Black Friday *dept. store* customers

[snugglegirl05]

http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=94699

The above link pertains to this post.

From what I understand, the GM who was working at the main office when the parking garage was loosing money was not happy with the fact that the parking garage manager at that time was giving free parking to *dept. store* customers. So he asked my current manager to take over the operation of that garage.

The current daily rate at that parking garage is...
$3.00 minimum and a $12.00 maximum depending on when you arrive and when you leave. The time starts when you pull a ticket at the entrance gate ticket machine. The Saturday rate is $3.00 all day. Saturday's are the only day my manager charges discounted parking at that parking garage. For Black Friday, the parking fee was the daily rate.

I and my co-worker had to deal with sucky *dept. store* customers on Black Friday.

• the pissy customer who told me that there was no-one in the booth on Black Friday 2011 after being charged for her parking *from what I was told, the garage manager at that time literally raised the exit gate & did not staff the booth, & so everyone got free parking that day*
• the pissy customer who told me he would no longer park in the garage again after being charged for parking
• the pissy customer who told me that she has been shopping at *dept. store* for 5 years & that she never paid for her parking
• the pissy customer who only wanted to pay $3.00 when according to the time on the ticket she pulled & when she arrived at the booth, she went over the time limit for $3.00 parking
• the pissy customer who felt that she should only have to pay $3.00 because she spent x amount on merchandise at *dept. store*
• the pissy customer who bitched at my co-worker who worked the second shift on Black Friday *I worked the first shift* because 1) he was away from the booth when she pulled up & 2) she had to pay for her parking *one duty that the closing cashier has to do is to walk the garage to see how many cars are parked. This is done when it is slow.*

I also had customers tell me that *dept. store* personnel told them that parking at the garage would be free for them. Not sucky on their part, but I just wonder if they were saying that to get free parking of if this was really true. If it was true, then I wonder where the *dept. store* got this idea.

One of my pet peeves is dealing with customers who use bargaining tactics to get free parking. I have no authority to give anyone free parking.

Some of the pissy customers wanted a receipt after paying for their parking. Whether or not they get a refund remains to be seen.

[JustaCashier]

I think I'm having a bit of PTSD here.

I worked in the parking biz from 1983-1998, mostly in office towers with a small element of retail, but worked at one location in the mid-'80's that was a mix, but significantly heavier on the retail than the others. That place was the worst!

The shoppers seemed to have the highest level of entitlement overall, coming back with probably hundreds of dollars worth of stuff, then bitching about having to pay $3.00-$5.00 for parking. Similar scenario with the customers that would eat at an upscale restaurant.

One of the most common, and most frustrating issues overall, would be the customers that assumed that just because they did business in the building, they shouldn't have to pay for parking. This could be especially true if the building was named for the Company they had visited.

Other frustrating scenarios, were regarding parking validation. Our Company accepted
various validations over the years, and the validation type could vary by location as well.

Some businesses would stamp a customer's ticket with their own random stamp, (like their check endorsement stamp), a business card, or a signature, with all good intentions of paying. But that could end up being an accounting nightmare on our end.

Eventually, our Company started selling their own dollar value, or time value validation stickers, but some of the businesses, that we had parking validation agreements with, insisted on continuing to validate in the manner they had been, such as a rubber stamp, or authorized signature.

Another validation frustration, was partial validations that by design would not cover the entire time frame the customer had parked, whether the validator just covered the first dollar or two of parking cost, or X amount of time, and the customer had gone off to do something else before picking up their car, and went past the validated time. Occasionally we'd get a customer bitching because they had to make up the difference.

Okay, time to decompress from those bad memories.....

Mike

[bainsidhe]

I also had customers tell me that *dept. store* personnel told them that parking at the garage would be free for them. Not sucky on their part, but I just wonder if they were saying that to get free parking of if this was really true. If it was true, then I wonder where the *dept. store* got this idea.

Store employees may be telling customers that since it was true for a long time. And unless someone tells them otherwise or the employee parks in the garage him/herself, they wouldn't know different. However that excuse gets old, when the charges and terms are clearly posted in your garage.

[cinema guy]

It does sound like there may be a lack of communication going on somewhere about the change in policy. It could be between new GM and dept. store, between dept store and their customers or between dept. store managers and their staff.

Perhaps some notices in the parking garage saying that free parking for dept. store customers no longer applies would help out.