The Blame Game

[ShadedWings]

Had an interesting lady this afternoon, about half an hour before my shift's end. Conversation's a rough estimate, as I couldn't write things down.

She came in with a Nintendo DS that she had purchased, along with two others, "before christmas" as gifts for her children (or grandchildren, don't remember which). The other two worked just fine, but this DS wouldn't hold a charge. She stated that she had tried the other chargers too, but it was the DS itself that didn't work.

I was originally talking to her, but shifted the conversation to one of the managers which was standing nearby since she had first come in, when I saw where the conversation was heading.

Me -
SM - Store Manager
AM - Awesome Manager
SC - Yeah, you know it.

SC - (explains the situation) So I brought it in, since the person I talked to on the phone said to bring it in.
AM - Who'd you talk to..?
SC - I really don't remember.
AM - *wince* And when did you say you bought it?
SC - Before christmas.
AM - See.. that's a bit of a problem. Not only is it past the 30 day refund window, we also usually only give a week on those sort of things, the game systems. But you can contact the manufacturer and they should be able to work something out for you.
SC - So... you're saying there's nothing you can do.
AM - Pretty much, yeah.
SC - You know, I bought THREE of these here, and I could have bought them at Game Stop instead, and I usually rent about 15 movies a week from you guys and you're telling me there's NOTHING you're going to do for me.
AM - I'm sorry, but there's really nothing we CAN do. You need to contact the manufacturer at this point.
SC - NO. YOU'RE just not willing to work with me. You're saying there's nothing you WILL do. It's not right. It's just not RIGHT that you're saying this to me. It's not fair for my son (grandson?) to have this for ONLY 30 DAYS and it's not working anymore. Is it.
AM - I'm really sorry ma'am, but there's just nothing we can do here... there's usually a slip in the packaging that comes with the DS that gives details on how to contact the manufacturer --
SC - No. I'm done. I'm leaving. This ISN'T RIGHT. YOU'RE just not WILLING TO WORK WITH ME. *emphasizes this by hitting the counter with her hand, then grabs her stuff and makes her way toward the exit*
AM - I do understand, ma'am, and I really am sorry --
SC - NO YOU'RE NOT!! You don't care. None of you do. (At this point the store manager was hovering nearby, wondering what's going on, too.) None of you care about the money I've spent here or the fact that you COULD do something for me about this if you WANTED. I could have GONE ELSEWHERE TO BUY THIS. I'm leaving. *stalks out*
AM -
SM -
Me -

After she left, between most of the employees that heard/got filled in on what happened, we all came up with the following points:

1) She was past the return period.
2) She could still easily get the DS fixed/replaced from the manufacturer.
3) She obviously thought we had our own little repairman in the magical back room that could fix things. Probably for free.
4) It's all our fault that she waited for a month (almost two) to bring it back, or try to.
5) Game Stop wouldn't have been able to fix it either (as far as I know!), and told her to go to the manufacturer as well.

*shakes head* People....

[wagegoth]

People are so lazy.

Our Wii started having problems just a few months after we purchased it. Nintendo paid for shipping to and from the repair site (all I had to do was package it up), it was repaired under warranty, and then they extended the warranty from the repair date. Happiness was easily acquired.

[AriRashkae]

Hell, it just sounds like the battery. All she had to do was call Nintendo and they probably would have shipped her one, since the Ds was still under warranty.

[Imogene]

Had a customer call me on the phone when I worked for the game store.
"Yeah, the button on the back of my son's DS Lite doesn't work..."
" I'm sorry, are you talking about the L and R buttons?"
"No, the button on the back of the DS."
"Where he puts in the game?"
"*getting mean* No, the button on the back of the DS."
"What should this button do, were it to work?"
"You obviously have no clue what you're talking about."
"Ma'am, I OWN a DS Lite, there aren't any buttons ON the back, the only things I can reasonably grasp as being 'on the back' are the cartridge slot and the shoulder buttons, and you've nixed both of those."
"*very angry* Don't give me your attitude."
(Side note: I LOVE it when people tell me this. My attitude NEVER changes, at least, while out in public. "I'm sorry you can't describe your problem better, you ungrateful shrew.")
*she hangs up, I spend thirty minutes confirming with coworkers that the DS Lite has no buttons on the back of it.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

A couple of days ago, I had a lady go off on me and my manager because she was trying to return an Xbox 360 console she bought on Dec. 16. She didn't pruchase an extended warranty and of course it's well outside 30 days (heck she's nearly outside of 60 days!). ALL of our products come with standard 30 day defective coverage from our store, after that you are SOL dealing with us if you don't buy an extended warranty (which we always recommend since the 360 is the console most prone to technical problems).

HOWEVER, like the SC in this thread, she was still under the manufacturers warranty, no big deal. WRONG!

This woman was furious that we couldn't help her even though "she bought it less than two months ago" and even accused us of knowingly selling her a used system packaged as a new unit!

My manager reiterated there was nothing we could do and told her to call Microsoft. She eventually stomped off.

I'm convinced people don't read receipts anymore.

[QASlave]

My daughter,s DS gave up the ghost a little over a year after she got it. (I think it had a little help from her 2 year old brother and a tile floor.) My wife called Nintendo and they sent us a replacement, even though it was a month out of warranty AND she told them that it may have been damaged. Who can complain? It was a refurbished model, but hey, she got the pink one she wanted in the first place. Two years later and it is still going strong.

[BethB]

Ugh! Hate those who think they can sneak around the return policy. Had a guy do that with a camera he bought two months earlier but wanted to exchange it for a new one because(drumroll please...) Fuji's customer service was closed on sunday. Moron. Store manager okayed it because he'd rather lose money(way to screw us out of a bonus, but heaven forbid we get overtime and screw you out of yours) than lose a customer. Small town, idiot. There's really nowhere else to shop unless you plan on driving an hour out of town.

Anywho, I love manufacturers warranties. I don't pay a thing! yay.

[Drakstern]

All of these stem from one thing.

"The customer is always right" and the entitlement culture it's bred. It doesn't help that some of the big box stores will take things back NO MATTER WHAT, so people are convinced that being able to take things back no matter how long they've had them or how much they've used of it is allowable, nay A RIGHT, and how DARE you tell them it's not.

But I think we've gone over this ground on this site quite a bit... just needed to rant...