Thank goodness for the mute button

[dekydrose]

Seriously. I can't IMAGINE how you people deal with SC's face to face.

Today, a colleague of mine got a woman calling to complain about a 6 cent billing discrepancy which led me to recall one of my all time favorite "really?" moment EVER.

Me: Thank you for calling GR, this is dekydrose speaking. How may I help you?
SC: I am furious! I am so angry right now! The hotel has overcharged me!
Me: I'm sorry to hear that! I'll work with the hotel and find out what's going on. Which hotel was this?
SC: It was the Holiday Inn on *name street* in *name city and state*
Me: Ok, so what happened?
SC: Well, I was quoted a rate of $1297.66...I was charged (WAIT FOR IT...wait for it...wait for it....) $1297.69.
Me: ......
SC: This is an outrage. I demand the rate I was quoted!!!!
Me: Ok, sir...let me make sure I heard you correctly. You were quoted one thousand, two hundred, ninety seven dollars and sixty-six cents but were charged one thousand, two hundred, ninety seven dollars and sixty-nine cents?
SC: YES!!! And i talked to the manager and he just laughed at me! I demand this is fixed right away!
Me: Ok, sir...one moment, let me call the hotel for you..

So, as I try to contain my laughter, I call the hotel and get the GM

Me: Good morning, sir, my name is dekydrose, I'm with guest relations...I'm afraid we have a billing discrepancy here that needs to be resolved...it's for Mr. so and so
GM: Well, I'll get right on top of that! When did he stay?
Me: He just checked out today
GM: Ok, let me pull up his folio....ok...so Mr. so and so was charged $1297.69, no incidentals, nothing else I can see....is he referring to an authorization hold?
Me: No....um...he was supposed to be charged $1297.66.
GM:..............I'm sorry?
Me: He was supposed to be charged $1297.66, sir...can you please credit him back the difference?
GM: Wait....3 cents? Really? REALLY? ::starts snickering::
Me: Sir, I am completely serious. I wish I were joking. I'm sorry..
GM: (Full out laughing) Ya, sure...I'll credit him back the, um, 3 cents (hysterical laughing)...the 3 cents right away.
Me: Thank you!

I go back and tell the guest who was satisfied.

But really?

THREE CENTS?!?!?!?!

ON A RESERVATION WHERE YOU ARE PAYING OVER 1,000 DOLLARS??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?


To this day, I still say that call...is very close to, if not the all time, best call ever.

[the_std]

I'll bet he pinches pennies so hard that they cry.

[blas]

He pinches them so hard that the buffalo on the nickels poop.

[Kali]

Someone should tell that guy how much a phonecall costs :S

[Shards]

Someone should tell that guy how much a phonecall costs :S

Bah! He doesn't care about the money! It's the principle of the thing!

[tropicsgoddess]

All that over a few lousy three cents?!! He must be such a big penny pincher, to make Mr. Krabs look like a big spender.

[RetailWorkhorse]

I can't IMAGINE how you people deal with SC's face to face.

With a chainsaw and the fact that I'm the only one without a life so I can cover literally everyone.

Three pennies....three pennies won't get you anything anymore. Sheesh.

[Plaidman]

I couldn't find it on youtube, but I'm reminded of the time that Homer went to that money saving thing, and he was told he has to squeeze every penny. Which he does. So hard that it went under his skin.


Not again.


This guy must do that on a regular bases.

[thehippie777]

Perhaps he just heard the total wrong...sad... I mean, 66...69...he could have heard or saw wrong. weird

[cinema guy]

I'm betting that the phone call cos more than 3 cents.

[calulu]

See, and that's why I love the mute button so I can put idiots like that on mute and laugh heartily before solving their insane request.

How did you not laugh at that?

[Samaliel]

Please, tell me this SC's name was Scrooge McDuck. Please.

[Dips]

I think the caller in the OP was an idiot. It was clearly a data entry error of 3 CENTS. If it were me, I'd have just let that one go. I can't be bothered worrying about someone's honest mistake that only cost me three cents.

But I have to confess I once called a credit card company to get a 6 cent refund.

It was a case where one of their subcontractors deliberately "crammed" thousands of people by signing us all up for $30/month credit protection without our consent.

They were quite quick to refund the $30 and apologize, but when I got the bill I noticed that they hadn't refunded the two days' interest on that $30.

I honestly didn't care about the lousy 6 cents. I cared that they were making any amount of money off me and thousands of other people by hiring a sleazeball scam outfit to sell their credit protection plan. I figured making them pay a rep to handle my phone call so they could refund the lousy 6 cents was the least I could do. Don't worry, I was quite polite to the rep. She may have thought I was a loon, but she stayed professional about it.

[donruss]

While I agree that the customer made such a big deal about this, I find it to be a sad commentary that everyone on this board acts like the customer did something wrong. The fact is they WERE charged too much. We do not know the circumstances. Maybe this isn't the first time this has happened and this person has a boss that they are accountable to and works for one of those companies who are so tight they have to account for every penny. I've seen it happen before. We all talk about sucky companies on these boards so no one should be surprised by this. Just give them their entitled (yes, I used that word because it is true) refund, give them the old Spock eyebrow thing and laugh and move on.

[MTNLaurelPoacher]

In the time he spent on the phone he could have made so much more money.
The stress of calling for a $0.03 refund probably also cut a few minutes of his life span. I don't stress when someone overcharges me by $0.03 as long as it is an accident, this way i'll live a bit longer.