Statistical anomalies your customers seem to experience.

[HoneyDippinDan]

When I say "statistical anomalies", I mean stuff that your customers claim happens but all things being equal, should not happen.

For instance, with my current job, when people call us up and claim that they never received their bills, I'd say that better than two thirds for the time they call they "just happen" to be calling us up on the day or the day after the bill was due. For some customers, this seems to happen on a regular basis.

When I worked at DirecTV, I was always amazed by the number of customers I talked to that called to complain that their satellite equipment wasn't working and this "just happened" to be within a week of when they were scheduled to be shut off for nonpayment already. And of course the majority of these customers felt that sending out a technician was unnecessary, if they got credits for a couple free months of service, surely the service would just repair itself.

Another one was at Pizza Hut. About 80% of the complaints came from the crappy trailer park ghetto that represented 10% of our delivery area. And another store that also delivered to that same 10% seemed to experience the same phenomenon.

So what statistical anomalies do your customers seem to experience?

[AFpheonix]

I like it when scammers decide that they were shorted pills on their last fill when they're a week away from getting a new fill.

They get little notes on their profile to have the person ringing them out to bring along a counting tray to the register and count out their pills in front of them before they leave. By that token, they don't get to use the drive through, either.

[Jewels]

I work for a DirecTV dealer now...it can be interesting.


I love it when people say that they haven't had service for a week, an want a credit...but this is the first time that they have reported an outage.

I also love it when people who have their service shut off due to non payment get all uppity with me...making up laws as to why we can't do that...telling me what they will pay and when (ie, I owe $100, plus $60 to get services back on. I will pay $20 in two months, $40 three months after that, and the remainder at the start of next year, and I am not paying the reconnection fee--even though I want the services back on.) After I finally get them to pay everything they owe, they demand a tech to come out right then to reconnect them. Sorry it doesn't work like that.

[PW_Elle]

Everyone else but me was picked up...

I get at least two calls a day from people who:

1. Had their trash out the night before it was supposed to be picked up (we require it to be out by 7:30am to guarantee pickup)
2. Say their "trash never comes until 10:00 (or later)"
3. And somehow, at 8:30, everyone's trash on the whole street got picked up - except for theirs.

Now, we don't guarantee pickup times for this reason. If the trash normally comes at 11:00, but the routes are changed that day for some reason, then we are not responsible if they don't have it out. That's why we say "7:30."

And, contrary to popular belief, the guys are not complete imbeciles. If they're driving down the street, and they pick up both of your neighbors' trash, they're not going to miss yours. Especially if you have 6 black bags out. They're not going to miss you. Yet some people still play that card. It's a statistical anomaly.

-PW_Elle

[Imogene]

This only happened once, but I remember it so clearly.
A kid comes into Chesterfield, asks me what he can buy for (I want to say it was $6...)
I tell him, not much, really.
He asks if we sell separate Magic cards.
No, we sell movies.
He buys a basic pack of Magic cards, and wanders off, after paying entirely in change.
About twenty minutes later, he returns.
Can I return this?
No, it's open, I can't resell it, much less the fact that we don't do returns on Magic cards.
What if I got it stapled shut?
If that were all it took, I could do that. I have a stapler back here somewhere.
Well, this pack was "All land cards"!
My response at the time was "Duh, they're random packs."
Well, do you buy separate cards?
No, I refer you to our introductory questioning, as we're a MOVIE store! Besides, basic lands don't go for more than a couple dollars, if I'm not mistaken. You couldn't sell me the pack piecemeal and get your money back.

[BookstoreEscapee]

When people consistently claim their bill was late or whatever, do they really not think the company keeps track of those complaints? If you call once, I can buy that, I'm sure it happens from time to time, but if you tell me that 6 months in a row, I'm gonna have to advise you to make sure your address is current or take it up with the post office...

[Broomjockey]

Well, this pack was "All land cards"!
My response at the time was "Duh, they're random packs."
Well, do you buy separate cards?
No, I refer you to our introductory questioning, as we're a MOVIE store! Besides, basic lands don't go for more than a couple dollars, if I'm not mistaken. You couldn't selkl me the pack piecemeal and get your money back.

Honestly, land from a set being currently sold, especially basic land, shouldn't be going for even a dollar a piece. Also, the packs are random, but not that random. Getting a pack that's completely land cards is basically a statistical impossibility, as I'm fairly certain they simply add 2 random lands to the rest of the random cards of the set.

[Imogene]

Getting a pack that's completely land cards is basically a statistical impossibility

I refer you to the thread's title.

[steviededalus]

Well, this pack was "All land cards"!
My response at the time was "Duh, they're random packs."
Well, do you buy separate cards?
No, I refer you to our introductory questioning, as we're a MOVIE store! Besides, basic lands don't go for more than a couple dollars, if I'm not mistaken. You couldn't selkl me the pack piecemeal and get your money back.

He shouldn't have received a pack with all lands; they're only supposed to have two lands per pack.
BUT you don't return the opened pack to the store; you send it to the company that makes Magic cards and they'll send you a new pack.
Although I haven't played Magic in a few years, basic lands are fairly cheap. On the scale of pennies per.

[nick1091]

It indeed seems like a statistical anomally that everyone who claims that someone on my job offered them preferential treatment (payment deferrment, payment plans, credits, etc.) can never name the employee who told them it would be ok. It always seems to be the mythical "someone over there," or his sister, the equally incognito "that girl."