Just when you think you have seen it all...you see something new. I saw three new things in one day and they were all awesome.
New#1: Customer brings me a mascara without the box and return sticker and also without receipt. Her complaint was that , "it smelled funny". Just to be thorough, I had to give it the smell test and picked another tester to compare the two. No difference. On an impulse, I offered both to her to compare and contrast. She sheepishly offered me this.."well..maybe it just smells different to me".
But, we have to go through the motions. I start to process the exchange and wouldn't you know it....the computer wouldn't let me do it. It announced that a certificate for the amount would be mailed to her house and I wouldn't be able to process the return in that moment. I felt victorious. But her reaction was even more priceless. She had the nerve to say, "what am I supposed to do until the certificate comes? It isn't like I am going to go out and buy another one. If I buy one today and the certificate comes, can I exchange it"?
How many times do we accommodate a switcheroo with old product because people insist that there is a defect. We have done it ad nauseum in the name of customer service. Granted there are genuine consumers who have a reaction or who realize immediately that they don't want what they bought. I never get tired of helping find an alternative or suggesting another line.
The shakedown artists are the one's that get under your skin. A mascara is only good for maybe three months. At the end of the mascara....they bring it in with a complaint and we exchange their unhappiness for a bright, shiny, new one.....over and over and over again until they are politely invited by mail to seek another source of free mascara.
The computer is on to you ladies.
New#2: my lady hands me her lip liner..."it breaks"... note to the world..when you have a twist up liner-you control how much breaks off. My chatty self notices the date of purchase was exactly 2 months ago and I say.."you really love this color don't you"?....and she jumps in "oh yes...I love it...I use it probably three times a day". Ah ha. Three times a day x 2 months = empty liner=trip to the store to trade up for a fresh new one.
Why do I even bother? It isn't my money. It isn't my store. It isn't my policy.
New#3: the famed free gift with purchase- without the purchase. The qualifying product is bought and the delightful, expensive, free gift is lovingly selected. Within a day or two the product is returned without the accompanying bonus. What a shocker. It is always a priority to offer another product to compensate for the disappointment but the slippery ones always have an out and it ends the same way: Free gift with purchase- without the purchase.
Again...why do I care.
Overactive sense of justice.
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