake designer watch, and she openly tells us so. We change the battery but because of the poor quality, one of the batons (hour markers) becomes loose (this is a massive PITA but not uncommon with fakes). We apologise and offer to send it to our watch maker to re fit the baton free of charge. She refuses and says we can't send it away as our watchmaker will keep it and hand it in to trading standards as it is fake. We try to explain in the nicest possible way that our watchmaker really doesn't give 2 hoots and will just repair it and send it back. Customer goes absolutely mental at us that we have broken her watch (it still worked perfectly well), grabs the watch and storms out. She then leaves us a negative review in which she conveniently forgets to mention that a) the watch is a fake and b) that we offered to right our mistake free of charge. Luckily the review site she used has a 'reply' option, so I made sure that I filled in the bits she left out.
2. Christmas 2015 a lady comes in wanting to buy a bracelet for her daughter. (At this point it is worth pointing out that I also work with my boyfriend). He goes to serve her and she picks out a bracelet. She asks him to try it on his wrist so that she can see what size it is (?) so he obliges and puts it on and fastens it. She is happy and she buys it. Just after christmas she comes in.
SC "I bought a bracelet from you for my daughter and it's too small, I need you to make it bigger"
Me "Ok, have you got it with you?"
SC "No"
Me (a bit puzzled) "OK well if you bring it in I can have a look at it and see if we can add some extra links to make it longer"
SC "Oh right. Well you see my daughter has it and she doesn't live around here."
Me (still puzzled. Does she want me to make the bracelet longer without actually having the bracelet??) "Ok no problem, when you next see her, get the bracelet and bring it in, I'll have a look and see what we can do. If we have to send it to our goldsmith there will just be a small charge."
SC "Ok. I guess I'll have to try and get it from her and bring it in then."
Fast forward 2 hours and I get a furious phonecall from the daughter shouting and screaming at me that I had refused to help her mother, and that I had told her there was nothing we could do! She then continued to phone another 3/4 times, each time shouting and swearing and being abusive, until I gave u with her and passed her on to our boss, who happens to be one of the rudest people on the planet when he wants to.
In the end they kept the bracelet and we barred them from the store.
3. Again, around Christmas last year a man came in and bought a pair of earrings for his wife. Now, even before i worked in a jewellers I was aware that *most* places will not accept returns on earrings for hygiene reasons. We also have this printed on our till receipts and on signs dotted around the shop. He chooses earrings and is very chatty and happy with his purchase he goes on his way.
Later that week, his wife comes in, with the earrings, stating that her husband had bought her the wrong earrings, they weren't the ones she wanted. I told her that we don't usually exchange earrings but I would speak to the boss. Boss says no problem just exchange them for the ones she wanted. I offer her this option (the earrings she wanted are still in our window, same price, just a straight swap and a course of disinfectant on the returned earrings for good measure). No, she doesn't want the earrings, she wants the money. I explain that we have already done more than we need to by offering an exchange and that we will not give a refund for a £100 pair of earrings on to a debit card that is not even hers). She says she will speak to her husband and that they "will be back". Oh deep joy.
Later that day I get an email from him that can only be described as blackmail, giving us 5 days to change our mind or there "will be consequences!" We continue to stand by our offer of exchange. He says that if we refuse to refund, he will start a hate campaign against us and will go to all the local papers and the news! For what? Because we went over and above the service we have to offer? After the 5 days he plastered his "hate campaign" all over our facebook page, which happens to be moderated so nobody can post to our wall without approval. Needless to say none of the local papers printed his "story", but in reading it we learned that he had encountered the same "problem" in many many local independant shops, so we think it is his way of having some "fun", being old and retired and all.
I will add some more as I think of them
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