Tweet
So, as I've said, I've been working through my trainee week as a consultant at the telecommunications company retail outlet. Today, I was "on my own", so to speak, and I did pretty awesomely, if I do say so myself. But sucky customers are sucky customers, whether or not you're awesome.
I've had customers ask for a price change in almost every job I've ever done, and this one is no different, except for that people constantly come in saying, "Thus-and-so friend of mine gets thus-and-so service for cheaper, why can't I get that?"
The first problem with this, of course, is that I have absolutely no way of verifying that Thus-and-so has received said price, or if they have, for what reason. The secondary problem is that, even if I knew all of that, I STILL CANNOT CHANGE THE PRICE FOR ANYONE. EVER.
Why do so many customers think that this is the haggle-mart? In what universe can you walk into a retail outlet in the Western World and just name whatever price you want to pay?
Take, for example, this shining jewel.
The SC was actually one of those sly bastards who pretends to be polite, but has a very nasty and demanding undertone. He's an older gent, and comes in to inquire about wireless broadband. I steer him over to our display so that I can point to the different devices while I explain the differences in usage and price. I use my handy-dandy chart to explain the gig usage and pricing on the service.
In case those of you outside of Australia have different services, basically what we do for personal computer wireless broadband is sell the customer a USB device that looks a lot like a USB memory stick, which connects them to the internet and charges using their computer. You can go prepaid, and buy credit for it like you would with a pay-as-you-go mobile phone, or you can go for a plan, and pay monthly for a certain amount of credit.
We give discounts to customers on the price of wireless broadband plans if they have other services with our company. If they have a landline phone, we knock ten bucks off. If they have landline and mobile, they get twenty knocked off. Awesome!
I explain this to aforementioned sly bastard gent. He nods along, and then produces this pile of shit:
"My friend gets 8 gig for $29.95 with a wireless broadband plan."
Uh. Whut.
I respond that this is not something that we offer, our 6 gig allowance is something like $59.95 if you have landline and mobiles with us. The next step up is a 10 gig allowance, not 8 gig, and it's certainly more expensive than 30 dollars.
"Oh, yeah, well, apparently he rang up and said he was going to switch to Competitor, and so they gave it to him for cheaper. I want that."
Ugh. "Sorry, Sir, I have no way of verifying that he does pay $29.95 for 8 gig of usage on a wireless broadband plan. It seems unlikely, since we don't even offer 8 gig as a plan."
He gets huffy. "Well, I'm a good customer, and I never try to do anything bad, and I've been paying here for a million years, and I am loyal and how come the loyal customers don't get breaks but the new ones and the ones who pitch fits do, it's not fair."
Uhm, I just explained that we actually DO give breaks to customers who are loyal -- the more services you have with us, the more discounts you get on other services. How is that not honouring the loyal customers? Anyway, that price is not something we offer at this store, and I said this to him. Again.
I try to steer the conversation back towards not sucking, and ask him whether he think a wireless broadband plan would work better for him than prepaid. Then he drops the bombshell.
Get this: He doesn't even want it. He comes in, wastes about 40 minutes of my time on something that he doesn't want because he already has wired broadband and is very happy with it.
I am frustrated as hell, but I kind of give a laugh and go, "Ohhh, I see your game, takin' me for a ride, hey?" in a nice, polite happy joke-y tone.
He gives me a snake oil grin and goes on his way. Honestly, what do these people DO when they're not being annoying bastards?
I've had customers ask for a price change in almost every job I've ever done, and this one is no different, except for that people constantly come in saying, "Thus-and-so friend of mine gets thus-and-so service for cheaper, why can't I get that?"
The first problem with this, of course, is that I have absolutely no way of verifying that Thus-and-so has received said price, or if they have, for what reason. The secondary problem is that, even if I knew all of that, I STILL CANNOT CHANGE THE PRICE FOR ANYONE. EVER.
Why do so many customers think that this is the haggle-mart? In what universe can you walk into a retail outlet in the Western World and just name whatever price you want to pay?
Take, for example, this shining jewel.
The SC was actually one of those sly bastards who pretends to be polite, but has a very nasty and demanding undertone. He's an older gent, and comes in to inquire about wireless broadband. I steer him over to our display so that I can point to the different devices while I explain the differences in usage and price. I use my handy-dandy chart to explain the gig usage and pricing on the service.
In case those of you outside of Australia have different services, basically what we do for personal computer wireless broadband is sell the customer a USB device that looks a lot like a USB memory stick, which connects them to the internet and charges using their computer. You can go prepaid, and buy credit for it like you would with a pay-as-you-go mobile phone, or you can go for a plan, and pay monthly for a certain amount of credit.
We give discounts to customers on the price of wireless broadband plans if they have other services with our company. If they have a landline phone, we knock ten bucks off. If they have landline and mobile, they get twenty knocked off. Awesome!
I explain this to aforementioned sly bastard gent. He nods along, and then produces this pile of shit:
"My friend gets 8 gig for $29.95 with a wireless broadband plan."
Uh. Whut.
I respond that this is not something that we offer, our 6 gig allowance is something like $59.95 if you have landline and mobiles with us. The next step up is a 10 gig allowance, not 8 gig, and it's certainly more expensive than 30 dollars.
"Oh, yeah, well, apparently he rang up and said he was going to switch to Competitor, and so they gave it to him for cheaper. I want that."
Ugh. "Sorry, Sir, I have no way of verifying that he does pay $29.95 for 8 gig of usage on a wireless broadband plan. It seems unlikely, since we don't even offer 8 gig as a plan."
He gets huffy. "Well, I'm a good customer, and I never try to do anything bad, and I've been paying here for a million years, and I am loyal and how come the loyal customers don't get breaks but the new ones and the ones who pitch fits do, it's not fair."
Uhm, I just explained that we actually DO give breaks to customers who are loyal -- the more services you have with us, the more discounts you get on other services. How is that not honouring the loyal customers? Anyway, that price is not something we offer at this store, and I said this to him. Again.
I try to steer the conversation back towards not sucking, and ask him whether he think a wireless broadband plan would work better for him than prepaid. Then he drops the bombshell.
Get this: He doesn't even want it. He comes in, wastes about 40 minutes of my time on something that he doesn't want because he already has wired broadband and is very happy with it.
I am frustrated as hell, but I kind of give a laugh and go, "Ohhh, I see your game, takin' me for a ride, hey?" in a nice, polite happy joke-y tone.
He gives me a snake oil grin and goes on his way. Honestly, what do these people DO when they're not being annoying bastards?
Comment