Don't take it out on the check out girl/boy

bc3000

When I worked at WHSmith it was before the change to being over 18 to buy cigarettes and I used to get people who looked so young buying cigarettes. Or attempting to at least. We didn't get any training on ID things and age related products :S A good few of them thought that I would sell them cigarettes if they just told me they were over 16. And then they'd get annoyed if I said no..

Once I was on the phone to Virgin Mobile and the woman on the other end refused to talk to me because there were people shouting in the background?! It was so random, she seemed a bit sensitive..

vyle

ARGH!

I just need to rant here, and a new thread wouldn't be justified.

I sell home technology at work, meaning TVs, hi fis, computers and so on, and have found a lot of customers who buy TVs expect the impossible, are stubbornly deaf and have a very short memory.

After explaining what HD ready and Full HD means, a usual conversation goes like this:

Them: when is HD coming in?

me: it's already here, you can get HD programming through virgin media...

them: don't want to pay for that

me: sky...

them: don't want to pay for that or get a satellite dish

me: *I decide not to mention freesat, then, because of their lack of desire for a satellite dish.* or through Blu Ray.

them: I don't play games!!!

me: Blu ray is a high capacity form of DVD which plays full HD movies.

them: No! Not interested in that!

me: Okay, in that case, you will only get standard definition picture quality.

Them: will this TV work with an indoor aerial?

Me: Yes, but unless it's a freeview/digital aerial, you will only get analogue channels.

The customer buys an HD tv, then invariably comes back a few days later wanting to know why they didn't get digital pictures on their indoor ANALOGUE aerial, why their picture quality isn't HD, why I hadn't mentioned they would need to do something extra to get the HD pictures and then believes they're entitled to a full refund under the SOGA.

One customer actually tried to take advantage of the 5 year guarantee after waiting four years and saying she wasn't happy that she only had channels 1 to 5 and she bought a digital ready TV so expects the other channels. She refused to accept the aerial might be at fault and said that she didn't expect to have to tune the TV in to get more channels. She said she had NEVER been happy with it... so why wait four years?

It's like buying a car, slashing your tyres then expecting free replacements, or demanding a refund because you didn't know you had to fill it up with petrol.

cbrown372

Perhaps you can explain what a freeview/digital aerial is? Are you saying that you need to tune a TV to just an aerial?

vyle

cbrown372 wrote: »

Perhaps you can explain what a freeview/digital aerial is? Are you saying that you need to tune a TV to just an aerial?

Oh, I have explained. I also make clear that their reception will depend on many, many, many factors that will vary from location to location.

If they're in a BRILLIANT signal area, they might get freeview fine with an indoor aerial designed for analogue, or, like at my old house, get channels on an old Yagi aerial.

You may be fine with a loft mounted high gain aerial (which is like a standard aerial but has more elements and reflectors to catch more signal, basically), or you might be in an area which just doesn't get the digital signal at all.

In some areas, before the switch over, you'll lose signal altogether while technicians power down sections of the transmitter to work on it, to make it more powerful.

It's impossible to know every customer's setup, because they probably don't know it either, so all I can do is explain that they may not be able to get a digital signal, and if not, to get a new aerial. I had one customer who was getting perfect freeview on a coat hanger that hung from her ceiling, but she did live pretty much underneath the transmitter.

And yes, you do just need to tune the TV to the aerial. New TVs work just the same as old ones. You plug the aerial in, then tune it in.

dfh

Vyle,
out of curiosity,did that woman get a new TV ? I hope not !

vyle

dfh wrote: »

Vyle,
out of curiosity,did that woman get a new TV ? I hope not !

No, I initially offered her the telephone number of a reputable aerial technician who we use who does free quotes and inspections and who could have told her flat out if she had a problem with her aerial. When she refused that, I referred her to the aftersales team, who would be able to send out a technician to check for any faults with the TV, but made it clear that if there was no fault, she would be charged for the callout.

DCFC79

vyle wrote: »

ARGH!

I just need to rant here, and a new thread wouldn't be justified.

I sell home technology at work, meaning TVs, hi fis, computers and so on, and have found a lot of customers who buy TVs expect the impossible, are stubbornly deaf and have a very short memory.

thats the thing though, customers dont listen to explanations and dont like to think that they were wrong

Cirrus_Clouds

Takoda wrote: »

Your post above is funny. Once. If you choose to post like it again I will report you for abuse and add you to my ignore list.

Love,

Takoda

Takoda wrote: »

The original post is about till jockeys.



HTH

Hmmm.... who's being abusive?

Takoda wrote: »

Nope - nothing. The children are well behaved and biddable, school is justifiably popular and oversubscribed, resources are OK, colleagues are great, one of the parents works for Fox's so our staffroom is well stocked with biscuits, school was built 4 years ago so not run down but clean and modern. Need I go on?

Paperwork is part of the job. I don't dislike it - record keeping makes reports easier to write.

Why do I now feel like I have to apologise for being happy with my lot?

I have nothing to complain about but the job did not just land in my lap - I had to work for it.

HTH

Hilarious. Doesn't take a lot of hard work to become a teacher. But that's reflected in the salary.

Cirrus_Clouds

Takoda wrote: »

I LOVE my job - you'll never catch ME whinging and whining about it come September when it is time to go back. I love the holidays but I love the work too.

Takoda

I believe you.... thousands wouldn't :rotfl:

freeoffers

I used to work in several different customer service jobs. Taxi driver, train cleaner, retail. I like working wih the public but they can be right idiots sometimes.
Working for the train company was funny, if trains were late i'd get told off and receive all sorts of complaints. i didnt mind cos they were just venting and they said nothing personal. They also expected me as the c;eaner to know the train schedule, which annoyed me, until i actually learnt it and was very happy to tell customers which trains to catch.
Too many ppl you see today see what they do as just a job and give terrible customer service, not really willing to help. usually its teenagers who are like this actually. Anyways this isnt a vent, just want to tell ppl that a job is what yo umake it, just like life be happy.