Rude Customers >:(

faerie~spangles

cte1111 wrote: »

It's like you don't realise that is it YOUR JOB to deal with customers. You're not doing people a favour serving them, you are doing what you are paid for. And yes that does include helping with enquiries.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

vyle

Funnily enough I've noticed more rude people recently. They seem to come in waves, and even the more agreeable ones tend to ask questions in oddly confrontational ways, like barking "Tell me about this!" and jabbing their hand in the direction of a product.

A colleague of mine and I have decided that next time we get someone like that, we'll respond as if we're in the movie Airplane:

Customer: What's RAM?

us: It's an uncastrated male sheep, but that's not important right now.

Anyway, there was this horror of a bloke the other day. He had been in not too long ago saying he wanted a samsung D8000, but they were too expensive and he was going to wait for a price drop.

We informed him that the item was due to be discontinued soon so the only form of price drop would be for the display model, and unless he checked every day, it was unlikely he would be securing that ONE, as lots of people have their eye on it.

A couple of weeks ago, we sold that one, and then earlier this week, in comes the guy wanting his cheap TV. We pointed out that when he decided not to buy the tv, it was 999, and we had indeed sold the display one to somebody else, and the new model was in stock at 1599. He started hurling abuse, demanding a D8000, not accepting that they aren't being made any more, and accusing us of hiding them from him.

I also agree that we are not EXPERTS. As a colleague of mine once pointed out to a customer -- the people making the products are experts. The people being paid huge sums of money to develop new technology are experts. The reporters and reviewers who dedicate all their time to writing about a small field of products are experts in that field. They all get paid decent amounts of money.

We are on minimum wage in a job with no entry requirements and are required to know about a little over a thousand different product lines. We are far from experts. If we were, we would NOT be working in a shop.

rustyboy21

I normally find that it is the ones, who have altered consumer law, to fit into their complaint, who tend to be the rudest. People with a genuine problem, seem to be the nicer people to deal with.

I was shutting my shop up one night and just as I was pulling the shutter down at 5.30, a couple turned up in their car and asked if I was still open. Stupidly I opened the shop up for them to have a quick 'Look around'

By 7.30 they had just about managed to choose a fireplace they wanted, they needed it that week. I signed them up, they read through the T&C's and paid 1/2 amount.

9 am next morning, Phone rings. '' I want to cancel, seen it cheaper on Internet'' I said NO. Abusive words spewed out, threatening me and my shop and the parting words back where ''see you in court''

Oh, how smug was I on the day of small claims hearing, when they were told they had signed T&C's which stated no refunds and all orders non cancellable ( Good job I got TS to check over legality of contract before I started using it). It was great getting the rest of the money paid and also an additional installation charge as they had cancelled original one.

Sometimes we do get our own back :rotfl:

Elvisia

I started out in retail when I left school, try working in the Disney Store at Christmas is a real eye opener, particularly when they stopped making Tinkerbell wings...anyway because of that I am always extra nice to assistants and make a point of going back and thanking someone if they've helped me and I've made a purchase because of them. I know exactly how rubbish it can be working in retail!!!

banger9365

what happened to the customer is always right :eek:

the staff at your shop sound really good not,i am that bad customer:T:rotfl:

dreavi

Esqui wrote: »

I know what you mean about customers seeming ruder recently, maybe it's just me.

But the majority of customers are lovely, and of those who aren't, I do believe that the vast majority of them don't intend to be rude. For some people, the way they speak might seem perfectly fine to them and rude to others (my boyfriend is one such person, when he talks to his family, he says things that I'd think were quite nasty, but it's fine with them).

Esqui is right, most people are great, but like anything its the rubbish customers that stick in the memory.

I work in a Public facing role not retail but customer service based mostly and some of the stuff people ask me to to do goes so far beyond my job description its unreal.

In the last week I've had a customer miss their last train home so expect me to pay for their taxi. Also a customer chase another into my premise shouting at me to stop him. As if I have any clue what on Earth is going on or why he should be stopped? The mind boggles!

eminemfan001

i agree customers are getting ruder these days. I get fed up of being told im stupid because im not an expert in everything in the shop. I work on the counters in a supermarket (deli, hot deli, fish and meat) and yet a customer the other day asked me where we kept some random product and shouted at me when i went to find a member of staff who would know and be able to help. He told me i should know everything in the shop.

I just wanted to point out to him that the shop has around 34 aisles with around 13 bays per aisle. Each bay will have around 6 (average) shelves with anywhere between 3-10 products per shelf. This makes around 26530 different products that we sell not including the health and beauty aisles or the clothing and electrical. If somebody can memorise all of that then they deserve a medal!

I think that unless you have worked in retail then you have no way of knowing how hard it can be but it has given me a good perspective and now I go out of my way to make sure im nice to anyone that works in any job.

marywooyeah

Unintentional wrote: »

Retail just seems to be full of miserable, dumb, rude people who are out to give you a bad time.

I'm not an expert on anything we sell. I get paid near minimum wage to work here and I've received no training on any of our products. So therefore. Don't call me unhelpful when I don't know something and I cannot find the information. Doing your own research won't kill you.

I don't care if you need to pick your kids up from school, if your bus is nearly here and you're in a hurry.

You said it! seriously though I had experience of some of these things you described when I worked in retail too, particularly the "are you open?" when the door is locked and the staff are all tidying up!

the best (or worst!) though was "you see these games that say 2 for £20, does that mean if I buy two of these I'll only pay £20?" or "buy one get one free? so if I buy this one, I'll get that one free?"

I used to wonder how some of our customers even managed to dress themselves in the morning.

CraigDavid

vyle wrote: »

We are on minimum wage in a job with no entry requirements and are required to know about a little over a thousand different product lines. We are far from experts. If we were, we would NOT be working in a shop.

You don't work in Currys/Dixons by any chance?

EycplUK

Think some of the above are stupid questions ? you want to try working in the catering section ....................................
Examples from my restaurant ..................
What kind of meat is in your Venison Stew ?
Do you have a Vegitarian Meatloaf ?
Whats in your Steak & Ale Pie ?
and the one that creased me up so much service was on hold for 10 minutes .................
Do you make Bannana Fritters with anything else ? ?????
Give me strength !