Customer Threatened To Sue For Not Being Able to Use Another Customer's Savings Card

[purplecat41877]

Today, one of the checkers got a customer who forgot their savings card and another customer offered theirs. This is not allowed and the checker did follow the policy.

The customer came over to me and complained about not being able to use another customer's card. He wanted me to inform the district manager about this even though I have no way of reaching him. The customer wanted to sue over the savings card situation and informed me that it was happening in another state. I offered the main office number but the customer didn't want it.

[batmoody]

And what exactly is this guy going to sue over? Geeesh, they think that by threatening to sue we are all of a sudden going to give in to their stupid demands. Ok then.

[XCashier]

How much would he have saved on the savings card, versus how much would he spend on lawyer and court fees? Sucky Customers are also very Stupid Customers.

[Tito]

Tell him when he sues to take the case to Judge Judy. That would be a very interesting show, I think.

[Rahmota]

Um why would that not be permitted? Is it because the store's purchasing profile for the sutomer would be messed up? I've been in a store before and they had a savings card sitting by the register for people who either didnt have one or forgot theirs? And considering how the kroger savings card gives you points towards gas purchases I'd ahve offered my plus card too (and have done so a couple times as well.) Sometimes I think stores set customers up to be SCs.

[Mighty Girl]

What if you threatened to counter-sue for emotional distress? You could say that this harsh behavior has left you with flashbacks and now you're hesitant to go to work....

And on a related note, why the hell would someone encourage a person to use their savings card? If you've got a checking account linked to it, and that person is a deadbeat, I think they can come after you.

[Rahmota]

Mighty girl confused me with:

And on a related note, why the hell would someone encourage a person to use their savings card? If you've got a checking account linked to it, and that person is a deadbeat, I think they can come after you.

Ok I am not sure what is going on here. When you savings card I think of my CVS or Kroger Plus card which is basically part of the store's customer purchasing profile/advertising plans. There is no credit/check or bank info on there at all. All it does is act like a giant coupon on many items in the store. Or is there some other kind of "savings" card I am not aware of?

[Sandy]

I think she means savings card as in debit card

[purplecat41877]

The reason the customer wasn't allowed to use another customer's savings card is because the customer wouldn't receive credit for groceries that s/he bought and the customer offering the card would receive credit for groceries s/he did not buy. The service desk employees have their own store cards to use if need be. We have been encouraging customers who don't have a savings card to sign up for one. Another option is that the checker/customer could've asked me to link the phone # so it could be entered in the pin pad.

[RavenStarr]

Personally I don't see what the big deal wouldhave been about using another customer's savings card.

My store has a really stupid policy about savings card. We are not allowed to ask a customer if we can use their card for another customer. Customers however can ask other if they can their savings cards.

[purplecat41877]

If a customer forgets their savings card and another customer offers theirs, the checker is supposed to say that that's not allowed. It was covered in the training video.

[Banrion]

Mighty girl confused me with:

Ok I am not sure what is going on here. When you savings card I think of my CVS or Kroger Plus card which is basically part of the store's customer purchasing profile/advertising plans. There is no credit/check or bank info on there at all. All it does is act like a giant coupon on many items in the store. Or is there some other kind of "savings" card I am not aware of?

Around here, the Stop & Shop and Shaw's cards are coded differently for people who are authorized to write checks, there is a whole separate credit check process that you go through to get that approval, and you have to give them a CC to debit should a check ever be returned NSF. This is the only way to be able to write a check in these stores. To make life easy, it just becomes an extra piece of the club cards so that you don't need 2 separate cards.

[greensinestro]

Today, one of the checkers got a customer who forgot their savings card and another customer offered theirs. This is not allowed and the checker did follow the policy.

The customer came over to me and complained about not being able to use another customer's card. He wanted me to inform the district manager about this even though I have no way of reaching him. The customer wanted to sue over the savings card situation and informed me that it was happening in another state. I offered the main office number but the customer didn't want it.

Gee! Isn't this the reason Disney World now has a rule like this place with their seasonal passes? They actually have the technology to have your fingerprint and/or photo (can't remember which one), so that if another person other than the owner of the card attempts to use it, the turnstyle will not allow them through. It's a great way of cutting down on fraud. Too bad credit card companies and banks don't incorporate this into their plastic cards, eh?

With Disney and people like the one at Checkers, again, this is why companies are resorting to this. If one customer bought that card, or bought something to earn it, why should the deadbeat scabbing customer reap their benefits? You paid, so should they!

[K245five]

A new wrinkle to the savings card

The reason the customer wasn't allowed to use another customer's savings card is because the customer wouldn't receive credit for groceries that s/he bought and the customer offering the card would receive credit for groceries s/he did not buy. The service desk employees have their own store cards to use if need be. We have been encouraging customers who don't have a savings card to sign up for one. Another option is that the checker/customer could've asked me to link the phone # so it could be entered in the pin pad.

Where I used to work, we really could not use our own cards or that of another customer for purchases. Our company was affiliated with a company called S&H that actually resurrected the old "Greenstamps" program that our Grandparents and Parents used back in the day. Only thing was, this was more hi-tech and modern. Everything was kept track of electronically, and the only paper you received was a small statement of "greenpoints" earned, redeemed, etc. that you got along with your receipt.

Customers would receive 10 greenpoints for every dollar spent. Eventually, they could redeem greenpoints for huge discounts or even free items. And, they could use a catalog like the old days and redeem points for items like toasters, CD players, etc..

Well, given this, there was NO way we were to let customers use any other savings card but their own for purchases. Reason being, the greenpoints were considered "currency" and using other cards for purchases would translate into "padding" your account or those of others with greenpoints that you or they didn't actually earn. Obviously, we couldn't use a "store card" under these circumstances either.

We also heavily pushed the program to get customers to sign up, and we had the phone number option if somebody forgot their card as well, so that helped out quite a bit when customers would forget their cards.

[Auto]

And what exactly is this guy going to sue over? Geeesh, they think that by threatening to sue we are all of a sudden going to give in to their stupid demands. Ok then.

That's why you always ask a SC who threatnes to sue what his cause of action is. That's the legal term for the complaint for which want relief from a court.

Being pissed off is not a cause of action. Not liking the outcome of some encounter with another person -- "he was rude to me" -- is also not a cause of action.

Not getting service you could reasonably expect because you paid the store money is a cause of action.

But then everything turns on just what is reasonable.

And paying your lawyer $10,000 in fees to sue a supermarket over 35 cents is stupid. In America each side pays its own costs. Judges award the winner in the case his/her legal costs only if he thinks the other side was hopelessly and totally wrong or if there is some public policy implication to the case.

That's why threats to sue are empty threats by people too dumb to know how the legal system works.

And if the guy threatening to sue claims to be a lawyer, tell him making threats like that is a violation of legal ethics and that you're going to report him to the bar associations for disciplinary action. That usually shuts them up.