We don't do holds...why can't you people GET THAT????

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

The fun of working at a games store around Christmas.

We have several hot products, namely the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 arcade bundle and Wii Fit that we have a NO HOLDS policy on. Of the three items on that list, the Wii Fit seems to be in the shortest of supply. That means the only way to get one is to come in and hope we have it. Simple concept right?

Yeah, well not for everyone....

Me: Thank you for calling <store>, how may I help you?
SC: Do you have any Wiis in?
Me: Yes we do.
SC: REALLY! Can you hold one for me? The name is-
Me: I'm sorry we don't do holds on Wiis.
SC: What?? Why not?
Me: That's our policy for short supply items.
SC: Well that's a shitty policy! *click*


Me: Thank you for calling <store>, how may I help you?
SC: Do you have any Wiis in?
Me: Yes we do.
SC: How many?
Me: I am not allowed to give quantities, but we have quite a few.
SC: Well I'll be coming from 60 miles away, do you think you'll still have them when I get there?
Me: Possibly but I can't make any guarantees
SC: Can you hold one for me
Me: Sorry we don't do holds on them.
SC: Why not?
Me: It's policy, sorry.
SC: Well you better hope you still have one when I get there! *click*
(or WHAT???? Seriously, am I supposed to be scared?)


Me: Thank you for calling <store>, how may I help you?
SC: Do you have Wii Fit?
Me: I have a few but they are going fast.
SC: REALLY! Can you hold one for me? The name is-
Me: I'm sorry we don't do holds on Wii Fit.
SC: Well can I give you a credit card over the phone? (Oh sure, like that doesn't just SCREAM fraud...)
Me: No, sorry. Transactions must be done with the card present.
SC: So how am I supposed to get one?
Me: Your best bet would be to get here as soon as possible.
SC: But you can't hold one for me?
Me: No, all you can do is come by and hope we have them.
SC: Well that doesn't help me any! *click*


Me: Thank you for calling <store>, how may I help you?
SC: Do you have Wii Fit?
Me: I have a few but they are going fast.
SC: Can you hold one for me? The name is-
Me: I'm sorry we don't do holds on Wii Fit.
SC: What?? Why not?
Me: That's our policy for short supply items.
SC: Well can't you just stash one away somewhere and then I can pick it up later?
Me: Exactly how is that NOT a hold?
SC: Well you wouldn't be holding it, just setting it aside until I get there.
Me: (I was tempted to just repeat my previous question verbatim but I went a different way) That's still the same as a hold. Sorry, can't do it.
SC: Well that's just poor customer service. *click*

And one in store encounter...

SC: Do you have Wii Fit?
Me: Sorry we're sold out.
SC: When will you get more?
Me: Early next week.
SC: What time does your truck get here?
(Ok well we don't have a magical "Wii Fit" truck. We get daily shipments at any time between 10 am and 2 pm, and even if a shipment is in our system as en route, there's STILL no way to know when it will get here)
Me: We get deliveries between 10 and 2.
SC: Ok what day will they be here?
Me: I don't know sir.
SC: What do you mean you don't know?
Me: I mean I don't know, sometimes they come on Monday, sometimes Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday.
SC: Well thanks for being no help at all. How am I supposed to get one of these things?
Me: I would recommend checking in every day with us around lunch time and seeing if we have it in stock.
SC: Can't I like, pre-purchase one and pick it up when you get your shipment?
Me: I'm sorry we don't do that.
SC: Well thanks for nothing then! *stomps off*


I love the Holidays...

[karma_gypsy]

Because then if you allowed holds or pre-purchases ... you wouldn't have any Wii's or Wii Fit's physically in stock until next Christmas ... thus, beginning the cycle all over again...

[Imogene]

SC: Well thanks for nothing then!

*chipper, cheerful, shit eating smile* "You're quite welcome, sir."

[simplyanother]

I love the "What time does your truck" people. Because they seem to think that trucks are loaded in any sort of manner that makes sense. "Well, the truck will be here at freaking 5 am, but we won't fucking know whats all on it until about 3 pm or so..."

"but whyeeeeeeeeee"

We had a man once who was stalking us as we were working a truck. He had been told that the items he wanted were probably going to come the next truck day. So he showed up, next truck day...and hovered around the aisle that the shit he wanted was on. He somehow expected us to produce his little item from the mountain of frieght, magically. Cause he was one of THOSE people.

I think after about an hour of us not digging through the boxes upon boxes of crap, he finally got out of the damned way and left.

Which meant that I came across the item about 5 minutes later.

We have nothing cool like the Wii. But we've had people calling to see if we have 'em. lol

I always want to tell them "yeah! we've got tons! You want me to hold one for you? your name? awesome"....Cause I hate people.

And it's a fucking craft store. lol

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

This reminds me of something that happened several Christmas Eves ago.

A woman called the store and asked if we had a certain item in stock. I could be wrong about this, but somehow I think it was a liquor bottle carousel. That was a hot seller one year, so I'll just say that's what she was after.

She was told we didn't have it in stock. She evidently had connections with the DC and corporate, because she called the DC, and they looked up the manifest for the truck we had parked on our dock (must have been delivered the day before and we were planning to unload it the day after Christmas, I think) and told her the carousels were on the truck. Then either she called the store back saying she knew the carousel was on the truck, or she called somebody from corporate and they in turn called the store manager.

Whatever happened, I came in for my shift Christmas Eve to find the store manager unloading the trailer.

Well, not so much "unloading it" as pushing the boxes to the sides of the trailer so he'd have an aisle going into the trailer as he was looking for the carousels. And of course they were pretty deep into the truck.

So in summation, I hates these "What time does your truck come?" people as well. You can wait until the stuff is stocked just like everybody else does. We're not going to fuck our schedules and our floor coverage just because one person is being impatient. Any time I encounter one of these people I feign ignorance and tell them I don't know when the truck is going to come.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

SC: What time does your truck get here?
[i](Ok well we don't have a magical "Wii Fit" truck....

I smell a great practical joke in the making... all we need is one of those big trucks...



Oooo, perfect!

Then we paint the "Wii" logo on the side, and drive around like the Pied Piper, drawing all of the Wii-hunters out.

Then we drive it off of a pier.

[SG15Z]

I smell a great practical joke in the making... all we need is one of those big trucks...



Oooo, perfect!

Then we paint the "Wii" logo on the side, and drive around like the Pied Piper, drawing all of the Wii-hunters out.

Then we drive it off of a pier.

Brillia-uh i mean. CS.com does not support violence......noe of course if the trucks brakes just happen to fail while heading towards a peir. Well that's an accident! ;D

[Mordecai]

I smell a great practical joke in the making... all we need is one of those big trucks...



Oooo, perfect!

Then we paint the "Wii" logo on the side, and drive around like the Pied Piper, drawing all of the Wii-hunters out.

Then we drive it off of a pier.

Can I drive?

[lordlundar]

Brillia-uh i mean. CS.com does not support violence......noe of course if the trucks brakes just happen to fail while heading towards a peir. Well that's an accident! ;D

Who said anything about violence? I see it along the same lines as buying a wii and smashing it in front of a lineup waiting for it. The only difference is we get to see who would jump in after it to try and "save" them.

As for holds... <shudder>

When I worked at FS, we would put items on hold and never get them picked up for over a week when we only put them on hold for a day. So we put them back on the shelf, the item got sold, and next week (two weeks now) the person who wanted it held (and was told only for a day) shows up and starts screaming because we sold it. ARGH!

I still won't forget one time when I had one idiot who was told by a moronic manager that we were getting some wii consoles on our next truck. Really? I want to know where this manager, who had NOTHING to do with my department or merchandising, got this info before I did. Of anything, I should have that info before anyone in the store apart from my direct supervisor.

So this idiot was waiting in line with our warehouse door so he can see the truck being unloaded. The second he saw it, he comes up to me and orders me to grab him a wii console. Already in a sour mood, I go to the back. Turns out they weren't on the truck (like I knew they wouldn't be because they come from a different delivery company) so I get the manager, take him over to the customer, and told the customer the manager lied to him and went to do my work.

A little while later the manager came up and threatened to fire me for what I had done. I informed him that all I did was maintained the store's integrity and if I was so much as given a warning, I would notify HR about the incident, noting in particular the incident of intentionally lying to the customer. He backed off REAL quick.

[Broomjockey]

noting in particular the incident of intentionally lying to the customer. He backed off REAL quick.

I've been lied to at Future Shop by employees and managers so many times that I have no clue how anyone takes anything they say seriously anymore. Until this post, I'd almost thought it was in the employee handbook.

I do know the employees aren't all bad though. I did meet my best friend while he was working there. But he quit about 3 weeks later, or something like that.

[Enjis]

I know it is supposed to keep fraud down or something, but it seems to me accepting a credit car dover the phone to sell the item to someone coming over NOW would not be a bad way to go.
Yes, it DOES suck for those who managed to make it in to the store to get one in person tho.

I just blame the companies that can't keep the stupid things in better stock, especially when they know it's gonna be such a hot seller. (Yeah, I've read the posts about how they are churning out thousands of them...and just can't meet the demand. But, really, the situation just makes for the suck in any customer this time of year.)

[Broomjockey]

I know it is supposed to keep fraud down or something, but it seems to me accepting a credit car dover the phone to sell the item to someone coming over NOW would not be a bad way to go.

Except these are SCs we're talking about. "Now" is a fluid term. There's no way to guarantee that they're going to pick up the item any time soon, and if they run the card, they have to hold that item, or process a refund. Also, what if the SC "decides" to leave the card behind since they've "already" paid. There's no proof they have the card. If a place isn't set up to do over the phone orders, there's no way that they should be expected to hold an item for someone giving a CC over the phone.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Except these are SCs we're talking about. "Now" is a fluid term. There's no way to guarantee that they're going to pick up the item any time soon, and if they run the card, they have to hold that item, or process a refund. Also, what if the SC "decides" to leave the card behind since they've "already" paid. There's no proof they have the card. If a place isn't set up to do over the phone orders, there's no way that they should be expected to hold an item for someone giving a CC over the phone.

I've done credit card sales over the phone on occasion, but the customer was told they would have to show the card and sign when they got there (mostly for large-quantity gift card sales; up to a certain amount we'll do them in the store. I forget what the cutoff is but I've done up to about 150 or 200 I think.) Of course, that's kind of a special situation anyway, since they take forever to do, and we much prefer the customer call ahead rather than show up and expect us to do them while they wait. But I have done it for books, too.

[Imogene]

I worked in a GameStop for a matter of a month as a manager, and I remember at least a dozen handfuls of people who wanted to be put on a waiting list for the Wii.
"That *air quotes*'waiting list' currently is long enough to warp space time. You get on it now and you'll have your Wii the day after you die. I hope it's some consolation to your family..."

Then there was one spectacular gent who confronted me about the Wiis.
Him: "Well, how can I tell by driving by the store if you have any in stock?"
Me: "That's an impossibility, sir. I don't even know without stepping into the store. Might I suggest a portable phone?"

[JLRodgers]

This reminded me of a time management got this bright idea of creating a "waiting list" for a product.....

I looked one day at it and there were probably a hundred or so people on the list.... more wanted to be added -- the funny thing? We were only getting 10 more of the item in stock and it was a canceled item (we were getting no more after). Managers, knowing this, told us to put people on the waiting list, knowing we wouldn't be getting enough for even 10% of those on it.

I told people where to go..... to another store that is. I ended up getting a call from another store (different chain) saying "we're out too, PLEASE don't tell people we have any -- oh and x, y, and z are out too."

I can't remember what the stupid thing was that everyone wanted.... but no one had it, and no one even thought they were getting anymore either before the end of the season.

When the season was over, management thought "everyone likes it" and got tons in (like 10 or so pallets of them).... then no one wanted them. I heard they ended up selling them to other stores at cost so they weren't out money -- as we went from like 10 pallets to a partial one overnight, and we hadn't had any shipments in or out.