Greenville's Worst Buy the day after Thanksgiving
Jonathan, your article is an excellent opportunity to write something I've had on my chest for a while. I'm writing this to sort of fulfill a promise. My experience was remarkably similar to Jonathan's, even though it was a totally different business.
Some people value a personal touch versus bargain basement service and may pay the premium for it, others prefere the cheapest, fastest experience they can find. Businesses are free to play to either clientele and anyone in between. When things change unexpectedly, that is when loyal customers get ticked. Customers and businesses should treat eachother with consideration and respect and when they don't, they "deserve" a severed relationship.
Yes, I was one of those idiots who got up at 5 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving to do some deal hunting. Yes I was suckered into the stores by all the rebate ads and "one day sales." So, you may believe that I deserve whatever I get, but I try never to use the word "deserve" when the concept of "deserve" is irrelevant in most instances.
So, I'm at a big electronics store in Greenville that will remain nameless, because my point is not to hurt their business any more than the business they lost when I vowed not to shop their anymore. My desire is for them to do a better job.
The sale fliers advertised many great sales and rebates on many electronics. We waited in line for the store to open, at 5 or 6 a.m. I can't remember. Whatever it was, it was early. Employees gave out sheets of paper that "guarantee" us the product listed on the sheet, since there were limited numbers of the sale items in the store that day. I heard that one store selling Sony Clie's had only 10 in the store. They were sold out before I even made it out of the first store. Truth in advertising? Yet another article for another day.
Crowd control was much improved over the fiasco that happened the previous year. Whle waiting in line, my wife and I debated whether the stores should have to pay for police service or whether since the public showed up in droves it was a legitimate public interest, but that too is another article. When the store opened, people filed in in a fairly orderly manner.
We were told that if we had a sheet and waited in the lines inside the store that we were guaranteed one of the products. Once in the store, however, it was chaos. I waited through no fewer than 3 lines for about 30 minutes each before the lines evaporated because either (1) the product ran out, or (2) we were told that this was the line to pick up a product when we later found out that it was the line to sign up for satellite TV (who on earth is going to get up at 5 a.m. to sign up for satellite TV?). Poof, line disappears and there goes your shot at the item and 30 minutes of your life gone. There was a lot of frustration amongst the customers and, having noone else to blame, they were getting snooty with eachother.
After the third time of this, giving up on most of the items we wanted, then waiting for about 20 minute in the monstrous checkout line, I gave up. I put down the items I did manage to find and on my way out I saw a news 4 guy talking with the manager giving a fluff piece.
Ok, I was ticked but that was the last straw for me. Total chaos and anger amongst all the customers and this guy is giving a fluff story of what a great time is being had by all and the so-called news guy was eating it up.
So, I decide to confront the manager. I told him that this had been a terrible experience. Like the teller that Jonathan ran across, either the guy was totally unaware of the right thing to say to an irate customer or he was intentionally baiting me. I should have assumed the former, but alas, I went with the latter assumption. Mea culpa, I could have been more diplomatic when he said "thank you for shopping at XYZ, have a nice day." I told him that "thanks to XYZ my day has sucked."
He repeated his flippant farewell. Now I was more than ticked. I went over to the now packing up newsguy and asked him what he thought about a story of how the store was total chaos and none of the employees knew what was going on. His almost exact words were "Did you talk to the manager?...I've spoken with him, he's a nice guy, for him it's all about the customer...but if you can prove you have a point I might talk to you."
My next mistake, believing a news guy on deadline. So, I told him to wait a minute while I went to the first line I could find, in the CD and computer games section. Big line with lots of customers waiting, irritated, and lots of employees hanging around, some talking to customers. I asked a group of employees "What is this the line for?" Their almost exact words were, "we're not sure, we are trying to find out."
I head back to the front of the store. News crew is gonzo. So, I go talk to the manager again. After a few exchanges, most of his responses, like a computer just repeating the same flippant farewell. I told him that I was planning to write a letter to the editor about the experience. He said "great, you do that...repeat flippant farewell."
Eventually, it occurs to me what is irking me about this guy. I ask "you aren't sorry that this was a terrible experience." His response "I'm very sorry, now I'm asking you to leave and don't come back into the store or I will call the police." Wow, what an apology. I had not been threatening or belligerent, just persistent. I had not even made a scene except for the employees milling at the entrance. I decided I could get arrested for much more important things.
As I was walking out I responded "don't worry." I will never go back into that store. If this is the benefits of face-to-face customer service, I'll do the rest of my shopping on-line. Other stores are welcome to do better and retain my business, and I'd even give the benefit of the doubt to other locations of this particular chain. But this location has lost my business forever. I won't be fooled again by the deals and the hype. I'm voting with my dollars and my feet for better service at everyday low prices.
|