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

[1cock2hens]

Self checkouts aren't gonna go away. Well at least not until they're replaced by something more tech.. It's a nice dream though.
We have a McDonald's that only uses a person for the drive thru. Walk in is all done on kiosks.

They have already gotten rid of some around here. They may be popular in some places but other places they are hated. My prediction is part of the country will keep them and the rest of the country will go back to using people instead.

 

[Debbie292d]

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.

 

[gtaus]

Us too. People used to rag on me when I would skip the Friday DQ at work. "You have to treat yourself sometimes!" Well, I don't really care for DQ, so it's not a treat. And that $5 every Friday can go into my IRA.

I can drive the same car for 10-12 years. I can skip the expensive vacations. I can skip eating out twice a week. I can shop at Goodwill for most of my clothes.

Now, I can skip getting up and going to work.

Preach on! I really don't miss some of those things I chose not to spend money on years ago.

I know lots of people, my age, still working at jobs they hate with no way out because they live paycheck to paycheck. I know that sometimes life throws a curveball and you might find yourself working hard just to keep your head above water. So, I don't mean to put anyone down. But lots of people only live for the moment and can burn a paycheck up on those treats, eating out, or whatever.

I should also mention that when I was in the service, at one time I was the command's "Financial Advisor" and had to go to a school to learn how to help our military members better handle their finances. Lots of good people have poor spending habits and that can get them into trouble fast. Of course, a big concern was that the service member could lose their security clearance if they got into financial trouble. That could mean loss of their job and career. However, in general, most people in that situation are not having a good life due to the burden of debt they are carrying.

 

[Sally PB]

My brother, sister, and I were all raised in the same house with the same parents. Mom and Dad tried to teach us about saving, spending wisely, how money can work for you. You know, all the good lessons.

My brother and sister were adopted. We had/have VERY different ideas about those subjects. My sister never had 2 nickles to rub together; if she did, she spent them. My brother worked very hard, physical work (construction and farm), and did very well. My sister died broke after being broke all her life.

I can only figure that some of the habits/attitude/knowledge about money is in the genes.

 

[charlie1051]

I go out of my way to look for things to compliment people on at their workplace. If I get some good customer service, I will thank them, by name and tell them I appreciate their support. I have even asked to talk to a store manager in some cases where an employee really stood out in customer support. One time, a young mechanic actually received a $$$ bonus at our local Fleet store because I reported some outstanding service he provided to me.

Lately, however, I had some interactions with employees that were not very good, at all. I complained to management about the poor service by that employee and have seen neither one of those employees at the stores in the past 6+ weeks. I don't know if my complaint caused them to get fired (I hope not), or if the employee was on their way out anyway and I just got a dose of negativity from them that day. Both employees had been working at their stores for years, and it is unusual for me to shop there and not see them.

First case: Fleet store. One weekend, I needed to get some old paint purchased last year shook up so I could paint the chicken coop. The lady at the counter refused to shake up my paint cans because she said they had an explosion of paint on a previously opened can and it really made a mess. This made no sense to me because if you have the paint tinted, they have to open up the can, add the tint, then shake it up. So then this lady asks me if I wanted to clean up the mess if the can explodes in the paint shaker. I told her no, that I am not allowed to use their equipment, but their equipment should have built in protection to keep the lid on. Then she tells me it was store policy not to shake up previously used cans of paint. To which I asked her, when in the last 30 years did that policy change? Her response was to tell me that she refused to shake the cans and walked away from me to the back room employee only section.

I went to the customer service desk and asked to talk to a floor manager. A manager came, listened to my side of the story, and went back to the paint counter with me and she got the paint cans shook up for me. That employee that was supposed to be there had not returned. Anyways, I thanked the manager and left the store.

A couple days later, I was back at the store and asked to talk to the store manager. I said I wanted to compliment the floor manager for helping me with the paint situation. I asked why the employee had refused to help me and walked away from me in the process. He informed me that there had been no change in policy in shaking the used paint cans, they would still do that. Additionally, he stated that there had been a real mess with a paint can lid coming off the paint can, but it was a brand new paint can, and the employee had failed to use the equipment properly.

Bottom line, I have not seen that employee at the store in the last 8 weeks, since I made my complaint.

Second case: Home Depot. I was at the customer service desk purchasing a few items. The store internet was not working properly, and I could not access the military discount QR code on my smart phone. After a few minutes of trying, I showed her my military id card and asked her if she could enter the discount on machine. She told me she could not. I found that very strange. So, I held up the line as I continued to fumble with my smart phone and their internet was not working. I refused to step aside until my transaction was completed. After about 20 minutes, the line behind me had grown as far as into the paint department. I did not care at that point. I would have stayed there another half hour just to make it as painful for Home Depot as they were making it for me. Finally, after seeing people upset that had to wait in line for this situation, she she pressed a few keys on her till and my military discount was magically added to the transaction! Took her less than 20 seconds. So I took my stuff and left the store.

Somewhere, on the way to the car, I got even more upset about the transaction. So I went back into the store and asked some guys at the "Pro Desk" to call a manager because I had a complaint about the customer service desk. I told the store manager what had just happened to me, and that I did not understand why she had insisted I must use the Home Depot app to get my military discount when their in-store internet was not working, I clearly was trying to access my account on my smartphone, but she waited for about 20 minutes before entering the magic code herself that took her only a few seconds. The manager said that was unacceptable, that he would look into the situation, and thanked me for taking the time to talk to him.

I was in the store a week later, and had my military discount QR code on my smartphone, but the self-checkout machine was not reading it properly. I called over one of the employees for help, and believe it or not, he now had a military id QR code badge attached to his employee vest, scanned his badge, my military discount was applied, and I was out the door in no time! What a change! I like to think my complaint had something to do with their new procedure.

Anyways, I have not seen that first lady at the customer service back there in over 6 weeks. I am thinking she might have moved on, or been forced to move on as well.

Thanks for letting me get some things off my mind. I don't want to get people fired, that's not my goal, but I think sometimes a well-argued complaint can be used to help a store improve their service to customers.

From everyone out there that you didn't care about as you held up the line for 20 minutes" THANKS

 

[Brooks_]

From everyone out there that you didn't care about as you held up the line for 20 minutes" THANKS

That should be directed at the cashier. The cashier had the ability and finally did the over-ride.

 

[Alagirl]

The worst I have ever experienced was to be ignored when I stood at the counter to pay for a few things I wanted to buy. Two employees were chatting with each other, I’m 100% sure they saw me waiting (gestured) but wouldn’t come to the counter.
Finally after 10 or 15 minutes I put the two items in a bag and walked out the door without paying.

Good advice, I usually do this. And certainly when I doubt the price I have to pay. A few years ago they often made mistakes in the grocery store nearby. The most common mistake was that the computer entries / barcode scanning system didn’t give the discount price on the shelves. Employees forgot to remove the discount tag after the discount period. But it seems to have improved after they installed some self-scan cash registers.

I just left them laying there when the wait was too long.

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 think you gave that lady a small heart attack but the higher ups need to hear now and then when their staff performs above and beyond.
I make it a point to praise good service to the bosses whenever I get the chance.

 

[kcan2]

Your experiences are always as well articulated as they are thought provoking @gtaus !

I think that treating people (customers and associates) with dignity and respect will always be important and I'm glad you are pushing for that standard to be upheld. Some stores are seemingly on more of agenda than others; one can hope that customers will gravitate to the places where treatment of the customer is valued as much or more than their dollar or a process (like self checkouts, apps, etc).

 

[gtaus]

I can only figure that some of the habits/attitude/knowledge about money is in the genes.

All my brothers and sisters were from the same parents, but we all had different habits/attitude/knowledge about money.

 

[charlie1051]

That should be directed at the cashier. The cashier had the ability and finally did the over-ride.

Tell that to grandma and grandpa with their 1 box of screws that just want to get through the line so they can get home and repair their gate and then eat their peaches and cottage cheese. Or the husband, wife or single mom on their lunch break. Some of you people have seriously lost all sense of reality here. Seriously. 20 minutes. REALLY? Images of grandeur.

Come at me all you want. I'm grounded in reality folks.