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Hi all,
Long time no post. I'm still working at the Hobbytown and I haven't had too many rough experiences lately, but this one I just had to share. The name of the manufacturer has not been changed because they are not slandered and are actually an excellent company.
A few weeks ago on Saturday, this woman comes in the store and wants a telescope for her daughter. We had just gotten in a pretty nice selection of Celestron scopes and she decides that she wants the expensive computerized telescope with the autofinder and all the other fixins.
So I sold it to her.
Now, I occasionally get this feeling like I should not have sold a product to someone. That I should have refused service to them on the grounds that they just gave off this aura of stupid. The woman positively glowed with this aura, but she was nice, polite, and enthusiastic, so I sold her the telescope.
There was a dent in the box, and she expressed concern about it, but I assured her that Celestron boxed all the parts in their own individual boxes and triplewrapped them with large bubblewrap. She had asked a few questions about warranty information and I informed her that it was warrantied against defects through the manufacturer, that we did not offer warranty service on any item we sold. But she was satisfied and left giddy at the idea of surprising her daughter with it.
Fast forward to Sunday. The lady walks in with the telescope and makes the claim to the owner that it is defective, having been unable to align it to use the computerized autofinder, and that I had misrepresented the condition of the product to her and demanded a full refund. We asked if she had gotten a hold of the manufacturer to make a warranty claim and she said no, but that it shouldn't matter because I had misrepresented the product's condition and it was the fault of the store that the product was defective. She also threatened that if she wasn't satisfied, she'd call the police and file a report.
The owner informed her that he can't just refund her money without first testing the telescope, because Celestron won't take back a telescope at face value either but requires that a qualified person tests it first. I, meanwhile, called the police on her behalf so that she might go ahead and make her report.
The owner and the woman go back and forth for several minutes, with the owner repeating the policy to her as she claims that no one told her what the policy was (it's printed prominately with highlighting in no less than 3 places at each register, including a sign with 2-inch-high lettering at eye-level at the counter) and that I had misrepresented the product to her.
The police show up, and the customer was shocked to discover that we had called her bluff. One of the cops is well-known to us, and she proceeded to lay in to him about how we had robbed her of a small fortune and that I had lied to her about the quality of the product. Sgt. Z informs her that the policy is not illegal, no arrests will be made, but if she decides to then push forward with the police report, it WILL go to court and she WILL lose, and probably be slapped with a fine.
We inform her that we will test the telescope first. If it works, it belongs to her. If it is defective, we will ship it back to Celestron and refund her. She calls and leaves a message with Celestron about the situation, once again blaming me personally for lying to her about the condition of the telescope and not having the clairvoyance to tell her what the return policy was (just because it's posted does not make a person obliged to read it). But she agrees and leaves the telescope with us.
The next morning, I call Celestron Tech Support after thuroughly reading the manual and let them know what is happening. The tech (whose name I cannot recall, but he was AWESOME) says that she is probably not following the alignment instructions and graciously walks me through the quickest way to determine if this is the case. Since a test will have to wait for moonrise, I check to see when that will be for our area and go about my business day.
At around 12:30 we get a call from the woman, who tells us that she heard from Celestron, who supports her defective claim and demands her money back. We told her that we would once again talk to Celestron to verify her statement and test the telescope as required by our dealer contract before sending it back.
Moonrise rolls around and about twenty minutes later, the moon can be seen perfectly (waxing and almost full) over the treeline of the wooded lot across from our shop. I take the telescope out, assemble all the parts and aim it at the moon.
I enter the date, time, and location into the tracking computer, then follow the instructions for a solar system alignment on the moon. I was about half a degree off, but the alignment popped up as being successful. To make sure I had gotten it right, I told it to next find Venus. It swivels on the gimble and aligns at where Venus would have appeared in the sky had it been visible. I then tell it to find the moon again, and it does, aligning perfectly (save for my error) and continues to track the moon automatically. To perform one more test, I ask the telescope to identify the object it is currently tracking. Instead of spitting out a supposition to me, it checks the date, time, location, and quadrant of the sky it's looking at before spitting out to me that it is, in fact, the moon.
The damn thing works.
I walk in and tell the owner that the telescope is not defective. He calls her and leaves a voicemail that her telescope works and is ready to be picked up. And since it was a slow night, I went out and put in the higher-power lens, getting a couple excellent shots of the moon with my lowly cameraphone before proceeding to put the telescope through its paces. I can verify that it is an excellent piece of equipment in perfect working order. Celestron really makes a NICE product.
Now, this is not over. The next day, we recieve a fax from the woman stating that she has not heard from us about the status of her telescope, that she has called Celestron to complain that we have both her money and her product, and that she once again demands a refund or she will be forced to take this "to the next level."
The owner (perhaps imprudently) fires off an angry reply fax telling her to come and pick her telescope up, that it is functional and there will be no refund. He then calls her to inform her of the same thing, but gets her voice mail.
I decide to be a little smarter. She had name-dropped one of the paticular Celestron reps, and so I call the company again and ask for this individual. She asnwers and I tell her who I am and why I'm calling. She's delighted to talk to me and get this situation worked out, and so I tell her what has happened and that I've determined that the telescope is not defective but operating perfectly, adding that I was quite impressed with it as a product. Her reply was "oh! So there's no problem." She quickly agreed to call the customer and tell her that it had been determined that her telescope was in perfect operation and that the company would support our policy; there would be no refund.
That was two weeks ago... we've still got it here. There have not been any chargeback inquiries from the credit card companies or any other action indicating that she has gone "to the next level." But we're certain that we have not heard the last of her.
Now, let me make something clear. I don't particularly like our return policy, but it is in my job description to enforce it. Even if we had decided to be charitable and refund this woman's money if the telescope in fact worked, the packaging had been wrecked in the process of being opened, with parts strewn all through the boxes haphazzard. We could never sell it again as new, and the policy specifically states "in unopened packaging." I really wish she would just show up and get the thing, but I'm well aware that it's turned into a pissing contest and she won't do so willingly.
Long time no post. I'm still working at the Hobbytown and I haven't had too many rough experiences lately, but this one I just had to share. The name of the manufacturer has not been changed because they are not slandered and are actually an excellent company.
A few weeks ago on Saturday, this woman comes in the store and wants a telescope for her daughter. We had just gotten in a pretty nice selection of Celestron scopes and she decides that she wants the expensive computerized telescope with the autofinder and all the other fixins.
So I sold it to her.
Now, I occasionally get this feeling like I should not have sold a product to someone. That I should have refused service to them on the grounds that they just gave off this aura of stupid. The woman positively glowed with this aura, but she was nice, polite, and enthusiastic, so I sold her the telescope.
There was a dent in the box, and she expressed concern about it, but I assured her that Celestron boxed all the parts in their own individual boxes and triplewrapped them with large bubblewrap. She had asked a few questions about warranty information and I informed her that it was warrantied against defects through the manufacturer, that we did not offer warranty service on any item we sold. But she was satisfied and left giddy at the idea of surprising her daughter with it.
Fast forward to Sunday. The lady walks in with the telescope and makes the claim to the owner that it is defective, having been unable to align it to use the computerized autofinder, and that I had misrepresented the condition of the product to her and demanded a full refund. We asked if she had gotten a hold of the manufacturer to make a warranty claim and she said no, but that it shouldn't matter because I had misrepresented the product's condition and it was the fault of the store that the product was defective. She also threatened that if she wasn't satisfied, she'd call the police and file a report.
The owner informed her that he can't just refund her money without first testing the telescope, because Celestron won't take back a telescope at face value either but requires that a qualified person tests it first. I, meanwhile, called the police on her behalf so that she might go ahead and make her report.
The owner and the woman go back and forth for several minutes, with the owner repeating the policy to her as she claims that no one told her what the policy was (it's printed prominately with highlighting in no less than 3 places at each register, including a sign with 2-inch-high lettering at eye-level at the counter) and that I had misrepresented the product to her.
The police show up, and the customer was shocked to discover that we had called her bluff. One of the cops is well-known to us, and she proceeded to lay in to him about how we had robbed her of a small fortune and that I had lied to her about the quality of the product. Sgt. Z informs her that the policy is not illegal, no arrests will be made, but if she decides to then push forward with the police report, it WILL go to court and she WILL lose, and probably be slapped with a fine.
We inform her that we will test the telescope first. If it works, it belongs to her. If it is defective, we will ship it back to Celestron and refund her. She calls and leaves a message with Celestron about the situation, once again blaming me personally for lying to her about the condition of the telescope and not having the clairvoyance to tell her what the return policy was (just because it's posted does not make a person obliged to read it). But she agrees and leaves the telescope with us.
The next morning, I call Celestron Tech Support after thuroughly reading the manual and let them know what is happening. The tech (whose name I cannot recall, but he was AWESOME) says that she is probably not following the alignment instructions and graciously walks me through the quickest way to determine if this is the case. Since a test will have to wait for moonrise, I check to see when that will be for our area and go about my business day.
At around 12:30 we get a call from the woman, who tells us that she heard from Celestron, who supports her defective claim and demands her money back. We told her that we would once again talk to Celestron to verify her statement and test the telescope as required by our dealer contract before sending it back.
Moonrise rolls around and about twenty minutes later, the moon can be seen perfectly (waxing and almost full) over the treeline of the wooded lot across from our shop. I take the telescope out, assemble all the parts and aim it at the moon.
I enter the date, time, and location into the tracking computer, then follow the instructions for a solar system alignment on the moon. I was about half a degree off, but the alignment popped up as being successful. To make sure I had gotten it right, I told it to next find Venus. It swivels on the gimble and aligns at where Venus would have appeared in the sky had it been visible. I then tell it to find the moon again, and it does, aligning perfectly (save for my error) and continues to track the moon automatically. To perform one more test, I ask the telescope to identify the object it is currently tracking. Instead of spitting out a supposition to me, it checks the date, time, location, and quadrant of the sky it's looking at before spitting out to me that it is, in fact, the moon.
The damn thing works.
I walk in and tell the owner that the telescope is not defective. He calls her and leaves a voicemail that her telescope works and is ready to be picked up. And since it was a slow night, I went out and put in the higher-power lens, getting a couple excellent shots of the moon with my lowly cameraphone before proceeding to put the telescope through its paces. I can verify that it is an excellent piece of equipment in perfect working order. Celestron really makes a NICE product.
Now, this is not over. The next day, we recieve a fax from the woman stating that she has not heard from us about the status of her telescope, that she has called Celestron to complain that we have both her money and her product, and that she once again demands a refund or she will be forced to take this "to the next level."
The owner (perhaps imprudently) fires off an angry reply fax telling her to come and pick her telescope up, that it is functional and there will be no refund. He then calls her to inform her of the same thing, but gets her voice mail.
I decide to be a little smarter. She had name-dropped one of the paticular Celestron reps, and so I call the company again and ask for this individual. She asnwers and I tell her who I am and why I'm calling. She's delighted to talk to me and get this situation worked out, and so I tell her what has happened and that I've determined that the telescope is not defective but operating perfectly, adding that I was quite impressed with it as a product. Her reply was "oh! So there's no problem." She quickly agreed to call the customer and tell her that it had been determined that her telescope was in perfect operation and that the company would support our policy; there would be no refund.
That was two weeks ago... we've still got it here. There have not been any chargeback inquiries from the credit card companies or any other action indicating that she has gone "to the next level." But we're certain that we have not heard the last of her.
Now, let me make something clear. I don't particularly like our return policy, but it is in my job description to enforce it. Even if we had decided to be charitable and refund this woman's money if the telescope in fact worked, the packaging had been wrecked in the process of being opened, with parts strewn all through the boxes haphazzard. We could never sell it again as new, and the policy specifically states "in unopened packaging." I really wish she would just show up and get the thing, but I'm well aware that it's turned into a pissing contest and she won't do so willingly.
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