From the Facebook Page

[simplyanother]

(I always feel like I must explain why I do things here, lol, but this is where I was told to post Facebook page discussions):


This might be my favorite comment all day long:

Your ad in today's paper read " up to 50% off All lion brand yarn"....could not find any skein even CLOSE to 50% off, even after asking for help. 15% and 20% is Very Disappointing. Oh I'm married to a lawyer, so you don't have to explain the "up to" language part. But you lost my business nonetheless.

She is MARRIED to a LAWYER! I bet she's a joy to have around. Also, "up to"--is complicated language now? Well, I guess everyone here knows that it is, but...really, you need to...have access to someone with a law degree to get that up to, means...up to? Or have worked retail?


And this woman just makes me want to slap her upside the head, majorly grovel, because she didn't have her damned credit card. So far, no one has pointed out WHY it'd be ...necessary for the money to go back onto the card that she used:

You need to fix your return policy because right now it's a major fail. Went into a store with a receipt and my return was denied because I didn't have the credit card I purchased the item with me. HUH? If that is it, then update your return policy because that was not written on the receipt. I need someone from Corporate to call and majorly grovel at this epic failure of customer service.

Okay, there is a lot of bitching about yesterday and the day before--there was a coupon that was put out that was worded incorrectly, and corporate screwed up, blah blah blah. They issued a correction, and a new coupon. The coupon that should have been out was something like 5 dollars off a $5 (or more) purchase. What they sent out included a line about "up to 25 dollars", which lead people to believe that they could spend that amount and get up to 25 dollars off their purchase.

But, they issued a correction pretty damned quickly. And people are still bitching about it.

Here's one of the comments:

had gotten only the original email saying "$5 off every $5 you spend"??? I clicked the link and printed the coupon which included wording that the maximum discount is $25. I went to the store specifically because of this coupon. When I checked out, the coupon only took $5 off the order. Of course I questioned it. The manager explained that a replacement email was sent. I had gotten no such thing. I walked away from the entire purchase. I felt like I had been sucker punched and lied to. When I got home I found that they had changed the link. It then opened to a coupon that clearly does not match the advertisement. It wasn't until after 9pm that I got a replacement email. Regardless, They should have honored the original coupon for those that had printed it and brought it to the store. Talk about false advertising and bait and switch tactics!

Can we ban anyone from using the term bait and switch, until they know what the hell it means?

I absolutely agree that corporate screwed up, but these people are acting like it's the end of the fucking world. It amuses the hell out of me.


There are tons of comments regarding that, and almost all of them are just people having hissy fits.

[Aisling]

I got that screwed-up coupon. And I read it. And I thought, "This is WAY too good to be true!" And it was. Really not that big a deal.

Would have been nice if the coupon were true, though. My collection of pretty paper needs some additions...

[Catwoman2965]

SCs will see what they want to see. I check my store's FB page daily, mainly for amusement as people want everything for nothing. I may have posted elsewhere about this, but when we have sales, the stuff is marked down in the store, and then at the register, we take off whatever extra % it is, 40, 50 and so on. But online, the prices reflect the extra discount, so in the end, the price online for x sweater will be the same as in the store. it can be confusing, but when we went from 50 to 60% off sale, you should have heard the pissing and moaning and carrying on.

People thought it was 60% off the last price shown, which was 50% off the markdown. So if something was $100 originaly, then marked down to $50, with 50% off, it was $25. They then though it was 60% off the $25, when it was really 60 off the $50. I admit corporate could make it a tad clearer, but....if you look, it DOES say that prices already reflect teh extra discount. Drives me nuts at the entitlement, beacsue if they simply read carefully, they'd see it was not waht they thought.

[Android Kaeli]

I love it when SC's come up to the register with me on it or close by with items that aren't on sale, then proceed to complain that this and that isn't on sale -- especially if it's on the side I've done for the ad. Oh the looks on their faces when I tell them that I'll keep in mind any feedback next time I sign the ad!

As for the return policy, I realize that there isn't any clear polices on the reciept -- but as my ASM pointed out to a customer last week, there is not only SIX signs up at the registers but also one, maybe two, signs at the doors stating our return policy.

[Mamochan]

Ahh, SC's and there erroneous belief that they should be allowed to return everything they buy no mater what state they item is in.

[Canarr]

This might be my favorite comment all day long:
She is MARRIED to a LAWYER! I bet she's a joy to have around. Also, "up to"--is complicated language now? Well, I guess everyone here knows that it is, but...really, you need to...have access to someone with a law degree to get that up to, means...up to? Or have worked retail?

My guess is that she wanted to say: she understands the law well enough to know that "discounts up to 50%" is legal coverage enough to offer mostly or exclusively discounts in the 15-20% range without actually providing False Advertisement(TM), And I can sort of understand her position: I, too, would be annoyed if I went to a store specifically for the promised 50% discount, but found that there was no such thing to be found.

I mean, we all know that stores occasionally DO that: promise more than they actually deliver. It's not always SCs imagining things, or misreading promotions; sometimes, it really IS intentional misrepresentation in order to lure customers into a store. Not saying that this was the case here, obviously; just that I can understand how the customer might have arrived at her conclusion.

[sms001]

I, too, would be annoyed if I went to a store specifically for the promised 50% discount, but found that there was no such thing to be found.

Yep. But rather than moan and groan and pull out the "You're Deceptive!" card, I'd think to myself "huh. Bet the stuff marked down fifty percent has already sold out. Dang."

[Kiwi]

Yep. But rather than moan and groan and pull out the "You're Deceptive!" card, I'd think to myself "huh. Bet the stuff marked down fifty percent has already sold out. Dang."

This

It's like the customer who come in mid-janurary and bitch about how there is such a limited selection of christmas stuff on clearance, you are THREE weeks to late!

Or our "get them in the door" flyer deal, we always have a few crazy discounts and they sell out in the first 2 days and yet people get all upset on the last day of the flyer that we are sold out across canada and our warehouse wont ship anymore. You snooze you looze!

[Moosenogger]

To be fair, I think that all stores need to set up their system so they can automatically return money to the original card, whether the customer has it or not. We do that at our store by simply pressing a button on the register, and the customer gets a nice receipt showing that the money was returned. It's much easier for all involved, and you don't have to listen to any bitching. (Not unless the person is a true-blue SC, anyway.)

[Catwoman2965]

To be fair, I think that all stores need to set up their system so they can automatically return money to the original card, whether the customer has it or not. We do that at our store by simply pressing a button on the register, and the customer gets a nice receipt showing that the money was returned. It's much easier for all involved, and you don't have to listen to any bitching. (Not unless the person is a true-blue SC, anyway.)

we can do thsi in my store, unless they paid with a debit card, since we need to swipe it.

[EricKei]

Moose - to the best of my knowledge, it's difficult to do that (at least in the US) because of laws and/or regs that prevent it. As of Summer 2010, a number of new rules came into force with regards to network security at ANY place that could have customer credit card info stored on a computer, which comps can have said info, etc. (Note that storing the CSV/security code is flat out illegal, and was even before the new stuff came into play). It could just be that the companies that do NOT store the numbers -- which are likely to be most retail establishments -- do not want to go thru the trouble and expense of the increased security measures needed, the (sometimes) mandatory audit to confirm implementation of same, etc...It gets even MORE fun/expensive if you have a wireless connection *anywhere on the premises* that could potentially access the internal network in any way. If they do not store the info, the only ways to process a refund would be to either have the CC itself present, or to Reverse the charges; the latter is something that which most businesses prefer to avoid

Info on the PCI Standard

[simplyanother]

I love it when SC's come up to the register with me on it or close by with items that aren't on sale, then proceed to complain that this and that isn't on sale -- especially if it's on the side I've done for the ad. Oh the looks on their faces when I tell them that I'll keep in mind any feedback next time I sign the ad!

As for the return policy, I realize that there isn't any clear polices on the reciept -- but as my ASM pointed out to a customer last week, there is not only SIX signs up at the registers but also one, maybe two, signs at the doors stating our return policy.

Oh man, when we sign the ad, we come armed with sharpies, to clarify anythin that might be even the slightest bit ambiguous on the damned signs (except, I really don't have the time to write on every single sign for the stickers "excludes everything else.." or something to that effect, heh). And they still tell me the signs are confusing. Bullshit. The only signs that are even remotely confusing are the buy one get one (or buy two, get one) signs. Also, I hate seasonal. Hate it. Hate it. Haaaaaate it. Signature accents suck.


Regarding cards in the system: It doesn't even keep track in our system in the same transaction. We've just recently got the ability to look up an item on a card. That is, we can scan the item, then run the credit card, and if it was purchased on that card within 60 days, it should allow the return, at the price paid. Yay! but then, we need the card AGAIN to actually put the money back onto it.

I like reading the facebook page, it's fun. Because I'm a glutton for punishment. hehe