In my past in retail, I have one ridiculous story that will forever stick in my mind. I have done my best to make my story as general as possible in order to protect the innocent.
A SC called our store concerning home theater equipment he had that had started to malfunction. I said, OK, did you purchase an extended warranty? He says I'm not sure. Fair enough. So I attempt to look up his receipt. I asked him his name and when he made his purchase.
He tells me his name, and says 2005 (I was worried now since this was year 2011 when I took his call). His warranty would likely have expired, but nonetheless I continued to search for his receipt just to be sure. We did not have a record of his purchase, so I thought he may have purchased it all with cash.
Apparently, I was mistaken. When I told him that I could not find a record of his purchase, he then proceeded to inform me that he had not purchased it from us, but from one of our (now former) competitors.
I was now throroughly baffled, at this point the customer was getting testy as quite a bit of time had passed before reaching this point. However, I had to inform him politely that there was now no way I could arrange service for the unit since HE DID NOT EVEN PURCHASE IT FROM US. The only thing I could recommended was that he attempt to contact the manufacturer.
Things broke down fast. He started yelling, DEMANDING that I arrange for someone to fix his stuff. That I WILL do as I am told. I repeated more bluntly that I could not because he did not purchase it from us.
THEN he explained his logic. He stated to me that he had a credit card issued from said former competitor, but since we used (repeat, USED, past tense) the same bank to issue OUR credit cards at the time, THAT was the magic connection that somehow made us responsible for this guy's stuff. No, really. This is what this guy honestly believed. I can kind of understand wanting to find some way given how expensive it can be to remedy HT issues, but even Mister Fantastic wouldn't attempt to make this much of a stretch. BUT NEVERMIND HOW WRONGHEADED THE LOGIC IS, I MUST ARRANGE SERVICE NOW. NOW, NOW, NOW! And all for free, of course.
I repeated my negatory statement, knowing that his next sentence would be "I can't believe this! I want a manager!" Manager of course said the same damn thing to this guy with the "You have got to be kidding me" look on his face.
After the conversation, the manager related to me that the guy threated to CALL CORPORATE. LOL! This was probably one of the only times I ever thought that would be a good thing.
Whew. Thanks for listening. I'm so glad I left that job.
A SC called our store concerning home theater equipment he had that had started to malfunction. I said, OK, did you purchase an extended warranty? He says I'm not sure. Fair enough. So I attempt to look up his receipt. I asked him his name and when he made his purchase.
He tells me his name, and says 2005 (I was worried now since this was year 2011 when I took his call). His warranty would likely have expired, but nonetheless I continued to search for his receipt just to be sure. We did not have a record of his purchase, so I thought he may have purchased it all with cash.
Apparently, I was mistaken. When I told him that I could not find a record of his purchase, he then proceeded to inform me that he had not purchased it from us, but from one of our (now former) competitors.
I was now throroughly baffled, at this point the customer was getting testy as quite a bit of time had passed before reaching this point. However, I had to inform him politely that there was now no way I could arrange service for the unit since HE DID NOT EVEN PURCHASE IT FROM US. The only thing I could recommended was that he attempt to contact the manufacturer.
Things broke down fast. He started yelling, DEMANDING that I arrange for someone to fix his stuff. That I WILL do as I am told. I repeated more bluntly that I could not because he did not purchase it from us.
THEN he explained his logic. He stated to me that he had a credit card issued from said former competitor, but since we used (repeat, USED, past tense) the same bank to issue OUR credit cards at the time, THAT was the magic connection that somehow made us responsible for this guy's stuff. No, really. This is what this guy honestly believed. I can kind of understand wanting to find some way given how expensive it can be to remedy HT issues, but even Mister Fantastic wouldn't attempt to make this much of a stretch. BUT NEVERMIND HOW WRONGHEADED THE LOGIC IS, I MUST ARRANGE SERVICE NOW. NOW, NOW, NOW! And all for free, of course.
I repeated my negatory statement, knowing that his next sentence would be "I can't believe this! I want a manager!" Manager of course said the same damn thing to this guy with the "You have got to be kidding me" look on his face.
After the conversation, the manager related to me that the guy threated to CALL CORPORATE. LOL! This was probably one of the only times I ever thought that would be a good thing.
Whew. Thanks for listening. I'm so glad I left that job.
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