Argumentative & frustrated customer at Office Max

[snugglegirl05]

Very long post

I went to Office Max this past Sunday to exchange a paper shredder which stopped working. The warranty was still in effect.

While the clerk was helping me, a female customer came in to pick up some furniture. She told the MOD that she was informed by one of his employees over the phone several days ago that she could pick it up today. The MOD went back to the stock room to get the furniture, but he could not find it. He came back to the front & told her that after not finding it, he called customer service & was told that the transaction was canceled & that the shipment would arrive the end of the week. He told her he would call her when the shipment arrived & then she could pick up the furniture & then pay for it. The female customer became frustrated because she had a receipt stating that her debit/check card was charged for the furniture, & she told the MOD that no one from the store called her to tell her the transaction had been canceled. She also told the MOD that the furniture is for her elderly handicapped mother who is on a limited income. She left to get her significant other/husband.

He walks in, & he is frustrated. He asks the MOD what happened. The MOD told him that the first employee he dealt with "thought" the furniture they wanted was in stock, & so their card was run, but only as an authorization. Their card would not be charged until the furniture left the store. That employee called him at home to let him know that he checked the back room after they had left, did not find what they wanted, but that he called some Office Max number & was told that the furniture they wanted would arrive at the store in a couple of days. The MOD told him to cancel the original transaction.

The guy told him he could not come to the store during the week, only on the weekend since he works during the week.

The guy became argumentative and asked the MOD the following...

• why was he told to pick up the furniture the end of the week
• does Office Max make it a practice of canceling customer's orders without notifying them
• why does it state that this transaction is pending *he looked up this information on some electronic device. I am guessing that he & his significant other/wife have access to this account*
• will Office Max pay the overdraft charges for this account since he already wrote checks on the account
• who did not call them to let them know that the original transaction had been canceled

The MOD told him what Office Max customer service told him. The guy then said "how do I know that is what they told you?" The MOD then told him that arguing with him will not help him. But the guy continued arguing with him. His significant other/wife mentioned again that the furniture is for her elderly handicapped mother who is on a limited income. So the MOD told the guy he could call customer service, & he gave him the phone number. The guy said "why don't you call them." At this point I could tell that the MOD was getting irritated.

So the MOD calls customer service again, & he gives the phone to the guy. The guy speaks to the customer service rep & tells that person the following...

• the furniture is for an elderly person who is handicapped & is on a limited income
• they were told that the furniture would be in, but it is not
• the account that was used to "purchase" the furniture shows pending
• he already wrote several checks on that account

Whatever that person said made him argue with him about the following...

• does this company make it a practice of canceling customer's orders without notifying them
• is this how this company treats customers
• who did this
• can this be traced back to whoever did this

The customer service rep told him that information was not available, & he gave him the cancellation number.

The phone call ended, but they guy did not leave.

Again he asked the MOD...

• why this happened
• why does the account show pending

The MOD apologized for the problem & told him that since the transaction was canceled, he could either pick up the furniture after their bank clears up the problem & pay for it then or he could run the card that was used again, but only as an authorization. Their card would not be charged until after the furniture left the store.

But the guy would not accept his answer, & his significant other/wife again mentioned that the furniture is for her elderly mother who is handicapped & is on a limited income.

The MOD apologized again, & said "that is all I can do"

At that point the guy asked him if he could just pick up the furniture whenever it arrived & not pay for it. The MOD said no, & the guy said "but the person I just spoke to on the phone told me I could do that." The MOD said no.

So that guy said "is this how you treat your customers? & I guess I will take my business elsewhere." But he did not leave.

The MOD told him "all I can do is to call you when the furniture arrives. I can either run the card, but only as an authorization. The card will not be charged until after the furniture leaves the store. Or you can pay for the furniture when you come back to the store."

So the guy said again "I guess I'll take my business elsewhere", but he did not leave.

He was still there when I left. Other customers waiting in line looked annoyed as well as the other employees.

I have a couple of questions for the customerssuck.com members

• If you were the female customer, what would you have done?
• If you were the male customer, what would you have done?
• If you were the MOD, what would you have done?

[Hobbs]

As MOD, ask him to leave since he clearly refuses my help/assistance. If he doesn't, call the cops and give a trespass warning.

[fireheart]

One thing I wouldn't have done customer wise, is mentioned the grandmother's situation. It makes no difference whatsoever. You can't pay your account or whatever, you take responsibility for it.

[sprocket79]

I think the customers were right in this case. They were frustrated, but their suckiness all stems from the manager and his words and actions. I'd be so mad and frustrated if I was dealing with someone who didn't want to take any responsibility - but it was basically all the MOD's fault. He cancelled the order. He didn't notify the customers. He didn't ask any of his employees to notify the customers. He wouldn't answer any of the customers legitimate questions. Most importantly, he did not apologize.

The manager handled it badly. He basically told them, "This is what happened and this is the way it is." He should have been more empathetic (this done NOT mean he should have bent over). What he should have done was

1) Had someone contact them when the order was cancelled. If this was not possible then...
2) He should have apologized profusely for the order being cancelled and explained why it was necessary and said that they would have contacted them if at all possible. Or at least apologize for dropping the ball on not contacting them.
3) Told them what he would do to make them happy. If they can't pick it up during the week, offer to hold it in the back until the weekend. Give them a note to explain to an associate where it will be if the he (MOD) isn't in. Offer to hold the price (if it was on sale) until they could pick it up. Maybe throw in a courtesy discount like 10% off for their inconvenience.
4) Answer customer questions. The customer had a lot of really good questions that were pertinent to the situation. And if I had been the customer, I'd want them answered too. Such as if they make it a practice to cancel orders without notification.

The customers totally didn't need to bring up the disabled mom because even without a disabled mom, this was a bad situation for any customer to be put in. I also think the husband was getting a bit childish at the end, but I think he was only pushed into it because the manager was being unreasonable, so it seems like he was trying to be unreasonable back - that never works. So yeah, they had some faults, but I am still on their side.

[EvilEmpryss]

The whole deal with the bank account is BS, and not in the customer's favor. The cashier swiped the card when they ordered the furniture, and that placed a hold on a certain amount from teh bank account: the price of the furniture. This makes the transaction list as "pending". "Pending" has nothing, zip, zilch to do with whether the order is actually on its way to the store. Once the order was cancelled, the store *should* have sent a message to the bank/creditor to clear the hold (usually done automatically once the order is cancelled... the miracle of modern technology).

The bank or credit company is responsible for clearing pending transactions once they are cancelled, and every bank has its own policy for doing so. Some will clear them immediately, some allow up to one billing cycle for pending holds to clear.

Now the customer is claiming that no one called and told them that the order had been cancelled. This is the important part: If no one told him the order was cancelled, WHY would he and his lady think they could write checks on the amount that was held for the order?

The point is that the customer claimed to have thought the account had been debited for the price of the furniture, and then tripped over his own lies by claiming that it was the store's fault they are going to go over the amount when they wrote checks counting on the hold to be cleared.

In short, the customer was well aware of the cancellation of the order and was trying to scam the store to get the furniture for free using not only the "poor crippled old lady" excuse, but also the tried and suckingly true methods of threatening to go elsewhere. Jerk.

Oh, and ...

I have a couple of questions for the customerssuck.com members

* If you were the female customer, what would you have done?
* If you were the male customer, what would you have done?
* If you were the MOD, what would you have done?

As the female, who was trying to pull a scam, I would have quit once I realized that the manager wasn't falling for my sob story.

As the male, who was trying to pull a scam that the manager was already aware was going on, I would have quit once I realized the manager wasn't falling for either my sob story or my threats to take my "business" elsewhere.

As the manager, I would have clued in to the fact that they were lying and then agreed that they should take their "business" elsewhere, without having the guy stand around and make the threat multiple times and disrupt paying customers.

[bainsidhe]

I agree with EvilEmpryss, the SC sounded like he was trying to scam the store. Now the SCs had a legitimate gripe, if indeed they weren't contacted about the cancellation. It's a waste of time, gas, etc. Yet that wasn't the argument SC was making -instead he claimed to have overdrawn his account. Um, how is that the store's fault?

And how was it a cancellation exactly? The store removed the "authorization hold" (though it IS annoying the bank hadn't released it yet) and more product was coming in. Was the store not holding the purchase? Maybe I'm a little confused.

And the manager did apologize. I wasn't there, and it didn't sound overly flowery or sincere. But manager did it. Then SC tried to say he could get the furniture without paying for it.

SCs may have been rightfully frustrated, but seems like there was plenty of stupid to go around.

[Andara Bledin]

I honestly think that the SCs are in the right about the pending charge on their account, but they're complaining to the wrong people over it. They should be talking to their bank about the hold, not the store. The store has the least control over how long it takes a pending but cancelled transaction to be removed.

And I don't think I believe the whole "handicapped on a fixed income" thing because they said it too often. It feels (third hand over the Internet) like they're trying to sell something. *shrug*

^-.-^