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This particular customer hasn't become completely sucky yet, but believe me, the potential is there.
A little back story on return policy: 1) You must have a receipt. 2) Only refunds within 30 days. 3) Exchanges within 90 days. Now, before December 1999, we offered a lifetime guarantee on some merchandise, however, you still have to have the receipt, and it has to say "Lifetime Guarantee". Fair enough? On with the story...
Memorial day, lady comes up with a broken chain. Says she needs to exchange it, and I ask for her receipt. Of course she doesn't have it. I say, I really need to have a receipt. She says, the guy manager exchanged it for me before, it's broke like 3 times now. So, I tell her, if we can identify the merchandise is ours 100% without a doubt, we can exchange it, assuming we have the exact same thing (we'd just damage out the old and give the customer the new one, without performing an actual exchange in the register). We do this as a courtesy. We are not required to do anything, and usually we say "It's a one time thing". So I tell her I will see if we have the same chain, if we do, I'll exchange it...as a courtesy. Luckily, we have it, and I can match them up without a doubt. I give her the new chain and she goes on her way.
Today, she comes back. The chain broke again (it's a hollow 14k rope, not the sturdiest thing in the world). By this time, my old manager has done her a favor by exchanging it, I've done it...now she expects it (which is why I usually stick to my guns on the receipt issue). So I try to find the chain again, only this time we don't have it. The following conversation ensues:
Me: Unfortunately, we don't have this chain in stock. You'll have to wait and see if it comes in.
Her: But what if it never comes in?
Me: ...without a receipt, the only thing I can do is an even exchange. And unfortunately, without the sku number, I have no way to call another store to see if they have it. Having a receipt would make things a lot easier.
Her: But can't you look me up? I bought this when you did the lifetime guarantee, I was a part of your jewelry club...(continues with some mild whining about the times her chain has broke, what might've happened to her receipt, etc.)
Me: I'm sorry. Your name and address might be in our computer (we don't do the J.C. anymore), but it has never kept track of customer purchases. Even with lifetime guarantee purchases, we require the receipt.
Her: Well. That's kind of...silly. (She totally did not want to use "silly").
After that, I just kind of apologized some more, and reiterated the importance of keeping your receipt, trying to get her to realize that I DON'T HAVE TO DO A DAMN THING FOR YOU! She kind of started looking through her wallet, and I think I would have spit fire if she showed up with a receipt all of a sudden. She didn't find it, and said she'd go home and look some more for her receipt, or check at the end of the week to see if the chain comes in.
Honestly, I'm tired of being nice to people. If I apply the rules to one person, I need to apply them to everyone, because there's always going to be that one person who takes your "customer courtesy" and throws it back in your face.
A little back story on return policy: 1) You must have a receipt. 2) Only refunds within 30 days. 3) Exchanges within 90 days. Now, before December 1999, we offered a lifetime guarantee on some merchandise, however, you still have to have the receipt, and it has to say "Lifetime Guarantee". Fair enough? On with the story...
Memorial day, lady comes up with a broken chain. Says she needs to exchange it, and I ask for her receipt. Of course she doesn't have it. I say, I really need to have a receipt. She says, the guy manager exchanged it for me before, it's broke like 3 times now. So, I tell her, if we can identify the merchandise is ours 100% without a doubt, we can exchange it, assuming we have the exact same thing (we'd just damage out the old and give the customer the new one, without performing an actual exchange in the register). We do this as a courtesy. We are not required to do anything, and usually we say "It's a one time thing". So I tell her I will see if we have the same chain, if we do, I'll exchange it...as a courtesy. Luckily, we have it, and I can match them up without a doubt. I give her the new chain and she goes on her way.
Today, she comes back. The chain broke again (it's a hollow 14k rope, not the sturdiest thing in the world). By this time, my old manager has done her a favor by exchanging it, I've done it...now she expects it (which is why I usually stick to my guns on the receipt issue). So I try to find the chain again, only this time we don't have it. The following conversation ensues:
Me: Unfortunately, we don't have this chain in stock. You'll have to wait and see if it comes in.
Her: But what if it never comes in?
Me: ...without a receipt, the only thing I can do is an even exchange. And unfortunately, without the sku number, I have no way to call another store to see if they have it. Having a receipt would make things a lot easier.
Her: But can't you look me up? I bought this when you did the lifetime guarantee, I was a part of your jewelry club...(continues with some mild whining about the times her chain has broke, what might've happened to her receipt, etc.)
Me: I'm sorry. Your name and address might be in our computer (we don't do the J.C. anymore), but it has never kept track of customer purchases. Even with lifetime guarantee purchases, we require the receipt.
Her: Well. That's kind of...silly. (She totally did not want to use "silly").
After that, I just kind of apologized some more, and reiterated the importance of keeping your receipt, trying to get her to realize that I DON'T HAVE TO DO A DAMN THING FOR YOU! She kind of started looking through her wallet, and I think I would have spit fire if she showed up with a receipt all of a sudden. She didn't find it, and said she'd go home and look some more for her receipt, or check at the end of the week to see if the chain comes in.
Honestly, I'm tired of being nice to people. If I apply the rules to one person, I need to apply them to everyone, because there's always going to be that one person who takes your "customer courtesy" and throws it back in your face.
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