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Time to dust off another one from my previous job (the hobby shop). This particular story started in the days immediately before I started working there and concluded right after I started the job.
Anyway, I was in the store shopping for some paint late one evening. It wasn't busy; the only people in the store besides myself were two of the part time employees (we'll call them BEW and Rob) and a well-to-do Japanese gentleman (lawyer type) and his son. This gentleman was in the midst of purchasing a (for us) top-of-the-line R/C airplane (we did deal in cars, but did have a few planes and fewer boats). Gas-powered, 4 channel remote with full flight controls (elevators, ailerons, rudder, and throttle). He was also purchasing the external electric starter, fuel, batteries and charger, extra props, the whole nine yards. The total purchase was well over $500.
Now while I was picking my paint, this guy was being given a full starter lecture by Rob. This was apparently going to be a father-son project, and was their first R/C plane. Rob explained in painstaking detail that for their first several flights, the servos for the throttle and ailerons should NOT be hooked up. Just the elevators and rudders, with the throttle preset to a certain power setting. The reason was that since they had little to no flying experience, it would be better to get comfortable with a simplified setup, since trying to deal with a full set of controls plus a throttle would be overwhelming. He also strongly recommended joining the local flying club and getting help/lessons from them. Later, once they were proficient at flying with just the rudder and elevators, they could hook up the ailerons, and finally hook up the throttle, at which point they'd have a very capable airplane that would be very enjoyable to fly (not that it wouldn't be enjoyable up until then). He also stressed that this would not be an overnight process; it would take weeks if not moths, depending on how often they flew and how quickly they learned.
The guy listened carefully to all of this, asked several relevent questions, and finally paid and left.
I should point out something about this store's return policy. 1) No refunds under any circumstances and (more importantly) 2) ALL RC SALES ARE FINAL SALES!!!! The way this was later explained to me is that under FCC regulations, R/C equipment has to operate on specific frequencies (there's a set of AIR frequencies and a different set of GROUND frequencies), and to resell something that is used, we must first verify that it is still operating on the right frequency and has not been tampered with. Since we did not have the equipment nor the expertise to do this, we could not take back any R/C stuff (unless it was defective) because we could not resell it and could not return it to the distributor (the distributors would only take back defective stuff).
Anyway.
About a week later - having already forgotten this guy - I was offered a job at this store, which I immediately accepted. A few days after that I started there, and one of the first things I was warned about was "if a Japanese guy comes in and starts complaining about an R/C plane he bought, get one of us (a full-timer or the Boss) immediately."
Well it turns out that this guy had already been back SEVERAL times to complain about the plane. And ALL of it came down to him completely ignoring every bit of advice we'd given him, the written instructions, AND common sense. I don't remember all of it, but here's a few highlights:
•Went ahead and hooked up all of the flight controls right away, and hooked up the throttle improperly. Rather than consult with us, the flying club, or the MANUAL, he decided the reason the throttle wasn't working correctly was because there was a mechanical problem with the throttle, and took it apart, then put it back together WRONG. Comes in complain that it's defective/our fault
ASM: Hmmm.....there seems to be a problem with the throttle valve......
SC: You mean the thing that's pointy inside that makes the motor run faster or slower?
ASM: You took apart the throttle valve, didn't you?
SC: NO!
Well, idiot. You wouldn't know it's pointy inside if you DIDN'T and you obviously played with it despite being told not to otherwise you wouldn't know how it behaves!
•Finally gets the throttle working correctly, but can't fly the plane.
Real reason: he's bit off more than he can chew because he ignored our advice about starting off with only two controls.
His stupid reasoning: The engine isn't performing properly. Solution: rebuild the engine himself!
So now he has basically destroyed his engine. When he next brought it in, it had torn gaskets and seals and no longer combusted properly, AND the plane had obvious crash damage that he somehow felt was OUR fault.
Additionally, he claimed that no one had told him any of the stuff I previously mentioned. In fact, he says, we told him he'd have NO PROBLEMS going from neutral to fifth. Moreover, I later learned that Rob had strongly recommended that he purchase a simpler, electric aircraft before getting into something gas-powered, but that this guy would not hear any of it. He was a smart guy, his kid was a smart kid, they could handle it. So he insisted on high-end.
Now, after failing to heed every shred of advice and instruction, and after ruining his motor and crashing his plane, he wants a full refund.
Well of course we would not give him one, and he repeatedly threatened to sue the store to recover his losses. He'd been back in several times in an apparent attempt to catch different employees and have them say something different about the return policy, which he could then use as leverage to get a refund. Of course he had failed to consider that as a small business, we were a tight-knit group of employees who actually WARNED each other about guys like him.
In the end he never did get his refund, and thankfully, I never saw him as an employee (all of the stuff from after the purchase I heard anecdotally after I started there). And I don't think he ever did sue us.
Anyway, I was in the store shopping for some paint late one evening. It wasn't busy; the only people in the store besides myself were two of the part time employees (we'll call them BEW and Rob) and a well-to-do Japanese gentleman (lawyer type) and his son. This gentleman was in the midst of purchasing a (for us) top-of-the-line R/C airplane (we did deal in cars, but did have a few planes and fewer boats). Gas-powered, 4 channel remote with full flight controls (elevators, ailerons, rudder, and throttle). He was also purchasing the external electric starter, fuel, batteries and charger, extra props, the whole nine yards. The total purchase was well over $500.
Now while I was picking my paint, this guy was being given a full starter lecture by Rob. This was apparently going to be a father-son project, and was their first R/C plane. Rob explained in painstaking detail that for their first several flights, the servos for the throttle and ailerons should NOT be hooked up. Just the elevators and rudders, with the throttle preset to a certain power setting. The reason was that since they had little to no flying experience, it would be better to get comfortable with a simplified setup, since trying to deal with a full set of controls plus a throttle would be overwhelming. He also strongly recommended joining the local flying club and getting help/lessons from them. Later, once they were proficient at flying with just the rudder and elevators, they could hook up the ailerons, and finally hook up the throttle, at which point they'd have a very capable airplane that would be very enjoyable to fly (not that it wouldn't be enjoyable up until then). He also stressed that this would not be an overnight process; it would take weeks if not moths, depending on how often they flew and how quickly they learned.
The guy listened carefully to all of this, asked several relevent questions, and finally paid and left.
I should point out something about this store's return policy. 1) No refunds under any circumstances and (more importantly) 2) ALL RC SALES ARE FINAL SALES!!!! The way this was later explained to me is that under FCC regulations, R/C equipment has to operate on specific frequencies (there's a set of AIR frequencies and a different set of GROUND frequencies), and to resell something that is used, we must first verify that it is still operating on the right frequency and has not been tampered with. Since we did not have the equipment nor the expertise to do this, we could not take back any R/C stuff (unless it was defective) because we could not resell it and could not return it to the distributor (the distributors would only take back defective stuff).
Anyway.
About a week later - having already forgotten this guy - I was offered a job at this store, which I immediately accepted. A few days after that I started there, and one of the first things I was warned about was "if a Japanese guy comes in and starts complaining about an R/C plane he bought, get one of us (a full-timer or the Boss) immediately."
Well it turns out that this guy had already been back SEVERAL times to complain about the plane. And ALL of it came down to him completely ignoring every bit of advice we'd given him, the written instructions, AND common sense. I don't remember all of it, but here's a few highlights:
•Went ahead and hooked up all of the flight controls right away, and hooked up the throttle improperly. Rather than consult with us, the flying club, or the MANUAL, he decided the reason the throttle wasn't working correctly was because there was a mechanical problem with the throttle, and took it apart, then put it back together WRONG. Comes in complain that it's defective/our fault
ASM: Hmmm.....there seems to be a problem with the throttle valve......
SC: You mean the thing that's pointy inside that makes the motor run faster or slower?
ASM: You took apart the throttle valve, didn't you?
SC: NO!
Well, idiot. You wouldn't know it's pointy inside if you DIDN'T and you obviously played with it despite being told not to otherwise you wouldn't know how it behaves!
•Finally gets the throttle working correctly, but can't fly the plane.
Real reason: he's bit off more than he can chew because he ignored our advice about starting off with only two controls.
His stupid reasoning: The engine isn't performing properly. Solution: rebuild the engine himself!
So now he has basically destroyed his engine. When he next brought it in, it had torn gaskets and seals and no longer combusted properly, AND the plane had obvious crash damage that he somehow felt was OUR fault.
Additionally, he claimed that no one had told him any of the stuff I previously mentioned. In fact, he says, we told him he'd have NO PROBLEMS going from neutral to fifth. Moreover, I later learned that Rob had strongly recommended that he purchase a simpler, electric aircraft before getting into something gas-powered, but that this guy would not hear any of it. He was a smart guy, his kid was a smart kid, they could handle it. So he insisted on high-end.
Now, after failing to heed every shred of advice and instruction, and after ruining his motor and crashing his plane, he wants a full refund.
Well of course we would not give him one, and he repeatedly threatened to sue the store to recover his losses. He'd been back in several times in an apparent attempt to catch different employees and have them say something different about the return policy, which he could then use as leverage to get a refund. Of course he had failed to consider that as a small business, we were a tight-knit group of employees who actually WARNED each other about guys like him.
In the end he never did get his refund, and thankfully, I never saw him as an employee (all of the stuff from after the purchase I heard anecdotally after I started there). And I don't think he ever did sue us.
I AM the evil bastard!
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