Bad Customer Service Stories

[cjrose]

I went into the local Radio Shack store Friday afternoon to buy a can of contact cleaner. The RS there is a combo Rent One/Radio Shack job and I've never really cared for it. It's a franchise operation and the level of service is not good. Anyway, I went in, picked out my item, and stood at the counter waiting to check out. I couldn't get any help and finally some guy on the Rent One side asked if I needed help and I told him that I needed to check out. He proceeded to tell me that there was only one person working the Radio Shack side (even though it's a store within the Rent One store) and I've have to wait for 45 minutes or so for the person to come back from lunch! This is the 2nd or 3rd time that has happened to me and I promptly set my product down and told him that it was poor service, it wasn't the first time, and I would be calling corporate! I also told him that I wished the previous Radio Shack franchisee still had the business. For years, an old man and his wife owned a store in that town and you never lacked for help. He got into bad health and eventually gave up the franchise and is now dead. I really miss people like him. BTW, I did call corporate and they are going to get on the case of this franchise store!

Good for you for letting the corporate people know. They were being either very sincere or just saying so to get you off the phone. You would think that they have had more than one complaint if the service was that bad.

On another note, I don't dare walk into a radio shack without being attacked by sales people. They are right at the mall entrance and me being an electronics geek would love to browse but I look the other way simply to not make eye contact with them. There is one thing with bad service such as you experience and another for being too pushy when I just want to browse. You did the right thing though by leaving your product and telling them.

[RGR]

CJ,

I worked for RS for a couple of years and let me explain a couple of things and that'll help you understand why you're getting "attacked" lol!

RS has both corporate owned stores and franchisee operated stores. The corporate stores tend to be in bigger towns whereas franchises are usually in smaller markets and wind up being combined, most of the time, with some sort of other store or they carry other lines of product besides RS merchandise. I believe corporate stores are the more plentiful of the two, but I haven't seen numbers in a while since I haven't worked there in a while.

In corporate stores, all associates except the manager work on a commission basis. Not only do they get a commission, they also gets bonuses (spiffs) on top of commission for selling a certain item or a certain plan, etc. So if they want a good check, they learn to "attack" people in hopes of selling them something, lol!

[cjrose]

CJ,

I worked for RS for a couple of years and let me explain a couple of things and that'll help you understand why you're getting "attacked" lol!

RS has both corporate owned stores and franchisee operated stores. The corporate stores tend to be in bigger towns whereas franchises are usually in smaller markets and wind up being combined, most of the time, with some sort of other store or they carry other lines of product besides RS merchandise. I believe corporate stores are the more plentiful of the two, but I haven't seen numbers in a while since I haven't worked there in a while.

In corporate stores, all associates except the manager work on a commission basis. Not only do they get a commission, they also gets bonuses (spiffs) on top of commission for selling a certain item or a certain plan, etc. So if they want a good check, they learn to "attack" people in hopes of selling them something, lol!

And here it was cuz I thought they all thought I was so lovely and looked like I wanted to spend money! No, seriously, it makes sense to have an incentive and I can't blame them. This dilema saves me money actually LOL cuz I know I would buy something.

Thanks for the info

[ladypeartree]

wow I have had a good giggle this morning with some of these stories.

I have to say I do not put up with bad service but I always call for the manager to make the compliant...as I tell them they are paid to train the staff so if the staff are not doing the job right it is the managers fault and since I represent profit for the company and they are the overheads then they need me more than I need them.....however if I get very good service , even if it is just an extra special smile or good attitude I make sure I call the manager and tell them what a treasure they have working for them.....it works both ways

[Marnie]

I went into a Belks not long ago and was looking around and I was pounced upon by three sales associates. They were all asking me questions at the same time, and of course I was doing my best to sign back at them. When one of them realized I was using sign language, she started to tell at me, like I was deaf! I actually hear very well, but now here I am, standing in the middle of Belks on a Saturday being yelled at by three sales associates. I imagaine it looked quite funny. My friend Julia was on the other side of the store, heard the commotion, and came over. She flashed her badge and informed the assoicates that I was an "escaped mental patient," and she was taking me back. Those associates disappeared, I got a couple of skirts and tops, checked out ahead of everybody else and was ushered out of the store!

[Guest shiloh357]

We used to have a restaurant in my town. It was called "Kountry Kin." They had a quaint "country" motif. You drank from fruit jars, and they had alluminum plates for the salad bar. Also, they served complementary/all you can eat buiscuts and cornbread. I must say that their food was stellar, but their service was not. A "short" wait, once you finally got seated, was about 45 min. unless ALL you got was the salad bar.

They had THE best food in town, but not even that was enough to salvage their poor service. They just could not keep help, and there was usually one guy doing working the grill, but no amount of excuses make you want to come back after you have had to wait that long. Perhaps they did not treat their help well, I don't know.

It is sad because at the first, they were giving other restaurants a run for their money. They had these "skilletburgers" that were to die for, and best Strawberry/Rhubarb cobbler I have ever tasted. There were two old ladies in the back who made up the dessert crew, and they made their cakes, cobblers and pies from scratch. Breakfast was out of this world too. To this day, no one in this town has ever topped their breakfast skillets.

They were reasonably priced, but people would go to the more expensive places where they would get better service. They finally closed down because no one wanted to wait 45 min. for a sandwich.

I have learned that prompt courteous service is worth more to people than lower prices. People will go where they are treated right. Treat your customers like they are the President of the United States, and you are more likely to retain them in the future.

[Guest shiloh357]

I went into a Belks not long ago and was looking around and I was pounced upon by three sales associates. They were all asking me questions at the same time, and of course I was doing my best to sign back at them. When one of them realized I was using sign language, she started to tell at me, like I was deaf! I actually hear very well, but now here I am, standing in the middle of Belks on a Saturday being yelled at by three sales associates. I imagaine it looked quite funny. My friend Julia was on the other side of the store, heard the commotion, and came over. She flashed her badge and informed the assoicates that I was an "escaped mental patient," and she was taking me back. Those associates disappeared, I got a couple of skirts and tops, checked out ahead of everybody else and was ushered out of the store!

[buckthesystem]

I went into a Belks not long ago and was looking around and I was pounced upon by three sales associates. They were all asking me questions at the same time, and of course I was doing my best to sign back at them. When one of them realized I was using sign language, she started to tell at me, like I was deaf! I actually hear very well, but now here I am, standing in the middle of Belks on a Saturday being yelled at by three sales associates. I imagaine it looked quite funny. My friend Julia was on the other side of the store, heard the commotion, and came over. She flashed her badge and informed the assoicates that I was an "escaped mental patient," and she was taking me back. Those associates disappeared, I got a couple of skirts and tops, checked out ahead of everybody else and was ushered out of the store!

Good on you Marnie, that is so funny.

[Candi770]

My husband bought a peice of lawn equipment from sears and it was ordered and we were to pick it up the following week. Well, thank God, I started to do banking online!! I saw that a large sum had been charged to my account-because it was in pending status, I had to call the bank as to where it came from. They informed me there were 2 charges from sears. Well, when I went to sears-they politely told me it wasn't their problem,if they couldn't find it in their system. Boy, I was angry-so I asked to talk to someone else-manager. She went through all the tapes and couldn't find where the transactions took place. Mind you this 200+ transaction caused me to bounce 2 checks (and also, my bank didn't honor my overdraft protection and shift money over to cover it). My bank wanted to me to file a fraid claim on sears. Then I went back to tell the sears manager what I would do if she couldn't correct it. She recomended for me to do the same-and told me that that way-they could investigate throughout the store=should their be a bigger problem. Heared nothing from them. One week later my money was back and my bank removed all bounced charges.

There was no explaination. The sears manager said that if you come in and make a purchase and the register uses your debit card to remove it and reenter it. That removed item will be taken out of your account and not returned for about a week. I recommend cash purchase or credit card=anything that won't take away from you=where you need it.

blessing

candi

[cjrose]

I went into a Belks not long ago and was looking around and I was pounced upon by three sales associates. They were all asking me questions at the same time, and of course I was doing my best to sign back at them. When one of them realized I was using sign language, she started to tell at me, like I was deaf! I actually hear very well, but now here I am, standing in the middle of Belks on a Saturday being yelled at by three sales associates. I imagaine it looked quite funny. My friend Julia was on the other side of the store, heard the commotion, and came over. She flashed her badge and informed the assoicates that I was an "escaped mental patient," and she was taking me back. Those associates disappeared, I got a couple of skirts and tops, checked out ahead of everybody else and was ushered out of the store!