So much for customer service

[crinkles]

currently struggling with poor customer service from an internal dept of the company I work for. They just don't care!

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
I can't really wrap my head around why a counter person would want to question someone who already knows what they want.


It's a power thing. He gets behind the counter and suddenly thinks he's got the power of a god and all by himself he's got the knowledge to fix every car in the world just by clocking into work. I would compare it to some mild-mannered human being who goes to work, puts on a cop uniform with a badge and a gun and suddenly he's transformed from a 98 pound weakling into Charles Atlas.

 

[HTSS_TR]

When I went to a Ford dealer to pick up a battery for my E430(I ordered online for lower price), the part counter person didn't ask which car I intend to use the large battery size 49 for. He just finish his paper work, I then paid at the cashier and pick up the battery. Painless transaction.

 

[CourierDriver]

I grew up in the day when you had to know something behind the counter, but to many store people just stock shelves and that is all they know. Most,imho, are just wanting to go home at 5 to jump back on the mp3 player or whatever till they have to punch in the next day. If they are over 30 , they might know something.

 

[Dave Sherman]

I went to Autozone looking for gasket paper to make a new gasket for the MG. Poor kid looked at me funny and said they don't have anything like that, but he could look it the part, which I already knew was not available. Fortunately, an older gentleman overheard and knew what I was talking about.

Last Autozone goof up was when they sold me a group 51-R battery and grabbed a group 51 off the shelf instead. Fit great, terminals were backward. Realized what happened, and saw the receipt was correct, so I walked back in thinking this would be a simple fix. But no.... The kid's eyes opened wide and said "Oh no! We can't just go swapping batteries on the racks, we have to process it as a return or our inventory will be all screwed up.". "But your inventory IS screwed up because you sold me the correct one, but grabbed the wrong one off the shelf." "Oh no, we have procedures we have to follow.". So, what should have taken 30 seconds took 10 minutes, as the poor guy couldn't figure out why his inventory showed he had one less of the correct battery than what was on the shelf, and why his inventory showed one more of the wrong battery than what was on the shelf. Faceplant.

 

[Kruse]

I was cleaning out a seldom-used exterior building of mine a couple of years ago and found a used rack-and-pinion in a good box with the receipt. This used rack-and-pinion was supposed to be the returnable core that I simply forgot to turn in. The receipt was about 8 years old, easily readable and was to a national chain store that everybody here would recognize.
I took it back to the store and started the simple (supposedly) process of turning it back in to get my money back. The problem was the old date on the receipt. None of the counter men could do it, thanks to their great computer system, and soon the store manager was called over. He immediately told me that it was still a valid number, still a valid core, and then told me the amount that I would get as a core refund. Unfortunately, he had to fight with the computer for about 45 minutes, and the whole time while he was doing so, would not give me my money. He finally got it, and I finally got my money back, but why couldn't he have given me my money right after everything was validated so that I could leave and THEN he could fight with his computer?

 

[mpvue]

Originally Posted By: morepwr
That really is kind of a pet peeve of mine when I know what I want and the sales clerk tries to sell me something else.

a friend of mine and I argue over a local independent 'home center' store; they are the typical old-school kind, close at 5, open on saturdays only until noon, closed sundays.
my friend loves them, likes the feeling of shopping locally and all that.
but they are ridiculously expensive, have lots of old dusty stock, I can't figure out how they are still in business.
I sent my wife in there for some specific plumbing items as I was working on the sink in our 120yo old home.
she came back with other stuff; they said 'why do you want to do it that way? here, this is better'
that kind of stuff really upsets me.
so I shop at HD or lowes; I can look through the bins myself, no one bothers me or tells me I'm doing it wrong, they are cheaper, and I can go there at 9pm if I need to.

 

[mechtech2]

After so many years in the car business, I have learned to not trust counter people - just make my point and pay no attention to their advice.
And yes, there are superb ones - I value them highly!

This is not discreet to auto parts stores.
Anybody ever get the 'third degree' from Radio Shack or Micro Center employees? Loads of others come to mind!