Comments on: Adventures in Customer Service

By: Ginger

Ginger — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:58:56 +0000

Call the manager or send him a photocopy of your post!

What really bothers me is the degrading aspect of your experience. I can feel the humiliation. Humiliation and shame that are not deserved. Ick.

By: Sweetflutterbys3

Sweetflutterbys3 — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:57:28 +0000

Oh my gosh, I had the same experience with a nasty employee at a local Subway. She barked and growled at me the entire time and demanded I give her my sandwich order in the exact way she wanted it, like I was supposed to read her mind! I’ll never go back there for sure!

On the other hand, I had a wonderful experience with Overstock.com this past weekend. I ordered a comforter that ripped in the wash on the first cleaning. I called them and they promised to replace it immediately, without me having to ship the old comforter back. They were so nice to me I wrote the managers there thanking them for the great service. I will go back there to shop!

By: Debi Kelly Van Cleave

Debi Kelly Van Cleave — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:23:15 +0000

I don’t have time to read everyone’s responses so forgive me if I repeat what has already been said. People like that feel so bad about themselves, they are so rotten inside, they have to attack someone else. That’s what she was doing. Picking on you. You were an easy target, for some reason. Like how mean, evil people will kick kittens. She thought you were weak. Maybe it did come across, like you said, that you don’t have a lot of money. Maybe you LOOK mild-mannered. Whatever. That witch saw weakness and attacked. I hope you will report her to the higher-ups. In fact, you really need to print out this blog post and send it to them. And send HER a copy too. People like that have no idea they are so mean and rotten. She should know what a witch she is. No one needs this garbage.

Now she will say she was doing her job. That she cares about the company. But that’s bullcrap. She hurt the company. And that’s the problem with most workers, even in this economy. They do not look at the long-term picture when they’re mean to the customers, when they ignore customers or do shoddy work. It’s a very rare worker who actually thinks ahead and treats the company like it’s his own business and not some bottomless well where the paychecks just keep coming. No wonder my old bosses, when I worked for other people, liked me so much. Because I had that concept. Even when I was twenty-years old. I knew that. Now that I am older and have employed people myself, I’ve learned that workers like I was are rare. Even little things. Like I had a credit with The Roanoke Times. They kept sending me a statement every month with a return envelope. Big waste of money. What did I need a return envelope for? Why did I even need a statement over and over again? Just send the balance and save money. But no one was THINKING. Because no one really cares. Good workers are hard to find. And you’re right–it’s shocking in this economy when people are begging for jobs.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:10:37 +0000

How about this? You sell the book about the sock dolls and make millions of dollars. The bicked witch is still working at that store, of course. Which you buy with your pocket change. She is allowed to kiss your feet and beg for forgiveness before getting fired.

Why am I being so mean and revengeful? Because I had to deal with Comcast customer service this week. But that bicked witch had to give it up and let me win. Bwah hah hah!

By: CountryDew

CountryDew — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:26:45 +0000

Oh dear. You ran into the coupon police. I seem to run into that frequently. They are clerks who think that it is their job to try to catch people who use coupons illicitly. It is as if we’re personally taking that 50 cents away from them. It is is the biggest reason I hate to use coupons.

I agree with everyone else: report the clerk. But I am glad you bought your lotion.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:29:09 +0000

Yes. I agree with all of the comments regarding reporting this incident to someone higher in the food chain. Many years ago, I had a very unpleasant experience at a McDonalds and tried to resolve the matter locally. It didn’t work. I ended up taking it to corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, IL and was “rewarded” with gift coupons, after an interminable amount of time and effort. The sum involved was ridiculously small, but I was one ticked off person and I wasn’t going to let go until I got satisfaction. I took the coupons to an outlet, bought something with them and, to this day, I have NEVER bought another thing from McDonalds. And I won’t ever darken the door of a McDonalds in the future, either. Not even if I’m starving.

You MUST complain to corporate higher-ups, Beth. If you need help researching the appropriate place to complain, please let me know. I’ll be more than happy to do so and I can provide help with the format of the complaint letter, too.

By: Ariel

Ariel — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:13:29 +0000

I’m sorry you had to go through that. I agree with Benjamin, the accompanying pictures are hilarious. Though your experience was wretched, I’m glad you can see the modicum of humor in it. Because that lady was absolutely ridiculous!

By: wesley

wesley — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:55:14 +0000

…ditto to everyone else. And here’s another suggestion: if you aren’t comfortable calling the store, a letter is still legitimate in this day and age. yes, you never know if they will throw it away but at least you will know that you made your experience known.

On a positive note, I think it’s good to praise those who give you good customer service. On the Wednesday before Christmas I went to the Ingles in Waynesville to buy supplies for Christmas dinner. We had had snow and lots of people were finally out and about for the first time after being stuck. Add that to the regular Christmas grocery rush and you know the store was very very busy. I had a long list and needed some help locating a couple of things. Stockers were busy on every aisle loading up from trucks that had been delayed due to the earlier snow. And every single person I encountered who worked there that day was helpful and cheerful and pleasant. Some even went out of their way to help me and were polite about it. I asked one man to help me find tahini and even though he didn’t know what it was he said “oh we’ll find it” and he did!
After going through the checkout, where even the teenage girl was nice and helpful and the bagger happily loaded up my brought-from-home bags and piled them high into my cart, I wheeled right over to the customer service desk and asked for the manager. The customer service gal stopped and looked at me and I could see the big “uh oh” in her head. I heard the cautious tone in her voice when she said “She would like to speak with the manager.”
He came down out of the customer service booth to be on the same level with me (another plus) and I told him about my experience. I asked him to pass my compliments on to his staff that they were all doing a great job and it was noticed.
The relief in him was visible and he smiled and thanked me and asked if he could help me carry my stuff to the car. I declined.
Now I don’t feel so guilty about going out of my way to shop there once in a while. They’ve earned my business.

And the drug store you went to has lost your business–and mine (email me and tell me, okay). You really should let them know, somehow.

Hugs to you.

By: june

june — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:29:00 +0000

I know Beth…it amazes me too how in this economy there could be even one instance of bad customer service…but there is. All I can think to figure it out is that the times are stressing these folks out too and they don’t have the emotional IQ not to displace their anxiety on to others. Still not an excuse … they need to be held accountable. Perhaps they’ll learn from it…or perhaps they’ll get more bitter and become more nasty and then lose their job and become more bitter and more nasty and, and….Guess the bottom line is they’re out there and we just have to do what WE have to do to live among them. Part of that is to report the incident. If it happens again, stop shopping there and tell them why.

By: Bonnie Jacobs

Bonnie Jacobs — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:57:26 +0000

I wish to help with the part that Martha suggested: “…that you’ll share this experience with everyone you know.” Here’s my email address so you can send me the name of the store so I’ll avoid going there, too, as your reinforcement. My email … emerging DOT paradigm AT yahoo DOT com. I’m with you on this. Thanks for writing this post.