Fly is here to share a new story! This story is interesting in that the customer was not MEAN. She was still sucky, but I give her credit for being civil, not that that made her any less exasperating. We shall call this woman "Crazy Old Lady". COL for short. COL has a history of bringing in third party coupons for 50% entire purchase or some . And the thing about COL is she SEEMS normal at first. Like, if you met her on the street you'd be like, "Oh, that's a nice old lady." But my friend who is a manager and has dealt with her says "Everything is standard customer interaction and then BAM! Crazy hits and she can't be reasoned with."
Okay, well our corporate overlords are and indulge these people and then say "But it's only this one time, because we're nice!" But if you give a mouse a cookie, they are going to ask for a glass of milk and then their own mouse size Corvette plated in gold. Yeah so back to the story, a senior level manager actually explained our coupon policy in detail, printed out pages of corporate policy and gave her her PERSONAL card with her personal information for her future questions. The manager said, "If you have any questions, feel free to contact me." This manager was super nice to her and gave her the 50% off. Our company was out about $250 on a $500 sale. We though we had put this behind us and COL was back to being a nice old lady who would be a normal customer. NO.
Two days later: Old lady comes in with a 75% coupon she got off Jerkwad Couponers Central(I refuse to say the name of the site). She's gotten a $750 haul and is expecting us to honor this 75% photoshopped abomination. But this time she's got a royal flush to play! She called our CEO and he said she could use a 75% coupon! The managers congregated in the manager room discussing what would be done and beginning the investigation and such. A senior manager said, "If *CEO name* wanted her to have this deal, he would've had it shipped directly from a warehouse to her home." So the managers contact the office of the CEO and ask WTFH is going on. The CEO is in a rural part of some Asian country investigating potential factory contractors and was unreachable. So a manger asked when she called and she said, "Oh I called yesterday." Umm, okay so how could CEO dude have okayed it? We got CEO's PA on the case and she said CEO dude had gotten a voicemail from the lady about the coupon. CEO hadn't had time to respond because he was in a remote land without cell phone service. She said to one of the managers, "Here's his office extension if you want to call him." And the manager responded, "I already have *name*'s office extension." And the lady had a cat butt look on her face. WHA? You people actually talk to each other?
Conclusion: COL had dug up CEO's office extension, left a message and decided that her leaving a message meant the CEO said she could use her fraudulent coupon that would result in our store being corporate audited and employees being fired. WTF. Somehow the store got to get her to back off but this is one of the more bizarre cases of 3rd party coupons gone wrong. Our company doesn't do coupons. Coupons are for lesser companies or some shit. Occasionally there are promotions but these promotions are slips that have the customer's address and personal info on it that say "Jane Doe at 123 Main Street has $10 off a $250 purchase." I did a "fly by" on the sales floor to get a good look at the lady, lol. She looked normal.
While the internet is a great place for retail peeps to share their stories, it's also a great place for SCs to share their scams. I don't know if it's comforting that some of them don't know that what they are doing is stealing. Maybe they wouldn't do it if they knew? Some couponers get freaking belligerent and act like it's OUR fault that 3rd parties do these things. FML.
Have you guys had any run ins with crazy couponers? How I despise them. In my fantasies, retail corporate lawyers sue the websites into oblivion. It's mostly one site that does it.
Okay, well our corporate overlords are and indulge these people and then say "But it's only this one time, because we're nice!" But if you give a mouse a cookie, they are going to ask for a glass of milk and then their own mouse size Corvette plated in gold. Yeah so back to the story, a senior level manager actually explained our coupon policy in detail, printed out pages of corporate policy and gave her her PERSONAL card with her personal information for her future questions. The manager said, "If you have any questions, feel free to contact me." This manager was super nice to her and gave her the 50% off. Our company was out about $250 on a $500 sale. We though we had put this behind us and COL was back to being a nice old lady who would be a normal customer. NO.
Two days later: Old lady comes in with a 75% coupon she got off Jerkwad Couponers Central(I refuse to say the name of the site). She's gotten a $750 haul and is expecting us to honor this 75% photoshopped abomination. But this time she's got a royal flush to play! She called our CEO and he said she could use a 75% coupon! The managers congregated in the manager room discussing what would be done and beginning the investigation and such. A senior manager said, "If *CEO name* wanted her to have this deal, he would've had it shipped directly from a warehouse to her home." So the managers contact the office of the CEO and ask WTFH is going on. The CEO is in a rural part of some Asian country investigating potential factory contractors and was unreachable. So a manger asked when she called and she said, "Oh I called yesterday." Umm, okay so how could CEO dude have okayed it? We got CEO's PA on the case and she said CEO dude had gotten a voicemail from the lady about the coupon. CEO hadn't had time to respond because he was in a remote land without cell phone service. She said to one of the managers, "Here's his office extension if you want to call him." And the manager responded, "I already have *name*'s office extension." And the lady had a cat butt look on her face. WHA? You people actually talk to each other?
Conclusion: COL had dug up CEO's office extension, left a message and decided that her leaving a message meant the CEO said she could use her fraudulent coupon that would result in our store being corporate audited and employees being fired. WTF. Somehow the store got to get her to back off but this is one of the more bizarre cases of 3rd party coupons gone wrong. Our company doesn't do coupons. Coupons are for lesser companies or some shit. Occasionally there are promotions but these promotions are slips that have the customer's address and personal info on it that say "Jane Doe at 123 Main Street has $10 off a $250 purchase." I did a "fly by" on the sales floor to get a good look at the lady, lol. She looked normal.
While the internet is a great place for retail peeps to share their stories, it's also a great place for SCs to share their scams. I don't know if it's comforting that some of them don't know that what they are doing is stealing. Maybe they wouldn't do it if they knew? Some couponers get freaking belligerent and act like it's OUR fault that 3rd parties do these things. FML.
Have you guys had any run ins with crazy couponers? How I despise them. In my fantasies, retail corporate lawyers sue the websites into oblivion. It's mostly one site that does it.
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