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I work at the customer service desk of a retail store. It is a "mart" but not Wally World. We recently merged with a hardware store. We now use their store credit cards. It hasn't been a major problem, mostly we just get strange confused looks when we ask if the customer would like to apply. "But...I'm at __-mart...right?"
So, today started out bad enough. First things first, I open up the registers in the front to put the first tills in. The last register of the 5 is at the end of the receipt tape. No big deal, I go looking for a new roll, I saw a box delivered last Sunday. Well after 5 minutes, there was no new tape to be found. I call my manager and we send one of the stock guys to another store to pick up some rolls until our shipment comes in tomorrow. Not really a big deal on it's own, we do this fairly often. During this time I stabbed myself in the finger with a staple and for a small cut was bleeding quite a bit. Stock guy comes back and everything is fine...for now.
Next, while it's really busy, since of course we can't have extra staff on for holidays, a small kid comes up to tell me they dropped a 2L bottle of coke on the floor and it exploded. Alright, fine. I send a stock guy over to clean it up. At this time there are about 4-5 people standing around the desk waiting for help of some sort. After the stock guy cleaned up the spill, he was bringing the mop and bucket into the back and in overturned right in front of me and spilled the soda/water all over the floor. Poor guy had to mop it up all over again.
After helping everyone else that was waiting, I help the next family and they would like to purchase a patio set but we don't have the table. I explained that due to the seasonality of the merchandise I can't give them a rain check, but I know for a fact that the next closest store has about 14 of the tables in stock. Okay, so they decide to buy the chairs and everything else at our store, and just the table at the other store.
I ring him up for the purchase, around $700. Since it was over $200 there's a promotion where with the store credit card, you can get no interest for 8 months. He wants to take advantage of that, so I use his wife's card but it declines, saying the account had been closed.
Alright, fine. It's been closed, he has a card to. We cancel out the transaction and start over just to make sure that he's still getting the no interest. He didn't have the card on him, but that was okay, we can do an account look-up. We do the look up and then it tells me I need to call the credit center for the approval code. This normally takes about 5-10 minutes as the customer needs to verify that it is them using the card. This usually happens if it hasn't been used recently or it's been flagged as possibly stolen.
I called. It was around noon. I didn't have his account number since we didn't have the card, so it took 5 minutes or so to actually get through to someone. I finally get through to someone, explain that I just need the approval code. I give the customer the phone for the verification and he gives me the phone back. She keeps asking for the account number which I don't have. To speed things along, I do another account look-up on a different register to pull up the last 4 numbers.
Okay, I think things are going well. The customer has been very nice about it and hasn't gotten angry which they usually do. The woman tells me that the account has already been approved for the sale. Alright, fine. Can I have the approval code to put the sale through?
Me: Well...if it's already been approved why can't I just have the code?
Rep: If I generate another code he might be charged twice.
Me: ..I canceled the sale. We're only going to charge him now. Can't you cancel the approval?
Rep: Hold on, please.
-15 minutes goes by-
Rep: Did you get the approval code?
Me: ...That is the entire point of this call. I need you to give me the code. My screen says "call supervisor". If I decline to call, it doesn't charge the card.
Rep: You don't have the approval code?
Me: That's what I need from you. If I call it an authorization number does that change anything?
Rep: No. Do you need me to hold while you get the code?
Me: No. I. Need. YOU. To. Get. The. Code. Or cancel the first one.
Rep: Hold please.
-another 10 minutes-
In this time, I thank the customer again for being so patient with the call. We chat while I'm on hold about how it's a Mother's Day gift for his wife and she's really has her heart set on this particular set. I check with my manager and he tells me that the sale was canceled on our end, so there shouldn't have been a charge approved.
Finally after about a 30-45 minute phone call, the woman gets back on the phone and tells me that the customer needs to call from a courtesy phone.
Rep: He needs to call from a courtesy phone.
Me: He's standing right in front of me, can't I just give him the phone?
Rep: He needs to call from a courtesy phone.
Me: We don't have one here. This isn't a department store. He's already spoken to you. You can't transfer him?
Rep: He needs to call-
Me: From a courtesy phone. I get it.
Rep: Thank you for calling____ *click*
So then, the guy is still not getting angry and we decide to have his wife apply for the card, that way they can still get the zero interest. She gets approved, but then her credit limit is only $250. She can't use the card for the whole purchase. Finally the customer decides to buy the entire set at the other store and bring the card and maybe avoid this whole problem. He needs to check if he was charged for the $700 when we didn't put it through and we lost out on a $700 sale. My manager and I were not happy.
I don't know why she couldn't cancel out the first approval, she couldn't give me the code, and I especially don't understand why she thought I had the code and yet was calling her for the code.
I will say though that after spending 45 minutes with me, this guy was very nice about it and even though I could see that he was getting very annoyed, he never took it out on me. I am so glad I'm getting out of this company soon.
So, today started out bad enough. First things first, I open up the registers in the front to put the first tills in. The last register of the 5 is at the end of the receipt tape. No big deal, I go looking for a new roll, I saw a box delivered last Sunday. Well after 5 minutes, there was no new tape to be found. I call my manager and we send one of the stock guys to another store to pick up some rolls until our shipment comes in tomorrow. Not really a big deal on it's own, we do this fairly often. During this time I stabbed myself in the finger with a staple and for a small cut was bleeding quite a bit. Stock guy comes back and everything is fine...for now.
Next, while it's really busy, since of course we can't have extra staff on for holidays, a small kid comes up to tell me they dropped a 2L bottle of coke on the floor and it exploded. Alright, fine. I send a stock guy over to clean it up. At this time there are about 4-5 people standing around the desk waiting for help of some sort. After the stock guy cleaned up the spill, he was bringing the mop and bucket into the back and in overturned right in front of me and spilled the soda/water all over the floor. Poor guy had to mop it up all over again.
After helping everyone else that was waiting, I help the next family and they would like to purchase a patio set but we don't have the table. I explained that due to the seasonality of the merchandise I can't give them a rain check, but I know for a fact that the next closest store has about 14 of the tables in stock. Okay, so they decide to buy the chairs and everything else at our store, and just the table at the other store.
I ring him up for the purchase, around $700. Since it was over $200 there's a promotion where with the store credit card, you can get no interest for 8 months. He wants to take advantage of that, so I use his wife's card but it declines, saying the account had been closed.
Alright, fine. It's been closed, he has a card to. We cancel out the transaction and start over just to make sure that he's still getting the no interest. He didn't have the card on him, but that was okay, we can do an account look-up. We do the look up and then it tells me I need to call the credit center for the approval code. This normally takes about 5-10 minutes as the customer needs to verify that it is them using the card. This usually happens if it hasn't been used recently or it's been flagged as possibly stolen.
I called. It was around noon. I didn't have his account number since we didn't have the card, so it took 5 minutes or so to actually get through to someone. I finally get through to someone, explain that I just need the approval code. I give the customer the phone for the verification and he gives me the phone back. She keeps asking for the account number which I don't have. To speed things along, I do another account look-up on a different register to pull up the last 4 numbers.
Okay, I think things are going well. The customer has been very nice about it and hasn't gotten angry which they usually do. The woman tells me that the account has already been approved for the sale. Alright, fine. Can I have the approval code to put the sale through?
Me: Well...if it's already been approved why can't I just have the code?
Rep: If I generate another code he might be charged twice.
Me: ..I canceled the sale. We're only going to charge him now. Can't you cancel the approval?
Rep: Hold on, please.
-15 minutes goes by-
Rep: Did you get the approval code?
Me: ...That is the entire point of this call. I need you to give me the code. My screen says "call supervisor". If I decline to call, it doesn't charge the card.
Rep: You don't have the approval code?
Me: That's what I need from you. If I call it an authorization number does that change anything?
Rep: No. Do you need me to hold while you get the code?
Me: No. I. Need. YOU. To. Get. The. Code. Or cancel the first one.
Rep: Hold please.
-another 10 minutes-
In this time, I thank the customer again for being so patient with the call. We chat while I'm on hold about how it's a Mother's Day gift for his wife and she's really has her heart set on this particular set. I check with my manager and he tells me that the sale was canceled on our end, so there shouldn't have been a charge approved.
Finally after about a 30-45 minute phone call, the woman gets back on the phone and tells me that the customer needs to call from a courtesy phone.
Rep: He needs to call from a courtesy phone.
Me: He's standing right in front of me, can't I just give him the phone?
Rep: He needs to call from a courtesy phone.
Me: We don't have one here. This isn't a department store. He's already spoken to you. You can't transfer him?
Rep: He needs to call-
Me: From a courtesy phone. I get it.
Rep: Thank you for calling____ *click*
So then, the guy is still not getting angry and we decide to have his wife apply for the card, that way they can still get the zero interest. She gets approved, but then her credit limit is only $250. She can't use the card for the whole purchase. Finally the customer decides to buy the entire set at the other store and bring the card and maybe avoid this whole problem. He needs to check if he was charged for the $700 when we didn't put it through and we lost out on a $700 sale. My manager and I were not happy.
I don't know why she couldn't cancel out the first approval, she couldn't give me the code, and I especially don't understand why she thought I had the code and yet was calling her for the code.
I will say though that after spending 45 minutes with me, this guy was very nice about it and even though I could see that he was getting very annoyed, he never took it out on me. I am so glad I'm getting out of this company soon.
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