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This happened a while back, but it's one of my favorite stories, and I've got to share it.
I had a pair of teenagers, both showing signs of meth addiction, and they try to return two $50 boxes of Mucinex. There was no receipt, but the young man assured me that his mother purchased the products at my store, and he just didn't need them. Oh, and best of all, our clever scammer did not seem to notice that the price stickers on both boxes came from another store.
Really? Come on now.
I called my manager down from his office, and he realized that it was very, very questionable. He said he would look up the purchase so he could verify it and then do the refund; they seemed pleased by this. Oh, but he did not look up a purchase for that reason; he confirmed that no customer had purchased those products for months. He came out to explain that no one had bought those products at our location, which befuddled our young scammers. My manager and I both hit upon the same idea at that point, and explained to the pair that his mother may have "purchased" those packages at another location nearby. They decided to try their luck there, and left without a problem.
Now here's the catch - the stores in our area are quite close, and my manager has friends who work at the other location, and one of them was on duty that day. He called her and told her about the pair, and what they were trying to do. He told them that we were sending them her way, and to just keep the cycle going, giving them the runaround. They actually showed up, got the same deal, and seemed to give up after that.
Ah, I may not always like my manager, but I love the way he handles scammers. On another occasion, we had someone picking up discarded receipts and trying to do phony refunds. My boss actually caught him in the dumpster once, digging for receipts. He didn't notice my manager, who went back in the store, grabbed a hammer, and sent the scammer scurrying after he banged on the side of the dumpster, startling the bum.
I had a pair of teenagers, both showing signs of meth addiction, and they try to return two $50 boxes of Mucinex. There was no receipt, but the young man assured me that his mother purchased the products at my store, and he just didn't need them. Oh, and best of all, our clever scammer did not seem to notice that the price stickers on both boxes came from another store.
Really? Come on now.
I called my manager down from his office, and he realized that it was very, very questionable. He said he would look up the purchase so he could verify it and then do the refund; they seemed pleased by this. Oh, but he did not look up a purchase for that reason; he confirmed that no customer had purchased those products for months. He came out to explain that no one had bought those products at our location, which befuddled our young scammers. My manager and I both hit upon the same idea at that point, and explained to the pair that his mother may have "purchased" those packages at another location nearby. They decided to try their luck there, and left without a problem.
Now here's the catch - the stores in our area are quite close, and my manager has friends who work at the other location, and one of them was on duty that day. He called her and told her about the pair, and what they were trying to do. He told them that we were sending them her way, and to just keep the cycle going, giving them the runaround. They actually showed up, got the same deal, and seemed to give up after that.
Ah, I may not always like my manager, but I love the way he handles scammers. On another occasion, we had someone picking up discarded receipts and trying to do phony refunds. My boss actually caught him in the dumpster once, digging for receipts. He didn't notice my manager, who went back in the store, grabbed a hammer, and sent the scammer scurrying after he banged on the side of the dumpster, startling the bum.
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