If you've followed my posts over the last couple of years you'll know I've written many times about our Area Manager. This woman is apparently lacking any spine whatsoever based on a number of incidents. Notably my prior post about when she allowed a customer to return a Console when they had NO RECEIPT for and get CASH back.
Even my managers have been upset by her flagrant flaunting of policy and don't like being made to look like idiots by her because they follow the rules.
But a couple of days ago we hit a turning point with her.
A guy called me and said he bought a PS3 for someone back on 9/12 and he opened it and played it but has now decided he would rather get an Xbox 360. Amazingly, this customer has actually read our return policy (which states such returns are not allowed) but wants to know if (surprise!) there's any way we can make an exception for him. I tell him no. He keeps bitching about it and asks if there's anyone higher he can take it to. My manager was off for the day so the only thing I could was give him my Area Manager's number.
For the record, our official return policy is there are absolutely NO refunds or exchanges (except for defective replacements) on opened new product ever. Accessories are exempt from the rule. Games can not be returned and consoles can not be returned except as a trade in for store credit (in which case you will get no more than half the value of the item back even if you only bought it yesterday).
After I got off the phone, I sent my Area Manager an email letting her know about the situation.
Some thirty minutes later, I get a response from the Area Manager and I bet you can guess what it said: "Go ahead and do the return and sell the PS3 he brings back with an open stock discount."
For the record, I've spent four years working at Games stores and in all that time I have NEVER seen a system sold under an open stock discount. It just doesn't happen.
So you might think he brought it back and we begrudgingly did the return but here's where it gets interesting:
He never showed the day he called and I left a copy of the email for my manager to see in case he showed up early the next day before I was in. He didn't and when I asked my manager about it when I got to work what she told me was rather surprising:
She said if the customer came back she would refuse to do the return as it goes against our official policy and should not have been approved in the first place. She said if the Area Manager wants to go ahead and write her up for following policy then so be it, but she'll fight it with everything she's got.
She also has the backing of myself and our assistant manager on this.
This could get interesting...
Even my managers have been upset by her flagrant flaunting of policy and don't like being made to look like idiots by her because they follow the rules.
But a couple of days ago we hit a turning point with her.
A guy called me and said he bought a PS3 for someone back on 9/12 and he opened it and played it but has now decided he would rather get an Xbox 360. Amazingly, this customer has actually read our return policy (which states such returns are not allowed) but wants to know if (surprise!) there's any way we can make an exception for him. I tell him no. He keeps bitching about it and asks if there's anyone higher he can take it to. My manager was off for the day so the only thing I could was give him my Area Manager's number.
For the record, our official return policy is there are absolutely NO refunds or exchanges (except for defective replacements) on opened new product ever. Accessories are exempt from the rule. Games can not be returned and consoles can not be returned except as a trade in for store credit (in which case you will get no more than half the value of the item back even if you only bought it yesterday).
After I got off the phone, I sent my Area Manager an email letting her know about the situation.
Some thirty minutes later, I get a response from the Area Manager and I bet you can guess what it said: "Go ahead and do the return and sell the PS3 he brings back with an open stock discount."
For the record, I've spent four years working at Games stores and in all that time I have NEVER seen a system sold under an open stock discount. It just doesn't happen.
So you might think he brought it back and we begrudgingly did the return but here's where it gets interesting:
He never showed the day he called and I left a copy of the email for my manager to see in case he showed up early the next day before I was in. He didn't and when I asked my manager about it when I got to work what she told me was rather surprising:
She said if the customer came back she would refuse to do the return as it goes against our official policy and should not have been approved in the first place. She said if the Area Manager wants to go ahead and write her up for following policy then so be it, but she'll fight it with everything she's got.
She also has the backing of myself and our assistant manager on this.
This could get interesting...
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