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Today, I had what I must consider, to be a bad day. As if things couldn't get any worse, from all the other troubles I had; I found myself wandering about wally-world debating just what I was willing to buy furniture wise. I knew I needed a few new desks, but beyond that I wasn't sure what else.
While at the store, I remembered a layaway that I'd put on some months prior. Heading back that way, I paused to read the recall board. Ok, truth here. I didn't pause. No one was in Lay Away, so I killed time by reading the various things which can cause great harm, death, or personal injury.
Reading across these things, I was shocked to notice this one particular office chair listed. The reason for recall was quote "Tendency to break and cause injury." Looking at the thing for a long moment, I remembered one such chair I had bought myself. The same exact chair in fact. I remembered how the chair was great until a few short months later when it fell apart on me. Not only that, but it dumped me into the floor in the process, causing personal injury. (Sprained ankle trying to catch myself from falling.)
"Huh. So, there's a recall on the thing. Curious. Wonder if I still have that thing floating around" I thought to myself. You see, I am a packrat. I save everything that I think I might have use for. This chair, had been shuttled away to the possibility of being repaired at some point, only to be later forgotten by myself. Closing out the Layaway, I headed home and lo and behold I found the chair.
Begin SC:
Heading into the store, I was somewhat annoyed already. I'd attempted to ask an associate about details for the recall, sku's, styles, and what not; only to be ignored. So, I knew that no matter what, I had to bring the hulking thing back since no one would tell me anything. Calling was out of the question, the last time I tried that, I'd spent about an hour on hold before being hung up on. No, I had to bring it back and that peeved me greatly.
Heading into the store, it seems I had managed to pick the worst gimp cart the store has. Oh the joy. Pain comes in spades. So now, not only did I have this chair broken into many bits and pieces, but I had to fight with my cart. Someone up there hates me. The girl at the front was nice enough about it. She took one look at the break and groaned. "Must have hurt." she said. I managed to smile at her, because yes. Yes it did hurt when I fell. "Head up to Customer service and they'll fix you up." she said, and off I went. Slowly, pulling to the right.
Customer service are two words I often thought to be an oxymoron. They just don't quite go together. Heading up to one girl there, a CSM IIRC, I waited a bit. Looking in my basket she gave me a very strange look. Now, she didn't ask what was wrong, but rather she said. "What's that?" rather testily. Oh fun. I sense an annoyed customer coming. Wait for it...wait for it. "It's a chair." I said and then added. "A broken one."
Looking at me with obvious annoyance she said "WELL, I need to see a receipt. You /DO/ have a receipt for it don't you?" Blinking some I wondered if they ever paid attention in meetings. I mean, this stuff (recalls and such) is supposed to be covered right? Shaking my head I said "No. I don't. This is part of a safety recall. I bought the thing in 03, and it broke in 04." All truth, I didn't try to hide the age, but called attention to it. Good customer. Sit. Stay.
She gave me a funny look and said. "WELL, I can't take it back." oh really? "The recall goes back to 2003." I said still trying to maintain my cool. She gave me a look then. One that seemed to say "Shit. One damn customer that reads the things." Taking her sweet time, she wrote down some numbers, and wandered over to the board and stared at it. After a good half minute she slumped back to the desk and stared at the thing before calling another CSM over.
I wasn't really peeved by then. Sure, I'd been annoyed, but I figured they'd poke a few buttons, bug a manager and get me out of there with a gift card. (Standard recall return policy). Oh, I was wrong. So very wrong.
Taking the other CSM, the girls then walked down to the furthest computer at customer service. Both kept giving me looks. Strange looks. You know the look. It's the "He's trying to scam us look." Whispering back and forth, they watched me a moment and then came back. "Not in the system." was the retort.
"I'm not suprised. Few companies keep things that long." I said honestly, and waited. "It's not in the system." she said again and started to turn away. I guess, bu then I'd had enough. "I need a piece of paper." I said to the girl. She turned back around and asked me why. "Simple." I said. "I'm going to write down all the info on that recall notice down, then this stuff and contact the home office. I want to see what they have to say. I'm willing to bet that your system would show...if you really checked it and didn't stand over there looking at me like I was some kind of thief, that this style is based off the original SKU. It's not uncommon in retail, to have a base SKU, and then varying ones for different colors, or patterns."
She seemed to blanche at this, but did give me the pen. As I said, I wrote down all the info; and then the website before returning the pen. "Oh, is (manager's name) here?" I asked curiously. Remembering in the past that he had once said that had I any problems what so ever, to contact him. (similar had happened in the past.) The girl gave me a shocked look shook her head and got vary scarce. So, I knew he WAS there, but didn't feel like pressing the issue.
After I got home, I did contact the home office. Here's what I've found:
1.) I was right. The sku on the recall notice was a general sku. It's the one in the system that all the styles were ordered under. The different ones on the items would point back to them if the associates had tried to pull it up.
2.) I didn't have to have a receipt for a safety recall issue. It's one of the few exceptions to the wal-mart policy. Some kind of federal law governs it actually, but I forget the statute.
3.) They (the CSM's) do not have the authority to deny a return. In all cases they should call an ASM or SM.
So, wed, when I'm off I'm taking this chair back up there. They know to expect me, or so the lady told me on the phone. I'm somewhat looking forward to this, since at least I knew I was right.
Still, when it's all said and done, was I an SC, or just someone that got pushed a bit too far?
While at the store, I remembered a layaway that I'd put on some months prior. Heading back that way, I paused to read the recall board. Ok, truth here. I didn't pause. No one was in Lay Away, so I killed time by reading the various things which can cause great harm, death, or personal injury.
Reading across these things, I was shocked to notice this one particular office chair listed. The reason for recall was quote "Tendency to break and cause injury." Looking at the thing for a long moment, I remembered one such chair I had bought myself. The same exact chair in fact. I remembered how the chair was great until a few short months later when it fell apart on me. Not only that, but it dumped me into the floor in the process, causing personal injury. (Sprained ankle trying to catch myself from falling.)
"Huh. So, there's a recall on the thing. Curious. Wonder if I still have that thing floating around" I thought to myself. You see, I am a packrat. I save everything that I think I might have use for. This chair, had been shuttled away to the possibility of being repaired at some point, only to be later forgotten by myself. Closing out the Layaway, I headed home and lo and behold I found the chair.
Begin SC:
Heading into the store, I was somewhat annoyed already. I'd attempted to ask an associate about details for the recall, sku's, styles, and what not; only to be ignored. So, I knew that no matter what, I had to bring the hulking thing back since no one would tell me anything. Calling was out of the question, the last time I tried that, I'd spent about an hour on hold before being hung up on. No, I had to bring it back and that peeved me greatly.
Heading into the store, it seems I had managed to pick the worst gimp cart the store has. Oh the joy. Pain comes in spades. So now, not only did I have this chair broken into many bits and pieces, but I had to fight with my cart. Someone up there hates me. The girl at the front was nice enough about it. She took one look at the break and groaned. "Must have hurt." she said. I managed to smile at her, because yes. Yes it did hurt when I fell. "Head up to Customer service and they'll fix you up." she said, and off I went. Slowly, pulling to the right.
Customer service are two words I often thought to be an oxymoron. They just don't quite go together. Heading up to one girl there, a CSM IIRC, I waited a bit. Looking in my basket she gave me a very strange look. Now, she didn't ask what was wrong, but rather she said. "What's that?" rather testily. Oh fun. I sense an annoyed customer coming. Wait for it...wait for it. "It's a chair." I said and then added. "A broken one."
Looking at me with obvious annoyance she said "WELL, I need to see a receipt. You /DO/ have a receipt for it don't you?" Blinking some I wondered if they ever paid attention in meetings. I mean, this stuff (recalls and such) is supposed to be covered right? Shaking my head I said "No. I don't. This is part of a safety recall. I bought the thing in 03, and it broke in 04." All truth, I didn't try to hide the age, but called attention to it. Good customer. Sit. Stay.
She gave me a funny look and said. "WELL, I can't take it back." oh really? "The recall goes back to 2003." I said still trying to maintain my cool. She gave me a look then. One that seemed to say "Shit. One damn customer that reads the things." Taking her sweet time, she wrote down some numbers, and wandered over to the board and stared at it. After a good half minute she slumped back to the desk and stared at the thing before calling another CSM over.
I wasn't really peeved by then. Sure, I'd been annoyed, but I figured they'd poke a few buttons, bug a manager and get me out of there with a gift card. (Standard recall return policy). Oh, I was wrong. So very wrong.
Taking the other CSM, the girls then walked down to the furthest computer at customer service. Both kept giving me looks. Strange looks. You know the look. It's the "He's trying to scam us look." Whispering back and forth, they watched me a moment and then came back. "Not in the system." was the retort.
"I'm not suprised. Few companies keep things that long." I said honestly, and waited. "It's not in the system." she said again and started to turn away. I guess, bu then I'd had enough. "I need a piece of paper." I said to the girl. She turned back around and asked me why. "Simple." I said. "I'm going to write down all the info on that recall notice down, then this stuff and contact the home office. I want to see what they have to say. I'm willing to bet that your system would show...if you really checked it and didn't stand over there looking at me like I was some kind of thief, that this style is based off the original SKU. It's not uncommon in retail, to have a base SKU, and then varying ones for different colors, or patterns."
She seemed to blanche at this, but did give me the pen. As I said, I wrote down all the info; and then the website before returning the pen. "Oh, is (manager's name) here?" I asked curiously. Remembering in the past that he had once said that had I any problems what so ever, to contact him. (similar had happened in the past.) The girl gave me a shocked look shook her head and got vary scarce. So, I knew he WAS there, but didn't feel like pressing the issue.
After I got home, I did contact the home office. Here's what I've found:
1.) I was right. The sku on the recall notice was a general sku. It's the one in the system that all the styles were ordered under. The different ones on the items would point back to them if the associates had tried to pull it up.
2.) I didn't have to have a receipt for a safety recall issue. It's one of the few exceptions to the wal-mart policy. Some kind of federal law governs it actually, but I forget the statute.
3.) They (the CSM's) do not have the authority to deny a return. In all cases they should call an ASM or SM.
So, wed, when I'm off I'm taking this chair back up there. They know to expect me, or so the lady told me on the phone. I'm somewhat looking forward to this, since at least I knew I was right.
Still, when it's all said and done, was I an SC, or just someone that got pushed a bit too far?
I AM the evil bastard!
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