Had another one this morning! Joy!

[WHShit]

I think this customer was the sister or cousin of the lady in my previous post (Ignorant, Horrid BAITCH!).

So, this lady (if I can call her that) comes in at 9:30 this morning and speaks to my coworker, Jackie. Jackie has a look of confusion on her face and calls me over.

The woman had bought a book almost a month ago. The book was £20, but she spent her £5 off voucher. So she paid £15 for the book. She wants to return that book. She has the reciept.

Jackie tells me all of this and then says that the woman wants a refund and wants her voucher back. Ok.......when you use your voucher we rip it up and throw it away. It is GONE....you can't "get it back apon return". We don't save every voucher a customer uses just "in case" they decide a month later that they don't want the book afterall and want the voucher back. I thought that this was common knowledge...apparently not!

So, I explain this to the woman. I tell her that we can give her a refund for £15 or she can exchange the book for other products. She says that she can't understand why we can't give her the voucher back. It is not fair. I tell her again, and she asks why we don't save them.......there is no answer really, only a logical one, and she doesn't "do" logic. So, I tell her that I will have to get the manager to see what he can do. She does not like this and says that, instead of getting the manager, she will take her refund and a £5 credit note. Ugh! I explain that we can't do that. She doesn't see why......Errrrrggghhh...again I tell her that I will have to go speak to the manager. I actually left to go get him straight away, while she was protesting.

So, I explain the situation to the manager and he comes out to speak to her (a minor miracle). When he gets out to the shop floor, she has changed what she wanted for the third time. She now wants us to give her £10, she wants to buy a book for £10 and have it for £5. Okayyyyy............NO!

The manager explains that the voucher she used is expired, that we would be GIVING her £5 for nothing if we went along with her and that she only paid £15 for the book so that is what she will get back. She keeps saying that she doesn't understand why and that it is "not fair". She even said "I am not leaving til I get my voucher"....then gave up 5 mins later saying "I do not have time to argue with you over £5." Obviously, YA DO! Or you wouldn't have been arguing over £5 for almost 20 minutes!

So, she comes up to the till and tells Jackie that she will have her £15 refund. Then she looks at me and says "this isn't fair...that was MY voucher and now I can't have it" "That man COULD have given it to me"

Now, I should have just left it. I should have walked away, but I have had a BAAAAD ear infection for almost 2 weeks that required 3 doctor trips and 1 week off work...and I can't even listen to my IPod because it actually makes my ear throb with pain! I have not been sleeping but 1-2 hours for 5 nights now (because the pain is so bad when I lay my head down), and I am LOADED up with Codeine...taking 4 tablets at a time and it makes me a bit pissy. So I am exhausted and irate to say the least. Not in the mood for some self-righteous moose to start with her crap on ME who did nothing but follow the rules.

So, I start a slight argument with her.

I say "actually, it is fair. The voucher is EXPIRED, so even if we saved them and gave it back to you, you couldn't use it. He didn't give it to you because it would be IMPOSSIBLE to save every single voucher a customer has used! You only spent £15 so you only get £15.

To this she says "well, I am one of your best customers. I spend (ready for this one?) OVER £100 a week here".

HAHAHAHAHAHA! (I have never seen her before in my life and I LIVE at WHS)

She also adds "I know how the system in shops work"

yeah?

I said "we have a certain set of rules that we have to follow, and we HAVE to follow them, I am afraid"

She says "You do not have to follow anything, he could have done it for me, and you two (Jackie and I) could have used your innitiative (sp) for a great customer like me "

(someone thinks very highly of themselves)

I say "the manager has to follow the same set of rules as we do, and we can't "use our initiative" concerning store policy. This is why we have rules...to follow" "If you have a problem with this, we are not the people you should be talking to." "I can get the manager if you like or give you head office's number" "They maybe can do something about it, but we only work here"

She says "I don't want to talk to them, it is you, who work here that should show a great customer respect and be thankful that they shop here"

I say "Please stop telling me this, call head office and complain, please, because maybe things will change if you do."They make the rules, not us"

She says "well, there are 2 other book stores around here, and they would have done it" "Maybe I will shop at them instead"

she looks at me as if she is waiting for me to grab her leg and beg her to not go to another shop.......this does not happen.

She then says (sweeping her hand as if to whisk me away) "I will never shop here again." "I will go to the other shops" "I am not speaking to you anymore"

LOL.......thank you!

She then left.....and we had a lovely story to tell the other staff!

I could maybe (big maybe) understand if she used the voucher the day before or a couple of hours before.....but not a month! And the fact that it was expired...it just could not get through her thick head!

I love customers, I do!

[Anakah]

They always give us hope of going to other stores but then you see them next week. But in your case I hope she keeps her promise

[RentalRacer]

So if she had a book that cost $20....and a reciept showing that she paid $20...instead of getting $15 and a voucher back why could you not just give her $20??? You get your $20 book back that you can resell (I assume it was in decent condition).

If I were a customer, I would be a little miffed too. But then again, I would have not waited a month either...

[Calud]

I would've given her an old voucher, if there was any arround. And if she wanted to get another book with 5 (wherever the pound sign is on my keyboard ) I would've told her that the voucher is expired. :P

[powerboy]

So if she had a book that cost $20....and a reciept showing that she paid $20...instead of getting $15 and a voucher back why could you not just give her $20??? You get your $20 book back that you can resell (I assume it was in decent condition).

If I were a customer, I would be a little miffed too. But then again, I would have not waited a month either...

Same here. Whenever I returned a product that I used a voucher with, I get the whole amount back.

[April]

So if she had a book that cost $20....and a reciept showing that she paid $20...instead of getting $15 and a voucher back why could you not just give her $20??? You get your $20 book back that you can resell (I assume it was in decent condition).

If I were a customer, I would be a little miffed too. But then again, I would have not waited a month either...

She didn't pay 20 though. She used the voucher and paid 15 dollars. She wanted the 15 refunded and an extra 5 dollar off voucher

[April]

I think of it like a coupon. You use a coupon on something, you don't get the coupon back if you return it. you only get the ammount that you paid

[reformedwaitress]

If I were a customer, I would be a little miffed too. But then again, I would have not waited a month either...

If you went to a store and bought something that was $20 and had a coupon for 25% off and then returned it later, would you expect to get the coupon back too? Once a coupon or discount is used, it's used. I see no reason to five it back just because she didn't like what she bought. She got back what she paid for it.

But that's just me

[captainvegetable02]

I also don't see where anyone is getting the idea that she paid $20 for the book...a $5 voucher is, I assume, like a coupon...she got a $20 book, used a $5 voucher, so she only paid $15 for the book. So she is only entitled to $15 back if she returns it. I've also never gotten a coupon back if I returned something I bought with a coupon. I picture the receipt would look something like this:

Book: $20.00
Voucher: -$5.00
Total: $15.00
Cash paid: $15.00

She paid $15, she gets $15 back for returning the book. Since I also assume that the voucher didn't have any cash value (she would not have been able to walk into the store and exchange it for $5 cash, it's just a $5 discount towards a purchase, otherwise it's essentially worth nothing), she isn't entitled to $5 cash for it because she returned the item it was used on.

[Camry178]

She then says (sweeping her hand as if to whisk me away) "I will never shop here again." "I will go to the other shops"

Can I PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEEEEEEEEEEASE have that in writing, signed and notarized...

[BookstoreEscapee]

I'm gonna take a guess and say the voucher probably has some kind of disclaimer that says it has no cash value. Just like using a $1 off coupon at the grocery store. The coupon has no value in and of itself, and you don't get the coupon back if for some reason you happen to return your package of cookies (or whatever - we just like cookies around here ).

[rvdammit]

I think some of the confusion here is coming from the comman language separation.

Britspeak a voucher is frequently parsed as a "Gift Voucher", i.e. someone has gone out and bought this rather than give you cash. March of progress has turned them into gift cards.

Some people don't get that "Money Off" and "Gift" are different when applied to vouchers.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Some people don't get that "Money Off" and "Gift" are different when applied to vouchers.

Ah, I see what you're saying. I think most of us are taking it to mean "coupon" as in, 5 pounds off, which is what it sounds like from the OP's description of the conversation...I guess the OP will have to clarify that...

[Imogene]

(or whatever - we just like cookies around here ).

*hands over a package of Oreos she had sitting by the comp* I don' need them. You have them, but you have to share.

[RentalRacer]

Yeah to me a Voucher and a Coupon are two different things....which is why I posed the question.

To clarify...I was thinking of a voucher as something that someone purchased...like a gift card...and coupon as something free, like you cut out of a sales flyer....which has no cash value.