Customer is not always right...

[mabus]

I found this commentary on the CHUD (Cinematic Happenings Under Development) website, and thought it was dead on.


The Customer is NOT Always Right. This Means You.

There's an interesting thing going on in retail, something I read about on our own message boards about how Best Buy is cracking down on their problem customers. I don't see how anyone can get up in arms about that. As a former retail manager and former human being, it makes perfect sense to me. Any industry that adopts the "customer is always right" motto is an industry bent over a countertop with no lubrication in sight.

The customer isn't always right. The customer is often shit.

So, kudos to Best Buy for drawing a line in the commercial sand. People who abuse return policies and laws of retail deserve the boot. They raise costs for us, make the lines unpleasant, and are used to complaining and therefore must be eventually handed the hairy end of a palm now and then. It's the same people who go into a restaurant and just cannot enjoy their meal. They have to complain. They have to try and weasel out of a meal or a purchase.

Screw them.

I feel the pain that the retailers do here at the site when people abuse our message boards. They think it's cool to waste our time and bandwidth. Screw them too. They get ousted and it's no big loss.

I think people are just too used to getting everything their way. They download movies and music because they're lazy and cheap. They buy things and return them when they're done because they're selfish and cheap. They sneak from theater to theater because they have no grasp of why such actions are frowned upon.

We claim to be a civilized people. Let's act it a little, eh?

 

[TklDuo-Ann]

True. The customer isn't always right. We've had plenty of dips in our stores causing problems just to hear themselves talk. But, on the other side, the staff should be courteous and helpful to the extent possible. We've had a number of occassions where staff at stores or restaurants were downright rude when asked a simple question. We ALL need to act like civilized people.

Ann

 

[steph]

It is about TIME!
To get my Bachelor's, I worked as a bartender and was a journeyman checker at Lucky's (a Cali grocery chain.) After 8 years they laid me off and people would always say, "Oh, too bad, that's a really good paying job, that really sucks." My answer to them was always the same, "No it isn't. It sucked gigantic monkey ass."
I was robbed at gunpoint, sworn at, threatened (for refusing to sell alcohol to a drunk), you name the demeaning context, I experienced it there.

On a funnier note, my college best friend managed a video store. On her cash register was a Garfield sticker. The caption underneath read "The customer is always right. (And usually ugly too!)"


XOXO

 

[TKpervert]

Steph, you have such a way with words.

sucked gigantic monkey ass ??

 

[TKpervert]

A successful retail chain here in So Cal has a very lenient return policy (90 days, no questions). If you don't like it, return it, but what you get is a store credit. And that's fine and very fair.
Customers (including me) love them for this policy and they are thriving.

(Roger Dunn Golf Shops)

 

[steph]

Liked that one did ya Hon? I made it up myself. (You'd think someone who worked as a freelance writer for years could come up with something a little more eloquent, but I then thought "Nah....")
XOXO

Steph, you have such a way with words.

sucked gigantic monkey ass ??

 

[Knox The Hatter]

Don't get me started on customers. As far as I'm concerned, Basil Fawlty and the Soup Nazi had the right idea.

 

[steph]

Amen brother!

XOXO

 

[primetime]

the customer is always right? oh HELL NO!!!! whoever made that saying up was in desperate need for customers. sorry, but there are many people out there who lie about everything. my opinion is that a business should do what's best for the customer AND the business. giving some asshole what he wants may not be what's best for the business. i have a hard time letting people get what they dont deserve. all it will do is create a behavior and morons will never change. a customer can be right, but he/she is not ALWAYS right.

 

[Bagelfather]

The customer isn't always right

The phrase is outdated, but is one you should adhere to in principal to a point. You cannot give the store away but you need to say no with a smile, or say yes we can here's how.

The phrase I use (and have stated in interviews for Customer Service positions) is:

"The customer isn't always right, but should go away thinking that he/she is right."

That's the rub isn't it? You probably all heard the story of the person who returned a car tire to Nordstorms and got her money back because of their customer service being so far above par. What you didn't hear, from what my mom told me back in her training days, was the person was fired from Nordstroms for taking the tire back and giving her the money.

If you like stories about sucky customer vs customer service encounters go to this website, it is hilarious!

http://www.customerssuck.com/

One of the things I used to do at work when I answered emails (and sometimes still do) is called the "Fantasy Replies" where I take an annoying twit email and write how I would really like to respond. I'll share some with you all one day, probably after I leave where I work .

But in the mean time one someone shared with me. Customer enters art supply store and approaches an employee.

Customer: "I would like to buy some paint."
Employee: "What kind would you like?"
Customer: "Wet."

So as a final note, I handle Loss Prevention so I have to deal with people who are stealing from us and even when their hand is caught in the cookie jar they deny it and whine and scream and pout, and I have to be polite as can be, kill them with kindness. You know its actually better to be mean through being nice, than being mean in the first place with an angry customer. Plus they can't get you in trouble for doing it . Not saying its easy by any measure.