Did I Cause These People to Get Fired? - Poor Customer Service

[Kay-T-Hammer]

A couple of days ago, Chewy's website was down, and I was frantic as I got an email about an auto-ship to review, but I didn't know what was being auto-shipped. I called and got helped by a wonderful lady who found out it was prescriptions for our dogs and cats. One she said was on sale in two days, and could I wait two days? When some of these prescriptions are well over $100, you bet I'll wait two days! After she went through every prescription for my 5 four-legged animals, I asked to speak to her supervisor. She was so surprised and said, "Of course." I spoke to one of her team of supervisors, who acknowledged the issue with their website and thanked me for calling to add to the alerts they were passing on to their tech dept, and thanked me for expressing gratitude about how awesome their employee was.

I believe both the good and the bad customer service needs to be acknowledged. As someone else said, maybe the bad ones should work where they aren't helping customers.

I once had a customer that I had spent more than an hour helping; we chatted, laughed, I talked her out of an unnecessary expensive purchase by teaching her a new way to do something, and I almost meal violated making sure she was all set and happy with what she got. Then she turned to me all serious and told me she wanted to speak to my manager. I damn near burst into tears thinking that I was about to get the worst telling off by someone that I had done everything I could to help, but when my boss showed up, she showered me with praises. I had just begun working at Walmart not even a week before that, and I had been afraid of my boss at that point, so the entirety of that situation put me through an emotional roller-coaster.

 

[gtaus]

So one should be overcharged for the convenience of the line?

For years, us veterans would just show our military ID to the checkout person, they would enter the code, and the transaction would be complete. No line hold up - ever. But recently, Home Depot has gone to a mobile app on a smartphone and now you are supposed to scan that QR code to get your military discount.

When the mobile app works, and the scanner accepts the QR code, then everything is just fine. But when the store internet is not working correctly, then the app does not refresh, then everything falls apart. Sometimes the website for the app does not work. It's buggy and does not always work.

I admit I'm an old guy and did not get my first smart phone until just over a year ago. I did not grow up with these phones. The only reason I eventually got a smartphone was because my USAA bank would no longer accept check deposits on my home scanner - I had to use their mobile app for deposits.

Anyways, at Home Depot, when the store internet was not working and my mobile app would not refresh, I told the customer service lady I was having a problem and I think at one point I even handed the phone to her. But the store internet was not working, or so slow, that the app was not refreshing for her either. So, I showed her my military ID card in my wallet. But, as I have stated, for whatever reason, she refused to enter the override code on her till. She watched me for about 20 minutes trying to get their mobile app to work. When the line got long enough and other people started to get upset, then she entered the override code and we were done with the transaction in a few seconds. She could have entered her override code anytime she wanted to.

As I said, I got more upset about that experience on my way out to the car, so I turned around, went back into the store, and related my situation to the manager. I don't know if the manager was a vet himself, or not, but he told me there was no reason she should have made me go through that experience, that Home Depot values the veteran community, and they want us to take advantage of that military discount program as much as we can. That's the company line.

To his credit, he said he would look into the situation and fix it. I don't know if that customer service lady was ever fired, or not, but I have not seen her at the store in the past 8 weeks. I hope she was retrained. But all the checkout employees now have badges with military discount QR codes to scan if there is any problem at the checkout. So, good for management in solving that problem.

 

[gtaus]

Just curious, but could you save an image of your QR code on your phone, or print it out on paper and keep it in your wallet? Maybe HD should provide cards with the individual's code on them?

Unfortunately, no. The QR code on the mobile app is only good for a number of minutes and then you have to refresh the screen and get a new code. Until recently, we only needed to show our military ID card for the discount, and there was never a problem for the checkout person to add the discount to our transactions. The whole mobile app and QR code thing is new for Home Depot and there are bugs to work out in real life.

But there are a number of positive things about the military program changes at Home Depot. When you set up your Home Depot account, and verify that you are a veteran, it gets attached to your account. Now, if I order something online, my military discount is automatically applied for all eligible purchases. That's even better than before when you only got the military discount for buying stuff in the store and not online.

Potentially, the new system will be much better when they work out the bugs. But if the internet is slow or down, everything falls apart on the mobile app. That's why our local management gave the employees a military discount QR code badge for overrides.

FWIW, the best company I know of for streamlining the checkout process is Harbor Freight. All I do is give them my phone number and my entire account is called up and all my discounts are applied automatically. I don't have to carry any special cards, don't need a mobile app or smartphone, and don't need to remember any unique passwords.

 

[RubelliteRose]

For years, us veterans would just show our military ID to the checkout person, they would enter the code, and the transaction would be complete. No line hold up - ever. But recently, Home Depot has gone to a mobile app on a smartphone and now you are supposed to scan that QR code to get your military discount.

When the mobile app works, and the scanner accepts the QR code, then everything is just fine. But when the store internet is not working correctly, then the app does not refresh, then everything falls apart. Sometimes the website for the app does not work. It's buggy and does not always work.

I admit I'm an old guy and did not get my first smart phone until just over a year ago. I did not grow up with these phones. The only reason I eventually got a smartphone was because my USAA bank would no longer accept check deposits on my home scanner - I had to use their mobile app for deposits.

Anyways, at Home Depot, when the store internet was not working and my mobile app would not refresh, I told the customer service lady I was having a problem and I think at one point I even handed the phone to her. But the store internet was not working, or so slow, that the app was not refreshing for her either. So, I showed her my military ID card in my wallet. But, as I have stated, for whatever reason, she refused to enter the override code on her till. She watched me for about 20 minutes trying to get their mobile app to work. When the line got long enough and other people started to get upset, then she entered the override code and we were done with the transaction in a few seconds. She could have entered her override code anytime she wanted to.

As I said, I got more upset about that experience on my way out to the car, so I turned around, went back into the store, and related my situation to the manager. I don't know if the manager was a vet himself, or not, but he told me there was no reason she should have made me go through that experience, that Home Depot values the veteran community, and they want us to take advantage of that military discount program as much as we can. That's the company line.

To his credit, he said he would look into the situation and fix it. I don't know if that customer service lady was ever fired, or not, but I have not seen her at the store in the past 8 weeks. I hope she was retrained. But all the checkout employees now have badges with military discount QR codes to scan if there is any problem at the checkout. So, good for management in solving that problem.

You might want to ask at your store, but at our Home Depot, the military discount is under the Pro Xtra program. I just hit the orange Pro Xtra button at checkout and enter my husband's phone number to get the military discount. It is so much easier since I too always had problems accessing the internet in the store. They briefly had veterans and spouses create separate Pro accounts, but they decided that was too complicated and told spouses to use service members phone number

 

[gtaus]

I once had a customer that I had spent more than an hour helping; we chatted, laughed, I talked her out of an unnecessary expensive purchase by teaching her a new way to do something, and I almost meal violated making sure she was all set and happy with what she got. Then she turned to me all serious and told me she wanted to speak to my manager. I damn near burst into tears thinking that I was about to get the worst telling off by someone that I had done everything I could to help, but when my boss showed up, she showered me with praises. I had just begun working at Walmart not even a week before that, and I had been afraid of my boss at that point, so the entirety of that situation put me through an emotional roller-coaster.

You sound like the type of person we all would wish was working at the store to help us, if needed. I think too many stores undervalue their employees and how much goodwill a helpful employee can generate for the company.

 

[gtaus]

You might want to ask at your store, but at our Home Depot, the military discount is under the Pro Xtra program. I just hit the orange Pro Xtra button at checkout and enter my husband's phone number to get the military discount. It is so much easier since I too always had problems accessing the internet in the store. They briefly had veterans and spouses create separate Pro accounts, but they decided that was too complicated and told spouses to use service members phone number

Yeah, lots of military in Virginia. Not as much in my small-town northern Minnesota. I have never heard of the Pro Xtra button or just entering your telephone number to access your account. That sounds like a good system.

 

[RubelliteRose]

Interesting, I am surprised that the military discount program isn't the same nation wide, but good to know in case we travel. Perhaps we are a pilot area, because the badges were what employees used here until last year I think, then they switched to the phone number.

 

[gtaus]

Interesting, I am surprised that the military discount program isn't the same nation wide, but good to know in case we travel. Perhaps we are a pilot area, because the badges were what employees used here until last year I think, then they switched to the phone number.

It might well be the same system nation-wide. What I am suggesting is that you have lots of military in your area so your local management might have figured out how to better service the vets within the Home Depot system. Nobody at my local Home Depot has ever asked me for my phone number. That sounds like a much better way to access the account to apply the appropriate discounts.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I very strongly doubt your one complaint caused her to get fired. Mangement doesn't fire a good employee based on one customer's complaint. They'll get a talking to, maybe a letter in their employee file, but one incident does not justify firing her. I've never heard of that happening over a complaint like yours. (It IS justified if the poor service they rendered included a discriminatory remark.) At any rate, it would take a pattern of these sorts of complaints for an employee to be fired. It also occurs to me that employees are often cross or rude to customers when they are looking for an excuse to quit or get fired.

 

[gtaus]

It also occurs to me that employees are often cross or rude to customers when they are looking for an excuse to quit or get fired.

Yeah, I wondered about that, in both the cases I mentioned. Maybe I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. I never took either instance personally. Certainly, there were no discriminatory remarks made to me.

Thanks for your feedback.