Share Your Stories Of Nightmare Customers (refund, stores, Wal-mart, coffee)

[NMyTree]

Since it seems many here have worked in Retail at one point or another in their lives, I thought it would be fun to share some experiences/stories we have encountered; with nasty, rude, trying to be slick, nightmare customers.

But you need not have worked in Retail to participate. All of us go shopping and at one time or another ....we are all consumers. So even as a shopper I suspect many us have some experiences with these types of goofy customers and have a story to share.

I'll start it off with one of my most "fun" experiences.


Years ago I was a manager at an electronics store. One day I was called up to the Customer Service Desk to speak to a customer returning a boombox CD Player for a full refund.

So I make my way up to the CS Desk and upon arriving, I find a mid 20's male standing there. He had placed a sawdust-covered CD Player Boombox on the counter and request a full refund.

And when I say this boombox was covered with sawdust, I mean this thing literally had a thick layer of sawdust all over the top of it and a lot of sawdust clinging to even the vertical chasis.

I politely asked him what the problem was.

He looks at me completely straight-faced, hands me his receipt (bought roughly 16 days ago) and says.....(I'm paraphrasing here, but relatively accurate)

" I bought this a few weeks ago for work and now it doesn't work. I'm returning it and I want a refund"



I said......'Sir, this boombox is covered top to bottom, side to side with sawdust. I have no doubt it longer functions properly. But I can not give you a refund because it's obvious the boombox in question was damaged by your specific method of use and not a manufactors defect."

And the genius says....." It never worked since I bought it."

Me..... " Then how did it get covered in sawdust? "

Genius....." I want to speak to another manager."

Me...... " I am the manager. There are no other managers, here."

Genius.... " It doesn't work. I want my money back. This is b*ll****, I bought this two weeks ago and it doesn't work. I got ripped-off!"

Me..... " Sir, I will not give you a refund. You damaged the boombox by exposing it to sawdust. That's your responsibility. You were negligent in your placement and use of the boombox."

Genius..... " Why do you think the sawdust broke it? It's just sawdust."



I then swept/wiped a bunch of sawdust of the CD lid and opened the CD Tray lid.



Me.... " See that? The laser mechanism is completely covered in sawdust and so is the whole CD tray. The laser can't possibly read any CDs with sawdust all over it. Furthermore, you probably have a bunch of sawdust inside the boombox and all over the motherboard and power supply.

I suggest you take this boombox home, get your vacume cleaner and vacuume up all the exterior sawdust. When your finished with that, carefully and gently vacuume the CD tray and all around the laser lens.

Then, get a screw driver.......open it up and vacumme/clean out the interior. Also clean the speakers. Be careful with the tweeter."

Genius..... " I don't have time for that cr**. I want a refund!!

Me...... " Sir, I have to ask you to leave the premises and take the boombox with you.

Genius... " **#*#**##*@**#*#*#*@*@*#*@* (a string of profanity, physical threats and personal insults).

At which point security showed up and convinced him it was a good time for him to leave.

It was obvious to me (and everyone at the CS Desk, this genius bought the boombox to take to work/job site (whatever it was that he was doing) and once the job was finished; he'd return the boombox for a refund.

This guy was a major jerk and was trying to pull a fast one. Essentially what he was doing was fraud. The idiot knew he ruined the boombox, but still tried to get a refund. And he was a horses-ass to boot.

[NMyTree]

Well, where's all those stories/experiences with nightmare customers?

TKramar?

I mean, with all your experience and background in retail, certainly you have something much more colorful and sinister to share, than, a customer asking if the drinks are 3 for $6.00 or 5 for $10.00, right?

[Flamingo13]

Well, this one is disgusting

I work as a merchandiser in various stores - one store employee told me that just the day before a customer had apparently tried on bras, decided to keep one ON - and hung her old ratty one on the hanger and returned it to the rack!!!

[TKramar]

Wal-Mart. I saw a customer slap the cashier in the face. Wal-Mart refused to allow her to press charges, and if she had struck him in return, they would have fired her.

Winn Dixie. Known shoplifter was trespassed from the store...which means that they're not supposed to come back. Management refused to call police to enforce the trespass.

Customers have brought back merchandise that was clearly not from OUR store. Customers have used half a gallon of paint, then filled the remainder of the can with water and tried to return it for a full refund (that's the white paint, they also try to return colored paint, even though it is clearly indicated that there are no returns on tinted paint).

As I indicated in the other thread, a customer got loud and asked me to call the cops on him. So I did. He was removed. He was also comped for his ENTIRE meal, all because he couldn't get a Diet Coke.

A customer came in right before closing and spent the next 2 hours shopping in the store.

[Ranrich]

Originally Posted by TKramar

A customer came in right before closing and spent the next 2 hours shopping in the store.

Now that would make an interesting thread!

[scarletneon]

I had a man scream at me because i was unconsciously using my middle finger to punch in numbers on the cash register.

I also had a man scream at me because I refused to give him his change in quarters because i only had one roll of quarters

And let's not forget all of the dirty looks directed at me because what they were buying was too expensive in their opinion (despite the fact they had $1000 worth of clothes in their bag from bloomingdale's).

Of course these were people making their way through the line at a specialty candy/coffee shop so OBVIOUSLY they were better than little old me who couldn't seem to do any "better" in life than retail.


I think i'd might rather starve than work in retail again.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Originally Posted by TKramar

A customer came in right before closing and spent the next 2 hours shopping in the store.

You couldn't simply make her leave after closing? Was she some sort of cyborg with a belt-fed gun and/or flamethrower?

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

I think i'd might rather starve than work in retail again.

Hallelujah and amen to that.

[TKramar]

Originally Posted by Exitus Acta Probat

You couldn't simply make her leave after closing? Was she some sort of cyborg with a belt-fed gun and/or flamethrower?

She was a customer--management even refused to make an announcement regarding what time the store closed over the PA system. We were supposed to close at 9 and at 11 p.m. we were bagging up her five carts of groceries.

Making a customer feel uncomfortable was considered poor customer service. And it was a grocery store, so people kind of wander the aisles deciding what they might want to buy. It's not like working in a hardware store, where you can ask a person if you can help them find what they're looking for and get them on their way.

[TKramar]

I can go back to the first time I worked in retail: I was pushing carts inside the building and I guess the person in the car got tired of waiting for me to get across, and bumped my leg with his bumper. If he'd waited three more seconds, I would have been clear. No injury, so nothing to report, but it did bother me.

The second store I worked for, a family left their kids in our store and walked down the mall to another store--that's where we ended up finding her parents. How do you leave your kid behind in a store?!

This is one I'm loath to include, since we have no proof it was that customer that did it. A customer was arguing with an associate, and she got a manager involved, and the manager dealt with the customer. When her shift ended, and she went outside, she found that someone had smashed in her rear windshield--but that could have been someone else, certainly, so I can't REALLY blame that on the customer, can I?

Hey, how about working for a gas station? On more than one occasion, a guy came in after 2 a.m., grabbed some beer, and walked out, tossing money on the counter--which was more than enough to pay for the beer. But after 2, we couldn't SELL the beer. The owner redid the coolers then and we had a way to lock those cooler doors up after 2. There's just something about beer--I had more than one person try to bribe me into selling them beer after hours, or without ID. No ID, no beer...I don't care what you pay me. Or HOW you pay me--yes, a woman I wouldn't sell beer to said that she would "make it worth my while" if I sold her beer.