Faulty parts... or not!

[Nekojin]

I work at a company that sells service truck bodies - we remove the beds from new trucks, and replace the beds with larger beds that contain door enclosures for storing tools securely. We also sell parts for these beds. I work in the Parts Department.

Yesterday, our Warranty Manager was out. As a result, Warranty issues were directed to Parts. I received a call mid-day from an auto dealership that had one of our trucks on his lot (fairly common - many dealerships send trucks to us to have service bodies put on them).

He opens up explaining that he's had this truck for a while, and while getting ready to show it to a customer, he noticed that the side of the truck that was sunward had peeling paint and broken hinge blocks (the two caps that hold the door in place), and that it seemed that exposure had caused this problem. He also noted that there were some bolts missing from a fold-down gate on that side.

I started writing it up as a Warranty issue. It sounded fishy to me, but it's not my job to judge these things - the Warranty Manager would get to do that when he came back. While I'm getting the customer's details, though, he says, "Wait a minute..."

After a minute of silence, he declares, "I'm a retired sheriff, and I don't think this is exposure... this looks like body damage." He then went on to explain that it looked like someone had brushed up against something - a wall, another truck, whatever - at some point. After a little further discussion, he agreed that it wasn't a Warranty claim at all, and that we should bill the cost of the parts to his dealership, just as long as he got them as quickly as we could manage.

It felt good to know that some of our customers are honest. =^_^=

[JustaCashier]

I had a gentleman come though my line yesterday, who mentioned that he had been in a day or so earlier, and bought a plastic kiddie wading pool. I can't remember what size, but it would have been either $7.00 or $10.00.

Once he got home, he realized that he had actually grabbed two pools. They're so thin and lightweight, it's an easy mistake to make. He decided he had a use for the extra pool, so he wanted to pay me for it. If I were the store owner, I would likely have just let him go for being so honest, or heavily discounted it.

The best I could do, was our usual allowable discount, and many "Thank Yous".

It's times like that I wish we had some little token reward to give the customer.

Mike

[LadyAndreca]

I love customers who return to pay for things. I don't get them very often, and usually it's a minor item so it's not memorable. But two recent ones stand out:

- A woman was buying two large clearance pieces for a patio set, and was charged twice for the cheaper one but not for the more expensive one. She came back intending to pay for the $50ish difference. Once AP sorted it out and gave me the go-ahead to 'return' the extra and charge her for the correct one, I was VERY pleased to see that the clearance price had dropped since she bought it, giving her a refund--a tiny one, about $5, but she deserved it.

- A different woman was returning a pile of clothes, and one didn't come up on her receipt, or her card when I tried checking that. Most people I deal with would have insisted on trying a 'without receipt' return to get store credit. But she decided that since she didn't pay for it, I should just take it back since it belonged to the store anyway.