Tweet
Didn't know where to put this.
Bit of a back story:
Last summer, we had a customer who placed an order for ten 5 gallon pails of a special granite look finish that our company sells.
The order was over $2,000.
They put a 10% down payment on it.
It has been sitting there ever since.
We have called repeatedly.
Normally, we will only hold customer orders for 2 weeks, but with the down payment, we were kind of stuck.
The manager of the paint department repeatedly called and left messages and asked them to get in touch.
They never did.
This stuff has a shelf life.
It has now been almost 4 months since the stuff came in.
It's not something we carry in that size as a general rule, and is special order only, as it's really not a product that sells every day.
Not only that, but it takes up a lot of room that could be used for something else in our storage area.
I talked to the manager a few weeks ago about it, and asked about sending it back and keeping the deposit for restocking, because we will be charged restocking.
Apparently someone was talking to the guy because he had placed an order for a whole bunch of other stuff and when he came in to pick it up,they asked about this other order.
The story I got is that they were waiting for some money to come in or something, and they might not get their pails of granite until spring.
Fast forward to yesterday, and guess who got stuck calling the customer to tell them to either come in and pay the balance or we would be sending it back and keeping the deposit?
Apparently I "do it so well and can word it just right."
I said I thought the manager should have been the one making the call, but I went ahead and called.
I explained that we had been holding it 4 months, that there was a shelf life, and we wanted them to pay for the whole order, or we would sned it back to our warehouse and keep the deposit.
The woman started to bawl.
Apparently, her mother is dying and they have been very tied up with looking after her and going back and forth to the hospital.
They have run out of the money to finish the renovation and won't have any until spring.
I felt so bad.
She just kept crying and crying as she talked about it.
I know what it's like to struggle with money.
I understand about starting a renovation and ending up almost broke because unexpected things turn up and require money to be thrown at it, all while still trying to keep the basic bills paid and put food on the table.
I also know what it's like to be worrying about a sick or dying loved one.
I also understand that my paycheque depends on my company making money, and we have already had to pay for this merchandise while it's been sitting gathering dust.
She was upset about losing her whole deposit and wanted to make some type of payment arrangements.
I finally just told her to call the manager and speak with him.
I felt like such a shit when I was done.
I could never be in a job involving collections.
Bit of a back story:
Last summer, we had a customer who placed an order for ten 5 gallon pails of a special granite look finish that our company sells.
The order was over $2,000.
They put a 10% down payment on it.
It has been sitting there ever since.
We have called repeatedly.
Normally, we will only hold customer orders for 2 weeks, but with the down payment, we were kind of stuck.
The manager of the paint department repeatedly called and left messages and asked them to get in touch.
They never did.
This stuff has a shelf life.
It has now been almost 4 months since the stuff came in.
It's not something we carry in that size as a general rule, and is special order only, as it's really not a product that sells every day.
Not only that, but it takes up a lot of room that could be used for something else in our storage area.
I talked to the manager a few weeks ago about it, and asked about sending it back and keeping the deposit for restocking, because we will be charged restocking.
Apparently someone was talking to the guy because he had placed an order for a whole bunch of other stuff and when he came in to pick it up,they asked about this other order.
The story I got is that they were waiting for some money to come in or something, and they might not get their pails of granite until spring.
Fast forward to yesterday, and guess who got stuck calling the customer to tell them to either come in and pay the balance or we would be sending it back and keeping the deposit?
Apparently I "do it so well and can word it just right."
I said I thought the manager should have been the one making the call, but I went ahead and called.
I explained that we had been holding it 4 months, that there was a shelf life, and we wanted them to pay for the whole order, or we would sned it back to our warehouse and keep the deposit.
The woman started to bawl.
Apparently, her mother is dying and they have been very tied up with looking after her and going back and forth to the hospital.
They have run out of the money to finish the renovation and won't have any until spring.
I felt so bad.
She just kept crying and crying as she talked about it.
I know what it's like to struggle with money.
I understand about starting a renovation and ending up almost broke because unexpected things turn up and require money to be thrown at it, all while still trying to keep the basic bills paid and put food on the table.
I also know what it's like to be worrying about a sick or dying loved one.
I also understand that my paycheque depends on my company making money, and we have already had to pay for this merchandise while it's been sitting gathering dust.
She was upset about losing her whole deposit and wanted to make some type of payment arrangements.
I finally just told her to call the manager and speak with him.
I felt like such a shit when I was done.
I could never be in a job involving collections.
Comment