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This one is a little old for me, but I’ve not posted it here so yeah.
Just as Windows 8 is coming out, Computer Superstores are selling off their old windows 7 display machines. Now, I’m not going to get into the whole debate about whether Windows 8 sucks or not other than to say I use it, I’m not keen on the start screen, but I only paid £5 for my legitimate copy of Windows 8.1 Pro and it works well on my SSD so I don’t care.
However, many people are coming in and buying up esx-display Windows 7 machines. At that point, even I bought a new laptop and that’s a story for another day. One afternoon, I’m just standing behind the customer service counter, leaning against the back wall and talking with a manager we had at the time; Rupert. This lady in her 50’s walks in with a carrier bag (WHY when people are returning computers are they never in a case, the box or even just a Computer Superstores bag, but rather a half destroyed supermarket bag?!) which she dumnps on the counter.
“I want to speak to a manager” She immediately declares.
As I am sure is the same with most reading this, if not everyone reading it, that immediatly gets my back up and sets me against her. However, I have a way of at least starting to deal with the problem without getting a manager involved. Not to mention that if I needed to, Rupert was right there. “Okay. How can I help?” Notice I didn’t lie and say I was a manager, I simply asked how I can help.
“Well firstly, I want to complain about the attitude of you two” I’m sorry, what?
“I’ve said no more than 5 words to you, and he hasn’t spoken?”
“When I came up to the counter, you were both looking at screens and not at me” I actually was looking at a tablet when she came in, but I put it on the back counter when she approached us.
“I put down what I was doing as you approached the counter and he isn’t dealing with you at the moment, I am so he has no need to look away from what he’s doing” I politely told her.
“Well, this computer that I purchased last week is disgraceful and I want to return it under the sales of goods act!”
once again putting me further against her because she immediately starts quoting laws that no doubt she doesn’t understand “Okay. What’s wrong with it?” now at this point I’m fully expecting her to get out a Windows 8 machine that she’s installed some software from 1994 on and expected it to run. No, I am not kidding, that really does happen.
“Ha! “What’s wrong with it?” he asks! I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it” She gets the computer out, a Windows 7 laptop “Look at the keyboard!”
So I look down and I see 2 keys are missing. The up & down arrow key. I also notice on the palmrest some remnants of the adhesive the stock team use to stick the alarms to the laptops. A sure sign that she bought this one off display from the clearance aisle. More usefully to me; she’s just put the receipt on the counter and under the laptop it clearly says “Ex Display” so I look back up at her “Okay. you have 2 missing keys. Was it like that when you purchased it?”
She looks horrified at me “Excuse me, Young man! I have a PHD in [some psychology degree that I forget what it’s called] and several years experience as [again, I forget what she said but it was something related to psychology] !!”
Right. Well, that doesn’t really answer my question, does it? so I just poker-faced and repeated what I said “Okay, that’s fantastic for you but was it like that when you purchased it?”
“Are you inferring that I did this?!” At this point, I’m starting to think that yeah, maybe you did.
“I’m asking you a simple question”
“You are aware that I am [whatever the hell profession she’s in] aren’t you?! I’ve got [insert more qualifications here in the same field]”
I’m really getting tired of this by now “If you want to play the qualification game; I have 35 letters after my name [I think. it could be 32] have been doing this job for 7 years and dealt with a million customers like yourself. Now I would appreciate an answer to the question. Was. It. Like. That. When. You. Purchased. It?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t check” Right. Now we’re getting somewhere
Normally, with ex-display stuff thats damaged; I really don’t care. I’ll return it for most people. I can either put it back out for sale again or sometimes I can get away with returning it as faulty. Either way; we get rid of it. However, I am not exactly inclined to help this woman.
“Okay, well I need to speak to the sales advisor and make sure this is how you received it”
“This is absolutely disgraceful!! Is this how you treat all of your customers?!”
To which I simply replied “Yes” and walked off to get the sales person she dealt with. it’s only as I turn around to walk through our little gate I notice Rupert is knelt down under the counter and is laughing his head off
I spoke to the person who she bought the laptop off, it was like that when she bought it but they hadn’t pointed it out to her, meaning that the company policy is we should return it, but it’s at our discretion. I really was just getting annoyed with her at this point so I bought him over to help her find another one.
once we get back she immediately starts SCREAMING “I DON’T WANT WINDOWS 8!!” ...imagine how a child will all of a sudden scream something at a parent in the middle of a supermarket; kind of like that.
at which point Mike (The Sales person) tells her that we have no more windows 7 machines which are completely intact. This is a problem with them all being ex-display machines, they have a hard life.
She turns back to me “Well, what are YOU going to do about it!?”
Really at this point I only have 2 options “Well we can wither give you a full refund so you can be on your way and get a windows 7 machine from somewhere else…” PLEASE take that option “...or we can send this one you already have off for repair” Oh dear god no. I would have to deal with you again.
“How Dare you!!”
“Huh?”
“How dare you offer to REPAIR a computer that I only just bought!!”
This is the point where I lost what little patience remained “Right, I’m getting tired of this. You;ve got all the options. You can either take this computer back home with you, you can choose from what we have left of windows 7 machines, you can have this one repaired, you can buy a windows 8 machine or you can have your money back. What do you want to do?” one other option is she can take a windows 8 machine and have us downgrade it to windows 7. That can cause issues with some manufacturers though and you just know who that’s going to come back on.
“Well, I don’t like your attitude. I’m very tempted to take a refund and leave”
“Believe me, nothing would make me happier than to give you a refund” this is normally the point where someone else would step in and try to save the sale. Mike is staying well out of it, and Rupert is still under the counter, crying with laughter
“I think I’d better take a look around.” and she walks off in a huff, Mike jogging behind her
I take a calming breath and chuckle about the whole situation. I poke my head under the counter to find Rupert “Fat lot of help YOU were! I should have just turned to you when she walked in!”
To which he replied “Yeah, but when she listed off her qualifications I wouldn’t have got to see you list off yours then just stone-face her as you repeat the question!” between laughs.
Oh, and she did eventually choose a new laptop (after being in the store for 3 hours) Know what? It had Windows 8 on it.
Just as Windows 8 is coming out, Computer Superstores are selling off their old windows 7 display machines. Now, I’m not going to get into the whole debate about whether Windows 8 sucks or not other than to say I use it, I’m not keen on the start screen, but I only paid £5 for my legitimate copy of Windows 8.1 Pro and it works well on my SSD so I don’t care.
However, many people are coming in and buying up esx-display Windows 7 machines. At that point, even I bought a new laptop and that’s a story for another day. One afternoon, I’m just standing behind the customer service counter, leaning against the back wall and talking with a manager we had at the time; Rupert. This lady in her 50’s walks in with a carrier bag (WHY when people are returning computers are they never in a case, the box or even just a Computer Superstores bag, but rather a half destroyed supermarket bag?!) which she dumnps on the counter.
“I want to speak to a manager” She immediately declares.
As I am sure is the same with most reading this, if not everyone reading it, that immediatly gets my back up and sets me against her. However, I have a way of at least starting to deal with the problem without getting a manager involved. Not to mention that if I needed to, Rupert was right there. “Okay. How can I help?” Notice I didn’t lie and say I was a manager, I simply asked how I can help.
“Well firstly, I want to complain about the attitude of you two” I’m sorry, what?
“I’ve said no more than 5 words to you, and he hasn’t spoken?”
“When I came up to the counter, you were both looking at screens and not at me” I actually was looking at a tablet when she came in, but I put it on the back counter when she approached us.
“I put down what I was doing as you approached the counter and he isn’t dealing with you at the moment, I am so he has no need to look away from what he’s doing” I politely told her.
“Well, this computer that I purchased last week is disgraceful and I want to return it under the sales of goods act!”
once again putting me further against her because she immediately starts quoting laws that no doubt she doesn’t understand “Okay. What’s wrong with it?” now at this point I’m fully expecting her to get out a Windows 8 machine that she’s installed some software from 1994 on and expected it to run. No, I am not kidding, that really does happen.
“Ha! “What’s wrong with it?” he asks! I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it” She gets the computer out, a Windows 7 laptop “Look at the keyboard!”
So I look down and I see 2 keys are missing. The up & down arrow key. I also notice on the palmrest some remnants of the adhesive the stock team use to stick the alarms to the laptops. A sure sign that she bought this one off display from the clearance aisle. More usefully to me; she’s just put the receipt on the counter and under the laptop it clearly says “Ex Display” so I look back up at her “Okay. you have 2 missing keys. Was it like that when you purchased it?”
She looks horrified at me “Excuse me, Young man! I have a PHD in [some psychology degree that I forget what it’s called] and several years experience as [again, I forget what she said but it was something related to psychology] !!”
Right. Well, that doesn’t really answer my question, does it? so I just poker-faced and repeated what I said “Okay, that’s fantastic for you but was it like that when you purchased it?”
“Are you inferring that I did this?!” At this point, I’m starting to think that yeah, maybe you did.
“I’m asking you a simple question”
“You are aware that I am [whatever the hell profession she’s in] aren’t you?! I’ve got [insert more qualifications here in the same field]”
I’m really getting tired of this by now “If you want to play the qualification game; I have 35 letters after my name [I think. it could be 32] have been doing this job for 7 years and dealt with a million customers like yourself. Now I would appreciate an answer to the question. Was. It. Like. That. When. You. Purchased. It?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t check” Right. Now we’re getting somewhere
Normally, with ex-display stuff thats damaged; I really don’t care. I’ll return it for most people. I can either put it back out for sale again or sometimes I can get away with returning it as faulty. Either way; we get rid of it. However, I am not exactly inclined to help this woman.
“Okay, well I need to speak to the sales advisor and make sure this is how you received it”
“This is absolutely disgraceful!! Is this how you treat all of your customers?!”
To which I simply replied “Yes” and walked off to get the sales person she dealt with. it’s only as I turn around to walk through our little gate I notice Rupert is knelt down under the counter and is laughing his head off
I spoke to the person who she bought the laptop off, it was like that when she bought it but they hadn’t pointed it out to her, meaning that the company policy is we should return it, but it’s at our discretion. I really was just getting annoyed with her at this point so I bought him over to help her find another one.
once we get back she immediately starts SCREAMING “I DON’T WANT WINDOWS 8!!” ...imagine how a child will all of a sudden scream something at a parent in the middle of a supermarket; kind of like that.
at which point Mike (The Sales person) tells her that we have no more windows 7 machines which are completely intact. This is a problem with them all being ex-display machines, they have a hard life.
She turns back to me “Well, what are YOU going to do about it!?”
Really at this point I only have 2 options “Well we can wither give you a full refund so you can be on your way and get a windows 7 machine from somewhere else…” PLEASE take that option “...or we can send this one you already have off for repair” Oh dear god no. I would have to deal with you again.
“How Dare you!!”
“Huh?”
“How dare you offer to REPAIR a computer that I only just bought!!”
This is the point where I lost what little patience remained “Right, I’m getting tired of this. You;ve got all the options. You can either take this computer back home with you, you can choose from what we have left of windows 7 machines, you can have this one repaired, you can buy a windows 8 machine or you can have your money back. What do you want to do?” one other option is she can take a windows 8 machine and have us downgrade it to windows 7. That can cause issues with some manufacturers though and you just know who that’s going to come back on.
“Well, I don’t like your attitude. I’m very tempted to take a refund and leave”
“Believe me, nothing would make me happier than to give you a refund” this is normally the point where someone else would step in and try to save the sale. Mike is staying well out of it, and Rupert is still under the counter, crying with laughter
“I think I’d better take a look around.” and she walks off in a huff, Mike jogging behind her
I take a calming breath and chuckle about the whole situation. I poke my head under the counter to find Rupert “Fat lot of help YOU were! I should have just turned to you when she walked in!”
To which he replied “Yeah, but when she listed off her qualifications I wouldn’t have got to see you list off yours then just stone-face her as you repeat the question!” between laughs.
Oh, and she did eventually choose a new laptop (after being in the store for 3 hours) Know what? It had Windows 8 on it.
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