Jumping right to the top?

[Imogene]

Had a customer go through my Self check tonight, tried to scan some Bakugan toy, and wandered off immediately, leaving his purchase, then comes right back, as I'm stationed near the toy aisle... and comes right to me, and demands a manager. Thinking I know what the problem is, I offer to override the price, but he demands a manager again, preferably the store manager. So, of course, I'm wondering what I did wrong, but I call a manager over, and she talks to him a bit before going and paging for a higher manager, who comes over and talks to the guy briefly before overriding the price.
Apparently, the guy was angry because all of the last five times he'd been in the store, there was always at least one item that had to have a price override, and it shouldn't have to be that way. And he apparently wanted a manager to know about his displeasure. But he wasn't angry at me, as he said after the manager did the override.

[Stig]

This is lost on me. How is that sucky?

[r2cagle]

Sounds like he was prepared to do battle. But if you are always buying something that needs a price override, maybe it's time to rethink if you 'really' want that toy, especially if you don't want to wait for assistance? Sorry Mr. Customer, things are never going to run perfectly 100% of the time.

[Pedersen]

But if you are always buying something that needs a price override, maybe it's time to rethink if you 'really' want that toy, especially if you don't want to wait for assistance?

Please re-read the quote from the OP:

Apparently, the guy was angry because all of the last five times he'd been in the store, there was always at least one item that had to have a price override, and it shouldn't have to be that way.

Juwl didn't say "every time he buys a toy". The last five times the customer has bought items at the store, at least one price override had to be done. Out of five visits, five times a price was marked incorrectly.

The customer has a point, and I would complain as well. I would also do my very best to explain to the employee I'm not in any way upset with the employee, something this customer failed to do. I'm sorry for that, Juwl.

Sorry Mr. Customer, things are never going to run perfectly 100% of the time.

What about when they run perfectly 0% of the time (remember: 5 out of 5 visits had a problem)?

[r2cagle]

Pedersen - I understand what you're saying and I'm not saying the customer was a totally sucky customer... but what about taking the override offered by OP, paying for his purchase, THEN asking to speak to a manager to complain about always having to get overrides? Plus, this time he was buying a toy, so if getting an override is annoying, I have to ask if it's worth getting the toy at this time? Or was he just at his limit and said the 'next time this happens' and this was the next time?

By refusing to let associates assist and jumping straight to a manager without at least a little explanation of what their complaint was, I would have been like the OP. Wondering what in the world I did wrong. This is the sucky behavior to me.

I'd get the same type of behavior in the phone center. I'd get a customer that immediately wants a supervisor without any explanation of their problem... 'um, if I knew what it was about, I'd know better which supervisor to send you to, or even be able to fix it for you'.

It's nice to have a pleasant shopping experience, where everything works and runs like it supposed to, but thanks to companies and their budget cutting, too much work and not enough employees = things not updated in a timely manner, inefficiency all over, and unhappy experiences. I sometimes call this life. But then again, not every one sees things the same way as me, so maybe I need to just STFU now.

[South Texan]

The probable reason why this cusomter did not want an associate just to do the override is because he wanted to show the manager the problem this time. Obviously, there IS a problem at Juwl's store with how the prices are entered into the computer if it happens that often. He knew that all most associates would do is make the override (as had happened in the past) and nothing more. In other words, management (at most) would see the override as a statistic in a nightly report rather than comprehending how poorly it reflects on the business when it happens multiple times to a customer.

The customer does not seem to have taken out his frustration on Juwl.

[sirwired]

Hmmm... five times in a row (assuming the SC isn't exaggerating), I'd be on the hairy edge of calling the state AG's office... Occasionally a major retailer gets a righteous smackdown for failing too many spot inspections of shelf label accuracy.

Edit: Just thought I would toss in that the SC should have explained to the OP that it wasn't the employee the SC was complaining about... no sense in getting the OP nervous about being written up.

SirWired

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

If he's having to have price overrides done every time he comes into the store, then there's a problem somewhere. People aren't taking old sale signs down, the correct prices aren't making it into the register system somehow, whatever.

I'm with South Texan. I'm guessing the run for a manager was to show a manager that there was a problem. Otherwise it's just peons taking care of the price overrides themselves and the problem doesn't become as obvious to management.

Methinks a call to the local/state pricing auditors is in order if there's such a problem. It isn't the OP's fault that there's such a problem with prices scanning correctly in the store.

It's nice to have a pleasant shopping experience, where everything works and runs like it supposed to, but thanks to companies and their budget cutting, too much work and not enough employees = things not updated in a timely manner, inefficiency all over, and unhappy experiences. I sometimes call this life. But then again, not every one sees things the same way as me, so maybe I need to just STFU now.

The one problem with this is that stores can't just say "that's life" when price discrepancies happen. There are pricing auditors and attorneys general who make sure of that, and some states have very strict penalties for stores that are constantly having items scan at the wrong prices.

It's not the same as other kinds of customer service FUBARs that can happen. Run out of a sale item, or treat somebody rudely, and all that happens is the store loses a customer or several. Have items consistently scan for more than they should, and the store can get a visit from the consumer protection people and be fined for every violation the auditors see.

It is rather disturbing to me that stores will use the latest LP technology, specialized computer programs, etc, to make sure their items do not sell for less than the shelf or sign says they will, but are very lax about making sure their items do not sell for more than those signs and shelves indicate they will.

[bainsidhe]

Wow IPF, that's a pretty calm and logical explanation coming from you.

It was a sucky situation, even if the customer themselves weren't really sucky. It's easier for the cashier to simply do a price override than to wait and wonder what they did wrong and all the while the customer just...stares at you....waiting for a manager. It sucks.

But I understand why the customer did it. Too often employees and even managers do what's needed to make a customer happy just for the moment. Giving reassurances would have made this guy happy today. But not for long, because he'll continue to have poor experiences when nothing is fixed. Taking complaints up the food chain increases the likelihood of something being corrected.

Besides, consider having a customer block a register with a complaint that needs solving NOW versus someone willing to patiently wait on the sidelines with a complaint. Who will the manager try to help post-haste? This guy did things the right way and was civil about it. Too bad for the OP's stress level though.