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Sears.com Vacuums Up Customer's Money | 203 comments (203 topical) | Post A Comment

RE: Sound advice[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#11)
by Anonymous User on Mon Mar 20, 2006 at 07:51:52 AM PDT

Let me get this straight. After the store employee(s) made what sounds like a more than good faith effort to find the book, you blew up at them. They didn't just check one spot on the shelf and give up; they made what sounds like a real effort to help you. When that failed, you "rewarded" the effort those employees made by "blowing your stack". I suspect what you taught them is not to waste too much effort on you the next time you come back.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Good faith effort[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#15)
by Anonymous User on Mon Mar 20, 2006 at 06:35:39 PM PDT

If their inventory system says they have it in stock, I only count something as a "good faith effort" if at the end of it I have the product in my hands. It's their job to a) keep inventory accurate and b) keep track of where things are. If they won't produce an "in stock" item upon customer request, there is no excuse. Someone wasn't doing their job.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Someone wasn't doing their job[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#21)
by sconeu on Tue Mar 21, 2006 at 08:50:54 AM PDT

Yeah, but it wasn't the poor clerk who spent 1/2 hour trying to help you.
It was the receiving/backend guys who messed up the inventory.
You "punished" the wrong person.
--
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the United States of America.
[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Wrong person[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#54)
by Anonymous User on Wed Mar 22, 2006 at 12:35:38 AM PDT

I "punished" the only people accessible to receive customer feedback; what did you want me to do, go into the storeroom and get myself arrested? It's up to the company's internal communication mechanisms to make sure that negative (or otherwise) feedback from customers at the store's front end, picked up by customer-facing employees, makes its way to decision makers, and decisions make their way to all employees affected. My role is to attempt to buy a product, complain if this is thwarted, and leave. Then the ball is in their court. If they don't implement proper procedures to ensure feedback propagates appropriate effects, that's their problem.
--------
I am the terror that flaps in the net!
I am the little metal key missing from your IKEA furniture pack!

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Why even try to spin what you did?[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#63)
by foxyshadis1 on Sun Mar 26, 2006 at 01:53:40 AM PDT

B&N publishes corporate contact information (phone and address) on their website. The book's publishers most likely do the same (and if not, an internet search would find it). You could be slightly less lazy and a lot less asshole by directing your rage at someone besides those who try to help you. You didn't even talk to the manager, who'd be able to help you by ordering another copy from their warehouse.
You're right that it's a good idea to complain, to the right people, if you recieve poor service. However, you "blew your stack", threw down your purchases, and stormed out like a spoiled baby. The only feedback likely to make it up the chain is "some asshole came in today, make sure he doesn't get service from now on," because you didn't even bother to complain to someone who could make a difference. I hope you enjoyed fostering surliness in the staff.
The rest of your rant boils down to "people don't jump at my command". It's nice to know that people who run their own business are still willing to kick out undesirable customers.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

ask[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#125)
by masa on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 02:48:39 PM PDT

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[ Parent | Reply to This ]

ask[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#136)
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[ Parent | Reply to This ]

<em>f</em>G<em>f</em>[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#152)
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[ Parent | Reply to This ]

ask[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#137)
by masa on Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 11:48:40 PM PDT

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[ Parent | Reply to This ]

ask[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#138)
by masa on Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 11:50:31 PM PDT

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[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Why they did not have it[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#73)
by Anonymous User on Sat Apr 15, 2006 at 01:18:23 PM PDT

You know, Bookstores frequently have problems with Shoplifters. That would explain why it said they had one when they did not.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

In Stock[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#24)
by Anonymous User on Tue Mar 21, 2006 at 10:45:03 AM PDT

After working in materials management for 30+ years I can tell you that the when the computer says "In Stock" it means maybe. If you believe it literally good luck.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Good faith effort[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#25)
by Anonymous User on Tue Mar 21, 2006 at 10:51:56 AM PDT

If you have the product in your hand, that's not a good faith effort, that's a success. A good faith effort, almost by definition, means lack of success.
The problem here is you're expecting book store employees to be both perfect and omniscient. And feel justified in punishing them when they are less than gods.
The books aren't locked down. If someone stole a book or moved it someplace you would never think to look, those employees are not going to find it short of looking at every single book in the store (and not even then if stolen). The employees could have done their job right and a _customer_ could have caused the problem. Yet you're giving the employees grief.
The other problem is that unless your performance was done with a manager in sight, you wasted your effort. Even with really conscientious employees, the bottom line is it doesn't hurt them directly if one sale walks out the door. A manager would care if he saw it, but the employees probably muttered about what an ungrateful person you were and went about their business.
Did you ask to speak to a manager? That's the only person you should have vented to and the only person who might have cared.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Glad not to have you as a customer[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#27)
by Anonymous User on Tue Mar 21, 2006 at 11:01:44 AM PDT

Obviously the computer said they had one copy of your obscure book in stock and someone STOLE IT. Unless you're willing to pay a lot more for eerything so they can count every book in the store on an hourly basis get over it. A good faith effort is just that. You can't base your decision of whether an effort was made based on results.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Are you serious?[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#60)
by Anonymous User on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 10:52:10 AM PDT

Oh come on... cut the guy a break. There are countless reasons why the system may say something should be in stock but it's nowhere to be seen. It could have been a recieving error (more were reported than actually arrived), it could have been shoplifted and not deducted from inventory. Someone could have picked it up with the intent to buy, but later changed their mind and dropped it on some random shelf rather than putting it back where it belongs. The possibilities are endless.
The fact that an employee spent a half hour searching with you and "checked for it in the stockroom, behind the counter, and elsewhere" speaks very well of the the floor employees. However, the fact that you blew up over something that was not their fault, even though they did everything within their power to rectify speaks quite poorly of you.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

pasing[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#165)
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[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Re: MY DAUGHTERS DRESS[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#180)
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[ Parent | Reply to This ]

ask[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#109)
by masa on Mon Mar 10, 2008 at 08:07:20 PM PDT

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[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Sears.com Vacuums Up Customer's Money | 203 comments (203 topical) | Post A Comment

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